Back to my second day of work after a 4-day holiday snowboarding in Hokkaido. Moreover, back to work with nothing to do. Add Spring time, sunny warm weather to the equation, and you just about know how motivated I am right now.
But I digress. The trip to Hokkaido was AMAZING! Think winter wonderland! Huge rolling mountains, snow-covered shores and thick, fluffy powder snow covering all of the slopes. I've now been spoiled by the boarding conditions and will probably stick up my nose at the resorts around Tokyo from now on. We boarded for 4 straight days, proving to be quite the challenge for my weak right ankle, bruised knees and aching muscles, but just the right way to improve. We were 10-- Me and Px, her 2 Japanese colleagues, S and 4 of his Frenchy friends, and one of their Japanese girlfriends, who ended up being about the same age as me and a very cool girl. The boys went off and did their own silly boy things, while we girls conquered the red (intermediate) runs, and even a few blacks. In the deep powder snow, falling wasn't so much a painful experience but an opportunity to roll around and do somersaults backwards down the hill. Believe it or not, this mindset causes you to fall less! I must give credit, however, to Frenchy F, who ended up being a most subarashii sensei. Because of his little tips I was careening down the slopes, off piste in the "do not enter" areas under the lifts, and between trees (only partially on my ass) by the end.
The dynamics of the group were quite funny as well. I have no complaints about being entertained by 5 very cute Frenchy boys, and to my delight, Px even liked them too! Apart from boarding we were almost too tired to do anything else besides going to onsen (referred to by the boys as the "swimming pool" because they were convinced the one we preferred was not "real onsen water"), eating lots and lots of ikura-don, miso ramen and other yummy Hokkaido delights, and drinking nama beer and umeshuu. The lodge was absolutely adamant about having us awake for 7:30am breakfast, and for some strange reason, the restaurant didn't quite appreciate our bringing cereal and toast from the conbini to breakfast rather than waking up that god-awful early. After listening to Frenchy G snore like he had industrial farm equipment working inside his nose, it didn't make for many good nights of sleep.
But all-in-all, a great weekend and break from Tokyo-- just making this week that much harder to get through, however. Now on to party planning-- my birthday bash will be held this Saturday at a location near you-- or near me, anyway... and then the next weekend I'm off to Thailand for 10 days and I'm bringing a present (Becca) back with me. Will try to update and get my photos uploaded somewhere in between, and god willing, get a new camera before I leave so I don't have to be embarrassed anymore by my "brick."
Here are some...
But I digress. The trip to Hokkaido was AMAZING! Think winter wonderland! Huge rolling mountains, snow-covered shores and thick, fluffy powder snow covering all of the slopes. I've now been spoiled by the boarding conditions and will probably stick up my nose at the resorts around Tokyo from now on. We boarded for 4 straight days, proving to be quite the challenge for my weak right ankle, bruised knees and aching muscles, but just the right way to improve. We were 10-- Me and Px, her 2 Japanese colleagues, S and 4 of his Frenchy friends, and one of their Japanese girlfriends, who ended up being about the same age as me and a very cool girl. The boys went off and did their own silly boy things, while we girls conquered the red (intermediate) runs, and even a few blacks. In the deep powder snow, falling wasn't so much a painful experience but an opportunity to roll around and do somersaults backwards down the hill. Believe it or not, this mindset causes you to fall less! I must give credit, however, to Frenchy F, who ended up being a most subarashii sensei. Because of his little tips I was careening down the slopes, off piste in the "do not enter" areas under the lifts, and between trees (only partially on my ass) by the end.
The dynamics of the group were quite funny as well. I have no complaints about being entertained by 5 very cute Frenchy boys, and to my delight, Px even liked them too! Apart from boarding we were almost too tired to do anything else besides going to onsen (referred to by the boys as the "swimming pool" because they were convinced the one we preferred was not "real onsen water"), eating lots and lots of ikura-don, miso ramen and other yummy Hokkaido delights, and drinking nama beer and umeshuu. The lodge was absolutely adamant about having us awake for 7:30am breakfast, and for some strange reason, the restaurant didn't quite appreciate our bringing cereal and toast from the conbini to breakfast rather than waking up that god-awful early. After listening to Frenchy G snore like he had industrial farm equipment working inside his nose, it didn't make for many good nights of sleep.
But all-in-all, a great weekend and break from Tokyo-- just making this week that much harder to get through, however. Now on to party planning-- my birthday bash will be held this Saturday at a location near you-- or near me, anyway... and then the next weekend I'm off to Thailand for 10 days and I'm bringing a present (Becca) back with me. Will try to update and get my photos uploaded somewhere in between, and god willing, get a new camera before I leave so I don't have to be embarrassed anymore by my "brick."
Here are some...
Here are more...
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