The Breaking Point

December 13, 2013

10:30 Grenoble, France.

2:30 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Sitting here in a little café now. I tried to take the bus at 7:30 this morning that heads to alpe-d’huez and it doesn’t leave until 10:30. So disappointed. Heading to Grenoble wasn’t as good of an idea as I had thought. The mountain of Les Deux Alpes is pretty decent. Still has ice but that’s to be expected when it’s this warm here and no snow in the forecast. So today I head to Thun where I will meet my next host. He sounds pretty sweet. A very outgoing swiss guy who has stood by my indecisiveness. I didn’t want to head to the Interlaken area until it got more snow but I would rather not spend another moment in France. I really do dislike this place and the culture shock has gotten the best of me. Culture shock slowly creeps up on you when you least expect it. I’m trying to keep an open mind, I’m trying to not make excuses and just get out there but it’s a lot to handle. Culture shock makes you want to go home and just forget about the rest of the trip, it makes you hate where you are and just close yourself off completely. Coming to a country without any language to communicate is hard to bare. Lessons being learned every day. Of course it’s common sense and blah blah blah. But give me a break I at least thought there would be some English, even at the resorts. Nope. I feel bad when I can’t speak to people and they look at me expecting me to say something. I just smile, nod, say “yea”, chuckle. Or say no French. And the attempted start of a conversation ended before it even started. I feel like a rude American. But I can’t even do anything to help it. Next time I’ll be more prepared. I’ll be sticking to the German speaking countries for the rest of my trip. Try to open myself up more and speak more German. I’m at least more comfortable with that. With that said and over with. I’m starting a new page. Going to start training a bit harder. Try to practice the pencil line carve more, and get comfortable with more speed. The only way I’ll have that pencil line carve is to remember what my teacher taught me. Another thing I have to start learning to do more is to be happy with the moment and stop looking forward to the future. I keep seeing a recurring pattern where I end up not fully content on the now in hopes that the future will bring more happiness. When I should just be content with the now. When I was in Canada on my road trip to Whistler, Sun peaks, Big White and Revelstoke; I had terrible conditions at Whistler and 4 powder days once I left. I thought Europe might be better but I was also afraid that it could be like whistler. I told myself thins will be better in Europe. Now I’m telling myself I can’t wait for Colorado hoping things will be better there. Even Looking towards next season already. Always looking to the future. I feel it has to stop. Got to make due with what’s at hand and make the best of it. Positive thinking lead to positive outcomes.