12月初，女儿从英国飞到瑞士，再辗转法国，就是为了去阿尔卑斯山滑雪。当她从滑雪胜地给我打视频电话时，我突然感慨到，这个圣诞，我也可以带我们学校的孩子们去滑雪。说干就干，我马上和Claire老师挑选日期，并邀请家长和全校老师一起同行。报名手续非常繁琐，从出生日期到联络电话，从身高体重到脚丫子大小，整个报名前后用了一周（Cypress mountain的网站让大家的白头发都多了两根）。不管怎么说，12月22号，大家度过了快乐的一天，而且大部分是初学者。我两年前学过一次，这次也大胆学会了。特别感谢有教练牌的Nate同学做我们的教练，Kimberly一次学会了。明年圣诞，我们还会再来💪。
-- Maria老师
KimberlyTowards the end of 2021 on December 22nd, I had one of the most memorable moments of this year by experiencing skiing for the first time. Before deciding to go skiing, I had a simultaneous feeling of excitement and fear, the former was due to the opportunity to attempt one of the most popular winter sports that I had never been done before, while the latter was due to the fear of falling down the slope of the mountain and the challenges to control the skiboard. Standing in awe, I arrived at the Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, in the sight of winter wilderness with sparkles of snow and sprinkles of rain, frosty air permeated through my hair and skin. I then immediately geared up with my ski equipment with water-proof goggles and jacket, gratefully, Eddie’s mom also borrowed one of her beanies to me to protect my head and ears. We reunited with everyone at the entrance of the Ski Resort, and we all appeared as a professional skiers with our ski boots, ski boards and helmets. To my surprise, ski boots are much heavier than I thought, they were tightly securing my feet and ankles which I could no longer walk properly on the ground, I sensed a sudden uncertainty if I even could control the ski broad at that moment. Nevertheless, when my boots wedged into ski broad in the snow, I summoned my courage to start making baby steps to slide a few meters with my ski pole. |  |
Next, we lined up to the ski lift chair towards the top of a bunny hill. Being lifted on the lift chair was one of the scariest feelings because of the lack of safety precaution, only one horizontal pole was there to hold on with our bare feet in the skiboard floating on the sky around 20 feet above the ground. Yet, I enjoyed the beautiful view of the snowy atmosphere full of laughter from all ages of skiers enjoying their Christmas holiday with their families and friends.
At the moment of arrival on the top of the bunny hill, I started my rookie journey of extensive falling and tripping over the snow. As a person who is feared of height, the bunny hill was already a great challenge for me. I nerved myself up to stand up the edge of the great slope of the bunny hill, yet I could not balance myself and fell badly multiple times within minutes. Luckily, Nate, the ski coach was there to help, he was patient enough to support me throughout my learning process, teaching me the essential techniques in skiing such as never letting the tip of the board cross each other, and using the correct posture to gravitate me on the board so that I could get up by me after falling etc. He utilized the skiing pole to guide me step by step on the hill. After multiple trials and failures with guidance from Nate, I grasped the skiing technique a bit more and finally overcame my fear of skiing downhill! The essence is to place the skiboard perpendicular to the slope of the hill and wedge down the skiboard at a 45-degree angle to the right to secure a better angle to get up from a fall. To practice more, we went up the hill multiple times and Nate slowly released me from the skiing pole. To my surprise, I could control myself with a bit more ease and halt the ski board whenever I need to. This exhilarating learning progress convinced me to further my practice by changing directions and attempting to ski in parallel motion. “This is indeed a day to remember!” I thought to myself.
After multiple ups and downs of this wonderful trip, I would like to shout out to Maria and Claire for organizing and arranging everything for us to experience such a fun and thrilling winter activity during our Christmas holiday, as well as Nate who was patient and dedicate himself enough for us to learn about the skiing techniques and turned multiple beginners from the mood of fear of skiing to love skiing. Especially me, I knew that I will be coming back here soon!
