Just in case your children have been incommunicado since Sunday morning, we HAVE indeed arrived in beautiful Bruck am Zillertal. The fields are green, the sky was (at least for 36 hours) blue and, with any luck, your child’s shoes remained “cow-dung free” from the first evening’s evening hike through the narrow paths through the local farmer’s fields. We cannot claim 100% success in this regard, and if you know your own child to stray from the path on occasion, you may want to have some sanitizer on hand upon their return. (We are doing our best on this end!) In your children’s defense, it was dark and many phone batteries/flashlights had died during the 9+ hour ride down here. (Please note: for those of you awaiting the results of the poetry slam, rap battle, despite Bus #1’s preparedness with some potentially legendary lyrics, Mr. Lang’s Bus 2 (very suspiciously) has requested a postponement. Needless to say, we remain battle-ready.)
We actually arrived ahead of schedule and soon the excitement of new rooms, fun roommates and the stunning alpine scenery provided reason for exhilaration. A light dinner was served soon thereafter, topped off by Kaiserschmarrn (we are in Austria, after all!). The roar of the dining room chatter registered a familiar din to the teachers, similar to years past, with this year’s decibel reading the equivalent of a jackhammer-on-steel combination with Category 5 hurricane winds. Par for the course down here. (We should have measured the next night’s delivery of second helpings of Schnitzel, but it might have broken the device.)
We benefit now from pre-registration at our rental ski partners and, combined with patience of your children (really!), we were able to get in and out and onto the slopes relatively quickly for our advanced assessment and the onset of our beginner program. We have experienced an interesting problem this year: a host of fantastic advanced skiers. Coupled with a very athletic and motivated group of beginners, we’ve noted a lot of happy faces on the slopes. Perfection? On the horizon. (Is it ok if I wear two left-handed gloves?” “ I don’t understand why I need to learn how to fall.” “Could you teach me how to put on snow pants?” etc.)
The bus rides to and from the ski area provide some of the best (and most memorable) social interactions – thank the absence of cell phones! One example: “I just want to have two kids, but before that I want to be financially independent.” (Never too early?!)
Just today, I enjoyed a charming discussion today with a student, discovering that her nannies in Rome years ago turned out to be two former favorite JFKS students of mine! (A classic “small world” moment in the big world of JFKS connections.)
It is also true that your kids have received various compliments on their behavior, whether from our daily ski bus drivers or the staff at the rental facility, and that’s really rewarding for all of us chaperones and hopefully for the parents as well.
We’re on the verge of the first ski-free day – right after the first dance party!
-Mr. Felt
