Today was both the best and worst day we had at Schladming. In the morning we went Rodelling (sleding). That was awesome. We went on a 7.5 km Rodelbahn, and it took about 45 minutes to get all the way down. I went head first (i seriously do not suggest this!), now remember seeing the sleding on the tellie, where the people dress up in the skin tight suits and fly down the ice track at about 100 km. Ok, well lets recap here. First of all, i had no cool suit (ok sure, no big loss). But what must be recognised is that the cool suit incorporates a HELMET! This is a seriously good idea. Secondly, the tracks that they go down are flat. No bumps. I mean, even if i did have a helmet, there was no way i was coming out of there without internal bleeding. However....... It was good fun all the same, although i was by myself, which is not nearly as fast or easy as with two people, anyways.
Now id like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Anthony. Anthony is one of the Australian exchange students. Hes from somewhere in NSW, we never really got a straight answer out of him, but ill tell you about that later. Anthony is a good bloke, dont get me wrong, hes happy by himself, but gets on really well with the South Americans and loves to party, and is always up for a laugh. Anthony, however, is a little different. Haha, that didnt sound good. Nah, he has to be the hardest person to understand in the world. We met him at the language camp and werent sure if he was Austrian or Australian, seriously! The Rotary people over here ask us to translate what he says......into english! Haha, nah but we were all having a great time rodelling, and we walked back to the lodge afterwards. Then, all sitting around over a game of cards, Anthony throws open the door and flies in, really excited, in fact, over the moon. 'Whats up Tone?' i asked, 'ah nothin much mate', good good. I look down and anthony has half a snowboard boot on. I mean, the inside of a snowboard boot. But the laces, tongue, toe, everything else missing, he had the plastic shell on his foot. Completely unphased by this situation, Anthony turned on his heels and went for a shower. It turned out he had lost it rodelling. I mean, how is it that you lose a boot? When your steering with your feet, you would tend to notice! Haha, but the next day was funnier, seeing him strap in a sandshoe into a snowboard binding, haha! But thats Tone Dogs for you!
It was also the worst day because it was the day when Justin broke his arm. We were skiing along, he snowboards, and i went off piste a little and said id meet him at the bottom, the rest of the group was waiting there and he didnt come. Fifteen minutes passed, so i ran back up to see what was going on. Hes a good snowboarder but had just fallen akwardly on a flatish slope, as he said, we would have to tell everyone that he did it pulling some sick air off a 50 m jump!! haha. But there was some good come out of the situation (well at least for me, haha, how selfish!). I got an excellent ride in an ambulance, and the other thing was that we had a big darts game planned for that night. This was a darts game of mammoth proportions, huge! However, when i saw him walking down the hill carrying his right arm, i asked what hand he threw darts with. 'Right' he said. Haha, he still wiped the floor with me, with his left hand!
Paz