ready to roll

In the usual mad rush to hit the slopes, we managed to struggle onto the bus by 8:30am with a little bit of sleep and my new coffee thermos. With a lot more snow and ice on the road than expected, the bus driver seemed rather confident. The semi-comprehensible commentary was soon drowned out by iPods.

Kate and I both thought we were going to Megahira once more, as Naoko had again done all the logistics leg-work. In fact, Naoko managed to find a ripping deal covering the return bus fare, the lift pass for the day and a discount off the rental gear. It wasn't until we arrived at Osa and didn't recognise anything that resembled Megahira that we questioned, "Where the fuck are we?" Osa, of course was the reply. Oh shit! I'd emailed Sachiko earlier to say join us at Megahira for a day of snow fun! Several confusing emails later, half in Japanese and half in English, and I still had no idea what was happening... nothing unusual there.

Madoka and Naoko strapped on their own boards, I unzipped my freshly waxed telemark skis, Fumie rented skis, while everyone else hired snowboards. Kate and Tomoko rented twin clothing, somehow not your identical twins though... Fumie soon discovered that I am not a bilingual ski instructor, not bilingual, and not a ski instructor in my mother tongue either, and that demonstrating from telemark skis doesn't necessarily translate to alpine skis. Not quite a case of Lost in Translation though. A few warm up laps of the beginner run and it was time for lunch.

Tomoko ready to roll,
originally uploaded by vfowler.

Sachiko met up with us in the cafeteria and we all munched down curries, rice and other Japanese fanfare. After lunch the snowboarders all became actors for my next movie. If you have a fast internet connection, check out the raw footage Osa snow day movie clips... I even tried some filming whilst skiing (slowly)! Madoka lost her phone and luckily, someone turned it in to lost property. Mat got a wet arse. Izabella joined the Ferrari F1 pit crew team. With some encouragement, we all headed to the summit for the long ride...
and that's where the carnage began!

After a hard day on the slopes, most of us retired to my rather empty apartment for some snacks and Sanyo warmth and a screening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This DVD has many languages of sub-titles but Japanese is not one of them. I now wonder what is more exciting, the movie itself or the reactions from our Japanese friends watching with us.