I was determined to get out as much as physically possible and snowboard on every single day that I had off of work - a resolution I stuck to for the first two weeks but sort of went to pot more recently. Those first couple of weeks were fantastic though! I went riding on my own most of the time as the instructors didn't get as many days off as me, but I actually enjoyed that time to myself and being able to snowboard at my own pace. I really felt like my confidence was growing so much and I was trying things I hadn't done before - I even managed to do a few runs in switch and was so proud of myself. To add to that, a couple of days later I had a few hours free from work so myself and a few colleagues went to Gate 11 which is a patrolled back country area. We had had a fair bit of snow over the previous days and this was going to be my first proper backcountry experience - it was bloody incredible! Terrifying but incredible. I rode all the way down every time, putting in turns, pushing myself more than I ever had done and I didn't injure myself or die - all in all a pretty successful outing. I am certainly glad work is dying back down again now so that I can get back to it and build my confidence up once again. Danny has managed to get out on his powder board a fair amount too this month as we have had some amazing powder days and lots of opportunities to get up the hill first thing. Him and his friend Josh explored the backcountry in Annupuri and hiked to Goshiki onsen which is a really nice hot spring outdoors; definitely somewhere that we want to take Tom, Rich and George when they come to visit next month.
When Danny and I got a day off together in the middle of the month, the weather was pretty rubbish for snowboarding so we decided to get the train and head to Otaru which is a city only an hour away from where we are living. My colleague had drawn us a little map of cool places to look up (mainly food orientated) so with that in hand we wandered about to see what we could find. The first thing we noticed is that it is so much colder by the coast than it is just an hour away in Niseko, I was absolutely freezing and I had 5 layers on; Danny of course was fine and looking rather interesting in his down jacket, beanie and sunglasses whilst it was snowing, he got very annoyed at me for laughing at him about it. Aside from that we went and took an obligatory selfie at the canal which was heaving with tourists of course and then because we are always thinking about food, we headed straight to the sushi restaurant that had been recommended to us and just in the nick of time because it was so busy! This was my first time eating sushi and I am not the biggest fan of fish so I was a bit apprehensive about actually being able to find something that I liked. I played it safe with tuna, salmon and shrimp and it was absolutely delicious - so fresh and full of flavour. Danny was a lot more adventurous and tried a few strange looking things, the whole place and the experience we had was just great. It was effectively a sushi train restaurant where you all sat around a circular bar and helped yourself to the food going past, but there was also a menu that you could refer to and write down what you wanted on a bit of paper and hand it over to the chef. At the end of the meal the waitress came over and scanned all of our empty plates and it just knew exactly how much everything had cost, SO clever! From there we went straight to LeTao which sell the most delicious cheesecake, again recommended to us by a local and it did not disappoint. It must be the best cheesecake ever because there were 5 or 6 of the same shop within a 10 minute radius of one another and each one of them was full of customers ploughing into the famous cheesecake. We wandered around the streets of shops, looking at the Otaru glass which is very well known around these parts and then headed to the Otaru Brewery to try some local beer. Danny had the dunkel and I had the raspberry weissbier which was really really good! The day had passed us by so quickly that by this point it was almost time to catch our train back to Niseko so we ran into a shop and bought a few bottles of the local beer for Danny to enjoy at home and ducked into Mister Donut to pick up some of "the best donuts in Hokkaido" so we were told. They weren't wrong. We had one what was effectively a brownie doughnut hybrid, filled with toasted marshmallow and topped with some kind of strawberry yoghurt coating. My God it was good. So good in fact that I would consider making the trip to Otaru again on my next day off to stock up on a few; and a few slices of that cheesecake too. Essentially we ate our way around Otaru - I feel like this is the way in which we will be conducting most of our travels around Japan, heavily based on food and drink. I cannot wait!
I had an interesting experience whilst taking part in English Fun Night for the first time last week. English Fun Night is something that is arranged through our work and local schools, where members of staff go and eat dinner with Japanese teenagers and help them to practice their English. The kids get to chat to you and you get a free meal and a ticket for another free meal at the buffet restaurant at the Hilton: win win. Danny has already been a couple of times but this was my first time, and I'm fairly certain that I won't be doing it again. It was one of the weirdest things that I have been a part of. For starters you walk into the room to awful, stereotypical English pop music whilst the teacher says God knows what about you and everyone is clapping - it kind of made me think about Paddy McGuinness on Take Me Out when all the girls walk out. Very strange. Then you have to introduce yourself on stage, go and pile your plate up with as much food as possible and then go and sit in an empty chair on a table with a group of the kids. Some speak a decent amount of English, at least enough to ask basic questions and respond; others cannot say a thing or maybe just do not want to - that was the situation I was in. No one said a word to me and just wanted to pose for photos; most of which ended up being whilst I had a mouthful of food. It was incredibly awkward and I just found it super uncomfortable but I gave it a go and I got to eat somewhere other than the canteen so it wasn't all bad.
