Happy New Year in 長野 (Nagano)

Hello my friends and a Happy New Year!!!

In Japanese are different ways to wish somebody the best for the New Year:

Before Newyear: 良いお年をお迎えください
(pronunciation: yoi otoshi o omukae kudasai)

After Newyear: 明けましておめでとうございます
(pronunciation: akemashite omedetou gozaimasu)

During the New Year I didn't stay in 東京 (Tokyo) because I went with some friends to 長野 (Nagano) for snowboarding and skiing. My last skiing experience was in 1999, it was a part of a schooltrip as which included skiing in Austria and therefore myself was a little bit afraid of trying snowboarding. So I decided to choose the carvingskis, by reason that they should be very good... and they are. At the beginning I needed to get used to it, however nothing happened. My legs are not broken but jumping is difficult ;-)

Sorry but in this entry I will provide not much text....sorry I'm still in the vacation...

Ok, our journey started at the 30th of December and we travelled with the bus from 東京　(Tokyo) to 長野 (Nagano). At the 31st of December we arrived in Hakuba which is a part of 長野 and we stayed in a 旅館 (りょかん, pronunciation: ryokan). I never slept in a 旅館　before and it was a nice experience to use tatami as an underground. Though to sleep with six guys in one room might be funny, if some of them could stop snorring ;-) .
This is the place where we slept

Our skiing area. The area provides three main mountains called Kashimayari (2670m), Aokiko (2890m) and Hakuba Sanosaka (2814m).

Ronnie and me during the first day.

You remember it is the 31st and what should happen on this day??? Right, Happy New Year!
Therefore party in our house. The party community:

People all around the world celebrated New Year together. Especially for me something totally new, because most of them lived here since a while and they knew each another much longer. The international compositon included people from: Thailand, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Chile, El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil, Malaysia, Japan, Russia, Bangladesh, Sweden, Germany and probably some other countries too, sorry if I forgot someone.

The people with the best name all over the world
Daniel, Daniela, Daniel (= "god is my judge")

Kuan, Ronnie and me. This was my skiing connection because all of us used them.
An awesome view

This was my Wintervacation. Hopefully all of you spend a nice time during Xmas and Happy New Year. I wish you all the best for 2007!!!