the powder room

It’s the end of the season here. The melt is kicking in, I’ve finished work, goodbyes are being said, grass is reappearing, things are changing. It’s a schizophrenic time of year; sad because the unique set of people and circumstances that made up this season will never be again, yet exciting, flowers start to bloom, people are off to new places, new adventures, new friends. It’s OK to be sad about times gone past, but in the words of Semisonic ‘Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end’.

Synchronicity or not, but I was chatting with a friend earlier today and she reminded me of another Robert Frost poem I love:

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

So today was an interesting day. My back was still causing me trouble, so I called in sick at work and came home early. My friend Sarah runs a brilliant english language podcast called The Daily English Show and she asked if I’d do an interview for it. I rocked up to Samurai bar in Hirafu and gave my little interview, which will be on the site shortly.

After my addition to my fifteen minutes of fame, I came back to Unitas and found a few of the boys setting up a little jib outside one of the houses, so I spent the afternoon shooting and am pretty pleased with the results!

Bad day today. Went climbing with Tim and Dylan at the Niseko Adventure Centre (NAC), which was really great fun, but managed to tweak something in my back/hip. It was fine at first, then progressively got worse to the point where I couldn’t walk without excruciating pain shooting thru me. Ended up getting picked up by Ryan and Mimi and driven back to Unitas. Really worrying as it feels like something pretty significant and probably means I can’t work for a while. Maybe even have to come home

Gorgeous blue sky day today, a real treat here in Niseko! I had my final lesson with Lisa today and had a great time, she’s skiing really well – I’ve really enjoyed skiing together and was sad to see her go.
As it was such a great day, we all sat outside and topped up our goggle tans while we ate lunch. Just a really nice spring vibe going on!
Didn’t have work after lunch, so hit the park with Matt – perfect conditions, soft snow, warm sunshine. There were quite a few good riders so I grabbed my camera and scoped out the kickers. Found myself a nice spot right by the lip and ended up laying down in the snow as guys whizzed past my ears.
Awesome day, topped off by the prospect of 2 days off. Unfortunately the forecast is for rain, but that means we’re gonna head out tonight for a few celebratory drinks instead!

Had a great day today, I’ve been teaching a nice Aussie lady, Jasmine, to ski for a couple of days, taking her from first timer and now she’s wedge christie turning, so I’m pretty pleased. We were joined today by another Aussie, Lisa, who is equally as enjoyable to ski with and have generally had a great day skiing around and working on their turns. I’ve found it really helpful for my skiing too as it’s made me focus on more basic things and refine my free-skiing. I’ve not taught a snowboard lesson for quite a while now and whilst I’m a little annoyed about that, I’ve also been really enjoying teaching skiing and finding it very rewarding. I think the fact that I’ve passed my exam also gives me a stronger sense of confidence in my knowledge and ability. I get on with all my guests, but there are just some times when you click with them and it feels like skiing with friends. I guess what I’ve really enjoyed about skiing with Jasmine and Lisa is that I feel comfortable in what I’m doing and much more able to be creative with my exercises and lessons – although I’ve taught skiing for a long time, it just feels like I’m doing a good job (on a par with my snowboard instruction), which is very satisfying (although I’ll have to leave it to them to pass judgement on whether that’s the truth!!)

Hurrah, I am now an official, bona-fide ski instructor! Woohoo. So I only just scraped through on my riding, but a pass is a pass. Out tonight celebrating with everyone (who all passed!).
We had just about every type of weather over the last few days, chucking it down with rain, blowing a gale and then heavy snow and wind on the last day. Poor Gavin and Brian had to stand around outside in freezing and horrible conditions.
My skiing was pretty sketchy for most of the week, but something came together at the end and I started to feel that I was skiing like I was in Winter Park, which was a relief.
Anyway, job done – one step closer to ISIA certification!

So I started my NZSIA Level 1 Alpine Ski exam tonight with an indoor session. Everyone seems pretty cool and Gavin, our examiner, is a really nice guy. I’m feeling quite relaxed about this exam although I know my skiing is a little borderline. I’ve been working on it as much as I can, but work has been getting in the way a bit!
It feels a little odd to be doing another exam and very different from my previous ones. Partly because I’ve done it before and partly because it’s not had such an intense build up of training and analysis. I feel a little under-prepared compared to how I felt before my CSI exam, but confident in my teaching and technical knowledge (I should hope so given that I taught skiing for a season!).
The exam is over 4 days:
Day 1 – Progression from first timer to advanced wedge turns
Day 2 – Applying the progression to kids
Day 3 – Wedge demo assessment and freeriding assessment
Day 4 – Teaching assessment

You can’t really fail in the first 2 days, which is a relief. They basically are a course, which gives us time to work on our freeskiing and technical knowledge.

