Howdy, and a merry Monday morning to folks reading this weblog. I spoke to my dad last night and he told me that England is going to get some weather from the North Pole soon. I looked at the BBC weather page and it said 'Heavy Snow' for most northern areas - rockin!! I'm still very unknowledgeable when it comes to meteorology, but I've heard that in Japan mild summers are followed by mild winters, and hot summers are followed by unforgiving coldy winters. Maybe it's the same for England, and this weather system coming from the North is a natural follow on from last summer's scorcher? Who knows?

All I know is that my legs, my bum, my arms and my neck are failing me today after yesterdays snowboarding hajimete (first time experience). I reeeeeally enjoyed myself up at Ajigasawa and my feet didn't hurt at all. When we called it a day, we went to the car and I didn't feel that desperation to get my boots off as quick as possible, which was a first for me. I managed to pick it up quite easily. After four hours I could nearly pull off a nice front side turn and rear side turns weren't a problem. It's the same principle as using skis as far as I can make out. You just have to imagine yourself standing on one big fat ski, and then imagine how you would transfer your weight in that situation. I think it's going to be a good while before I can do the same kinds of terrain on a snowboard that I can do on skis, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the learning process. Right now, the snow is literally plummeting from the sky, and is predicted to do so for another couple of days.

I went out on Saturday night because it was a friend's birthday, and his wife had arranged a surprise dinner party for him at a swank hotel in Hirosaki. It was good, as it always is at this particular hotel restaurant, and afterwards we went to a place called Shirokiya (white tree place) for great amounts of beer and karaoke.
I have two classes today; one this morning and another this afternoon. Apart from that, nothing.
Until the next time...