Ski trip - Davos Day One

We're finally back from our ski trip to Davos, the one we started planning last year, the one that was mentioned in one of my very first posts on this blog. Well, it was exciting and dramatic ans so this may end up being the longest blog I've ever written. Or maybe it'll be a blog in two or three parts. Or maybe I'll get smart and finally blog brief. I think the best place to start is with the pictures.

We were booked on the7:05 flight from London, Luton to Zurich. Apparently ski-peeps are very familiar with this horror flight. It's early in the morning which is good but the problem is you have to be up and cracking at, well, the crack of dawn. We got up just after 4am after a hot and sleepless night. When we arrived at the airport, we walked through the revolving doors right beside Sameer's classmate Wiebke, who was on the same flight. So lala-lala-laa. Breakfast (divine cheese, roast beef, and salad sandwiches ala Lamiese), buying of earplugs and travel pillows and then more tossing and turning on a turbulent flight. We landed, walked towards the baggage conveyor thingy and through the window Sameer spotted Patrick, his Swiss classmate who had arranged the whole trip. Sameer and Wiebke dash for the window, waving and shouting "Patrick, Patrick!" Not that he could hear them through the glass. Also, random Swiss people who were also waiting there had that look on their faces, that "Huh? Me?" look. Anyway, it was a bit anticlimactic coz we had to wait and wait for the bags.

Anyway, we got them, said our helloes, hopped into Patrick's car, and went to pick up his fiance Florence. Then they took us on a scenic drive through Zurich, which even in gloomy winter was gorgeous. After ten minutes I turned to Sameer and said "That's it, we're back here in the summer!"

The city has this old, European feel to it though it is very modern also. It's built gentle hills around Lake Zurich (summer temperature of the water - 24 degrees!) and the River Limmat. Now, a couple weeks ago Sameer was talking about the muddy Thames and I said "Honey, all city rivers are muddy and brown like that". Well, I was wrong. The lake is blue and so is the river. When you drive over a bridge across the river, you look down and see the stones on the riverbed! I didn't get any good pictures coz we were moving and it just wasn't possible but really, Zurich. Wow. We have to go back!

So we drove, for about two hours. After we left the town we started to see snow on the sides of the roads, on trees and on mountain tops. It was a long drive until we got to Klosters, which we've only heard of because that's where the British Royal Family used to ski. And then we got to Davos.

According to Patrick Davos is not the cutest Swiss town, it's quite built up but it's relatively cheap, and there's lots to do in the evenings, which is why he picked it for the trip. So there we were driving around on the right side of the road (freaky) down these one way roads (to prevent congestion) between square, blockish buildings. We couldn't check in yet because it wasn't yet three so we decided to get our ski gear sorted out and go for a walk.

The ski shop was quite cool. Flippin expensive I must say, with all the googles, glasses, socks, gloves, hats, headbands, skis, poles, and boots. But we decided to go cheapo. Fortunately, we just needed to get the skis, poles, and boots. I lost my hat a few weeks ago so I needed a new one that covered my ears and I got a white and pink one. For gloves, I decided to just use my woolly mits. No way was I paying 60 Franks for gloves I was never going to wear again! Besides, it wasn't that cold.

Here's a picture of Sameer standing in a pile of snow with his gear. The boots are like those ice skates you rent at the ice rink, with the snappy clips on the front except they are about twice the size and three times as heavy. And uncomfortable, oh boy. Also, note how Sameer is carrying his skis. That's how you do it, over the shoulder with most of the weight behind you. Again, heavy and uncomfortable.

After we got the skis and boots, we went back to the hotel and put them in the "Ski Raum" - a room with racks and shelves where you can store your skis instead of taking them into the hotel with you. That would be really messy I think, with snow slush going everywhere. Of course it means you have to come downstairs on your socks, or take you boots upstairs with you, then clomp downstairs like Robocop to fetch your skis. (I'm not even kidding about the Robocop thing - seriously!)

Anyway, then we went for our walk, which was great because we got to see what the slopes looked like and got to actually get down into the snow. Here's me, with Florence on the left, and Wiebke and Brett (a friend of another MBA person) behind me on the right. Sameer is taking the picture. We went a bit mental I must say. But what can you do. Neither Sameer nor I had seen snow before, much less walked around in it and played with it!

So I think that's the end of part one, because after that we just met up with the rest of the MBA people who arrived and we went for dinner. Here are a few random pics we also took that afternoon.



This is a view of one of the slopes where they teach beginners and little, little kids. In the bottom left corner you can see a mum pulling her two little ones on a traditional wooden sled popular in this area.



This is Patrick showing me and Sameer an icicle that he'd pulled off from under a little bridge over a stream we walked past. As you can see, it was long and very sharp!



And one final picture. This one is of the area slightly away from the town. Apparently, in the spring, when all the snow melts, farmers bring their cows up to the mountains to graze, so there are lots of little barns and farming related buildings on the outskirts here.

And that's pretty much it for day one.

Captain's Log

Stardate 8-5-08

We have arrived in Welwyn Garden City and are in anticipation of a short shuttle journey to town of Davos on the planet Suisse. Lieutenant Scott has informed me of a problem with life support which has resulted in extremely high temperatures about the ship. As such, many of the crew members are unable to sleep, are consuming great amounts of water in the galley, and have stripped to the waist. Perhaps the best course of action would be to remain in a state of wakefulness until our shuttle arrives.

