Saturday, March 24, 2012

A Minor Miracle

....occurred today.

I went skating. And I didn't fall down. That, as far as I am concerned was a small miracle. I know that almost everyone in Finland can skate almost as well as they can walk, but I have very little skating experience and have only been skating three times in the last ten years.  As you can imagine it is not my strongest point.

Luckily for me I had been invited to go though with our vet Liisa who is a very good skater. She can do jumps and spins and all sorts of impressive stuff. I can do nothing.  It was an opportunity I couldn't refuse.

To be honest I was pretty terrified. I have so little skating experience and I didn't fancy the idea of spending an hour falling over on the ice. In actual fact though Liisa was a great teacher.  She held my hand (literally) until I managed to keep my balance and eventually I managed to get round a few times.

Liisa with an impressive jump
I have no skating talent whatsoever, but it was a lot of fun, and I would love to go again.  Unfortunately the rink is now closing for the summer, and the next skating sessions in Somero will be in September. Still, that's my fault for starting a winter sport at the start of summer.


Liisa skating properly


Me holding on to the side
Thank you Liisa for your patience, I had a great afternoon and hope that we can go again when the rink next opens in September.  (And thank you also to Minna at the rink who very kindly took the photo of the two of us!)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Skiing is more easy than skating, I am sure, You learn skiing easily duoring next winter.
Kyösti

Stephanie Silvan said...

Oh my god, I've been trying to teach myself skating all winter long, but I didn't have a teacher so it went pretty badly. I didn't fall down, but I spent lot of time being scared to death and unable to move! I think I'm a lost case, though! But I'm very proud that I tried despite being the only grown-up in Somero who couldn't skate - or so I thought. I will definitely try again next year. And a shame I missed the indoors skating times, I never knew there's a time slot for private people.

Anonymous said...

We must stress on the word ALMOST when speaking about skating skills.. There was a period of seven years when my sons played hockey. In that ice hall we had an annual match the sons versus the fathers and I was not on the ninth cloud when that game approached!At least skating in reverse order and fast turns were tricky and I was sure the next day would offer me pain in ankles and thighs!However, it was fun...
Heikki

jodymerelle said...

Stephanie I am also frustrated that the skating season is over..I will have forgotten everything I learnt yesterday by then. Why don't you come skating with us when the ice hall opens again? Maybe Heikki can come to pick us up when we fall over?

Anonymous said...

Let's see how things will fall out...but maybe it's me who needs to be supported on that ice! :-)

Heikki