A slightly more enjoyable experience was had a few days ago when myself and my friend Monica went over to Hirafu to go and see some traditional dancing in celebration of Chinese New Year. I saw a poster on the Niseko Seasonnaire Facebook page advertising it and thought it would be something different and interesting to do. So we headed on over after work and ended up having such a blast. Everything was set up in the car park of one of the fancy hotels ready for the dancing and free fruit tea was being handed out along with candy floss which definitely took our minds off of it being so bloody cold hanging around outside in the minus temperatures. Once the dancing started we completely forgot about it being cold, probably because we were more concerned about how cold all the poor performers were in their little costumes and barely there shoes. The dance troop were from Sapporo and ranged from 10 years old to 60 something and they were just so captivating to watch. Full of energy, jumping around to the most catchy music and blending the dancing in with martial arts - it was great fun. Later on in their performance they invited the audience up to join in. I stayed firmly on the side and maintained my job of chief photographer and videographer but Monica was right on in there jumping around and copying the moves; she looked like she was having the most fantastic time. Once it was all over we were super hungry and so headed down to Gorilla Cafe to have some massive looking sandwiches we had eyed up the last time we were there and were just waiting for the perfect opportunity to treat ourselves, this of course seeming to be that time. Alas, we are completely useless and unorganised human beings and neither of us had enough money to even buy a coffee - something to look forward to for another time I'm sure.
Another exciting thing that we have done this month is to plan and book everything for the two weeks of travelling we are going to do once we finish working for the season. Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Tokyo. Flights and hotels all booked and an ever growing list of shrines to visit, food to devour and weird & wonderful Japanese things that just cannot not be done - ie. cat cafes, robot restaurants and vending machine everything. I really cannot wait for April to roll around so that we can start exploring and really experiencing Japan. Where we are now is so beautiful and we are making the most of every second here; but at the end of the day it is a resort. It is very westernised and in some ways pretty similar to resorts we've been to before so I am really looking forward to experiencing real Japanese culture, getting to see Kyoto in cherry blossom season and take part in a Japanese tea ceremony. So many things that you just couldn't do anywhere else in the world and we are lucky enough to be able to do them, it's really exciting and I want to be there already!
But back to seasonnaire life and it's work work work these last couple of weeks with Chinese New Year. I took on a second little job helping out at some kids events in Niseko Town to earn a bit of extra cash for travelling. There were bouncy castles, a huge maze, a climbing wall and a bungy - lots of fun things, but unfortunately no children. No children at any of the events at all, so in the end I pretty much ended up being a removal assistant and just set up & put away all of the equipment each time - something that I definitely was not best suited to. I have never felt so unhelpful in all my life, but I met some brilliant people and had such a laugh. As work is dying down a lot now that the busy period if officially over I am still looking for a little bit of extra work somewhere else, just a few hours a week. I think I really need something a bit separate from Niseko Village and something that is just mine because it can all just get a bit intense at times so I think it will be great to do something new and make some new friends along the way.
Danny has had a great month teaching and met some really cool people. He had some clients for a couple of lessons alongside another instructor and they treated both of them to two nights out at some lovely restaurants in Hirafu. As you will see in the pictures below, one of the nights out was to a fancy sushi restaurant where they shared a HUGE sushi boat with some very strange items on. I won't go into detail, but I think it's fair to say that the boys ate a couple of things that they definitely will not be tucking into again! Towards the end of the month with the quiet part of the season looming, Danny has now started to teach skiing to help him get a bit more work and use his recent qualification. It's so strange seeing him on a pair of skis, I can't quite get used to it - of course he's a natural at that too, so annoying!
For now though we are super excited that February has arrived as we have lots of fun things to look forward to. The snow festival in Sapporo starts next week and we have a day off together with a few friends to go and explore the city and no doubt eat a ridiculous amount of food along the way. Joanna Lumley's programme on Japan last year has left us with high hopes for the snow festival - the buildings that they created purely out of snow and ice looked absolutely incredible, we are hoping we get to experience them all lit up at night time before we have to get our train back to Niseko - fingers crossed. Of course we cannot wait for Danny's brother Tom and our friends Rich and George to come and visit us too and show them around. Tom and Rich have been to stay with us on our previous two seasons and we always have such fun when they are here so we are really looking forward to that and hoping that the snow keeps coming down like it has over the past couple of weeks ready for their arrival. Here it is now 8.37pm, my eyes are hurting from staring at this screen and I have rambled on for far too long that most of you probably haven't even got to this sentence - if you have, you are probably one of our devoted family members so I should say that we love you, we miss you and thanks for reading. Enjoy the pictures...
Niseko Village Ski & Snowboard Instructors (Danny with both hands up right at the back)
Snowboarding through the trees
My first ever backcountry snowboarding experience in Gate 11.
Set up at the kids event I worked in Niseko Town.
My first experience of sushi in Otaru.
Aforementioned incredible cheesecake in Otaru
Fancy sushi from Danny's night out with his guests.
First stamp of our time in Japan, even if it is on tiger mounted paper...
You can tell by his face, he was super keen for a Canal selfie.
In case you hadn't noticed, Mt Yotei has been my favourite thing to photograph this season!
Chinese New Year Celebrations in Hirafu
