Championship

Not just any kind of it, oh no! It was the national championship in archery. I qualified and so did my son. My Main Squeeze accompanied us which I found very nice and reassuring.

This year they organized it 215 kilometres away and I was supposed to be there by half past eight in the morning. In Slovenia, mind you, which is so small that you actually have to think hard to make someone travel that far. I have just used Google maps to find out how far the furthest place in Slovenia is from here - believe it or not, you can hardly reach 300 kilometres!

Anyway, I didn't want to leave home at half past four in the morning and actually compete that day, so I looked for a place to stay. As early as always, I found out everything had already been booked by more diligent archers, thinking more than a week ahead.

As lucky as I am (I actually tend to be lucky when my mind fails me, or my memory in most cases and even my credit cards have proved that by waiting for me in the most inappropriate places or finding their way back to me :)) ), I found this nice couple not more than ten minutes away from the sports hall where the championship took place. I could actually practice my English, can you imagine? And see our country through the eyes of someone coming from another part of the world.
But talking in Slovene would be just as nice, of course, when you're talking to nice people, such as our hosts.

I spent two wonderful days. Not only I entered two competitions (and came last both times), I also cheered for my son (not loudly, I don't dare shout when he's shooting), I also saw a part of our country which I had not seen before and I must admit it's very nice. My son was more successful than me even if he took the 10th place while I ended up in the 9th.

It's interesting how attractive archery can be if it's organised the right way. You can't say duels are boring. The archers still shoot at the targets, not at each other, of course. But they compete in pairs against each other. And the best one qualifies for the next round. Not me, but you know what I mean. I'd love to upload some photos and I will as soon as I get them and as soon as I delete some from my web gallery.

Last place? Well, I did have some bad luck with my equipment. I managed to break the berger button less than a week before the championship. And once you change that (or any other part), nothing is really the same. Only two weeks ago I reached a score which would take me one or two places higher.

Never mind, next year there will be another national championship and I'm sure I can qualify again and do better. If not, I can still meet the same great people at the competition and enjoy doing a sport together with the people I love.

And God knows which part of our vast country I will be discovering next year!

USA vs SLOVENIA?

Nope, Delgado vs. Zavec. Go Dejan!

I am always annoyed by arrogant people. And Delgado came to Ljubljana to "take the red belt back to where it belongs - to the USA"! Jerk!

I mean, if he wins it, okay, may the best man win and as far as I know it our world champion can keep the title or lose it. And he's aware of that. He knows Delgado is good (we all know Dejan Zavec is good) and he accompanied Delgado's words and his dramatic tearing of the poster announcing the fight in half - with a smile. Knowing, of course, that Delgado is, after all, American and a show was to be expected. But still, his atitude sucks.

Have a good fight tonight, you two, may the best man win. But I sure hope it's Dejan (btw, it's pronunced Deh-yan) and I sure hope he kicks his ass well (punches his nose, that is). If anything else happens, so be it. But until then, this is the right place for the red belt.

Thoughts of today

My head is spinning. Why?

It's just too full of thoughts, not having unloaded them here for such a long while, lazy me ... It's going to explode any minute and it won't look nice, I'm telling you! Make sure to keep a safety distance when that happens!

Yesterday I went to a competition. Archery. Yep. Full of hopes (not really, I have nothing much to expect), I was dissapointed soon after the trial shots. The trial series, you see, are usually alright. Quite good. But then ... I don't know what it is ... fear? And I wanted nothing but a decent result not to be ashamed of. Didn't happen. And I KNOW I can do better. And I do it for fun - so, why should I be bothered so much that it makes me shoot like shit? Sorry, that wasn't nice.

Usually the co-competitors at the same target talk a little (even when I was in Italy and my Italian really isn't too good), but this time we just didn't click. This woman I was shooting with - I know she's a gret person, but somewhat more serious than me or a different character or ... something. Anyway, I realized it was me not talking, not connecting, it just didn't work. Not that it would have mattered had I been shooting the way I can, but still, the atmosphere just wasn't right.

