I am still alive, but not exciting

Just checking in, don't have much to say. Went snowboarding last weekend. Really clear and beautiful day. Here's a pretty cool picture of Hakkoda-zan from way far off (the parking lot of our usual post-snowboarding onsen).


I should probably describe what an onsen is right now. It's essentially a public bath, typically heated by geothermic something-or-other. There's a men's and women's section, and you go through a sequence of baths at different temperatures, getting increasingly hotter before you finish up with the inhumanly cold one. That's about all there si to it. Oh, and everybody's naked. Except for the "privacy towel." It's actually quite relaxing right after snowboarding.

The funny about this onsen is that the staff is entirely younger women (30ish or below, i think). Usually there's at least one much older woman who is the caretaker of the men's section, while her apprentices mind the women (i don't know if they're actually apprenticed to her, but that would be cool). This woman typically wanders around, using all of her concentration to mop the floor. ANYWAY, at this particular onsen the floor-mopper is a youngish gal who has a strange habit.

She peeks.

No. Scratch that. She cannot control the desire to stare. She absentmindedly swipes at the floor, mouth agape, eyes darting to each new entry into the room. You can pretty much read her thoughts through that facial expression ("Oh my god! a naked man! ...oh my god! a naked man! ...oh my god! [etc]") It's kind of... disconcerting.

In a somewhat related note, I bought a exercycle:


Explanation: finally got a membership at the local video rental place and a DVD player (i didn't have TV service in any way, since i wouldn't understand it). found that I couldn't sit still that long with a clear conscience. So, now I have something to do for the hour and a half each day after school.