Thursday about a week ago

Already becoming really slack with this, but I have an excuse (all be it a poor one). The wireless in my house has been dropping out a lot so I been to lazy, but they cleared the snow around it today and all seems to be good again.

So I had an epic shred last week, it snowed a lot Wednesday night, and Thursday morning was not only my day off but it was also blue bird. I got myself up and was on the first chairlift, probably the first time I have ever done so. Haha, think most people know how much I hate being up early. Herer are some pics I took, was having to much fun to stop and take to many.Me on the chair after my first run, copped snow in the face almost every turn.

This is the view from the top of Strawberry Fields one of the most popular and most filmed locations in Niseko.

Left to right: Anthony, Kenta, Me. Both guys I live with.

The view of the peak, from the top of the bottom chair.

It's ok Mum the day I went skiing here it was so cold that the waterfall would have been frozen.

So as you can see, it was an amazing day, probably one of the best I'll get here.

Wednesdays

Wednesdays are the last day of my working week here in Niseko. They are usually long days, as it is usually pretty quiet and I also usually pretty tired after being out late at Bill's for darts the night before.

The shop, it is freakin' tiny. Will take a better shot when I remember to.


Lachy enjoying the win last night.

Tomorrow is my day off and it is forecasted to puke snow tonight, so it's off to bed early so I can get gnarly tomorrow.

Tuesdays

Usually Tuesdays in our shop are pretty quiet, which is always nice because the weekends are generally pretty busy. Today to fill in the time I went to Kutchan on my break I had to go to the bank, which I was pretty happy to have done on my own but still with the help of a note written in Japanese by Koji.

View Larger Map
This is a map of the area I'm in. The A is Kutchan, and Mt. Niseko Annapuri is where I ski.

I also spent a lot of time researching Ski boots as I am struggling with a but of shin bang at the moment. For those of you who don't ski or don't know what shin bang is, it's basically really sore shins caused by a combination of my boots and me landing awkwardly off jumps.
This is the boot I'm thinking of getting, possibly super cheap through work.

Apart from that my day was pretty relaxed. This always a plus on Tuesdays as it allows me to prepare myself mentally for darts. We (The Ninja's) play every Tuesday, and our record so far is 2 and 2. By my calculations I think this puts us under a little pressure to keep winning if we wanna make finals, but it is possible. Our team (Koji, Lachy, Billy, Kenta and Myself) had a bit of a slow start to the season but are looking as if were just warming up.

Making the most of quiet times at work

As I think I've mentioned when it is quiet at work and boredom sets in my Japanese work mates will usually teach me things. Recently the subject has been Origami. First I learned how to make a paper gun, which basically looks like a triangle that makes a loud noise when you flick it. Then today I moved onto the more complex Crane. I haven't been able to finish it with out checking the instructions at some point yet but I'm close to having it memorized.

This was my first attempt.

2010

The new year has begun, and were almost a week in already. I had kinda lost track of how long I had been gone for (nearly 2 months) still doesn't feel like that long. Only three to go now until I am home again. I feel pretty settled here in Niseko now, or as settled as a Gaijin (westerner) ski bum can be in a Japanese ski resort. Most stuff that I found an effort when I first arrived due to the language barrier are becoming easier, thanks to my senseis Koji and Mai who are helping me learn some essential and not so essential Japanese. A day at work is never that boring when you are getting taught a new language. I think one of the best things about living in a place so different to home is just discovering how the culture and customs here are so similar yet so different, and usually it just makes me laugh.

The weather so far this year hasn't been all that good. We have had a few days where the lifts have been closed or partially closed due to high winds, And not that much snow (By Niseko standards). That always seems to happen at some point during a season, I just hope it doesn't last too long.

I have tomorrow off, so I will be getting my one sleep in for the week. Going to head up the mountain at some point, no rush as it hasn't snowed tonight. So long as the wind has died down a bit by then it should still be good times.

My first blog.

So, I've decided to start blogging. Figured it would be way easier for me to do this regularly than write big group emails. Lazy? maybe but I think this way more of the details of what is going on with me will be available to those who are interested. I'm not sure how diligent I will be with this but I will try my best.