The Displaced New Mexican

Fun with white powder

The Erasmus Student Network, a group of Dortmund students who work on the "social integration" of exchange students, organized a trip to Willingen, in Sauerland, to go skiing, or otherwise play in the snow. The main group left at 9:30, but a smaller group of us left earlier at 8:somthin'. The day started out looking like it would be a bummer. The lines at the ski rental shops took about two hours, only at the end of which it was revealed that snowboards were no longer available. They day was getting late, and the skiers had almost given up on skiing at all (I was not planning to ski in any case, choosing my role as quasi-offical photographer over outright-dangerous fleshball fitted with hard sharp objects tumbling down a mountain). Out of boredom and curiosity the group headed toward the slopes, discovering one last rental shop with two remaining snowboards. Maja and Mikko swooped upon them, only to find out that there were no shoes to fit the Finn. No matter, though, he opted to try a pair of those short, fat ski boards, or whatever they are called. Next step: Lift tickets. As if summoned from a the heavens, a group of Brits? Ozzies? English speakers, whatever their particular national persuasion was, surrounded us asking: "Are you guys going skiing? You want our day passes? We're done anyway." *BLING* Four free passes. A great spoon was heard stirring sugar into the lemon juice the day had so forth poured into our glass. Alexia joined the skier group, actually opting for those old-fashioned things. The kids made several runs and I took several pictures, when I wasn't covering my camera in my coat to protect it from the rain. Here are three of them.

Maja showing us how she can shred. You gotta give her extra points for keeping that smile on her face the whole time.

Okay, so not all hot-dog jumps end in perfect 10 landings.

Look out! It's Papa Smurf, and he's coming right for us! Oh, wait, that's just a French girl. But she's still coming right for us!