Kid's corner

The trip started with a long ride on the train. We left Brussels around 22:15, to arrive in Zell am See around 12:15, the next day. Elias had been on a train before, but never for such a long time. We had booked sleeping places, 6 of them to be exact, which neatly fills up a single cabin. The first difficulty was getting all our bags inside. Nathan had his bugaboo with him, plus the accompanying bag, we had two Samsonite trolleys and a large backpack, and a small backpack with my powerbook and thesis (yes, I planned on doing some work). Once the bugaboo was broken down to pieces, it fitted under the seat/lower bed, as did the bag with food and medicine. Sigh. Here is Elias on the train with his mom:

When we had passed Leuven, I thought it was high time for the kids to sleep, so I started making the top bed where Veerle would be sleeping with Nathan. After than mine and Elias bed were made, while the rest of the crowd remained virtually motionless on their bums. It turned out that Elias had no desire to sleep whatsoever, so I ended up taking him in my sleeping spot. As we were lying about 1.7 metres above floor level, Elias slept on the side, taking up most space, and I tried hard not to fall out. He managed not to wet anything, which was kinda cool.

We woke up around 8:00, I think, dressed Nathan, kicked Rita (moeke) out if her bed -- she had been snoring all night. Breakfast was served, coffee was spilled because Veerle did not see me moving the hot cup to the table and swung a lunchbox into its path. Nobody was really hurt. Boots were hung up to dry. We arrived neatly on time.

Elias was quite enthusiastic about the mountains ('bergen'), though at first he called them bridges ('bruggen'). The apartment was large, warm (too warm, given the fact that the heating in our room stayed on), and had enough storage space for all our stuff. After feeding Nathan, we took a walk to buy ski passes, and skiing gear. It turned out that we had to travel to Shuttdorf, because Elias' school was located there. No sweat, a short bus ride later, we enrolled him and Lien in the ski school. The gear was top-notch, and Elias was (as I told before) particularly proud of his helmet.

The school (mini-club for 3-4 year olds) had neat lifts, which were basically just a rolling carpet. When Elias got bored he dropped himself down, after which the teachers had to put him upright again.

Elias' teacher was Mrs. Corina. She was Dutch, which was good, since Elias could at least understand her when she explained how things worked.

School was from 10-12, and every day 'vake' came to pick Elias up. A recurring event was the cow-sitting:

The first days, Elias learned how to stay upright on his skis, and how to glide downward, step with them, etc.

On Wednesday, he learned how to plow, so he could stop. This was not a great success, I think Elias is too small to be able to place sufficient force on his feet to keep his skis in the right position. But he did very well, when we came down a gentle slope together:

Afterward, there was need to climb up again:

He did even better in the race on Thursday, where he ended first, together with all the other kids. After receiving his medal and certificate, he removed the candy and the balloon from the piece of paper, and kindly returned the now worthless piece (or so he thought) to Corinna, who kindly gave it to us for safekeeping.

On Friday, Elias came up to Sonnenalm with moeke and vake, where we had lunch, and Elias wanted just a sandwich (with choco).

After lunch, during a snowball fight, Elias discovered the perfect spot for a Buzz Lightyear imitation:

The return trip was quite uneventful, except for the fact that both Elias an Nathan slept very well. Elias -- after claiming he was not tired -- fell asleep after less than five second.