Prevalla

Yesterday was a great day for my students. We met in Prizren around 8:45 am, were on our bus headed up the road by 9, and were enjoying fresh mountain air by 10. Prizren has been socked in with soupy, low-lying, freezing fog. Once the road took us above that, our mood noticibly brightened and the students started to get pretty excited.

Prevalla is a small assortment of buildings. There are places to eat. There are places to sleep. There's a small parking lot for the ski hill. And there's a small ski hill. Once we arrived, we went to Restauant Koha for a cup of tea and to meet the instructors. After a 45-minute rest from our bus ride, we walked over to the hill.

This is the ski hill at Prevalla. What you see is all there is.

One family enjoys breakfast in the parking lot.

The students were freaked out a bit. Only one or two had ever skied before. The instructors, though, seemed pretty good because the students relaxed and by the end of the morning, everyone was managing a snowplow. After lunch, instead of heading back to the ski hill, my class wanted to take a walk. We walked along a side road until we found a nice expanse of untouched snow and we played. After everyone had been pushed over and had snow thrown at them, we walked back to the ski hill and rented skibikes.

Playing in the snow.

The skibikes were great. We used them on the ski hill. However, we had to watch out for both the snowmobilers and the skiers. Kosovars ski like they drive: recklessly and without regard for anyone else. During the morning I was ran into three times and knocked down once (and this wasn't done by my students). We managed the day with no injuries or tears.

Two students fly by on a bike.

Patagonia put together two sweet boxes of clothing for us, which meant that the students were able to spend all day outside in the snow. I didn't have to worry too much about whether or not they were dry. It was great.

Happy students after a terrific day.