Monday, March 31, 2008

Plan C: Uploading Pictures

Like I've mentioned before, it takes forever to upload picutures onto Blogger because it has to be done one picture at a time. I already put pictures on Facebook and finally (I think) figured out how to get a link for those of you who do not have Facebook accounts. So click on these links and let me know if they work.

This is the beginning of Mom and Dad's visit including Landeck, Innsbruck, and some of Venice:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=25913493&k=Z6C43XR54XVM5CCBYE45PR

This is the rest of Venice and then Vienna, Austria:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=25913493&k=Z2FU5YQ4P4VM5CCBYE45PR

This is Bratislava, Slovakia and Mannheim, Germany with our family:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=25913493&k=YXAX3XQ5V64M5CCBYE45PR

So, hopefully this finally works so the rest of you can see photos but I don't spend my whole life uploding them!

My slight but growing feelings of homesickness have subsided somewhat after a rousing weekend with friends. On Friday I invited Johanna to go to see the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Innsbruck, a festival that shows all sorts of outdoor adventure films. When I was at Western, I went and saw it with friends every year. One film shown this year, The Endless Knot, with Conrad Anker, showed the Khumbu Climbing School that trains Sherpas to be more skilled for porting and guiding in the Himalayas. The Sherpas sang the song 'Ice, Ice, Baby' by Vanilla Ice but changed the lyrics to talk about the school and training. This immediatly reminded me of the ice climbing trips with the Outdoor Center that I went on. Deborah and I thought of the same song and then I ended up making up some new words for it (before The Endless Knot was filmed I might add). It went like this:

"Ice ice baby..dun dun dun dundalunda..."Yo Debo let's kick it/Ice ice baby (x2)/All right stop collaborate and climb it/OC is back with a brand new excursion/This fat ice grabs a hold of me tightly /Flow with my ice tools daily and nightly /Will it ever stop yo I don't know/Put me on belay and I'll go /To the extreme I rock these crampons like a vandal..."

Afterward we went to the birthday party of a friend of hers and danced the night away. The next moring I helped her correct some of her students' essays for English and then headed home. In the afternoon I had another friend over, Raphi. We went for a walk in the beautiful warm weather ( got to wear my Chacos, but still a long sleeve shirt) then I cooked dinner, we made chocolate chip cookies, and watched The 6th Sense in German.

After about a week of crazy winter weather and lots of snow again, it has finally started to feel like spring. Yesterday I went on one of my beloved run-hikes where I run as much as I can to a trail and then slow to a hike once it gets steep. (Allie, this is the trail you and I hiked on and turned around at the frozen waterfall crossing the trail. I was able to go further this time.) It was so warm, I laid down in the one grassy outcropping for a half an hour, just in my shorts and tank top and just enjoyed the sun. I was so exhausted afterwards, but it was beautiful and refreshing. In the evening I got to talk to a couple friends on Skype who I haven't gotten to talk to in a long time, so that was great. Then I managed to get into bed in time to get 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, I don't have any proof, so I'm sure none of you will believe me.

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