Journal 15 - Black and Blue in Nagano

OK, so I guess you're wondering what my Journal pattern is ... writing a journal every week? every 2 weeks? a month? Well, it's pretty much whenever something happens, I'll talk about it. Pretty good pattern to follow I think. Oh yeah, hello everyone ... hope you are all keeping well. It's March 20th today. It's now my 6 month anniversary since I left Canada. I am defintely a local. I'm sitting at home (under the heated table of course), looking around in my apartment and realizing ... man, it's dirty. I should really tidy up ... so instead I'm on the computer writing my next journal to you. Oh, procrastination ... anyway, we'll talk about that later. I know it's been a long time since I talked about my firsts, but I finally got one ... My first Japanese ski trip. OK, here's what apparently is a typical ski trip for people in Japan ... or maybe it's just for my student, I don't know. We left Saturday night (March 5) at 10:00 pm. We drove for over 4 hours to Nagano. When we arrived at the ski resort at around 2:00 am, we parked the car and slept until the resort opened which was 8:00 am. I got my ski rentals all set-up and then we headed to the hills, where we spent the whole day skiing.

Now I knew I never was the greatest skiier in the world and I also knew it's been a while since I last skiied, but I didn't realize how bad I was until I took that first trip and tumbled down ... ummm, I hate to tell everyone this, but apparently we have a stereotype that all Canadians are great skiiers. Well I think I just proved that sterotype wrong ... sorry. I know there's one of you reading this and he's shaking his head right now, but to that person ... after I got up I remembered the 2-4's. Anyway, the rest of the day actually went well and I had a great time. The weather was perfect and I managed to get some great pictures. Which of course, you will be able to look at. Of course, like all my adventures, there's a funny story ... What! You didn't think I was going to have a normal day of skiing did you? Well, near the end of the day, we were all getting pretty tired. I was with my student Makoto and his friend Kazu and we were resting for a bit half way down the hill. I'm standing quite peacefully when all of a sudden I realize I'm not standing anymore. Some girl who obviously was a beginner snowboarder was out of control and decided to use me as her tree. Well, both of us ended up falling. Gracefully of course. I think I kind of scared her because I wasn't moving, but the truth was I was so tired that laying on the ground was actually feeling pretty good. Before I continue, I just need to explain that the Japanese language tends to be difficult to follow, there are phrases they say that have different meanings to them, but they're saying the exact same thing, just different intonation. "Daijubu" is one of them ... pronounced "die-joo-boo". So, the conversation got very strange. Here's what I remember:

Girl: Daijubu (are you alright?)
Joe: (tilting his head because he had no idea what she said)
Girl: Daijubu (are you alright?)
Makoto: are you alright? (translating for me)
Girl: Daijubu (really worried, are you alright?)
Joe: Hai (Yes)
Girl: Daijubu? (really?)
Makoto: Daijubu (he's OK)
Girl: Daijubu? (really?)
Joe: Hai (Yes)
Makoto: Daijubu? (Are you alright - indicating to girl)
Girl: Daijubu (I'm alright, is he alright?)
Makoto: Daijubu (Oh yeah no problem)
Joe: Daijubu (Actually, my leg hurts a little)
Girl: Daijubu (OK, well as long as your OK)
Joe: Daijubu (nice talking to you)
- The girl leaves -
Makoto: Daijubu? (She was pretty cute)
Joe: Daijubu (Yeah, not bad)
Makoto: Daijubu (You should've got her number)
Joe: Daijubu (Doh!!)

It went something like that... couldn't remember the entire conversation. Anyway, so shortly after that little fiasco we decided to grab a bite to eat and then head back home. We had another 4 hour drive ahead of us. Didn't really get home until about 10 pm. Luckily I didn't have to work the next day. I would've been pretty tired. The next day was a little painful, but I managed. Hey, if I can survive muscle pain from a 42 km run, I can certainly survive from a day of skiing.

So, nothing much has happened since that last trip. Things at school are going very well and my schedule is starting to be not so tough anymore. We have a new teacher from the US who comes once a week (he teaches at another school the other times), so he freed up some of my schedule which is much nicer. Also, now that I've been here 6 months, it's safe to say that I pretty much know my job and it's smooth sailing now.

Now, I'm counting the days for my Thailand trip in April. I leave April 28th and come back May 8th. I'm very excited about the trip. It's funny every time I mention that to people here, they kind of gasp because to them that's such a long trip. To us, it's normal. But, these are people who will fly to North America for 4 days. It's also people who are use to not having a vacation. Speaking of which, all schools finished on Friday and they're enjoying their summer or I should say spring break ... They go back beginning of April. Yup, there's no 2 months off between grades for these kids.

Anyway, folks that's about all for now. Again, I hope all is well with you. Before I close I wanted to mention that I'm putting another link on my site. This is for my mom. She is going to be doing the Weekend to End Breast Cancer 60km walk in August. The walk she is doing will be in Montreal. She has to raise at least $2000 for this even. But, of course it should be higher then that. So, please click on the link and donate something to help. When you go to the site, click on "Sponsor a Participant". After, it will ask to put in a name. My mother's name is Cathy White. Thank you in advance.

Take care all
Joe