Skating in France

I was planning on talking about the lycée a bit, but we’ll save that for another time. Instead you get all the details of skating in a foreign country!

I’ve never been skating outside of the US before (though I have touched Canadian ice), but I have skated in both Alaska and Texas, as well as in most Midwestern states. I looked up the ice rink in Rennes way back in April, so I decided to bring my skates along with me. I was going to head to the ice rink last Wednesday, but I ended up meeting the Spanish language assistant (Adriana, who’s from Mexico) and hanging out with her in Rennes. Yesterday, however, I decided it was time to investigate the ice rink. Adriana was the only one who came with--apparently skating isn’t at the top of most people’s lists upon arrival in France.

The rink is about a half hour bus ride from the center of Rennes, and they have two ice surfaces. There was a very long line to pay for entry, and their rental skates are just as awful as all rental skates (Adriana didn’t bring skates, oddly enough. I thought everyone traveled with their own pair of figure skates…). The excitement started when I sat down to put my left skate on (because I always put the left skate on before the right). I put it on, then pulled the tongue before starting to lace it up. Much to my surprise, the tongue came right out of the skate.

A sign that you may need a new pair of skates: the tongue of your skate falls out.

I’ve had these skates for seven years, and I’ve needed a new pair for a solid three years, I’d guess. But skates are expensive, and I had decided that it was either buy a new pair of skates or go to France. I opted for France, since they were going to give me a lot more money in the end. I have a feeling that some of that money will be going to a new pair of skates once I get back home…

The good news is that I can still use the skates. I’m not crazy enough to try jumping in them, but I was able to wedge the tongue in place and once I laced my skates up, it was pretty stable. It should be fine for coaching and maybe even ice dance, but I didn’t really get a chance to test it too much, because both ice rinks were absolutely packed.

This place seemed more like a nightclub than an ice rink. They had a disco ball, a fog machine, crazy lighting, and a dj. It reminded me a lot of the NCA parties we used to have at Rainbo Roller Rink in my youth, but I had never seen anyone try it with an ice rink. People seemed to be enjoying themselves, but there were no guards/authority figures of any kind out on the ice, and they were desperately needed. I felt myself slipping into skating coach mode (partially because I was helping Adriana skate), and I desperately wanted to: 1) kick all the kids off the ice who were eating candy, because they kept dropping their wrappers and I was the one who picked them up, 2) tell people not to make chains of more than two, as there were several chains of 10 or more, 3) tell everyone that, for God’s sake, if you feel like you’re going to fall, don’t flail your arms—bend your knees and bring your arms in front of you, 4) also tell them NOT to grab on to other people if you feel like you’re going to fall, because then you’ll both fall (some girl grabbed on to me as she was falling. I was stable enough to not fall down, but I was not happy with her), 5) remind them oh-so gently that if they fall, they should get back up immediately so that no one trips over them (and they might want to keep their hands off the ice unless they feel like getting stitches), and 6) stop the tiny hockey boys from weaving in and out of people at top speed. I also had to resist the urge to pull random people off the ice and tie their skates tighter for them. Lucky for everyone enjoying themselves, I didn’t know a handful of the words I needed to give any of these lectures (how do you even say blades?), and I didn’t feel like making any enemies just yet, so I simply shook my head and vented to Adriana.

As you can tell, it was a bit insane. I’ve seen far calmer school field trips end with someone going to the ER, so I’m shocked that I didn’t see any horrible injuries while I was there.

I didn’t do much on the ice—a back scratch, a sit spin, some rockers and counters. The ice was really hard (yes, ice can have different consistencies. Figure skaters like their ice a little softer so they can work the edges more, but hockey players and speed skaters like the extra speed you can get from harder ice), so I didn’t want to push loops or twizzles. I did help Adriana get used to pushing and gliding, and by the end she was okay skating a few feet away from the walls. She thinks I’m a scary skating teacher, though, because I wouldn’t let her hold on to the wall with both hands.

I’m not sure I’d want to go to another public skate there (though I’m tempted to try a weekday evening and see if it’s any calmer), but I did take down the e-mails and phone numbers of the two skating clubs at the rink. They have one for hockey and freestyle, and another one for dance and synchro (don’t ask me why they grouped freestyle and hockey together). I’m hoping they’ll have some figure skating specific hours for non-club members, but even if they don’t, I want to go help out with their synchro teams. How do you say gun hold in French? What about unconnected block? Or three-spoke? Bookend splice? Something tells me I might have to learn some French skating terminology. I wish they taught you that in French class.

In non-skating news: There was a dinner party here last night. When I walked into the room, Kevin and one of the guests were yelling at each other about what an ideal society was. I managed not to laugh. Barely. I love French dinner parties.

Jeanne and Nicolas have been over again a couple of times, and those kids crack me up. I crack them up, too—Jeanne likes me to tell her what everything is in English, and she loved hearing me say everyone’s names without the French accent (or rather, with the American accent, depending on how you want to look at it). Like most five year olds, she also talks nonstop about her birthday and how terribly soon it is (it’s in February). She does gymnastics, and Nicholas is crazy about soccer (shocker, I know). They’re coming over again on Tuesday, and I’m excited.

Also, it’s been raining nonstop lately. I do not enjoy this, which means I’m in for a long year in Brittany. I got my ballet flats completely soaked on the first day of school because I decided it was better to look professional than to have dry feet. This was a life choice that I will not be making again. Rain boots ahoy! With this in mind, I wore my rain boots to the ice rink. Naturally, it stopped raining right before I left the house, and it never started up again. You just can’t win. I did manage to sneak out for a run early this morning when there was a break in the rain, and thank goodness I got it in then, because it is absolutely monsooning now. It sounds like the roof is going to fall in.

So, assuming I don’t drown over the next few days, à bientôt!