Ski ga suki

The week following the amusement park adventure, a huge group of people from the company and their various friends went to Nagano-ken for some winter fun. We had such a massive group that it was useful to rent a night bus of our own to travel there and back. The hotel we chose provided reasonably cheap Japanese-style (futon on tatami, no beds) furnishings and was a short walk from the slopes. When we arrived at 6 or 7 in the morning, it was almost too bright from the sun's reflection on the freshly-fallen snow.

After a bit of confusion trying to check in, we headed to the mountain to get equipped. Most people elected snowboards, but since I had engaged in a winter sport like this only once before, I went with what I knew best: skis. Mind you, I'd only done cross-country skiing one time, and many years before; downhill proved to be a tad different! All things considered, I think I did a damn good job for what was essentially my first time. Physics class finally payed off a bit, and it helped that turning on skis is a bit similar to leaning for turns on a bike or motorcycle.

That said, I'm happy that the snow is significantly softer than concrete, because one consequence of my dive into learning was that I was unfortunately diving into the ground a lot. Yet, I'm proud of my fearlessness in the face of.. face-planting: it enabled me to quickly learn the dos and don'ts - and much quicker than I expected. By the end of the first day, I had even gone down the "intermediate" course (admittedly skiing half and falling half ;) without too much permanent brain damage. (To give you an idea, there are parts to that course where you question if there is in fact a slope or just a cliff in front of you!)

One strange thing about skiing: it's harder to maneuver while standing calmly than while flying at violent speeds down the crowded beginner's course. Even if it was awkward for me while moving slowly, the poor snowboarders have to unstrap on of their feet and shuffle toward a slope since without inertia, there's no way for them to self-propel. It also seemed like you'd fall on your ass a lot more with a board. I think they make up for it with far fewer head-first falls.

The scenery from atop the mountain was absolutely, breathtakingly incredible. It was hard to ski at times because I felt like I was missing another rare sight. Japan has no shortage of mountains, but there's a significant difference between looking up at them and looking down on them. Furthermore, the ones in view were snowy, steep, and adorned with trees. The valley below held a thin veil of fog and the tallest mountains appeared to melt into the clouds above. When looking from the peak, you wonder who was the first explorer to brave his life for this sight - there's a certain romanticism to the idea that the technology in our modern world cannot comprehend.

I took no pictures. I'm pleased with the idea that only my eyes savored the sights on that mountain. Besides, everyone and their mother brought a camera, so I can get the pictures from them without having had to sacrifice any of my concussion-time.

We stayed two days, and the first was significantly more pleasant than the second. The human body is a fantastic and wonderful thing except for when any motion brings you immediate pain; such were the majority of us after waking up. The breakfast hall looked like it was catering to a bunch of vegetarian zombies. (Insert odd Japanese dish here: onsen-tamago - literally hot-spring egg - consists of a half-boiled egg served in cold water from a local onsen. If it were hot, maybe, but wow was that an unpleasant sensation.)

The next day on the slopes was fine and all, but by the end of the day, I wasn't interested in anything besides returning to a mattress for recovery. A few days later (after functioning at about 10% capacity at work), most everything was alright. The only longterm setback has been a jammed thumb, but the swelling and freaky discoloring has gone, leaving only a bit of weakness and pain. It should heal up soon enough I imagine.

The following Friday, I was sick with a fever. By Saturday it had already broken. It was fortunate to have happened on a weekend, and I only missed a half-day of work. Not too bad, except for the many trips to the bathroom in-between. Oh well, one day out of the year isn't bad considering the people here often only wash their hands with cold water and are densely packed on trains.