Ice Skating Competition

I went to a really nice ice skating competition today.  A Russian friend, Lena, who recently learned to ice skate, invited us to come and watch her first competition.  She said it had always been her dream to ice skate, so six months ago she decided to go for it.  I don't know a lot of details, but I think she went to Moscow for a bit to learn to skate and then she's been taking lessons here in Sakhalin two or three times a week for the past few months.  The competition was at Gagarin Park, which is a huge city park, on a soccer field turned into an ice skating rink.  There were maybe 20 to 25 skaters in the competition.  It was a beautiful, sunny (and of course cold) day.

Here are the skaters warming up:

 

Here are a few pictures of Lena skating during her routine.

 

After each skater finished their routine, they would talk to the emcee's while waiting for their scores.  Lena had a jacket that she got while in Moscow that was signed by a famous Olympic skater, so they were asking her about it.

 

Here are her scores.  She did pretty good considering she just started skating recently.

Here is a group photo of all the friends from Zima who came to see her skate:

Lena is an absolutely lovely person.  She is always smiling and is so sweet.  I'm so glad I went to see her skate. 

Love to you all!

Karen