…skiing, that is.

I went skiing for the first time today.  Xan and I visited her aunt in New Hampshire, and we strapped on some skis and went gliding around a golf course for a couple of hours.  I’ve wanted to ski for a while now but didn’t really have the opportunity living in Texas, Illinois, and Florida.  A little cross country jaunt, I think, was the perfect introduction to getting around on skis: no danger of falling a few hundred (or thousand, even) feet and minimal risk of injury.  Plus, it was fun!  And I was pretty good at it, especially considering it was my very first time on skis.  Here are a couple of  pics:

There’s a lot more balance involved in skiing than I previously thought.  I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like zig-zagging down a mountain at 65 mph.

On a slightly related note, Xan’s family is awesome.  It really makes me wish I had a bigger family circle closer to me.  Don’t get me wrong: I love going to the Philippines to see my cousins, but the way I see it, I would enjoy it that much more if we could see each other more than once every five years.  I’ve always wanted a (relatively) big family, or at least a large extended family who would gather at holidays and celebrate birthdays and have little traditions and lots of inside jokes.  I feel blessed and thankful that Xan’s family has accepted me into their tight-knit circle.  And I feel confident that my family back in the motherland will do the same for her.