It’s a pity that Ukraine lost, the difference was just 6 points, but the good thing is that our team was a surprise of EuroBasket, nobody expected it to play for the 5th place. Otherwise I’m glad for Slovenians who were hosting this competition and who had a real star in their national team – Goran Dragič.

But there is always something that I don’t like ;), this time it was the sound of voices and screaming which Slovenians (99,9% of the public) produced whenever some player of Ukrainian team touched a ball.

P.S. Since we were sitting in the first raw, some people saw us on TV. :-)

I guess I’ve heard a funny statistic like there is 1 million of firemen for the country with the population of 2 million, but now I checked it’s 15% which is quite a lot anyway. Usually all firemen are volunteers, it means that they have another job for which they are paid, only in big towns there are some professionals. Also as I understood that not so many fires are happening, so almost each year there is a crazy-drunk fireman, who set up a real fire to have some work.

The pictures are from a fireman party which we accidentally found somewhere in Štajerska. If you don’t drink on this party anyway you look drunk on pictures as I do. :)

It was nice to pick up all these grass but after a couple of hours of washing those small leaves I understood why we don’t eat it in Ukraine. :)

The hardest thing in skiing is to put on ski shoes, especially if they are a bit small for you. I felt like those Cinderella’s sisters while I was trying to put shoes on with Gapi’s help. Then it was terrible feeling to walk in them but the good thing in skiing is that you forget all pain when you try to ski.

Learning process lasted about 1 hour and a half, which included a lot of my falls, Gapi’s patience and a little bit of my swearing. After this lesson I was able to ski in “A” position for several meters and a few times I even successfully stoped, also I learnt how to turn back in “V” position and continue to walk up the hill. :)

The rest of the day I spent hiking some hills in Stari Vrh (1217 m). Gapi and his young brother showed me the point where they were going to ski and I hiked there to meet them. Actually I liked that day a lot and I hope I will ski more. Gapi, thank you! :-)

This old-fashioned skiing was one more evidence of the distinction between us and them. But usually people are attracted by the things they don’t have, so I really adore when I see something historical and cute just next to me in my everyday life without going to museum.

On the pictures below you can find clothes and skis which people used in the end of XIX – beginning of XX century. This kind of competitions is held in many towns of mountain parts of Europe. And as I know even the mayor of one Austrian village came to participate in it to Škofja Loka on that day. Official video.

New information, which I’ve got from this “entertainment”:

• there were only two good hockey teams in Slovenia (Jesenice and Ljubljana), usually Slovenians supported the one from Jesenice. But nowadays only a team from Ljubljana plays;
• buy the cheapest ticket (you will find a cool place to watch the game anyway);
• Latvians don’t have “a girl team” who dance in short breaks to support players;
• there is music during all short pauses!

They also try to play “proper” music, like for example when players had a little fight, guys who were responsible for the sound put a song with lyrics “You Gotta Fight For Your Right“. That was really fun!

After the game we went to eat a hot-horse. Well, I couldn’t try even a piece of that horse burger. But the place looked quite popular, especially among men.

The funny moment was when I saw a young couple choosing a shovel in one big store… so “romantic”. :)