At the moment of arrival on the top of the bunny hill, I started my rookie journey of extensive falling and tripping over the snow. As a person who is feared of height, the bunny hill was already a great challenge for me. I nerved myself up to stand up the edge of the great slope of the bunny hill, yet I could not balance myself and fell badly multiple times within minutes. Luckily, Nate, the ski coach was there to help, he was patient enough to support me throughout my learning process, teaching me the essential techniques in skiing such as never letting the tip of the board cross each other, and using the correct posture to gravitate me on the board so that I could get up by me after falling etc. He utilized the skiing pole to guide me step by step on the hill. After multiple trials and failures with guidance from Nate, I grasped the skiing technique a bit more and finally overcame my fear of skiing downhill! The essence is to place the skiboard perpendicular to the slope of the hill and wedge down the skiboard at a 45-degree angle to the right to secure a better angle to get up from a fall. To practice more, we went up the hill multiple times and Nate slowly released me from the skiing pole. To my surprise, I could control myself with a bit more ease and halt the ski board whenever I need to. This exhilarating learning progress convinced me to further my practice by changing directions and attempting to ski in parallel motion. “This is indeed a day to remember!” I thought to myself.
After multiple ups and downs of this wonderful trip, I would like to shout out to Maria and Claire for organizing and arranging everything for us to experience such a fun and thrilling winter activity during our Christmas holiday, as well as Nate who was patient and dedicate himself enough for us to learn about the skiing techniques and turned multiple beginners from the mood of fear of skiing to love skiing. Especially me, I knew that I will be coming back here soon!
Benny |  |
Yubo
| In a trance, the boundary between light and shadow was erased, and the hot frost and snow invaded my skin inch by inch. "I know, I saw her..." The delicate snowflakes took on sharp edges and corners somehow. She was greedily licking my bare eyelids, wild, elegant, irresistible, all-encompassing, just as she strangled the spring throat. At this moment, she has quietly embraced me. The hanging cable car was swaying in the wind under her gaze. This was the second time the cable car stopped. It seemed to be deterred and panicked. The cold mechanical equipment slowly gave birth to hesitation... "This is unscrupulous. The company does not need to build a fully enclosed cable car. It will stop halfway and hang us in the air and be attacked by the cold wind!" The masks on my cheeks are all the shadows of sweat and snow, and the salty and damp sensation came on the tip of my tongue when I complained about the company…I felt like I was eating old popsicles (a popsicle popular in China at the beginning of the 21st century). The accompanying tourists seemed to hear a little dull mutter, turned their heads, glanced at the shivering beginner next to them through the dark goggles, sneered and continued to tell their companions about their passion. I had no time to talk to them. The biting chill already spread to my limbs. I took off my soaked gloves. For some reason, I felt that the liquid on my hands was a bit sticky, like a stubborn creature. Attached to my epidermis, scavenging the only