Caitlyn Vann's Journal Entry
2/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Feb. 10, 2012
Ok before I start this blog I want all my readers to picture the blizzard that hit the midwest last year, only subtract about 10in of snow. Replace plow trucks with smart cars. No shovels. No salt on the sidewalks. One tractor to clear every road in town. No snow boots. 50mph Bura winds. And a bunch of folks that have no clue how to drive in the snow.
Got that image in your head? K good, because that's pretty much what's happening in Split right now. Let me just start by saying a week ago my teammate told me "In 10 days it will start getting warm again. We have short winters." LIES! I should have known... "Expect the unexpected", remember?
Anyway, I'll just jump right in and start telling you all about the Snowpocalypse that has hit Split. About 5 days ago they were going nuts on the news talking about all the snow that was supposed to be coming etc, etc. I thought "yeah right, I bet it's going to be a few flurries". Wellll I thought wrong, and last Thursday we woke up to almost 8in of snow!!! They weren't kidding.
Usually this wouldn't be bad. I mean come on, I'm from the Midwest, I can handle a little snow. Shoot I survived the 2011 blizzard in Columbia, MO...Midwesters can survive any type of snow fall, right?!?! Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. See one thing I apparently took for granted was the fact that the cities I've lived in send out plow trucks and folks to clear the roads and throw down salt as the snow comes down or the night before. Well let's just say that's not exactly how they operate here in Splitopia. The snow just piles up, and piles up, and piles up. And then maayybbbee a good citizen will shovel a sidewalk or two.
So anyway, Thursday morning we woke up and had to trudge through almost a foot of snow to get to practice. But hey, it was Day 1... No big deal! At first this was so much fun! I personally was thrilled because I didn't think I would see a decent amount of snow this year. So I was loving it, even hiding behind bushes to throw snow balls at my teammates. However, the fun didn't last too long.
As I was explaining, they don't clear the sidewalks and they hardly clear the roads here. So just getting up the step into the gym was quite a task. ((I think Day 1 I wiped out 3x). In addition, the mayor declared Thursday and Friday non-working days...so we were the ONLY people in all of Split doing anything I'm pretty sure. It honestly felt like the world was ending. They cancelled our games, only 7 of us have been showing up at practice, and there's still about 6inches of snow on the ground.
The sidewalks are literally covered in ice and I have to step centimeter by centimeter just to try to avoid wiping out ((and I've still fallen at least 10 times!!)). There are even some areas where if I didn't know better I would think it was an ice rink. This makes it nearly impossible to get to practice and back without my falling on my butt or face at least once! Not to mention the fact that I only have one pair of boots and my teammates joke about them looking like jazz boots. They have absolutely zero grip so combined with the 50mph Bura winds, there have been moments where I have literally just stood on the sidewalk and been blown sideways..slowly gliding across the ice covered sidewalks. Long story short, my Cabezio's and I haven't been doing so well.
But I will say this mini blizzard has been quite entertaining. When I'm not falling on my face I'm laughing at other people falling or the smart cars trying to get out of the skate rink parking lots. Why the smart cars that are practically go-carts try to drive in this weather is beyond me. The Splitopians really have no idea how to handle the snow. Some guy got stuck in the middle of the rpad the other day and just left the car. Just left it there. I mean really?! Silly things like that keep happening. My teammate went to the store looking for an ice scraper and came out with a dust pan. Oh, and yesterday I saw someone digging their car out with a spoon.... A spoon!
Yesterday's newspaper even talked about how ridiculous the snow situation is in Split and how many people have been injured from falling. The front page says that 513 people have been to the hospital for a weather-related injury. 513!!!!! The back page asks "WHEN WILL IT END?!?!"
Kind of hilarious, but I'm asking the same question... When will it end!?!? I'm ready for the snow to be gone and for this "short winter" to be over!
Toodles readers! Stay warm <3.>
