I went snowboarding! Me, a dude from Miami... spent three days at a resort and learned (for the most part) how to slide down a snow-covered hill on a board!!!
I can't express in words... how exciting this experience was!
It did take me a while to pick up... I have to admit, though. In fact... it frustrated me a bit that it was so difficult and I couldn't do it properly... had some pretty epic falls. One specifically, in which I thought I might have concussed myself.
Still... I kept at it. I eventually did something I was comfortable with... which made the others laugh at me. I didn't really know how to turn to the right... so, I would just go to the left, then switch from the regular position (where you lead with your left foot) to the goofy position (where you lead with your right foot). Everybody compared my snowboarding to a leaf slowly drifting to and fro to the floor.
I was mostly afraid... especially when I went to the steeper slopes... and just thought that I couldn't keep my balance turning to the right. In fact... that's when most of my epic falls happened. So, I just slipped into that comfort zone of doing it my way.
Well... that was all good at first. But, I then decided I should try learning the proper way since it would make me more comfortable with the steeper slopes and going faster. I tried and tried... and I finally picked it up to the point where I learned how to not only switch comfortably from regular to goofy and back... but also doing like 360's (not in the air though... on the ground). It made me feel like I had picked up my own snowboarding style, which made me feel pretty accomplished... seeing that I had only started snowboarding two days earlier. It's just a shame I learned how to do this on my last run... wish I could've practiced and mastered it better.
Anyway, I am so grateful and thankful to my friend, Tompooh, and his family for inviting me on their family vacation. I know we don't speak the same language... come from a different background, country and culture... but, they still take me in as one of their own and make me really feel like part of their family.
I'm torn about my return to America... whenever that may be. I'm so excited to get back and returning to my studies and beginning my career... but, I can now honestly say that I'll be leaving so much behind in Japan.
I think another thing making it hard is the fact that... well... this is now my home. I just returned from a trip... a 3-day trip... short as it may have been... but, it still came up with the same result.
What's this result you ask? Well, you know when you go on vacation. You have the time of your life and enjoy yourself so much that you don't want the vacation to end just yet. But, though you do leave and return home... you get this inexplicable sensation once you step foot inside.
You're home.
I have always loved this feeling. You are in a place that's yours... laying on a bed that's yours... and you get to look back at the great time you had... from the comforts of your own home.
This trip has opened my eyes in a way I couldn't have imagined. I know I've been living in Japan and, that yeah... I do have an apartment here. But, it's more than just an apartment. It's my home! This is my home!
I don't know why it just hit me now that I consider this my home... but, returning home made me realize that even when I went back to America last Christmas break... though I was at my childhood house... it didn't give me that "I'm home!" feeling. In fact it all seem to feel a bit different being there. But, once I arrived back to this place I'm at now... this apartment... I got that great feeling of being back home.
I'm not saying that America is no longer my country... and that I don't want to return... I'm just saying that this is my home for now... and I like it a lot. Which is why it'll be hard to leave it all once I decide it's my time to return to America.
Something I'm not looking forward to at all. I just hope that when the time does come... I'll be able to find that place I can call home... that place that I feel such comfort, peace and serenity in.
1 comment:
I've been skiing before and hear the the mobility of having independent legs allows one to get the hang of it much quicker. I want to try snowboarding but am a bit scared of falling. I swear I fell down a mountain when I went skiing and was lucky not to break a bone, hehe. Glad you had fun!
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