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First 3 weeks of working in Rusutsu, Hokkaido

I came to Rusutsu resort on December 2022 thanks to Boobooski. The job position is ski instructor at Crayon shin Chan kids ski school that serves kids from 3-12 years old. But honestly though, I have been a snowboarder for so many years and only had 2 days~ of self-practicing with ski. So what am I doing here?

indoor area of the school

Crayon Shin Chan Kids ski school employs the patented “magic lesson”, which utilize artificial friction mats and toys like bell or balls to teach kids the basic of skiing while having fun. I started with 3 others that came here with working holiday visa just like me. 1 of them is a seasonal skier while the other 2 were first time skier.

we arrived on Dec 5th, and have our first day the very next day. Everything just seemed so overwhelming at the time. We need to learn to work with Japanese, in Japanese way, and how to utilize friction mats and toys to teach kids. Honestly, a ski resort is definitely a soft landing compare to other places as I originally expected. There is definitely Japanese work culture to learn. But at least the kohai/senpai culture is nowhere to be seen here. And no one here care if you are calling their name directly without proper addressing.

third day, when we were practicing the set up in our outdoor ski area.

Days of week really lose its purpose here. The only thing that matters is when do I start and when do I get an off day. At the start, everything just seemed so overwhelming. There were a billions things to watch out at the same time at any minute. And the condition changed every day so there was not really a pattern to follow. The first week of lesson with students was really chaotic. Always thinking about what to teach while dealing with kids issue.

But as time goes on I slowly get used to the life at the school. Even though we just have 1 day off in 3 weeks, it felt like everything went by so fast. After clocking out, we still have energy to night ski, getting ski lesson, or of course, the party. After all, we are living with a bunch of ski/snowboard instructors from all over the world.

before students enter the outdoor area

One thing that kind of caught me off guard though, is how much energy this job demands from me. Before coming to Japan, I was really watching my diet and cutting back on carbs for weight loss. But since working here, this is suddenly not an issue anymore. The staff meal at lunch and dinner always comes with rice by default, even with ramen. However, I am still losing weight despite taking in maybe 500 -1000 more calories per day. Suddenly, my focus turn into making sure I have enough energy for work.

staff meal with shoyu ramen

All in all, this has been a really good experience so far. Hopefully I can look back in Mar/Apr and say the same thing!