heat in the bone marrow. The hazy smoky white mist filled once again, and the feared cable car got the long-lost fig leaf and began to move slowly, slowly, slowly, like a dead old man, slowly reminiscing on the pale road to heaven. Through my life... At nine o'clock in the morning, scattered sunlight through the gaps in the blinds reflected a student who was meditating. A: "A serious person who writes a diary, do you write it (B)?" B: "I don't write." A: "Do you write (C)?" C: "Can I be called a serious person if I write a diary?" ABC: "Inferior (cheers) (￣∇￣)" Me: "But the teacher asked me to ski, I'm afraid she will have bad intentions." A: Pop! "Well, (who asks for leave) can I not write a diary?" Me: "Yes, but I can't go out to play." B: Pop! "This, (don't see) can you not write a diary?" Me: "Yes, but others don't believe it." C: Pop! "Then this (I just don't write) can I not write a diary?" Me: "Domineering side show!" Although the countermeasures were conceived in my mind, there was still an illusion of anxiety in the narrow car, as if an invisible breath was further compressing my fishing space. "Perhaps it is really an illusion?" The frown muscles on the forehead seemed to feel the sleepy brain, which made the thinking become confused and began to exert a little force. My living space had been squeezed to the limit since the three beautiful teachers got on the bus. At this moment, my knees were resting on the driver’s seat, and my head had to be tilted to the side to avoid intimate contact with the roof. The heavy down jacket also made my uncomfortable body slightly hot and dry. Go ahead. ... "Puff!" Feeling the crystal clear white snow on my face, I knew that the idiot who stepped on the left foot just now was actually myself... I vaguely felt that some tourists were aware of my performance. I straightened my waist, touched my hands, and then touched my head, muttering a few words: "It doesn't seem to hurt to fall." Then I slowly got up. A joke, can scholar's affairs be called wrestling? That's a test! Real knowledge comes from practice! It is a down-to-earth model! In order to support this conclusion, after skiing a few times, I was no longer satisfied with the gentler intermediate ski trails. The swelling passion and radiant dopamine tempted me step by step to advanced ski trails like a beautiful woman. When I walked, I was also tempted by the animal instinct that grew freely in my chest, which was a primitive instinct full of blood, violence, and the pursuit of pleasure. (The halfway point of the advanced ski trail was a big turn, but I don’t think I was able to turn from the drain, so I started from the intermediate ski trail to the advanced ski trail halfway. I won’t talk about the process anymore, and I felt bad. (ó﹏ò｡) There was a pile of snow in the clothes, which was soaking wet) I seemed to recall the ski poles from 20 meters away. The violent chill had receded a little bit, but then she galloped more violently, getting bigger and faster, and she was impatient. The cable car in front of me reached the starting point of the intermediate path and the end of my journey. I took a look at the time, and it was 3:45. "It looks like it's the last time." The zygomatic major muscles had begun to lose control and become more ostentatious, but the brain did not want to control it, but almost eagerly pleaded, "Go down, and savor! Savor this vertical and horizontal pleasure!” At night, rheumatoid arthritis said "I'll come in and sit down, it's okay." The next day, I didn’t go to class because I asked for leave, but I wrote my diary... ヽ(≧Д≦)ノ |  感傷/すばらしい 恍惚间，光与影的界限已经被抹去，炽热的霜雪一寸寸的侵占着我的肌肤。