Messages posted by : AllyG
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Actually Ian, it tastes very nice. My younger daughter made it for me as a special treat yesterday :D
Of course, I don't know what the bacon version tastes like, but the one she made according to that recipe tasted great. She did it with salad, olives and goats cheese. Ally |
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Snapzzz,
What you said about that instructor really makes my blood boil :evil: Good instructors know how many kids they have in their class, usually put special ski school aprons on them (so they can easily identify them), what their names are, and watch them going up on the lift with the instructor getting on last. As you said, it is very easy to get pushed back in the lift queues and lost in the crowd. That instructor should be 'shot' (not literally, although I am very very cross with him). Some instructors don't seem to realize how frightening the mountains can be for us Brits, and especially for our young children. My friend has mild PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as a result of her experience and just freezes up (no pun intended) with fear on the ski slope now. Her last attempt at ski-ing ended in her having to take off her skis and walk back to the lift, even though she was on a green run. The good thing about a snow dome for your daughter, in my opinion, is that she will see it as a safe environment, because she knows she is not going to be left on a mountain somewhere, crying. I am a bit worried that she might get all nervous again once she's back on the mountain, unless she's had plenty of practice first. I have another friend who has that problem. She can ski really well in the dome, but goes all panicky and nervous and skis badly once she's back in the Alps. And although I have been on several ski holidays now, I still get all nervous when it's snowing hard, or foggy, and I can't see where I'm going. Again, it all depends on her temperament, but she might do better if she's back in a beginners group when she's out on the mountain again. I have noticed that people differ in whether they do better if they're the best in the group, or if they're the worst. I really hate being the worst in any group, and especially in a group ski lesson. I'm okay in any position except bottom. But some people seem to thrive on being bottom, and see it as a challenge to improve and move up the group. I do much better when I know that the group is well within my capability, and I can relax and enjoy myself as I learn. If you have a private family lesson you will all have to ski at the speed of the worst in your family group - which by the sound of it is your daughter. If you're prepared to sacrifice your own ski-ing lesson time like this, it might help her a lot. And you might also learn a lot by ski-ing more slowly and having a chance to improve on your technique. I'm sure we all have something we can improve on. I'm afraid that in the past, when in this position with my kids, I used to pretend to be worse than I was (at whatever it was) so that they could have the satisfaction of beating me. And now, of course, I don't have to pretend to be worse at ski-ing than my younger daughter - she can ski in rings around me :lol: What you really need is a guaranteed excellent ski instructor for your daughter when you're off on your holiday. I think with some of the smaller ski schools you can pick your instructor, and go by personal recommendation, especially if you have private lessons. I have found with our group instructors that it's very much hit and miss. Most of them have been 'okay', we've had a couple of really good ones, and a couple of really awful ones. I also think you should write and complain about that ski instructor. If we all make a big fuss when this sort of thing happens maybe the ski schools will take more care of our kids. I complained to our rep about the one in Borovets and she said that instructor would never teach kids again (although I don't know whether that actually happened or not). Sorry everyone for the length of this post - you can always skip most of it :D - but I am really cross and upset about this. I feel very sorry for Snapzzz and his family. Allie, I'm glad your daughter got over her problem, and well done for helping her to fix it with private lessons :D . I guess individual private lessons on the ski holiday would be a good idea for Snapzzz's daughter, but they are just so expensive :shock: Ally |
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Hi Japski,
I'm afraid it's gone a bit quiet around here at the moment. I suppose everyone's busy with their summer activities - like sailing, gardening or whatever. Ally |
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Snapzzz,