End log

In the beginning, we took pictures together

This one was taken the day before my birthday, 2002. A smokescreen, Sameer was supposed to throw me off the trail of an impending surprise birthday breakfast. This little impromptu photo op had far reaching consequences...

Last Sunday in Cambridge

And I took these pictures.


This one is from just outside of Borders, which is the bookshop Sameer likes best in town. It goes right across the block to the next street, has about three different entrances and three separate floors (or is it four?) and has a large Starbucks inside. Personally, I prefer Heffers with it's dark furniture, dim lighting, and Cafe Nero.


People come here to play Scrabble and Chess. Just before I took this picture, there were three teenagers sitting at the table, drinking iced coffee from Starbucks, giggling and playing Scrabble.


This is a shot of the same area where the Scrabble and chess tables are but from the other side of the stairwell. I like the rows and rows of books and the high windows.



This is from the kids section which is HUGE. There's a whole storytelling area and everything. This is a pillar that's covered in book reviews written by kids. Most of them were between the ages of 6 and 12.


Sameer likes to come in here to buy grande lattes and to read comic books that he can't afford to buy. ;)

The baby issue

So, before anyone gets any ideas, no I'm not pregnant and no I'm not planning on having kids any time soon. A friend of mine posted a contemplative post on her blog about sudden broodiness and wanting kids, even though you think that you don't actually want kids yet, and that you want to focus on other things - your career, your self or something. And I responded with a comment that I've reproduced below.

Men, I think, don't really have this. But for women, it all comes back to everything society and biology have told us about what it means to be a person, a woman person. Because even if you don't know where you want to be in ten years, what job you want to pursue, how you envision your life, the one thing you can be assured of is having kids. Because by virtue of our biology, the one sure miracle and wonder that every woman can produce is a life, the one journey we can embark on with nothing but well wishes and support from those around us, is pregnancy.

Oh yes, I've been there. Ohmigod, what am I going to do with my life? I know! I'll have a baby and become a mother and then people can stop asking me about what my plans for the future are. And even if it was never such an explicit thought in my mind, I have noticed a trend in which, whenever I am at my lowest point, feeling most conflicted about what to do with my life, my career, how to harness any potential I might have, I find myself wandering through the baby section at Woolworths, Edgars, Ackermans. Yes, I think every woman goes through those moments, where you think "Did I take my pill yesterday? I'm sure I did", or you forget to take the pill and then in the dark, you fumble for the pack and take the while pill marked Sunday instead of the yellow one. Or you go on antibiotics and tell yourself that no, five days of yellow pills are enough to secure your temporary infertility and you don't need to take "extra precautions" like the information pack tells you.

And then you find yourself ravenously hungry an hour after your last meal (which consisted of a handful of nuts and a can of Coke), with general quesiness (or maybe carsickness), and perhaps a heightened sense of smell (hmmmm, popcorn, and I'm not even that close to the movie theatre) and suddenly you're standing in Clicks trying to decide which pregnancy test to buy. You get two different brands, just to make sure. And then, when your significant other isn't looking, you pop into the bathroom with pregnancy tests in hand, and pee on both sticks. The first one comes up negative and guiltily, you think "Maybe it's wrong" but then the second one comes up negative too and you think "Ahh..."

And that's it, you realize no, a sudden pregnancy is not going to bail you out of your feelings of aimlessness and possibly even hopelessness, that unfortunately, you have nothing more exciting to look forward to than more application forms, more CV revisions, and more interviews, that if anything exciting and life altering is going to happen to you, it will not be announced by a little blue plus sign on a pee stick and a trip to the doctor but probably through emails and phonecalls that you yourself had solicited, if only you knew what to solicit. Which you don't.

And then you realize, ah well. Who needs pregnancy and a baby anyway. I like drinking four cups of coffee a day, eating take out three times a week, waking up late, not taking my vitamins, and only doing the washing when I'm down to my last pair of totally uncomfortable emergency underwear. I don't need all the drama and being-in-chargeness that comes with kids.

And then you start applying for jobs or taking classes and looking at your spouse with disdain. Yes, he may have a well paid job that he finds stimulating but he'll never have a baby.

And ohmigod, I've just totally over identified with you. And I think I'm going to post this on my own blog, coz its pertinent and what.

But where am I going with this? Yes, you want a baby. All women do at some point or another, for some reason or the other. What you need to decide is what you'd like the circumstances of that to be.

And if you truly do want a child, not to fulfill some need in yourself or plug in some area of your life where you feel a vast emptiness, then go forth and multiply.

My gynae - a wonderful man called Dr Newham - when asked when was a good time to get started on a baby in light of our disinterested spouses, told me and Razia, that men will NEVER be ready for children. You decide when you're ready, and they just need to fall in line. Because having a kid is not about your partner, its about you and the person you'll be bringing into this world.

I'm sure some people will disagree with that, but to tell you the truth, I think he was spot on.

So that's what I said. And you know, thinking about it as well, I think this is also the reason a lot of people rush into marriage. I don't know what I'll do with my life but here's this guy and we can get married and then I'll be a wife and maybe a mother and then people will stop asking me what I'm doing.

Bit depressing really.

On a vaguely related note, I watched Juno this week and really enjoyed it, so much so that I went out and bought the soundtrack. It's the first CD I've bought in ages and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Kimya Dawson rocks.