Some Pictures!

There was so much snow (waist deep)  that Syd had to hike out to a cat track to  get some speed up!

An awesome Japanese snowman.

Riding at "super ridge".

Getting set for more powder turns.

Andy riding hard!

I don't think this van is going anywhere anytime soon.

Mt. Yoti

Taking a break before more powder turns.

Happy boys.

Bre and Andy enjoying the fields of "super ridge'

Group shot with Mt. Yoti in the back ground.

We are starting to get pretty settled here in Niseko.  We have some daily routines started (for example: Wake up around 7, eat breakfast and either head to work or head to the lifts for some deep snow. After that it's home for a bit of relaxation and lunch before work or some quick food before throwing on our outerwear and sprinting to the lifts).

We've both been feeling a little under the weather lately. Living in a house with so many people and being around foreign germs, it was inevitable.  Despite being a little sick, we are still managing to have lots of fun.  Tonight we went to dinner in Kutchan with Andy and Bre.  We ate at an authentic Japanese sushi restaurant.  It was delicious!

We both have the next few days off, so I'm sure we will have some new adventures to post about very soon.

VIDEO POST

Daily Life in Japan

Hi Everyone!!
We've been here almost a week now, and are loving every minute of it! We both love our jobs here. It is defiantly more hire than retail, but we are both getting the hang of it. When we aren't working we are usually on the hill. The snow has been great every day, and we have been told this is nothing yet!

We took our first adventure outside of our little village the other day. We needed to stock up on groceries and register for our gaijin card (foreigner's card). Once we get it we will be able to get a phone and all those good things. The bus is really expensive during the day so we decided to hitch hike to town (it is very safe and common in Japan). We got a ride with a great Aussie guy who has lived here for quite some time and offered to pick us up in an hour to go back to Hirafu. We would have loved to take him up on the offer, but we knew that grocery shopping is a good 2 hour process when you don't know what anything is. Marty and I have so much fun when we go shopping for groceries. We never know what anything is and always have to gamble on what we are getting. We found these great costumes at the local co-op. They are full sized animal costumes (bears, kangaroos, raccoons, care bears, cats dogs ect..) . I really want to get one for my birthday, and to send home for Drew. After a solid three hours in Kutchan we were finally ready to head back home. It took us awhile, but we finally got a ride back to Hirafu with a nice Japanese guy who spoke VERY little english.

Tonight while Marty was working I went to a local onsen with a bunch of people I live with. Onsens are really similar to a hot-springs, except they everyone goes naked. There are separate tubs for guys and girls, which are separated by this huge wall. After lounging in the pools for awhile we started to get pelted with snowballs from the other side of the wall (the guys side). They have these vending machines at the onsen that sells ice cold beer to cool you down while in the tub. Mom and dad you would love it!!

All in all things have been really great so far. I am really looking forward to get to know the mountain and the people around Hirafu a little better! I'll post a few more pictures below!!

Heading up the lift in the morning

Night Riding

Super Ridge! One of our favourite spots so far!!

Top of the lift looking down

Sneak Peek!!

Flying into Sapporo from Tokyo was a short, sleep-filled ride.  We quickly collected our baggage and tried to figure out how exactly we were going to get to Niseko. We had our first taste of real sushi and Japanese beer while we waited to catch our bus. We took a snowy bus trip from the airport Niseko with a short stop at Mushroom Kingdom (a mushroom store/convenience store). Once we arrived in Niseko we hauled all of our bags through the village to our new jobs. We were greeted by a few people we work with and were shown to our new place. Our house is a decent sized place that houses twenty people, most of which work at "Proski" alongside us. Despite having so many people under one roof, the house is surprisingly calm and organized. Since most of us work at the same shop, our shifts and snowboarding scheduals are varied enough that the house seems to work really well.  

Today we woke up to about 20 cms of fresh snow on top of the large mounts of powder that had fallen in the last few days.  We both got up early and went out for a few runs, which we both agreed were the best we have ever had.  The new snow on top of the ludicrous amounts that had fallen in the last few days resulted in waist deep runs and gigantic smiles.  After snowboarding for the morning, we headed in and tried to de-jetlag ourselves with an afternoon nap before we took off to Kutchan (the neighboring town) to get groceries for the next little while.

The night ended of with hanging out and getting to know the people we work/live with and then an early night to bed to try to get our internal clocks set to Japanese time.

EN-ROUTE TO NISEKO

So 17 hrs of flying later, one sprint to catch our connection, and no sleep at all... we've made it to Tokyo. The only thing we are missing is my backpack.. it got left in Beijing. They say it should be in Niseko within a few days. I'm not to worried about it. When we touched down in Beijing we had 45 min to disembark our plane clear international transfers then make it to our next gate on the other side of the airport. We were doing alright for time until we hit a roadblock. There was only ONE woman manning the international transfers booth with a line up of about 50 and she wasn't letting ANYONE through. We finally made it through at the same time pre-boarding was starting for our flight. We still thought we had some time until we ran down the stairs and realized we had to go through internal security. After running through that we caught one of those little taxis that you always see the old people on. Our taxi driver almost ran down a few little old ladies but he did get us to our gate just in time! 

All of us were absolutely dead tired for the trip to Tokyo. We had all been up for about 24 hrs with no sleep. I think we were all out before the plane even took off and only woke up for it to land. After an hour or so of dealing with my lost baggage our only challenge was to find some comfy beds for the night. I never thought airport benches could be so comfy. All in all this trip has been nothing but an adventure and lots of laughs so far. We are off to Sapporo and then to Niseko today. After a 2 hr flight and a 2 hr bus ride we will finally be at our new homes. It hasn't quite fully set in that we are gone for good yet, but I'm sure it will soon!