“我知道的，我看见她了……” 细密的雪花不知何时带上了锋锐的棱角，她正贪婪的舔舐着我裸露在外的眼睑，野性的，优雅的，不可抗拒的，包容万象的，正如她扼住春的喉咙那般，此时此刻，她已悄然将我拥抱。 形影相吊的缆车在她的注视下随风摇曳，这已经是缆车第二次停下脚步，似是受到了威慑，感到了恐慌，原本冰冷的机械设备竟慢慢滋生出了踌躇…“这破公司不搞个全封闭缆车也就算了，它半路还停下来吹风＊#%^＊，”脸颊上的口罩已全是汗与雪的倩影，湿咸的味觉在我抱怨的时候绕上了舌尖……感觉在吃老冰棍。同行的游客似乎听到了些许沉闷的嘟囔，扭过头，透过深色的护目镜看了一眼身旁瑟瑟发抖的初学者，嗤笑了一声又继续和同伴诉说着自己的激情。我已经没空搭理他了，刺骨的寒意已经已经从四肢开始蔓延开来，我摘下已经湿透的手套，不知为何竟感觉手上的液体有些粘稠，就像一只只张狂的生物顽强的依附在我的表皮上，搜刮着骨髓中仅存的热量。朦胧间烟白色的雾气再次弥漫开来，诚惶诚恐的缆车得到了久违的遮羞布开始缓慢前行，缓缓的，缓缓的，如同一位行将就木的老人，在苍白的天国之路中缓缓的回忆着自己的一生…… 巳时，零零散散的阳光透过百叶窗的隙间映照出了一位正在沉思的学生。 A：“正经人谁写日记啊，你写吗（B）？” B：“我不写。” A：“你写吗（C）？” C：“写了日记还能叫正经人吗？” ABC:“下贱（干杯）(￣∇￣)” 我：“可是老师请客…怕是来者不善啊。” A：啪！“这个，（请假条）能不写日记吗？” 我：“能，但是不能出去玩。” B：啪！“这个，（没看到）能不写日记吗？” 我：“能，但是别人不信。” C：啪！“那这个（我就是不写）能不写日记吗？” 我：“霸气侧露！” 虽是在脑海中构思好了对策，但在狭隘的车上还是有种惶惶不安的错觉，仿佛有一股无形的气息正在将我的摸鱼空间进一步压缩。“或许真的是错觉？”前额上的皱眉肌似乎感到了困顿的大脑使得思路变得混乱开始微微发力。自从三位柳亸花娇的老师上车后我的生存空间就已经被挤压到了极限。此刻的我膝盖顶着驾驶位的座椅，头不得不歪向一边以免和车顶亲密接触，厚重的羽绒服也使得本就不适的身躯染上了些许燥热，“算了不想了，先睡一觉吧。” ……（绯红之王！） “噗！”感受着脸上晶莹剔透的白雪，我就知道刚才那个左脚踩右脚的笨逼竟是我自己……隐约中似乎感觉到有游客察觉到了我的表演，我挺起腰，摸了摸手，又摸了摸头，嘟囔了几句：“看起来摔的不疼。”就慢慢爬了起来。笑话，学者的事情能叫摔跤吗？那叫测验！是实践出真知！是脚踏实地的典范！而为了佐证这一结论，在滑了几次后我已经不满足于较为平缓的中级滑雪道了，膨胀的激情与四射的多巴胺如同一位为窈窕佳人一般一步步诱惑着我向高级滑雪道走去，也诱惑出了我胸腔中肆意增生的兽性，那是一种充满了血腥，暴力，追求快感的原始本能。（高级滑雪道半程是一个大弯，但我自认不会排水渠过弯所以是从中级滑雪道走到高级滑雪道的半程那里开始的，过程也不说了，摔得老惨了(ó﹏ò｡)衣服里面还装了一堆雪，全湿透了） 似乎是回忆起了20几米外的滑雪杖，狂暴的寒意竟稍稍退了少许，可旋即又以更加猛烈的姿态驰骋，越来越大，越来越快，她急不可耐了。眼前的缆车已经到了中级滑雪道的起点，也是我这趟旅途的终点。看了一眼时间，3:45。“看起来是最后一趟了。”颧大肌已经开始失去控制变得更加张扬，大脑却不想着加以管控而是近乎饥渴的发出恳求“下去，然后品味！”品味这纵横的愉悦！ 夜，老寒腿：“我就进来坐坐，没事儿。” 第二天因为请假没去上课还是把日记写了……。ヽ(≧Д≦)ノ  |
Jason
 | Today we planned to go skiing. The weather was not very good and it was raining. Yesterday we bought equipment such as sunglasses, hats, gloves and clothes. In the morning, my mother and I drove, and the road conditions were relatively smooth, but after entering the mountain, there was some snow and some fog on the roadside, so we drove very slowly to ensure safety. When we arrived at the parking lot, we changed our clothes, joined Maria and the others, and rented shoes and snowboards. It had been snowing on the mountain. After we got on our equipment, we took the cable car up the mountain. The snow was getting heavier and heavier, and it cut my face. When we reached the top of the mountain, we felt that the slope of the mountain was too trembly going down. We practiced on flat ground after going down the mountain, but the snow was getting heavier and heavier, so we decided to go home. There was a bit of congestion on the way home. It was dark and the road was not easy to drive, so the drive home took longer. I was out of steam by the end, but this was also my first time skiing, so I think it will be an unforgettable experience. |
Lucas
A few days ago, we went to Cypress. Although I had the time of my life, I almost died. More than three times. It all started at the lobby. We were just walking into the rental room, and it was so hot in there. My sister also put all her things into my bag so it was overwhelmingly heavy. Thanks to her, just from the long wait in line, I burnt out a good 1000 calories. After a while, the line was finally over. I was already sweating. We rented out the ski boots, and sat on the bench to put them on. It was fairly easy for me to do, but a few others had a bunch of trouble trying to wear them. After we finished wearing the boots, we went for the skis. The skis were a lot easier for everyone to