Skiing photos

Ok, finally get to upload my skiing photos! Pardon the long wait.... we took over a 100 pix so it took a while to get them sorted out. Till-date, skiing has been the most challenging sport that I´ve ever tried out. Its also the most exhilarating! Can´t believe it took me 26 years before trying out this sport. But as they say, better late than never! We went skiing with a grp of abt 40 people and I was one of 3 who didn´t have any prior skiing experience.... ok, save for the Canada half-day ski course 6 yrs ago....

This time, we got a private instructor for myself and I had an average of about 2-3 hrs of private skiing classes for 4 days. It was so fruitful that my ski instructor brought me to the red and blue slopes on the 3rd day. My first day up there was really scary! I felt my knees trembling and I could barely stand up properly upon seeing the steep slopes.

I really had this sinking feeling that I would make a wrong move and end up skiing off the mountain! It took all the courage I had to remain standing and keep moving.... The weather didn´t help much either, since it was snowing and the wind was blowing very badly. However, I kept praying and claiming God´s promises on my life, repeating to myself that I can´t die on the slopes, since God is still not done with my life yet..... Yup, so scared I was..... My ski instructor was the best....He really pushed me and when he knew that I was too frightened to ski down the last steep slope, he held out his ski poles and skiied backwards while I skiied in front of him.....

Yup, this is an experience that I really felt God´s presence...well, I guess more like when I look back on it and feel like "boy! How on earth did I manage to go down the slopes?!?". It was also a time when I had to learn to stop comparing myself to others and keep feeling inferior that everybody else could ski except me! Like, there´s not even any basis of comparison since Singapore simply doesn´t have any winter and one has to be rich enough to afford a skiing holiday in Australia, Japan or South Korea....

But yah, it didn´t stop me from being depressed and discouraged during the first 2 days of my ski trip when everybody else went up to the big slopes and I had to stay on the baby slope to learn my skills properly..... I likened it to the rest being Moses called to be on the holy hill of God and I was like the rest of the Israelites who were waiting on the bottom of the hill....

On the 3rd day when I finally went to the top of the big slope, I was SOOO happy! It was like I could go up the mountain of God to meet God! However, I felt so intimidated by the slopes and weather etc....Stephan likened it to "seeing the promised land" and being terrified of the giants.... It helped that I managed to up the slopes with a bunch of 4-6 year olds.....

This was the view from our room - the Italian Alps! We stayed in this amazing ski hut that was SOO like a hotel! The toilet, kitchen, room facilities were all new and functioning so well! The 380€ we paid for 5 days-accomodation, breakfast and dinner was SO worth it!

Those were my first 2 days, when I was learning how to ski on the Barney hill...My ski instructor was an ex-Italian-National-Skiing-Team member and has been teaching skiing for the past 40 yrs! So when he said that I was one of the best students that he has ever taught, I was really beaming with happiness!!! Ok....I doubted him (thinking that as a teacher, it´s his job to compliment his students), but realized that he meant it when he brought me up to the big slopes on the 3rd day.

Our skiing coupley photos.....Love how my beanie looks in his hat and glasses.....!

Those were the children I went skiing with on the last day....aren´t they so cute? Children are seriously fearless! It was their first time on the big slopes and they had no problem with the height of the mountains! It was good motivation for myself too, since I would have felt embarrassed, if they were able to ski downhill and I wouldn´t have been able to....so yah! My last day was the best ever!

The beautiful Alps

Love the angle of this photo and the model too!

Friends we went skiing with....

The breathtaking Alps!!!!! Until next year again

All the Germans who were part of the trip...notice I was the only non-German. We´re not there, because we left 2 days earlier and this pix was only taken on the last day of the trip.