Kutchan II

The usual route from Sapporo, I got on the Chuo bus heading to Niseko. It was another amazing ride through Hokkaido's winter landscape. After a couple of hours, I finally got off the bus. This time around there was no Libby waiting for me but I got in touch with Momo and it seems like she was riding today. I went to Alpen to get my gear and waited for a bit, taking a rest and watching somee tutorials. I had a goal that I was gonna get snowboarding this trip. I had the classic Niseko priced lunch in the hotel and then got my pass for the lifts. I waited some more for Momo until she arrived with her boyfriend and we went started to go up the gondies. It was difficult to get back into it at first but I slowly got better, my toe-edge was still needing a lot of work and soon my legs really started to cramp up. These muscles that I wasn't used to using always hurt every time I snowboard. After a while, I had to tap out cuz my ankles were killing me. Not really the best start of the trip but I was still hopeful to make a comeback. I started to walk back to Himawari sharehouse, where Joe was staying. He had graciously offered me a place to stay. Momo dropped me off nearby and I went waded through the snow to a nearby hut which I initially thought was the place but turns out it wasn't the right one and I had to walk a few more meters to the actual place. From there, I was able to find the right one and rest up for a bit. Another person named Joe was there, we differentiated the two Joes by Joe-chan and Joe-san. Joe-san being the older Joe that I had previously been acquainted with. Joe-chan was there, he was from London. We talked a bit and he gave me some tea. Joe-san later arrived and we were able to catch up on a lot of things. Sayuri also arrived and together we played some Exploding Kittens to pass the time. I was also able to meet Miki and Hiromi at night. Joe-san helped me fix up my cupboard of a bedroom. Harry Potter room, they called it. It's where I was supposed to sleep but not today as we were going to Kutchan to celebrate Christmas with his friend Dan.

In Kutchan, we went to Dan's place and there were already a bunch of people there. I remember Bia, Ian, Paul, Anita, and Christine. Several other people joined us afterwards including a guy from Wisconsin, a girl from China and Carlos and his protege, Shion. It was a fun night with incredibly delicious food. Christmas songs were playing and it was a first time in a long time I actually spent Christmas with somebody else, I felt a bit reserved at first but I slowly realized everyone was just so funny and nice. They had a dog and a cat inside as well. The best part was the Christmas games we played, everyone was just so drunk with all these skimpy funny Christmas costumes that somehow ended up with the guys. I laughed out loud so hard during pin the nose on the reindeer, cuz Dan was pranking Joe and he ended up putting the nose on Dan's nipple instead during his turn. I ended up being friends with Shion and we talked pretty much a majority of the night as we were the only ones at the same age range. After a couple of hours, we went outdoors to light a bonfire and gathered around it while having some more drinks. We went back afterwards to play some Cards Against Humanity, I had to teach Shion what the cards meant most of the time. I actually won that game, including the charades game from a while ago. We talked a bit more while I was drawing random stuff on this toy. It got so late already almost 3-4am at that time, I excused myself to go to the showers and went to our room to catch some shut eye. Joe had to work the next day unfortunately.Læs mere