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Published: March 13th 2009
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Snowboarding.
This means a lot of different things to different people. Reactions vary, from 'snow, what's that?' to 'so, you want to strap yourself to a bit of plastic and throw yourself down a mountain WHY?' or 'fully sick mate! Last year in Whistler I.....'
To me it meant that I could finally throw off the mantle of depression and Japan-loathing brought on by being cold ALL THE TIME and enjoy a piece of the winter I was unable to escape. When snow is a novelty it's all 'ooh...snow...wow...pretty...little flakes...la la la...snow faries....winter wonderland.....' bla bla bla, but once the novelty is gone it's more along the lines of 'damn car window has iced up AGAIN!...slippery roads, stairs, pathways...cold hallways at school...getting sick...'etc.
A firend called me up and asked me if I was interested in going on a snowboarding/ski tour and I jumped at the chance. We would head out on the Friday, board for a day and a half and then leave there on the Sunday afternoon to come home, sleep and be ready for work on the Monday. ¥26,000 paid for bus trips there and back, one night's stay in a lodge, one dinner, one
breakfast, and a one day lift pass. All up the weekend cost just over ¥30,000 yen (Second day lift pass, onsen, omiage and transport to the pick up spot), but it's consequences are sure to cost me a lot more. I see snowboarding in my future.
I rocket up on friday night, a backpack filled with my long sleeved tops, and got to check my boots and have a look at my gear. A lot of other foreigners turned up, including most of the Kyoto bunch, and we packed our stuff into the bus. I hit it off with the tour leader straight away, him asking me to be his translator (though thankfully someone with better Japanese skills took over on the bus - Thanks Brin). We even made a pit stop at a Combini to pick up alcohol for the trip there. We partied until 12.30 and then it was lights out, though a large contingent of the bus chose to party on until morning. (Power to them, but I had enough trouble boarding for half a day hungover...i'm getting ahead of myself).
We stopped every hour or two for loo breaks, and stumbled out of the
bus to wander to the toilet complex and stock up on drinks from handy vending machines. It was a fun night really. I found the whole situation hilarious....I woke up once, at around 3am, realised we had stopped and that I was busting for the loo, so with eyes closed, a practically fell out of the bus and staggered through the rain the get to the toilet. Not exactly at my best when i'm in zombie mode.
We arrived at around 6.30 am, stopping at another combini to pick up breakfast, and then we settled into some temporary rooms at the lodge to drink some tea and get our snow wear on. I had opted to take a boarding lesson, so off I went to do the one foot shuffle for an hour. Think skateboarding, but with one foot attached to the board. You propel yourself along, get your back foot on the board and try to keep your balance. Walking up a hill with the board attached to one foot is not fun, and I was definitely feeling some leg burn by the end. I spent most of the rest of the day just riding some beginners lifts
and heading down, then starting over again.
We stopped for lunch, I had a GIANT bowl of ramen, and then went at it again. I managed to teach myself how to ollie and do a 180 ollie which I thought wasnt a bad start for my first day. Towards the end of the afternoon, most of us gathered at the top of the mountain, and then we had a lengthy trip back to the lodge...all on board. I loved that. To get to the ski park, we caught a bus filled with boarders/skiers and their gear. To get back, you just throw yourself down the mountain.
We went to onsen after a full day of boarding, and that is one of thie things i'll miss the most about Japan. I just feel so CLEAN after going, it's awesome fun. Sure, you're naked in a room full of perfectly shaped Japanese women, but even if you were the exact proportions you'd still get looked at. Everyone is just there to get clean and soak their muscles in the almost scalding hot water. After the day I'd had of cruising down the mountain and landing on my back, bum and
chest along the way, it was welcome relief.
Saturday night we got a beautiful dinner, and then got stuck in to polishing off as much alcohol as possible. The tour leaders had stocked up on beer and canned cocktails, so we drank and drank and were indeed very merry. I talked to a lot of people that day, and we formed a kind of posse for the next day. I think it was the sho chu crew that hung (or clung?) together. Hungover snowboarding...not the best idea. I felt a lot more confident the second day, trying my 180s again, and getting control of my spins. SOme tips from a helmeted Yoshi meant that I nailed a 360 ground spin too!
Far too soon it was time to head home. The casualties of this trip were my acheing muscles, and the death of my point and shoot. Some screws had come out of the bottom and snow got in so now it switches on, doesn't focus, and switches itself off. As tired as I was, I was loath to let go of the weekend, so I stayed awake chatting to the people seated around me, we played games
like 'Would you rather...?' (eat curry flavoured poo or poo flavoured curry?...by far the funniest one i've ever heard!), and singing annoying bus songs (wheels on the bus, song that never ends - I get ten points if you hum one of those after reading this!). We also had strange linguistic discussions about the origins of words, differences between American and British english, and tried to make up definitions for obscure words. <--Can you tell I was sitting with a bunch of teachers?
Once back in Osaka, it was a race against time to catch the last train home! I made it, luckily, and caught a cab from the last station to my house. My local train stops before the last train of the night gets in so this was necessary. (Just a note for those of you who know my house is 100m from my local station...I might be lazy, but i'm never THAT lazy!).
After that it was to sleep - no...no it wasn't.
After that I got to stay up and finish cleaning the house for the visitors arriving the next day!
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