Skiing Adventure

Hi Everyone,

Well, I am still in Arizona, enjoying my time with my family! I should hear this week if I am going to be spending the next 1-2 years in Peru. They said I should know something by Wednesday or the end of this week. The website for the organization I have been interviewing with is at the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children.

Just last week I had my first skiing experience (and tubing). In reality, it was the first time I had ever been in that much snow. One of my good friends, Natasha, is a ski instructor in Breckenridge, Colorado. So we took a few days and went up there to learn to ski and play in the snow. She started me off in the children's area and taught me to stop, turn, etc. They do this by having a type of carpet that drags you to the top of a small hill then teaching you the techniques as you go down the hill. After I was comfortable with the basic skills we made our way to the chair lift (which for me was actually more nerve wracking than the skiing itself!) Tasha held my hand when we jumped off the lift and I didn't fall or anything. We made our way down the mountain in stages the first trip down and went back for more a few times after! I made it down a few different runs without falling once during the entire day! For those of you who know how clumsy I can be, that really is quite impressive. We skied all day and ended right before they closed, by then my legs were extremely sore and my calves were shaking from the strain. Natasha said that's fairly normal for someone who has never skied before, but even after spending a few rounds in a hot tub over the next few days my legs ended up being sore for about 4 days! We also tried out tubing which I did not enjoy as much. The spinning motion of the tube going down the mountain did not make me feel so great.

I also got to see my cousin Chris and his wife and baby (who is now 2!) which was great. It's been a few years since the last time I have seen him and his wife is getting ready to have another baby. Their son is adorable though.

The city was beautiful though and the mountains made for fantastic scenery. We even got extremely lucky with the weather with an average of 40 F and sunshine every day. We did get stuck in the airport on the way out of Denver due to some extremely incompetent people at United. What started off as a software update went to them losing our pilots, deboarding us, trying to get new pilots, and after hours of waiting finally rescheduling our flight for the next morning. Unfortunately, by the time they decided to do that it was so late that we got 2 hours of sleep before our flight went.

I will keep everyone updated on my job and location status.... sending much love to all. Hope 2011 is treating you well.