expiration date 

after i moved out of the States to Indonesia, i thought i won’t ever get to go snowboarding anymore. i thought, “oh bummer”. ari and i went a few times and we just started to enjoy it. we even considered of getting our own boards and did our little research about a year ago. but of course, having to move back to a tropical country is a very solid reason to drop that thought.

fortunately, i get to go to Australia often in the past few months. and fortunately, some people at work are involved in a youth muslim organization that schedules ski trip at least once a year. knowing that i have no access to car, i decided to tag along. so, today, me and 95 other people piled up in two buses for a 3-hour trip and head for Mt. Buller.

i went with 3 cousins of mine (Prisy, Demy and Yani), Prisy’s husband (Rendy) and her toddler son named Zidan. there, we met up with a few of my co-workers: Gito and Irwan, who came with his wife whom i just met (her name is Meta, and she’s very pretty and sweet!) and their 5-year old daughter named Zihan. although i’m sure it’s coincidence, it seems like they coordinate the names, no? Zihan… Zidan….

it was fun, even though there are a few small glitches. our dinner was practically frozen since it was put in the bus under below freezing temperature. and we had a slight delay on the way to the mountain. the bus that we took broke down in the middle of the highway, and we ended up waiting in front of an adult store called SexyShop for the bus replacement to arrive. not a suitable place for a bus with family with kids…. which reminds me to the last time i tag along on a trip organized by another religious group, we ended up in a nude beach.

the families with little kids go to play sled, while Yani goes on ski and Demy and i takes the snowboards. other than myself, everyone else haven’t skied or snowboarded before. which is fine because i am painfully uncoordinated and i can only keep up with beginners.

too bad that we only had less than 3 hours to board. by the third hour, i feel like i’m ready to go up to the top of the mountain. both Demy and Rendy seems to get a hang of it, too. but of course, the time wasn’t enough. and to make it worse, i brought my digital camera with me, but as i got into the bus, i realized that the battery was dead. so… no photos from me :(

oh well… but that’s okay… i think i got them hooked to snowboarding. so next time they decided to go up to the mountain, i can tag along :)

update: some photos :)