Today was the first day of skiing. Usually, the first morning is a little slow ndash; instructors are trying to make sure that if you enrolled yourself into a group, say 2A, your skill level is good enough and you won “t slow down the rest of the skiers in your group.

The instructor starts asking everyone to introduce themselves and I made an interesting observation ndash; most of the people are naming the country they “re from 
 “I “m from Italy rdquo;, “I “m from Brasil rdquo;, etc. But us, Americans name either the city or the state we “re from, “I “m from New York rdquo;, “I “m from Pennsylvania rdquo; as if the rest of the world is expected to know that Pennsylvania is in the USA. I was not better than others and proudly announced, “I “m from New Joisy rdquo;.

Today I decided to take an iPhone with me. Why not skiing while listening to the music? Right before the vacation I “ve loaded my iPhone with a bunch of music and podcasts hellip; I got off the lift chair, turned on Jesus Christ Superstar, and started going down the slope anticipating fun and new experience. To my surprise, the tracks from the album didn “t play smooth and the sound was jerky as if it was an old LP played with a worn out needle. Man, I couldn “t believe Steve Jobs decided to make the listening experience that natural so when a person is jumping the music would do it too hellip; I wonder if the tracks were damaged by iTones? Besides, the water was condensing on the iPhone “s glass hellip;I guess, it “s a bad idea to take the iPone on the slope.

The slopes in the USA are marked as green (the easiest), blue and black. Here in France, they are green (easy), blue (the same difficulty as blue in the USA), red (more difficult), and black. Today we were skiing blue and red slopes.

Some of the slopes were pretty high ndash; about 3000 meters (9000 feet), and our hotel is 1800 meters above the see level. Victor said that in such high altitude we should drink more water and avoid alcohol. I “m so glad that beer and wine in France are not considered alcohol ndash; people just drink it.

There were four Germans in our group and we made a short stop on the slope. Apparently, one of the Germans wanted to pee after lunch (unlimited beer was available in the restaurant). Without thinking twice, he made several steps away from the group and took a leak right on the shiny white powder. Isn “t it a sign of real democracy where people are so free that they are not shy and easily do #1 in front of other people? So far I “ve seen people openly peeing by a highway in Israel, people peeing on the streets in India, now I had a chance to learn that Germans don “t have breaks either. So far I can state that there are three real democracies in the world: India, Israel and Germany.

If people in your country enjoy peeing on the streets, please drop me a line.

At 4:30PM we “ve returned back to the hotel. In the ski room I ran into a sad looking woman. I asked, “Can I help you? rdquo; She explained that they were taking a private lesson with her husband, and instructor told them to go to a bus stop in one of the small ski towns. The instructor and herself met at the bus stop, but her husband never showed up. This woman kept saying, rdquo;I lost my husband, I lost my husband! rdquo; I told her to relax as her husband would definitely find the way to get to the hotel. She “s so na iuml;ve hellip;It “s not so easy to lose ones spouse. Literally impossible.

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