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Friday 27 January 2017

Curling my pain away....

Russia is known for very many sports. There are some standard ones, like in the rest of the world and special ones. Regular ones most of us have tried at least once, like - skiing, skating, sledging.....But some are strange, at least to me. Like for example - Curling.

Curling is a sport that I have never understood, at least I could not understand the point of watching it. You have two teams. One person is sliding and pushing a stone on the ice and another person is using something like a broom to make the stone go faster. It seemed so boring on TV and I could not understand the adrenaline that the guys playing it were experiencing. So we decided to try it out. Russia is the home of winter sports and Curling is an Olympic sport, so there has to be some catch in it. One Sunday we decide it to try it together with kids and another family.



Arriving to the place, you get a special pair of shoes and team jackets. A Russian instructor explains the rules in 15 min, you get your broom and you are ready to go.  The tricky part is to learn how to slide in order to propel your stone as far as you can, but not too far of from the red dot at the other side. You slide on one leg on which you have the plastic part which I professionally call - the slider. It looks so damn easy, when you look at other people doing it. But when my turn came, I gave soo much of me into sliding the stone that each time I landed on my back. Ok after 3 tries I managed to realise that the black thing around my knee is there to slide on it and I was feeling like a real Curler.



My biggest issue is my competitiveness. If I play something, I am really in it. That is how I managed to break my toe playing football in our apartment. Yeah, I know what you are thinking now. But if you need me to do presentation for kids - Why you shouldn't play football in the apartment - call me, I will be amazing speaker with real life experience. But to get back to Curling. So, I am waiting for my daughter to slide the stone. I am ready to broom the ice to make it faster. But the stone goes faster then expected and I need to get to it. I turn and try to make a step with my left leg (forgetting its the one with the slider). My left leg goes under me. My right leg follows and I hit the ice full force with my butt. I got up faster than I fell. The competitiveness in me screaming - 'Of the three kids there you are the only one spread flat on the freaking cold ice!' I stroll along pretending its a standard thing. But oh my God. Next two days I spent home with my butt telling me where it is located every minute of the day. Fortunately it got better soon. But falling with 36 and when you are younger actually makes huge difference. I have a new mantra now - It is just a game, no need to break myself if not participating in the Olympics!



In the end the other family won, but actually me and my friend found out a great thing. In the game guys were really doing great in wiping the ice with the broom. So, my plan is to buy some stones, place them around the apartment. Place a broom dipped in cleaning solution next to the entrance to our apartment. My idea is that when my husband comes home and sees the stones he takes the broom without thinking and starts working around the stones. Good practice for him, clean flat for me. And yes, if you try this please let me know if it works for you?! Until my butt fully recovers I continue to practice a less dangerous Russian sport, very good for cold months of winter - drinking vodka!!!!



3 comments:

  1. Funny article! I enjoyed reading it. I was wondering - what's with the Canadian flags in the last picture?

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  2. Thanks😀. It is a bar in center of Moscow, very international, Papa's bar😀

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  3. Very suitable for the post then, since curling is quite popular in Canada! :) And you were at a Canadian bar))

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