Slush

Slush

March 10, 2012. Sky Valley Ski Resort.
It was 6 AM when I woke up. I was extremely hungry. I checked the tea bottle in front of me for contents. It still had some left. I drank it to moisten my mouth and lessen the rumblings from within. I put on my glasses to check our location but couldn’t quite figure out where we were. The bus had been parked since 4AM. I fiddled with my phone to pass time, the back-light illuminating the adjacent seats.

It’s now 7AM. Other peoples started waking up. The sunlight seeping in through the crevices between the windows and the curtains. It was hot. They probably had the heaters cranked up to the highest level. I was getting impatient.

7:20AM They started to draw the front curtains back. I felt a sigh of relief. We were where we were supposed to be all along. The sun is up, there was snow all around, and all was right again. I grabbed my bag and proceeded to the least crowded locker room to change into my snowboard attire, red top and black pants with white boots. I put the stuff that I won’t be using anytime soon inside the rental locker, grabbed my board and went outside to look for my friends. I called Tiffany to ask about their whereabouts, which was at the food court upstairs, before proceeding to where they were. The resort does not open until 8:10AM, and they don’t start serving food until 8AM. I had some beef with that since I was extremely hungry, but all I could do was wait nonetheless.

I was scouting the area for some pretty boards to look at and saw one that had stickers of Ski-Resorts posted on it. And then I had the idea of doing just the same thing, starting with this one. I went over to the ticket desk, waited until they opened up and talked to 2 elder ladies behind the counter.
すみません、チケットの交換ですが。
(Goodmorning. I want to exchange these for lift tickets.)
はい。８枚ですね。少々お待ちくださいませ。
(Alright. Just hold on a moment while I get 8 tickets.)
あ、後ですね、本リゾートのシールも欲しいんですが販売していますか。
(Also, do you by any chance sell those resort stickers here?)
あ、それはそれはも終わっちゃって・・・
(I’m so sorry but we already stopped selling those…)
ん。。。そうなんですか。残念ですね。
(Is that so… Too bad.)
あ、ちょっと待って、在庫まだるかも知らないので、ちょっと確認しておきますわ。
(Hold on. Let me just check if we have some stickers left.)
お、ありがとうございます。
(Really? Thank you so much.)
***数分後(A few minutes later)***
やっぱりまだありますね。これあげますから。
(Today’s your lucky day! We still have this left. I’m giving it to you.)
お！本当ですか。ありがとうございました！！！
(Oh wow! Thanks!)

I posted the sticker onto my board, distributed the lift tickets to my friends and went straight for the lifts. I was excited. This was my first time boarding after the accident last January. Went up 2 lifts, and like a kid inside a candy or a toy store, I hurriedly fastened my board, and started sliding down the slopes.

I was almost ecstatic. To be snowboarding again, it was pure bliss.

Granted the snow is not as good as it was back in January, since the hill consisted of 1-part compacted snow(almost like ice) and 1 part slush, I still had so much fun. I tested myself to see if I can still pull off the stunts I did prior the accident. I tried tricks like the buttered pretzel, some butters, and spins and I still was able to pull them off, if not better. Also, I believe, I’ve just captured the proper feeling when taking off on kickers. Finally! I think. I will test this theory next weekend when we go to 蔵王(Zaou) for the final Boarding trip of the season.

God is good for still allowing me to go snowboarding for this season.