Look at all this sand, I mean snow!
Being born and raised in Hawaii its hard to imagine real snow especially when its flowing down just like in the movies. We got to our hotel at 6 in the morning and it was still dark outside. Immediately stepping out of the bus, we got showered with light, soft, cold pieces of snow. I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I felt the snow falling g me. Ok enough with the weird talk.
How was the snow? It was fricken awesome!! I don't think I can even imagine how excited I was when I first felt the snow. It was cold yet very soft and light. For anyone out there who hasn't experienced snow, please go and find yourself some snow.
Krystal, Lisa, and I totally maximized our time there at the resort by going out everyday and shredding the powder. The first day we got there everyone was still a little tired from the long and uncomfortable bus ride, but after a short nap we were out there. We got up pretty early and got all of our snow gear. We kind of just waited around for the the ski school to open up so we could get some lessons. I read my watch wrong and pretty much wasted like 3 hours just kind of sitting there in the cold playing with the snow. But once we got on track we got our lessons and in no time we could all SKI! The teacher guy was really cool and funny. There was this other lady that was taking the lesson with us but basically we were all beginners. After about two hours on a bunny slope the teacher told us that with some practice we could make it onto the lift by the next day. Because of the winter season the sun went down around 5. So we would go in at 5 and have some dinner that came with the hotel reservations. And then after some chatting and showers we all passed out at about 8.
The next day we got up pretty early and a lot more excited. We knew how to ski and couldn't wait to get up on the lift. The hotel reservations also came with a breakfast buffet, which we made good use of. We went out to the slope and then went on our first lift trip. At our stop you kind of have to go down a small hill off the lift platform. This is where I believe Lisa ate some snow. This was the first of many falls to come from Lisa, Krystal, and me. The stop we got off at was in the middle of the main slope. We had to cross it to get to the less crowded and more comfortable slope. At first I was really nervous to go across but I was surprised how similar skiing and rollerblading were. So I got it really quick. Even Krystal and Lisa were going across the slope by the second and third time with very little trouble. We stayed out there all day until the sun went down.
That night after dinner we went out to play in the snow. It would be pretty embarrassing to play in the snow in the day, so we went in the parking lot at night and made our snowman. It's actually very hard to make the snowman with soft snow. But we managed to make one that was pretty cool and even took pictures of him.
The third day we decided to try out snowboarding. We got lessons again and again got a really cool teacher. It seems that when we told everyone that we were from Hawaii they cut us a little slack being in the snow for the first time. Snowboarding was actually a lot more challenging than skiing. The hardest part for me was getting up on the board. Everything else just took some time to get used to. I would say that I got most of the basic skills down. But still very much a beginner. Snowboarding made me feel kind of cool, compared to skiing. I felt that everyone knew how to ski but the snowboarders were the real cool guys.
Anyway half way through the day we decided that we should change back into skis because we were real novices when it came to boarding. We also felt that we should use more of the lift pass we bought for the two days. So we changed back into skis and finished the day. We were so sunburned being out in the snow for three days that everyone was pretty exhausted. We spent the last two hours of our snow holiday playing rummy and waiting for our bus to take us back to Kyoto. What an awesome way to experience snow for the first time...
Anyway finally back home in Kyoto. Kind of weird calling Kyoto home, but it will have to do. We ended up seeing a movie yesterday in the theaters. I think it was a good 6 months since the last time I was in the theater. We went to see Man on Fire, Japanese title "My Bodyguard". It was a really good movie and I enjoyed it, especially because I was sitting in stadium seating in a THEATER!!
Well so far so good for my first winter in Kyoto. Getting colder and colder everyday but I think I'll be able to handle. Anyway ...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the people I haven't got a chance to say it directly too.
How was the snow? It was fricken awesome!! I don't think I can even imagine how excited I was when I first felt the snow. It was cold yet very soft and light. For anyone out there who hasn't experienced snow, please go and find yourself some snow.
Krystal, Lisa, and I totally maximized our time there at the resort by going out everyday and shredding the powder. The first day we got there everyone was still a little tired from the long and uncomfortable bus ride, but after a short nap we were out there. We got up pretty early and got all of our snow gear. We kind of just waited around for the the ski school to open up so we could get some lessons. I read my watch wrong and pretty much wasted like 3 hours just kind of sitting there in the cold playing with the snow. But once we got on track we got our lessons and in no time we could all SKI! The teacher guy was really cool and funny. There was this other lady that was taking the lesson with us but basically we were all beginners. After about two hours on a bunny slope the teacher told us that with some practice we could make it onto the lift by the next day. Because of the winter season the sun went down around 5. So we would go in at 5 and have some dinner that came with the hotel reservations. And then after some chatting and showers we all passed out at about 8.
The next day we got up pretty early and a lot more excited. We knew how to ski and couldn't wait to get up on the lift. The hotel reservations also came with a breakfast buffet, which we made good use of. We went out to the slope and then went on our first lift trip. At our stop you kind of have to go down a small hill off the lift platform. This is where I believe Lisa ate some snow. This was the first of many falls to come from Lisa, Krystal, and me. The stop we got off at was in the middle of the main slope. We had to cross it to get to the less crowded and more comfortable slope. At first I was really nervous to go across but I was surprised how similar skiing and rollerblading were. So I got it really quick. Even Krystal and Lisa were going across the slope by the second and third time with very little trouble. We stayed out there all day until the sun went down.
That night after dinner we went out to play in the snow. It would be pretty embarrassing to play in the snow in the day, so we went in the parking lot at night and made our snowman. It's actually very hard to make the snowman with soft snow. But we managed to make one that was pretty cool and even took pictures of him.
The third day we decided to try out snowboarding. We got lessons again and again got a really cool teacher. It seems that when we told everyone that we were from Hawaii they cut us a little slack being in the snow for the first time. Snowboarding was actually a lot more challenging than skiing. The hardest part for me was getting up on the board. Everything else just took some time to get used to. I would say that I got most of the basic skills down. But still very much a beginner. Snowboarding made me feel kind of cool, compared to skiing. I felt that everyone knew how to ski but the snowboarders were the real cool guys.
Anyway half way through the day we decided that we should change back into skis because we were real novices when it came to boarding. We also felt that we should use more of the lift pass we bought for the two days. So we changed back into skis and finished the day. We were so sunburned being out in the snow for three days that everyone was pretty exhausted. We spent the last two hours of our snow holiday playing rummy and waiting for our bus to take us back to Kyoto. What an awesome way to experience snow for the first time...
Anyway finally back home in Kyoto. Kind of weird calling Kyoto home, but it will have to do. We ended up seeing a movie yesterday in the theaters. I think it was a good 6 months since the last time I was in the theater. We went to see Man on Fire, Japanese title "My Bodyguard". It was a really good movie and I enjoyed it, especially because I was sitting in stadium seating in a THEATER!!
Well so far so good for my first winter in Kyoto. Getting colder and colder everyday but I think I'll be able to handle. Anyway ...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the people I haven't got a chance to say it directly too.
posted by Chris at 12:44 AM
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