Still learning

This past weekend, I learned I am not a skier. I didn’t know this before because I’ve never tried. Always meant to, though. AAA in Michigan had a deal where you could pay $40 for a half day of lessons and then an unlimited lift pass for the rest of the day. It was only good certain Saturdays in March or something, but it never lined up that I could do it.

A colleague in Ankara tried to plan a last-minute ski trip to some city near Armenia that starts with an E, but since it was a school holiday the flights were pricey and we decided it would be too crowded. (Aside: Turkey sure borders a lot of other countries.)

Another colleague, one here, wanted to do something this past weekend so when I mentioned that I’d been considering going skiing, I guess she asked around because the next thing I know, she’d found yet another colleague (we have lots of colleagues and in general, there’s someone who wants to do something every weekend) who was going skiing in Bursa, which is only three hours from here.

Istanbul has a new bridge that cuts off a long drive around water that has chopped down the time to get to so some cities, but it’s an expensive bridge – like $30 – to cross. This means that at 7 a.m., you have it to yourself. It also means that the driver of the car is really happy to have someone to split bills with.

Bursa is in the Mount Olympus area, though no one we met could point to a specific mountain and say yes, that’s where Zeus hung out. The elevation of the national park there, Uludag (the “g” is the one you don’t pronounce, so it sounds like “Ulu-dah” is about 2500 meters and there was snow on  the ground, so getting up the twisty windy mountain in the car was a little dicey, but really not too bad.

The place was packed but it was a great way to spend a day. Also, it was fairly cheap as far as skiing goes. I mean, the meal was incredibly overpriced (I think I paid $10 for a Coke, white rice and lentil soup) but the skis and boots cost $10 to rent and then a 4-hour lift pass was maybe $25. The “all day” one was maybe $45.

My two colleagues did well on that. Since I needed a lesson, I spent a bit more, but it was a private lesson. However, since I speak no Turkish and the instructor spoke no English, it was a fairly useless lesson. Once in a while, I was clear he was trying to convey something to me, but I couldn’t ask why I needed to do such a thing, like hold the “batons” this way, jump or shift my weight one way or another. (It wouldn’t have been to turn – we didn’t make it that far in the lesson.)

What I learned in that hour amounted to this: as much as I can see the draw of skiing for some people, it’s not something that thrills my soul. I think I would like snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, but I didn’t like the idea of barreling down a hill.

Not that I made it that far. I never even got the lift ticket. After the hour lesson, I kept going back up the little slope to try to practice slow and stop. (Not to mention starting.) I’d trudge up the little slope maybe 20 yards, look down at the little paths between the scores of fellow skiers and think, “Wait, this isn’t even fun. Why am I trying to do this?”

Honestly, it freaked me out quite a bit. Maybe that’s normal, but even beyond that, I just didn’t get it. I’m not a speed thrills kind of person. I like seeing the sights: diving is awesome, I hiked Tiger’s Nest, and my favorite part of skydiving was looking around God’s creation after the chute opened. Just didn’t get skiing, though I am glad I tried it. I would be interested in cross-country skiing, though, and wonder if there’s a place around here where I could try it.

This week is already awful at work, but Friday evening I head off for the first leave I’ll have taken since I arrived at post. In 2016, I used a whopping two days of leave so I need to start burning time so I don’t go into “use or lose.” I’m more of a long weekend type of person than a weeks-long vacationer, and I like it that way – quick getaways to recharge.

But this is a full week, so of course I’m staying on the go and not just sitting in one place all week. I leave Friday night and arrive in Muscat at 2 a.m. Supposed to meet up with a friend at 8 a.m. (I won’t even have checked into the hotel) to hike that day then go to dinner, and the following day I’m scheduled to dive. I figure by Monday I’ll be ready to chill at the beach or see a movie, then Tuesday I head over to Dubai. Haven’t planned that far ahead to know what I’ll do, but on Saturday – or maybe it’s Friday --- I have to go to Abu Dhabi because that’s where my flight leaves from.

There’s still some planning to do – like everything after Muscat – but I have my hotels booked and paid for already. It’s an expensive area of the world, so I tried to pay some off in advance so I could be free to actually, you know, be able to afford to eat while I am there.