Fresh Alpen Air, Jagermeister, Apres Ski and A Crazy Group of Skiing Belgians

The title of this post is a list of some of the things that make up a great ski trip in the Alps. Yes, the group of crazy Belgians is necessary. Here we go:

I spent the second day in Zillertal skiing in Hintertux, an area about a half hour bus ride away from us, at the end of the valley where there are supposed to be the most breath-taking views. Of course, I had to go there and decide for myself. I had to take 3 different gondolas to get to the highest point on the mountain  I just kept going up and up, each gondola going steeper and steeper up, my ears popping along the way. Then, right at the end of the 3rd gondola, we floated over a large point of ice sticking out of the mountain and suddenly the most beautiful snowy view I have ever seen appeared before my eyes. A family who was chattering in some Eastern European language suddenly stopped and just stared ahead. It was amazing.
Take a look at some of the pictures:

After spending the second day skiing by myself in Hintertux, I realized I really needed some ski company. Skiing by yourself had its pros and cons. The good thing is you get to ski more, since you aren’t always waiting up for the other people, and also you can choose the trails you want. Bad thing is, if you don’t know the trails, you get lost…and then you spend more time looking at the complicated map than skiing. That was my problem at least. So, after that day, I told myself I have to go to après ski, meet some nice people my age, and ask to ski with them.

The next afternoon, Oli came home to look after Felix, so I told him I was going out. He was actually pretty nice to me at that point in the week, and even said, “Have fun.” Wow. Mind. Blown.

I headed over to the Hexen Kessl. It was only 4pm but was packed. Here, après ski starts at 3pm and goes til 8pm or so. Usually after that, they close. Although, sometimes you could find an open disco. Like on Tuesday, (Fat Tuesday, for carnival) there was a big costume party at the Hexen Kessl, with people dressed up as devils, royal men with white wigs, pirates, teddy bears with giant heads,  monkeys, men dressed as girls, a banana, a chef, a belly dancer, an 80’s hippie, a grandpa, cats, and of course the DJ, an old man dressed as snow white with giant boobs which he could not stop touching and talking about over the mic, like, “Now I know how difficult it is to be a women!”

Anyway, off track a bit. So, I bought myself a beer and picked out a group of kids who looked about my age from the crowed. I stood in the corner, watching them for a bit. I tried to look chill and like I was waiting for my (nonexistent) friends, but inside my heart was pounding and my brain was fighting with itself. What do I say, what do I do?? I tried to figure out what language they were speaking. It definitely wasn’t German. Maybe Dutch?

At some point, I think the beer kicked in and I leaned forward and said “Hey guys, do you speak English?” One of them looked up, an obvious expression of surprise on his face. Then he shrugged his shoulders and made the “kind of” sign with his hand. Then I said, “I’m alone here and looking for people to hang out with.” I explained I am an au pair and here with my host family. After some explanation, he understood. And then his friends all started asking me questions. When I told them I was living in Brussels, they all cheered and said, “We are from Brugges!” Ah, so they were speaking Dutch. After they found out my whole Belgium connection, I think they started to really like me. One of them asked me if I knew the symbol where you hold up one pinky and he rest of the hand in a fist. I knew it, it means “One beer”, but only works in Belgian bars. I was proud I knew it. I learned it from a Dutch guy I met at a concert back in October in Brussels.

Here is the group on the mountain! (I'm not in the picture, but this gives you an idea of who I hung out with)

And here is us at Gogo Girl Apres Ski night... :P

The European Sauna Xperience

Another strange experience I endured that week…the hotel sauna. On our last night in the hotel, I realized I had yet to try out our sauna that is free to use for all guests. I grabbed by bathing suit and a towel, and told Oli I was heading out to try the sauna. “Alright, have fun”, he said. But then, just as I was about to close the door behind me, he called out, “Margot, you know that here in Europe, everyone is naked in the sauna. Sometimes it’s obligatory… Just warning you!” “Oh”, I replied. Yes, of course. We’re in Europe, everyone takes any chance they can get to go around naked in public. Then I said, “Alright, well I’ll try it out anyway!” And ran out before he could say anything else.

I open the door with Sauna scrawled on it in script writing, and a blast of hot, moist air blows over me. And then, what is that coming out of the mist? Oh. An old, wrinkly, completely nude man. Yuck. I take a deep breath. I’m going to need courage to do this. I find the door marked Umkleiderraum (changing room) and go in. It’s empty, thank god. I undress and then contemplate…bathing suit or no bathing suit. Hmmm. No one else is wearing one, so it can’t be that awkward if I don’t, but then again, all the people I saw when walking through the place were older than me, or little kids. No teens. I decide to put on the bathing suit and I walk out. I find a room marked Dampfraum (steam room) and push the door open. There is no one. I sit down and enjoy the herbal infused air. Not even a minute goes by before the door opens and another old man, completely naked, walks in and sits down, his butt making loud squeaking noises on the wet stone bench. I try to keep turned away without making it too obvious. Then the man starts breathing in and out really loud, and I just couldn’t relax. This whole thing was just too strange. I walk out and a women walks by and stares at me. Why is she staring? I think to myself. I’m not even naked... Then I realize…that is exactly why she is staring, I’m wearing a bathing suit. I turn around and see a sign on the wall: “How to properly use this sauna”, and the first picture shows a person sitting the in sauna, naked. OK. I get it now. I need to suck it up and just take off my bathing suit. I go back into the changing room. I strip of my bathing suit and wrap the towel tightly around me, take a deep breath, and walk out again. I go to the corner of the room where I see a sign marked Erlebnisdusche (experience shower) Sounds interesting, I think to myself. I walk into the dark little room and press a button that says Lechtem Nebel (light fog). Suddenly, a light blue light comes on and a whooshing sounds start, and I’m being sprayed with warm mist and the smell of peppermint fills the air. It lasts about 10 seconds, and then stops. I try another button, this one says Leicht Regen (light rain) and suddenly this loud whooshing sound starts and rain-like droplets are pouring down on me. Then, I hear the noise of children giggling and talking, and before I know it, there is a head peaking around the corner, staring at me. And I realize, shit...I’m naked. The kid is laughing. I’m pretty embarrassed. He disappears and I quickly get out of the shower and grab my towel, wrapping it around me as quickly as I can. The kid and two other girls come running back and into the shower, pressing the buttons and giggling. Then I realize…they weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing about the shower. They just wanted to try it out. They actually didn’t even glance at me now. Right...it’s totally normal for them to see naked people. They were naked themselves.

I try out all the other rooms...the Finnish bath (I thought I was going to die of heat exhaustion after about 2 minutes of sitting in there. 90 degrees is not something I would ever want to experience again. I tried the freezing showers with a tube that spurted chunks of snow out every few minutes. Supposedly (according to that sign I found) you are supposed to get very warm in the sauna, and then freeze yourself in the shower, or by rolling in the snow. There was a door going outside, with a sign on it that said Krauter Garten (Herb Garden) and you could see the body prints in the snow.  Just looking at it made me freezing.

 After about an hour, I felt relaxed and not so worried about being naked. As I looked around and saw all the women laying on the benches, their boobs hanging out, I realized that here, no one cares. We all have the same parts, so what’s the big deal? And then I felt much more comfortable:) Europe is brainwashing me.