“I won’t lie, God definitely knew what He was doing.” We laugh together.
I’m spending the week in Verbier, Switzerland with the family I’m currently au pairing for, the Blancs—yes, the kind of town where everyone looks like they’ve walked out of a luxury catalog. Olivia, the vivacious grandmother of the family, insisted on booking me a beginner’s skiing course. Apparently, she believes everyone should experience the joy of flying down a slope and nearly taking out an instructor or two. I’m pretty sure I was born falling out of the womb because clumsiness has followed me my entire life. Still, I’m excited to give skiing a try. I mean, if I’m going to fall flat on my face, at least it’ll besomewhere beautiful. “Try different things” has been my motto since moving to Belgium a year and a half ago.
“Well, you’ve got some time alone with this hunk, so enjoy!” Olivia gives me a motherly pat as she leaves me, heading towards the sitting area. The Blanc kids are also going down the bunny slope with their parents, since they’ve been skiing since they were toddlers. I pull on my gloves and look over the scenery.
Verbier is where the rich come to ski, and I can see why. The snow glitters over the gorgeous mountains, every area basked in sunlight beaming as if desperately needing its own vitamin D. I catch a glimpse of the Swiss log cabins far away, gleaming under the snow. Pine trees line the paths in between the chalets, giving it every Christmas postcard feeling. Growing up in Brazil never made me want a Christmas in the snow… but now? I could absolutely get used to it. Hot chocolate by the fire, marshmallows roasting, building snowmen.
Mr.Hunky comes over to introduce himself as I’m basking in the scenery and thinking of all the cozy Christmas vibes. It won’t be hard learning from him, even if I am the world’s clumsiest person—I’ll have some eye candy to soften the blows.
“Bonjour! I’m Jacques, it’s nice to meet you, mademoiselle,” he says.
“It’s lovely to meet you too! You may have to have a little bit of patience with me in learning. I’m a little clumsy,” I laugh.
“That’s perfectly okay,” he chuckles. “That’s why you’re learning and not heading down the black diamond run.”
“I think for the safety of all, I’ll stick to the bunny slope.”
He laughs and motions me over to the skis. “Alright, let’s get started. The first thing I want to teach you is how to snowplow. It’s the most important thing for you to learn as you go down. You don’t want to hit a tree.”
“I don’t want the tree and I to become one, no.”
He laughs. “Alright, this is how you do it.” He shows me how to stop—pointing my ski tips inward, applying some pressure to the inside edges to slow down. I practice a few times before actually heading down the slope. Jacques heads down to the bottom of the bunny slope to give me a chance to try it out.
I start moving slowly, practicing how to slow down as I go, and gradually pick up a little speed.
“Well, at least if I don’t learn how to totally stop, maybe Mr.Hunky Jacques can catch me at the bottom,” I mutter to myself. Still, I’m pretty confident I can keep going.
I keep steadily going down, letting it increase the speed without stopping. I feel the wind in my hair, the air in my lungs, and for a second this feels perfect.
Until I forget everything I just learned and I’m struggling to stop. I’m trying to push them inwards, but it’s like the momentum is stopping me.
“Ahhhh!” I hear myself squealing as I’m coming towards the bottom.
“Push inwards! Use your edges!” Jacques shouts, his voice carried by the wind and just a bit of panic. I’m nearly there.
I start pushing inwards, trying my hardest to stop?—
“Ooof!” The sound punches out of me as I crash straight into Jacques like a human missile. And of course—I don’t just stop there. I take him out like bowling pins. All five-foot-eight of me plus boots, skis, and panic.
The world tilts. Snow puffs. Jacques lets out a half-grunt, half-laugh, which feels generous considering I just tackled him like I’m auditioning for the Olympics—wrong sport, but still.
“I’m sorry! I told you I was clumsy!” I say, attempting to get up.
“It’s ok,” I hear a grunt and his husky voice saying as he gets up. “Maybe next time I’ll move further away,” chuckling a bit.
I blow out a breath. Thank God. I didn’t entirely crush him.
We carry on for another couple of hours, while I fall several times again, but thankfully no other times directly into Jacques. Poor guy. We start to wrap up the session, and I’m so thankful because I’m exhausted.
“Thank you so much Jacques, that was super fun. I’m sorry again for crashing into you,” I breathe out, putting my hand over my eyes and chuckling in embarrassment.
He crosses his arms against his chest and chuckles. “That’s okay, it’s not the first time it’s happened to me. But be careful out there!”
“I will be! As much as my hand-leg-eye coordination allows me, anyway. See you later!”
I take off my ski gear, handing it back at the top where the rental gear is. I head off to grab some lunch by myself as the Blancs are still on the slopes. When in Switzerland, one has to try the cheese fondue. It’s basically a national treasure, and I’m ready to dive in fork first. And it’s exactly what’s on my mind to grab. It arrives, and it’s everything I dream of. The cheese is perfectly melted, hugging my bread as I dip it in. The steam rises from it, and with the view of the mountains in the background, it looks picture-perfect. It warms me to my toes.
After thoroughly enjoying my fondue, I head back down the ski lift to the chalet for some much needed R&R. Since today is my day off, I’m excited to really bask in the coziness of the place.
