Last Sunday I skated at Lyna Rink. It was fun meeting fellow Rose House members, but once I got on the ice, I was shocked by how bad I had gotten at ice skating — I had never been good at skating, but this time, each step only pushed me around 2 feet and I felt off balance every time I switched shoes. It wasn’t until GRF Sam told me that I was wearing hockey skates — not the figure skates I normally wear — that I realized why my skating felt so awkward. My first thought was to go back to the skate rental counter and ask them to switch my skates to figure skates, but at GRF Sam’s encouragement, I tried to learn how to use hockey skates. At GRF Sam’s instruction, I tried pushing off with my back foot and staying closer to the ground. Soon, I felt much more comfortable. In fact, I felt like I had more control in those hockey skates than I normally do in figure skates. However, it still didn’t feel right to me — although I was moving comfortable, I still felt a little bit clunky, as if I was just walking heavily on the ice. So, for the last 15 minutes, I switched back to figure skates and felt that I was able to move much more freely. Hopefully, I’ll be returning to the Sunday night free skate pretty soon to learn how to better use hockey skates.