Made it back from snowboarding safe and sound. It actually was quite nice to know that it is like the expression “just like riding a bicycle” and even after some number of years since the Spring Break trip with James where we learned to snowboard it came back rather quickly, almost as soon as I got off the lift the first time. Which was good because my first experiences snowboarding were rather painful. James says it’s because I didn’t know how to fall properly. He claimed to slow down then fall while I in his opinion would go tearing down the hill, lose balance and then proceed into a chaotic summersault which ultimately ended in my head making contact with the hill several times. It made both of us think back to the rental counter when we were “too cool for helmets”. Anyways, so as I stated this was like riding a bike, except this time not as much head to hill action which made it more enjoyable. The rental place that we showed up to in the morning was great, and I don’t know who made their prices, or if they were even right, but he was telling us that we could rent gloves for 5,00 won (5 bucks basically) or we could buy them for an extra 5. I’m probably going to be going again I thought to myself and so began the trend that most of us bought a pair. Now the trick lies within remembering them. Also I'm guessing due to my size and weight, my board was considerably shorter than the other males in the group, which sparked several jokes, most of them instigated by myself. What made it even better was there was a freaking pink crown and a dove on my board. Yay! Haha. How'd they know? Then again they're just random choices determined by size of the board. Maybe the skulls and fire ones had already gone out for the day. Then again it was 7:30 in the morning and they had just opened up. Oh well.
When we arrived at the hill it was pretty crowded at the main two lifts. Fortunately as we would come down off of a run we would just slide over the next lift. This would come back to bite us firmly in the ass at the end of the day. As we got a couple of lifts over, the lines for them got considerably shorter and therefore equaled more runs. At the top of one run after exiting the lift, there was a cabin of sorts, but there was also a nice size snow drift that had accumulated behind a picture spot. Looking at it two of us in the group though it looked like a great place to board down as the drop at the bottom didn’t look, and wasn’t very considerable, possibly 4-5 feet at best. As he was finishing putting his board on, I was already strapped in so ready or not I decided to go first. Nothing bad happened as it was all unpacked snow and therefore unexpected softspots and right before the edge I went down on my butt and back. Pretty lame. I decided that I was definitely going again now that there had been a board down the hill to pack it a little. On my second attempt it went considerably better and as I built up speed I got the jump, and then Byron awesome skills of coordination set in. While landing the jump, I lowered the front of my board a little too much which in turn stuck into the ground, and sent my upper body face first into the hill like a Wylie Coyote slingshot gone wrong. Nothing broken fortunately, and we all had an epic laugh about it afterwards. That run however was a significantly longer hill and had a weird flat spot in the middle. Three of us took it upon ourselves to just lay out right there over on the side and enjoy the soothing effects of the snow and ice against our muscles. It was definitely relaxing. I think there were actually a couple of snow angels made additionally.
When we were making our way back to the main lift areas to join up with one other from our group who took a break midtrip to draft his fantasy basketball team (really?), we go out from the lift area and realize that we’re approximately 1/2 a mile to 3/4 of a mile away from where we want to be. Luckily there was a parking lot attendant that directed us to go up the road a bit and then under a fence and then ride down the hill. So on our way back we pass batting cages. We decide that we’re going to have some fun and everyone gets one turn and then the lowest number of balls that went a certain distance had to buy the first round of beers. It wasn’t even batting practice for me as I only hit 2 out of the probably 15-20 and those two went horribly foul. I had no problem being the gracious loser of the bet and snagging the first round. On the way home, in the fun clown car with the six of us in it, we stopped for Vietnamese noodles and they were delicious, and were made even better by closing the night with some gelato. J
***Random Thoughts***
Taught my test prep classes last night and this is for the TOEFL, which is the test that any foreign student has to take in order to get into an American University (I think that’s right). Anyways, as I’m showing them skills to breaking down the questions and justify their answers to themselves, I considered my own lack of test taking skills and how I think I’m going to really freshen up on my test taking skills before I get back to the states and take some more teaching certification tests. Apparently being certified in one subject or discipline, the one you’re applying for, isn’t enough.
Not biting my nails is going well. There are little crescents of white slowly appearing. In February I might actually get to use the fingernail clippers I brought (not in my carryon bag although).
Got some more decorated in my classroom, and I think it is starting to come together. There will be pictures that follow later this week.
I had another interesting trip to Office Depot. Went to pick up a stamp pad for the grading stamps (super, good job, great progress, etc.) that I brought with me. They sell Korean wooden stamps (which are awesome looking and I’ll definitely bring one back with me) and so picked one up and pressed it against my hand and motioned for my hand. The guy looks at me and goes “stamp pads?” Well, shit, I totally forgot that someone here speaks a little bit of English. Felt like a little bit of an ass, but took the stamp pad that he handed me, paid for it and left. Now normal colors when someone is looking for a stamp pad would be red and black maybe even blue. I get to work, take the stamp pad out of my pocket to discover it is PURPLE. Really?!?! Oh well. The kids do indeed like the stamps, and I don’t think the fact that it’s purple dawns on them at all. Then again Korean culture might not be a homophobic as American culture.
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