hit the slopes

Madoka organised dinner on Saturday night at the Korean restaurant, Bokuden. Behind the hefty door, the wooden shoe lockers in the foyer area have these funky wooden plank keys. Excellent and tasty food in a great atmosphere. Kate's apartment break-in news was the conversation topic until Naoko was thanked for her help with the cops. I heard their mention of snowboarding the next day...

6am is not really a good time to wake up, especially on your only day off. However, the mere possibility of seeing snow coverage was exciting enough to open my eyes. I lugged my brand spanking new skis in their shiny ski bag over to Kate's. A quick cuppa there and we set out to Ajina. Our train sailed past the station before we'd realised and again, Naoko came to the rescue.

Snow everywhere. We hired some gear for Kate, bought lift tickets, then the fun began. Megahira is described as the home-like resort, which was kinda true as the snow mix had that wet, heavy, hard-pack feel about it much the same as in Australia.

The one major difference is that many Japanese ski resorts include hot springs, and at Megahira there is no fear as it is an onsen in which to wear your swimsuit.

After a couple of warm-up laps on the beginner slope, I should have moved on to the intermediate slope. Instead I shoved off with a bit of speed and ended up crashing into a beginner snowboarding girl. She copped a cut lip and spat a bit of blood as I apologised profusely - I am such an idiot sometimes. Two resort guys came along and we walked her down to the medical assistance. I told Naoko and Kate, who saw the whole incident anyway, and I felt like such an arsehole. I left the beginner slope and queued up for the serious slope chairlift...

The rest of the day went without trauma. After lunch, Kate set her goal of 4 runs down the beginner slope. Her confidence built throught the afternoon and of course the addictive nature kicked in. She nailed at least 6 or 7 runs before our 6 hour tickets expired. At 4,800 yen we were all grinning from a great first day on the slopes. I tried to remember my telemark technique, but it's not hard to look cool when you're the only person on tele' skis!

Naoko was very nice and drove us all the way back to Hiroshima, all in good time for the parties we had on that night. Mine was a work Christmas party (Boonenkai) at Sesoya for all our branch teachers and staff. The food continued to arrive for hours and secret Santa presents were given out to all. My Kit-Kat addiction must be rather well known - thanks secret Santa! Beer and banter carried on into the-wee-hours of the morning.
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