So the past few days have been EXTREMELY hot in Steyr. Yesterday was above 30 degrees, and the day before was about 30 degrees. It’s been brutal to sleep in our flat because its so hot outside. I myself was awake around 5:30 sweating my face off. Not aa pleasant picture.

So today we decided to actually do something about it. We were heading to the pool.

As we were walking, we saw this: 

This was at 13:00. And we all know heat usually peaks closer to 15:00-16:00. So we may die today..

We got to the big Steyr pool, which has 5 different desperate pools, a couple big slides, and lots of grass area to sit on.

Almost as soon as we found a spot, some of us headed into the water – I personally was sweating so much it was as if I had already gone swimming. So I definitely jumped in gratefully.

It was so fun! The water was very pleasant – not too cold, but still cold enough. The pool we were sitting closest to was the diving tank with several diving boards. So the whole pool was at least 8 feet deep for the majority, and deeper in the end with the diving boards.

We went as a small group of us, but over the course of the afternoon tons of different incomings joined us. By the end there were close to 20 incomings all sitting by the pool!

Today was really fun for kind of an unusual reason. There were a few Asian incomings that came with us who don’t know how to swim. So they were sitting on the edge or holding onto the edge, but they couldn’t swim.

And so a few of us decided to take it upon ourselves to teach these students some basic swimming techniques. These included: floating on your back/star-float, simple breast-stroke, and back stroke. There was some scary moments, but we pushed through, and the 2 South Korean students really improved, especially my friend Yujin, who moved onto the back stroke after mastering the other 2 techniques. My lovely Mi also did some awesome swimming, and Trista (after having a little scare in the deep pool) decided it was best to stop the lesson early. But she promised to keep practicing 🙂

However, all three girls were awesome as the top team members when we hosted some Chicken Fights. They were all so cute and small, yet they’re pretty good at pushing other people around! 😀 hahaha. I was super proud of them and for their effort! They were all willing to try and trust us haha. And now they can say that they can now swim!! It was also really fun, and I’m also a little proud of myself for actually being able to teach swimming!!

Here is a picture of the swimmers and teachers from today 🙂

From Left to Right:

Zewei (Finland/Hong Kong), Trista (Taiwan), Lukas (Czech Republic), Dragana (Slovenia), Mi (South Korea), Yujin (South Korea), Emma (obviously).

 

After several hours in the pool and a couple hours laying out, we headed back home and stopped on the way for some fast food dinner.

And obviously we brought our german textbooks with us so we still could study while hanging out, and we practiced our German while swimming around. So I mean, that’s productive.

While walking home we saw our fateful sign again:

While sitting inside McDonalds a few minutes later (yes, we caved and went to McDonalds because no one felt like cooking and we were HUNGRY) and using the wifi, it was not 47 degrees, but closer to 33degrees, which meant it had cooled down. But the 37 was accurate – we checked.

According to the weather forcast its supposed to be scattered thunderstorms tomorrow, but I definitely have heard thunder-like sounds this evening. I may be mistaken because today is Stadtfest – an outdoor festival and concert, and it is very close to my flat and very loud.

But I think the rain will be a nice break from the constant sweating Ii’ve been doing the past week. Plus I happen to enjoy rain.

 

And yes it was hot, but I definitely didn’t feel like my skin was hot. Until I looked in a mirror when I got home…

 

Syke. I’m beet red. The photo doesn’t look that bad, but it’s pretty bad. It actually isn’t really that sore, so that’s a bonus. And it will most likely turn into a tan. And now I have a base so when we’re in Venice in 30+ degrees, I won’t burn as bad. (That’s good logic, right?)

So as a Canadian who thrives in colder temperatures, I am really not dealing that well. But then again,there’s not much to do about it, so I’m just trying to adjust as best as I can.

 

Today was actually really nice. Very stress-relieving. The last time I went swimming was on vacation with my family back in December. So that was pretty nice. And its always nice to be outside with your friends. And the rain tomorrow makes perfect “stay-home-and-study” day. See, I planned that! I’m thinking ahead!!

Here’s to a great summer day! 🙂

 

emma.k