I know, I know, I suck at writing in this blog.
But, I thought I would go ahead and try a bit more.
Fall has come and gone and winter is in full swing. It scares me to hear all the news reports from home about the intense winter weather you all are having. I also find it surprising since this year has been so mild in Fukui. We hardly have any snow on the ground and most days are sunny. It has been really nice.
However, there are positives and negatives to everything. Less snow, for example, means less snowboarding. A hobby I have really come to enjoy in Japan.
Since Fukui's winter has been a bit lacking in the snow, a bunch of Fukui ALTs decided to go in search of more snow and optimum boarding conditions. In Japan no place is better than Nagano, home of the Winter Olympics 1998. We headed to Hakuba and the Happ'one mountain resort on Mount Karamatsu. This was where they did all the alpine skiing events.
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| NOTE: Not my photo. This was stolen from the internet. When we were in Nagano there wasn't quite this much snow. |
The snow and mountains were amazing. I had a great time boarding with my friends. It was only my 4th time to go boarding and I am still very much a beginner. I'm at the level now where I can successfully make it down the mountain without falling if I don't challenge myself to use more difficult techniques. This is poision for me! I often chicken out of trying more difficult toe edging and carving. If I want to move past the level of a beginner I have to be braver and work on the things that are difficult for me. Luckily, I had a great teacher, Laura, and training partner, Crystal, who refused to let me take the easy way out. As a result I have a few sizable bruises, a cut lip, and super sore knees/butt (from falling on them).
The conditions were near perfect. Soft compact snow and a sunny clear sky. The slopes were a little more difficult and advanced than the slopes of Fukui's mountains, but they were super fun.
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| Our group outside our little Ryokan/Hotel. Picture stolen from Crystal's instagram. |
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| Crystal (on the left) and Laura (on the right), my training partner and teacher for the day respectfully. |
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| Malcolm and I at the top of the mountain getting strapped into our boards. Thanks for this picture Crystal. |
After a day on the mountain it was heavenly to dip into the onsen at our little family owned ryokan (Japanese hotel), which was literally steps from the lifts. Many people in our group snowboarded straight to the backdoor! After bathing and cleaning up we headed down to dinner. We had home cooked sukiyaki. oishikatta (it was delicious). Sukiyaki is a soup or stew type dish. Its cooked in a hotpot on the table in front of you. Usually it has a combinations of noodles, thinly slice meat, tofu, and veggies. About 4 people will share one pot of sukiyaki. You cook it and eat it dinner together. Its a very communal thing and is super common in winter time. Its really fun and delicious. I prefer Japanese winter foods over Japanese summer food. Sukiyaki or anything cooked in a nabe-pot are some of my favorite dishes here in Japan.
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| oishi-sou! (looks delicious!) |
Then it was a night full of games, drinking, laughter, and complaining over our bodies aches and pains.
The next morning we woke up early and packed our bags to head out to the monkey park. They didn't disappoint. check out the cuteness.
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| Photo of the monkeys relaxing in the hot spring waters. This is Crystal's photo. Unfortunately just as we arrived my phone and camera battery died. I wasn't able to take any pictures. :( |
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| Me with the snow monkeys in the background. Look at all the photographers. Thanks for the photo Malcolm! |
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| This is Laura's photo! |
I can mark that off my bucket list now! Hopefully I will update again soon. See you then!
12. Visit the snow monkeys!
Erin