wear, and so we wore them and went outside into the snow. It was frosty. With every breath I took, I was able to feel the cold air entering my throat. On the flat plain land of snow, moving was pretty easy. Since I had skiing classes about 3-5 years ago, I was actually pretty confident. We took a group photo, and quickly hurried to a bunny hill. Through the misty air, we were not able to really see anything. Everything was pretty much blurred and not a lot of things were within the range of sight. We stood in the line as we waited for the people in front of us to go up the ski lifts. It was finally our turn. We got on the ski lift and took off. On top of the mountain, I felt more nervous. I saw the slope of the mountain, and I was tense because of it. After building up a little confidence, I took off. At first, everything was pretty smooth. I was going at a steady pace, not too fast, not too slow. This is where I started to gain momentum. Mid-way through the ski course, I fell. It was really painful. I quite literally flipped over. It all happened so quickly. I simultaneously flipped over, rolled onto my side, and rolled an extra one metre down the hill. My mask fell off, and so did both my skis. Luckily for me though, there was a coach who was coaching other little kids that seemed younger than me. He taught me how to get back up on my feet and get the skis back on. It really helped me, and I somehow survived. Then, I sent it again. Fell with the same exact momentum, and the same damage. I got up, and sent it again. Same results, except this time, I made it to the bottom and I crashed into someone. It was really embarrassing to fall at the end of the hill with everyone waiting in the line for the ski lift. After I got up, I waited for the others. I found them in the line again after a while. Then, I went again. On the ski lift, the snowflakes sliced my cheeks. They felt like piercing little paper cuts. Once I got up, I felt more confident this time, because now, there was someone who was teaching me how to ski. I went down the hill and managed to somewhat gain control this time, and the falls weren’t as painful anymore. They didn’t really hurt, but every fall was a confidence killer. After about three more lifts, we went back. The freezing cold air was just too much to take. We went back to the rental place and got undressed. I felt weak. I tried taking my gloves off, but wasn't able to really even manage that. I was officially freezing. We went down to the bench and tried to get redressed. Everything was cold. Everywhere from my head to toes. I wasn’t able to feel my ears, hands nor my legs. I got my ski gear off, and I noticed that my shirt and pants were wet. I quickly changed my shirt and took off my ski pants. I didn’t have backups for my pants so I had to deal with it. I took off my gear and squeezed my gloves. Quite literally a whole two litres of water leaked out of my gloves. It honestly astonished me how bad the quality of the ski gloves were. If someone who goes skiing with your ski gloves, and they can squeeze out like two litres of water, you know there’s something wrong with the quality. We went back to my mom’s friend (Candy) that brought us here and we got into her car. She brought us back to her house. I took off my wet socks and tried to warm up my feet there. She ordered food for us, so we ate and we went home after my mom picked us up. That night, I was freezing, but we thank Nate’s mom for driving us and getting us food!