I think your daughter is very brave, ski-ing again at all, after a frightening experience like that. An adult friend of mine was abandoned by her instructor on a blue slope half-way up a mountain and became so frightened that she won't ski at all any more now. How did your daughter's instructor 'pretty much' abandon her? Did he ring you for you to come and collect her or what? My daughter was only 9 when she had an awful ski instructor in Bulgaria, and half the class of young kids was in tears and frightened to death at one point. And a couple of them dropped out of the class. I think if I hadn't been there with them for most of the time (I could't ski myself because I'd broken my shoulder on the dry ski slope) my daughter may well never have skied again. I guess it depends on your daughter's temperament, and naturally I don't know her. But I think myself the most important thing is for her to get her confidence back and start to really enjoy ski-ing. In the video I think she's doing a great job, ski-ing very carefully and under control. But she still looks a bit anxious. If you can afford it and she's willing I'd continue with the snow dome lessons for a bit. And I'd aim for getting her to relax, feel confident, and enjoy herself. Once she's reached that point I'm pretty sure she'll progress really fast whatever method she's taught with. After that awful instructor in Borovets my daughter had a really nice one in Zell am See and it was great to see her happily bombing about in her class on the mountain - a whole line of kids doing snow-plough turns and snaking down the mountain. She learned to do parallel turns without even realizing it - the teacher very craftily just made the turns gradually tighter until the whole class was doing them parallel. I think myself that it's good for kids to ski with other kids in their own class. I'm sure my daughter grew up a lot on our ski holidays and increased in self-confidence. And she enjoyed mixing with the different nationalities in the lessons, and sorting out the foreign money herself at lunchtimes. Anyway, best of luck with helping your daughter, and I think she's a real star going back to ski-ing after a frightening experience like that. Ally |
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Hi Snapzzz,
I googled it and found this site, but I don't know how reliable it is: http://www.takemeskiing.co.uk/Pronunciation.aspx I notice they don't put the 's' on the end of Val Thorens, but I think this may be a French variable thing. They also don't put the 'y' on the end of La Plagne, but from what I remember of train announcements Brucie is right and they do say 'y' (as at the beginning of 'yes'), although I didn't notice them doing it for Tignes but I was mostly with British people there and it may have slipped my notice. I will be back there in October and I will listen out very carefully for the 'y' at the end :lol: The hardest ski resort I have had to learn how to pronounce is Sauze d'Ouix in Italy, which, as far as I remember (I was only 8 at the time) is like 'Saudi' the country with the 'z' replacing the 'd' followed by douze as like the French number 12. If you get too clever with your pronunciation you may find some of the British travel agents (who haven't been there) can't understand you :D Ally |
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Snapzzz,
As far as I know, the correct French pronunciation of Tignes doesn't include the 's', but otherwise I think you are correct. This whole issue is clouded by the fact that lots of British people pronounce the French resort names wrong, so that they have in fact become the correct British way to pronounce them (and I think the British way has the 's' in Tignes). Plus, I rather think the French themselves pronounce them in different ways, according to where they live, like Shrewsbury, and well, Shrewsbury ... :lol: It took me 2 ski holidays to learn how to pronounce Val Thorens correctly, the French way. It is rather strange, because in this case they seem to sound the 's'. And I'm not at all sure I can think of a way of telling you how to say it. The Val is easy, because it's like the name Val, short for Valerie. But I don't think we have a word that rhymes with the Tho because it's pronounced almost like 'top' without the 'p'. And the 'rens' is something like the 'ranc' in rancid (or at least it is the way I say it - I suppose we all have different English accents to begin with). The only way I have been able to learn the correct pronunciation is by going to the resort and listening to the locals. Best of luck with your mini-project :D Ally |
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Thanks Ian :D
I just need to think of a substitute for the bacon now :lol: And then, even if I can't ski because it's summer, I can eat tartiflette and think about ski-ing. Edit Thought of Pablo, and googled vegetarian tartiflette - don't know if it's any good though: http://vegetarianandveganfrance.com/2009/11/06/vegetarian-tartiflette-recipe-tartiflette-vegetarien/ Ally |
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Have you got a recipe for it? Can you make it without using any meat? I'd like to try it.
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