And I had to admit - and I did it out loud - sorry, I'm so cranky I can hardly stand myself. I feel like I should open the lid (like the top of my head) and let some of that out. I'm so terrible I must be radiating negative energy around me. Sorry for that.

In Italy a man said, "Ogni gara e una storia." - each competition is a story. Another story. I couldn't agree more.

The other day I was in Italy together with my MS and my son. My son did quite well and we thought he would win. He was better than the others in his category and there were only a few more to compete in the last "shift". Two or three of his friends, we thought, then it turned out there was only one - and that one wasn't good enough. And there was this Italian kid whom my son beat twoo weeks earlier with a score 529 (so the Italian guy had fewer points than that). And now my son's score was 563, so it's probably out of the other guy's reach.

We watched him shoot. One ten after another. And a nine. no eights. He was so good that when he didn't hit a ten WE were actually sorry. So concentrated. He must have done some serious work in these two weeks. Well done. Congratulations, gold for him and silver for my son. Italians, you see, are very serious about archery with about 2 000 000 archers (2 000 000 is the population of Slovenia, BTW), but they make lots of these nice cosy competitions.

But yesterday!!! Geeeez!!! 317 (out of 600!!!!) - who goes on a competition to achieve THAT!!!

Am I stupid or what?

Some things have happened since I last posted that are so much nicer than archery (and I still love archery). Remember I became I great aunt in April? Well, on 20th December two more great-nieces wee born. Two months early, but very healthy. Haven't had a problem since. Her parents (my first niece and her "husband") didn't alow visitors for some time and I think that was the only possible right decision in the time of flu and other viral infections.

Ahhh... and they're so so cute.

My head is a bit better now - I guess I should do this more often.

Advice

We were driving from our archery practice last night - my Main Squeeze, my son and me. It was freezing cold and the wind in our town was building up its tremendous power. Nasty. Not as nasty as on March 10th, but still. Not nice at all.

There are these signs on the motorway on such occasions, saying that the large lorries and refrigerators should leave the motorway as they will not be allowed to go further.

We were just on the exit, out of the motorway (because we were home, not too large) when we saw a huge lorry with a trailer approaching it. Knowing that foreigners don't take these warnings so seriously, I said to my son: "Blink a few times with the headlights (would you use "blink" here?) and he did. The lorry stopped and the driver opened the window when we had already moved forward. He was still standing there, so we reversed a little, I went out (you could hardly hear anything that was a meter away) and he asked about the sign. I told him:

"Don't go. It's dangerous. Go back." I accompanied my words with suitable gestures as I wasn't sure the Slovak driver understood.
"Ahh. It's closed?"

So he understood? Good.

"Yes. Don't go. It's really dangeros. It wll turn your lorry over!"
"I see."
"And if you continue, the police will stop you anyway."
"Oh, the police?"
"Yes. You really shouldn't go. Don't."
I turned back to our car, he thanked me and we went our separate ways.

We wen't home and he - believe it or not - continued his way on the motorway.

Like?

Today and yesterday and the past weekend have been dark glooomy days, cold and windy and snowy and rainy and a bit depressing and frustrating. Sigh.

Thank God I had to go to work, otherwise I would have probably just ordered pizza and not leave the house at all. But then, I did see those few rays of sun that make life less dark and less gloomy and even if not, an adult should be able to rationally decide that the weather cannot rule our lives completely. Yes, it is difficult and irritating if you come back all frozen if you only go to the nearest petrol station to fill the tank but then realize you have to really hold the door or it will be blown away or at least damaged. And you sit in the car which is swinging left and right. Not nice. "Ne dobro", a British friend of my daughter's would say. Ne dobro at all. But then, at least I got to be at home most of the day. My daughter, for instance, spent most of Friday in the car. And why? Our road company (or whatever I should call it) does not clean the roads untill there is 10 cm of snow. Makes sense. But the huge lorries only learn by making mistakes: Will I make this climb (a few degrees is more than enoug for trouble)? Let me see. Ooops. Nope. I can't. In Slovenia you have to have winter tyres or good summer tyres+snowchains from the 15th November to the 15th March. Otherwise it can be quite expensive if the police stop you. And this law exists only because it happened too often that the traffic stopped because of the drivers with bad tyres.
And my dear daughter spent more than seven hours in the car for the trip that usually takes about two.

