I think I'm going ice skating

The weirdest thing happened tonight. By weird I mean 'good' :)

After dinner I asked one of the surveillants what he did on the weekend and he told me he went ice skating with his brother so we got chatting and I asked him where he goes to do this. It's actually something I've wanted to do and I've seen ice skating rinks around but when I'm alone I feel a bit stupid doing this. I can do pretty much anything alone but not ice skating! For one thing I'm a wee bit scared. It's been years (decades?) since I'd last done it and it's just no fun at all and I'd have no decent photos since I obviously can't take them of myself and it'd be a bit hard to ask someone to take then for me...

Anyway he told me there's a lake about 15mins (or 15km, I forget) from here and it's frozen and you can ice skate on it. I asked, "Even in summer?" and he said yes because they do something to keep it frozen all year round. He also told me you can go ice skating in Annecy. Coincidentally I went to Annecy on Saturday (a spur of the moment decision which turned out to be a good one because the weather was absolutely beautiful and unseasonably warm and sunny) and I still had the map of the town. So I went to get the map to get him to show me where this ice rink is... you know, in case I ever happen to have anyone to go with in the near future, and perhaps hinting that he could take me there... (hint hint) the hint didn't work *ahem* but...

Before that conversation even finished, one of the the CPEs (conseiller principal d'éducation/who is the person in charge of the surveillants who are in charge of the students in the dorm) came up to me and asked me if I wanted to go ice skating in Annecy next week. Like WTF? I could not believe it! It was like God was somehow answering my prayers all at once (except that these were prayers I didn't officially make). She said there would be an excursion/outing next week (a 'sortie') for any kids who wanted to go and I could tag along (and sort of look after them) along with 1 or 2 other surveillants/staff. And it would be free... Great!! So excited. All we need is 20 kids to sign up and we're good to go. It's indoors (the outdoor frozen lake sounds so much better) but I guess I shouldn't complain... Truth is, I actually had ice skating lessons as a kid (for about 2-3 months I think, I don't remember but not long) but I'm not that great. Still, it's a lot easier than skiing! I was actually going to go skiing on the weekend but there wasn't much snow because it was unseasonably warm and then it rained, killing the snow... one day soon though. I just don't know when yet!

But anyway I hope my plans for ice skating go ahead next week!

(image from here)