Ice Skating Lessons

Some of the best memories of my childhood come from wintertime. No, Ukraine is not as cold as Siberia (I get questions about that a lot).  In fact, I don’t believe that it is even as cold as Montana. It’s more like East Coast cold, I think. 

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do in the winter was to go ice skating. You probably immediately think of going to a ice skating rink or something like that. Actually, the first time I went to an ice skating rink was in UT, I believe. Until then, I have always skated on frozen Ukrainian roads:) In Ukraine, most roads were not regularly plowed, especially not the small roads that leading to our big apartment complexes. So when it was cold enough, I could go wherever I wanted around the neighborhood on my skates:) Of course, my ride wasn’t as smooth as it would be on an ice rink, but it worked for me.

Yep, that’s me:) Winter 1987—I was 4 or 5.

I also remember that I owned several pairs of ice skates over the years. I think one of them was brought from Russia where my dad was stationed….And it was a BIG deal.

The reason why I am telling you all this is to explain why I came up with this crazy idea to sign up Katya and Alex for ice skating lessons.  As if I am not already busy enough, right:)

I love ice skating.

Ice skating lessons were held only once a week for 45 minutes, at the Misawa Ice Skating Arena. Their system allowed me to pay for each one of them for five lessons in advance and I could go whichever week the lessons were offered. Basically, we could miss one lesson if we were out of town and not lose any money. We started in the middle of December and finally finished our FIVE lessons last week:)

Did I mention classes were taught in Japanese? Teachers knew a couple of words in English, but most of the time, kids just had to guess on their own what they were supposed to do. It didn’t seem to surprise or bother Katya or Alex at all.

The kids learned a ton. Alex, who had never skated before, started with using plastic buckets turned upside down as his support. Now he easily moves across the ice, not very fast, but without any help. He was so proud of himself and I am very proud of him for not giving up. After all, a 45 minute session of ice skating could be quite painful for a 5 year old (literally, especially considering the rental skates that didn’t fit right). Maybe next year we’ll conquer hockey. Maybe.

For Katya, ice skating was a breeze. The girl’s got talent. Because she is already very good on roller-skates and roller blades, ice skating came naturally. She was put in the higher class after her first lesson. She learned how to skate on one foot, squat and stand up while skating, and some other cool tricks. She is much faster now too. I do not see her joining Misawa Hockey Team in the near future though. Next year, we’ll have to invest into a pair of good ice skates and see where that takes us.

The sad part is that I was not allowed to take any pictures…. So, all of these pictures came from the time when I took Katya and Alex ice skating at a regular public skating time. 

Mark is next:)