Anyway, it was quite normal this morning and now it's dark because the sun set a while ago. It does so every day.

And I will not whine about the dark and the cold and the weather - I choose not to - but I did need some more colour.

Now how do you like it?

Election time

We had Mayor election yesterday. Yep! We could have elected a new mayor in our town, but guess what - we elected the old one that cannot always behave and who has only learned a little how to speak in public over his two mandates of being a mayor. Oh well ... I have no trust or very little in any kind of politics anyway. He's not THAT bad and who knows if his opponent is actually any better. More elegant, yes and a much better speaker and the old one is independent while the one "not meant to be" (obviously) had the support of five parties. Seeing it written just now - maybe he deserves to remain in this position.

The other thing about this election that I find interesting is the new mayor of one of our coastal towns, Piran. I didn't find it that strange, seeing it on the news, hearing him represent himself, hearing people say all those nice things about him. I wasn't astonished or not even surprised to hear that he won the election. But now that I see all those foreign articles, I think to myself: "Well, maybe it is just a little unusual after all". Anyway, he seems to enjoy the trust of many people and that's what matters. He's just as likely to prove them right or wrong as anybody. Don't you think? See for yourself:

The Hindu

Reuters

BBC News

etc. etc.

Back to ...

... school, mostly. And blogging. My summer break was very full this year (what on earth have I been doing?) and I somehow didn't feel like writing. Besides I've been waiting for my weekly dosage of chuckles, but the connection with Canada has broken down, apparently. I hope not. I hope Skye simply doesn't feel like writing and will change her mind the way I have.

Anyway, in summer I didn't really go anywhere. I organized one of my "virtual classrooms" in Moodle with about fifty or sixty exercises. I think it will help me during the year. I will be able to assign some homework that will practically get corrected by itself. Cool!

I've been shooting a lot. It's funny how this sport makes you active, although it doesn't really look that way. Well, it does. You can actually sweat. You have to pull this string - mine takes 28 pounds of force to pull. A hundred times in a row - maybe two hundred, walking 40 metres to the target and 40 back - or 50 or 60 one way... You do get some exercise.

I've been to Croatia. Not to the seaside, like many other Slovenians, but to an archery competition. And I actually won a medal, LOL! I loved it! I was shooting at 40 metres with my barebow and made quite a few hits and got some constructive criticism which should have helped me. It didn't really - according to the next competition, 900 rounds which took place yesterday. Well, there will be others and I can practice. And HAVE FUN. It's funny how women meet in these competitions. About my age, shooting barebow - we are mostly the mothers of younger archers. Surprise, surprise. You just try and take your child to an archery practice and wait for an hour or so - watching archery. ARCHERY!! I'm telling you, this is definitely one of the most boring sports to watch. TO WATCH, I said, not to do. I was happy for my Main Squeeze yesterday, though. Marko was quite good and won a bronze medal. Yaaay!

At school we finished what we started last school year. A boy passed the exam he had to in order to get a 2 in English (Our grades: 1 - insufficient, 2 - sufficient, 3 - good, 4 - very good, 5 - excellent). He did. Good! He could go to his chosen secondary school then. I wish him good luck, knowing there will be some tricky parts on his road to success in life, though.

Conferences, new plans, constant changes. One of them was that three of our colleagues retired. I'll write a little about that. Not now, though, I'm already getting too long.

Hope you're all okay and adapting successfully to the new rhythm with the school going on again. That's life - what would holidays be without school?

Take care and don't forget to have fun!