Holidays

I am so jealous that all my old friends had half term. I don't think I felt it as much this term, in fact the first half seemed to fly since Christmas, but I was still jealous. We did have a 4 day weekend which was nice though, and a big group of us went skiing to Hokkaido (the northern island).

We looked in the English magazine metropolis at the classifieds and saw an ad for 2 pairs of skis for Y2000 a pair (about £10), so we trekked over and looked at them, and ended up carrying home 3 pairs, one of which our friend Megan took. Will's are 195cm long - The Ferrari of skis, as Adam put it. He really did fly down those slopes! Mine are 170, but there was a problem with the bindings and the resort didn't want the liability of fixing it (I suppose in case I got injured and sued them) although that was handy for them because then I had to pay and hire some. Still, I had poles and boots and all the rest so it wasn't too expensive.

There were supposed to be 18 of us going, but one dropped out with too much work and one had a chest infection, so that left 16. We got up at 4.30am (and called one of our friends who couldn't be on time if her life depended on it) and staggered into a taxi to Shinagawa station, then onto a train for Haneda airport (much closer than Narita, used for domestic flights). Our flight was fine and we landed in Sapporo on a snowy runway with a ground temp of -2C. Then there was a 2 hour bus journey, but by then it was mid-morning and we were tired but excited, so we all enjoyed getting there. We were staying at Rusutsu - a resort where everything is owned by the hotel. That meant that 3 days of lift passes were included in the price which was great - I had been thinking it would be really expensive! Will and I shared a room with another couple, Mark and Megan, who we skied with at Christmas.

On the first afternoon some of the others went straight up to ski but I we decided to save our lift passes for full days and explore instead. Unfortunately, I fell asleep so Will explored with Megan instead and went Ski-dooing (snow-mobile - like a jet ski for winter). He had a brilliant time. In the evening the 16 of us went for an Izakaya meal, made a lot of toasts and had a lot of fun.

In the morning we went for breakfast (Japanese take on western food - not very appetizing. I gave up and had Japanese for the rest of the time). Then we went straight out. It was raining. Not snowing, really bucketing down. Will and Megan tried out their new skis on the green runs while Mark and I went to the top to meet up with them, and when we got off the lift we were in cloud and couldn't see more than a few feet. I also had my boots done up too tight and my feet went completely numb, so the first run was awful. I went inside for a while to recover and then we headed over to the second of the three mountains on the gondola. We did a few more runs then realised that while our jackets are snow-proof, they are not drench-proof and we were wet. We gave up for the day, went for lunch and then just had a swim and Onsen in the afternoon. There were 2 families from school there and I ended up next to a father in the hot tub - not an comfortable experience but not as bad as for Adam who ended up naked next to him in the Onsen!

That night it snowed lots, so we had a nice Italian meal, relaxed and had an early night. In the morning the slopes were lovely, although it was sunny so a little icy on the popular parts. We took this as a cue to go over to the third mountain, mount Isola. It was mostly red runs there so Will was nervous, but the snow was much better. We skied across and met up with a group at the bottom, and then went all the way to the very top in the gondola. The bad thing about mount isola is that it is far away from the rooms and you have to go to the top and ski across to get back to the other side. Megan was feeling really ill so they went straight off to go back to the hotel. We decided to head that way too, but somewhere along the way missed the turn and ended up back at the bottom, which took ages as Will was not confident on steep parts in his super-long skis. We had to get the gondola all the way back up and then try again. The second time we made it, which was just in time for the afternoon activities...

I had agreed to try dog-sledding with Mary. I am still not sure what possessed me to do this, although I have to say it is fun to have done it once. You have to stand on two thin rails behind this rickety sled and hang on and lean around while 2 dogs pull you over the ice as fast as they can (to get to the soup at the end). We had a ride around the track on a ski-doo to see the turns, a couple of minutes instruction, and then we were off. I went first, and I did all the parts where they told us 'foreigners usually fall off here' (Mary is Canadian - I don't know where they think dog-sledding comes from). Then I got to the end and saw the signal to brake. To brake, you have to take a foot off the rail and press down on a wooden pedal that you can't see from standing position. I took my foot off but I missed the pedal and stepped down on the snow. I realised straight away and picked it up for another go, but felt my balance going and made a split second decision that I would be better jumping than falling. On this, I did a kind of swallow dive effect and landed flat on my chest on the ice at high speed (the instructors only words about falling had been 'fall safely' - great). I hit my head on the floor but luckily my padded goggles took the brunt, but I was completely winded. I could see people asking if I was ok but I couldn't get the breath to answer properly so I just lay there for a while until I got some feeling back. That is why it was fun to have done once. My dog-sledding days are over! Saying that, and considering Mary is Canadian, she fell off before they had even got started. The dogs had to run around the track for her to get back on and try again. Then she pressed hard on the brake and fell off at the same point as me, so overall I probably didn't do too badly.

Back at the hotel, Megan was getting steadily worse, coughing and feverish. We decided to try to get an extra room so she could rest better, but when we explained the situation the receptionist just gave us medicine for her. Our Japanese friend Kumi came back with us and managed to get us a room for a fraction of the price which we split with Mark. We went out to a Korean barbecue restaurant - all you can eat lamb, beef, chicken and piles of veggies, plus drinks. It was great. I got horribly drunk and felt really ill, so I was very glad of having our own room too!

The next day we were leaving but not until late afternoon, so we checked out and then went back up the mountain. Will and I skied alone that day. We found one perfect run that suited both of us fine, and just kept going round and round. It was great, we both improved loads and were swishing around all over the place by the end. We decided to quit while we were ahead, so we stopped at 2pm and went ski-dooing with Mary and Mark. We took the forest trail, a half hour session with an instructor through the trees and fields, it was fantastic. Mary managed to fall off the ski-doo too - that girl has no balance! It was great though, I would definitely do that again.

The journey home was more of a chore. We were all tired and just wanted to get there. The plane was stupidly hot, Megan was still fluey and everyone else was coming down with it, we had turbulence and cross-winds landing so it just took forever. Then at the other end there were 2 flights coming out onto 1 baggage carousel and ours was last so we just had to stand around. When we eventually got on the train we all just sat there in silence! We eventually got home at 11.20pm.

The next day was a training day at school - good as no children but for me, actually more work than the standard Monday. I sat through the most boring, patronizing morning of my life, then went home coughing and slept all afternoon. This helped - I didn't get the fever with the cough and have been back at school all week. Will wasn't so lucky, he had a fever and was off for 2 days. I am not surprised, we shared a room with Megan for 2 days as she was getting ill, and lots of the others had it too.

This weekend i have a training day saturday so I only have one day to rest. I can't wait for the spring break. Vikki is coming and I am going to lie in and relax as well as taking her out to see things. I am not complaining, I have had a great week, but I am very tired - you can see why I am jealous of the half-termers!