Tiffany
On December 22, 2021 my mom picked up my brother and I. As we were packing up, we didn’t have much time left, so instead, we just got pairs of beanies and a top in our backpack. When we got in the car and my mom was about to head out, my brother forgot to bring his gloves and beanie, so my mom went in to go get his beanie and his gloves. She came back outside with my brother’s beanie and gloves. My brother told me that he will use my beanie instead because he was too lazy to open up the beanie, so I agreed. As we drove off, my mom told us that we weren’t able to get any food because we were running late and she didn’t want to waste any time left. After 20 minutes in the car without anything to eat or drink, we got to Nate’s house. My mom was very busy with work, so that’s why she sent us to Nate’s house. Nate’s mom drove us to Cypress in around 1 hour and 25 minutes and I took a great sleep. I put all my stuff in my brother’s backpack, which probably made him very tired because my stuff was very heavy. When we got to Cypress, I saw Anna, Claire, Maria, Chiyan, Kim, Yubo, and Rain. Maria,Anna,my brother (Lucas), me, and Yubo went to the rental place. When I got my ski boots, they were actually not that hard to put on. It took me 2 tries until I was able to actually stick my feet into the boots. Then I went to go get my skiboards. They told me to take off one of the boots so they could measure the size. It was very hard for me to take off at least one of the boots. I had to call Anna to come and help me and Anna couldn’t take it off, so even the person from the rental place came to help me and when I got it off, I gave it to the person. I had to put my boot back on. Then I went to go get my ski sticks and I went outside to go find Claire. When I found her, all the others in the rental place came out. Maria asked a guy if he could take a group photo for us and he said yes, when we got to the bunny hill. We went up the ski lift, and on top of the bunny hill I saw 5-6 cannons look-alike, but I didn’t really know what they were so when I was back to skiing, at first everything was all good but soon after, I wasn’t able to gain control of the skis. I began to go uncontrollably fast and there was no way I knew how to stop, so I used my back to stop the ski from moving. Luckily, Anna came to help me get up but it felt like I was twisting my leg and I wasn’t able to get up, so instead, Anna taught me how to get up. Still, I wasn’t, so Anna told me that I should take my skis off and get up then put my skis back on, but I asked her what if I slip, and then she told me that I won’t, so I trusted her and I got back up then started skiing again. Anna taught me how to ski, but I still fell another two times. I started to gain a little bit of control, but still fell. On my second fall, I literally used my back to ski because I was so tired and my gloves started getting wet, so my hand was getting really cold from it. On the bottom, I was really scared to go again, but Maria told me to remember “pizza” for my skis so it would be safer. We went up the ski lift again for the second time. On top, I was scared, but I still went since there was no other way to go down instead of skiing down. As I went, I was using pizza for my ski and it actually made me not fall for once. I was gaining control, but when I saw my brother ski, I was chuckling and I told him that he could do it just if he didn’t start losing control. This time, I did not fall and I was actually really proud. For the third one it was basically just the same, I used the pizza method and did not fall at all. As we were heading back, I saw Claire,Maria,Eddie and his mother were heading up the ski lift again and I asked Claire what they were doing, and Claire told me that they were going one more time because Eddie and his mother didn’t really go for once because they were kind of scared. I asked if I could come with them but I wasn’t able to put my ski back on and I didn’t really know why. So Claire headed back with me to the rental place to return the things. Then I changed my clothing since it was all wet and my gloves were soaking wet. I took them off, but I felt like it was so hard for me because my hands were freezing that it felt like I wasn’t even able to move them at all. I didn’t really change my pants since I didn’t bring a pair of them since the rental place didn’t have any change rooms for me to even change my pants, and that was a little disappointing. As my brother and I were heading back, we saw Nate and his mom outside, so we all walked back to the car and it was very cold. I even got my socks wet while walking because the streets were full of snow and water. When we got to the car, the doors were locked, so we waited for Nate’s mom to head back to the car so we could get in. When we were heading back to Nate’s, I took a nap in the car, but when I woke up I wasn’t able to go back to sleep because I wasn’t tired anymore. So when we got to Nate’s house, I changed my socks into some dry ones. Nate’s mom (Candy) got us sushi and my mom came back to pick us up. Then we headed home. Thanks to Nate’s mom for picking us up and buying food for us!