Raku Izakaya, Hirafu having just eaten some amazing sashimi

Me in Raku, grinning like an idiot

It’s my day off tomorrow and a few of the other NISS guys were heading into Kutchan for dinner, but I thought it would end up being quite expensive and kinda wanted to break away on my own for a bit, so I grabbed a map and wandered into Hirafu to see what was going on.
My aim was to find a cheap izakaya (Japanese pub, what we would think of as a sushi bar) with a local flavour and as little Australian as possible.
My first call was Mina Mina, a cosy little place with a wood fireplace – but sadly no seats. After a fumbled Japanese exchange, I bowed out (literally) and wandered off down the road. Next stop was Jam Cafe, not an izakaya, but somewhere that was supposed to be quite good and cheap. I hestitated at the door, then abandoned it as it felt too touristy and bar-like.
Trundling down the snowy road, my jeans getting wetter and wetter, I almost walked past the enormous sign saying Izakaya Raku. Nervously sliding the door open (after a failed attempt on the wrong side!), I greet the staff and try to ask if I can eat something. My japanese fails me and I end up just saying “eat” and pointing at myself like a dislocated Tarzan. It works, and I’m soon sitting at the bar by the chef.
Exploring the menu (in Japanese, but fortunately with pictures), I bravely try to ask what the special is (kore wa nan desuka) and get a long-winded response that is succintly boiled down to “salmon pickles”. Unable to decide if this is salmon sashimi with pickles or some sort of weird japanese pickled salmon, I bottle it and order maguro sashimi (raw tuna), edamame (boiled soy beans), miso shiro (white miso soup), gohan (rice) and nihon shu (japanese sake). The waiter seems to understand and passes my order to the kitchen as I breathe a sigh of relief and take a look around.
The place is pretty much empty, in contrast to the packed mainstream venues. 3 japanese girls sit in the corner chatting and giggling quietly. There’s a bar round the small galley kitchen and several other tables. 4 staff (that look more like samurai than chefs) are busy preparing food. Short banners hang all around with various menu items scrawled in japanese. Some cool chilled out Japanese funk/soul beats. The counter is a light pine and the floor a dark wood of some sort, it feels very natural and warm.
My food arrives and I politely say itadakimasu (a standard phrase that japanese say before they eat). I plonk wasabi into a dish and pour shoyou (soy sauce) over it, before deciding that I should tip it all on my rice. I give the hot rice a mix and eagerly shovel some into my mouth with chopsticks. About a millisecond later, my sinuses are burning as I underestimate the strength of the wasabi. I fight back the tears and only just manage to refrain from exploding rice across the counter and my laptop. Fortunately the pain subsides and I manage to enjoy the rest of my meal, nibbling each different taste neatly and sighing contentedly after each bite.
Taking a look at the menu, it looks like the whole meal will cost me around 1500 yen (about a tenner) – not the cheapest, but a heck of a lot cheaper than other restaurants and a damn sight nicer. Rather pleased with myself, I toddle off back to Unitas, a little wobbly from the sake, but filled with sashimi and a sense of achievement.
EDIT: And on the way back, I missed my bus, but got a hitch from Lina and Cleo from Niseko Gourmet – nice!

Unitas dining hall, large can of Asahi in hand
It snowed today. A lot. All day. Man, I had to shovel my way out of the room this morning. Got to work early cos I was on set-up duty and spent the morning shovelling snow off the magic carpet, then Tom gave me an all-day private level 3 (translation: 7 hours of work, guests that can actually snowboard, generally a free lunch too). Hung around for half an hour waiting for them, freezing my knackers off, but then had a great day, trundling around, teaching them to ride powder and generally exploring. The snow in the trees was sooooooo deep, it was hip deep at least and face shots (when you spray yourself with snow) all round.
Although to be honest, it was bloody hard work and I was complaining about it earlier, but if I think about it, I’m still getting paid to ride and chat to people. I’m physically shattered today, but a bad day on the slopes is still better than a good day in the office!

On my bed at Unitas after ski training

Kutchan

Getting bit more settled now, I live in Hirafu, but made my way over to Kutchan (a nearby town)  a few days ago and hit up the Max Valu supermarket – it was heaven for me! Jap food all the way, so stocked up on lots of things and reckon I’ve saved myself a fair whack with that. Food-wise there’s been a definite improvement here, we’re now getting Japanese food twice a week and the other meals have been much better. Still pretty school canteen, but OK.
Work’s been good too, had my first lesson this season (a nice English girl who’s just on her way back to the UK from 6 months in Toyko)  and been figuring out how the school works. At the moment there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of work to go round, but it’ll get busier at Chinese New Year. Met up with Tiktak last night, which was cool. Turns out that NISS named our kids program after her. Pretty cool I thought. Been getting to know others at work and feeling quite good about things now. We have training every Monday and Wednesday – so far I’ve just been doing the ski training cos I want to do my Level 2 exam in Feb, but judging by tonight’s performance, I might think twice about that!

Jagatakun, Kutchan's town mascot

Went to Kutchan today to register for my geijin card, a card that foreigners have to get if they stay for more than 90 days – lets me get a bank account etc. Should have one up and running soon. Kutchan Town’s mascot is Jagata-kun – a skiing potato boy?! I kid you not. Kutchan’s main summer produce is potato, so thy thought ‘why not combine the two?’. Because it’s ridiculous, that’s why.
Started snowing again today – huge chunks of the stuff falling out of the sky, it’s pretty wet, but crazy to watch. Even after a short chair ride, I was covered in about a centimetre of snow. 30cm is forecast before tomorrow morning. Sweet!