Japanese Alps and India

This past weekend I took a night bus to Nagano to go snowboarding in the Japanese Alps. The night bus was 6 hours of sleepless leg cramps, but was followed by the largest ski resort I have been in my life. The mountain was so huge, that even 2 full days couldn't even cover half of the runs. There were 4 peaks, and I could only make it to the top of two of them. Unfortunately visibility was terrible and the first day was drizzling rain. However the second day brought fresh powder.

Snow monkey checking in

Fellow JET snowboarders

It also looks like I have made my decision to go to India from April 28 to May 9th. This time I will be hauling bricks to build houses in a small village of Chevaru in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Unfortunately dragging cement is an expensive endeavor in India. The flight costing around $900, volunteer fee of $610, $130 visa fee, $200 domestic airfare tickets and miscellaneous costs bring this trip to a little over $2000 USD. My plan to purchase a Digital SLR camera just flew out the window and more credit card debt is on the horizon. Financially this may have not been the best decision, however if I don't take the opportunity now, there is no guarantee I will take it later. To stop me from looking back when I am 80 years old and regretting that I never went to India, I figured I might as well get it out of the way.

Part of me doesn't actually know why I chose to do this. It isn't necessarily the type of volunteer work I want to really do, nor is it really a good deal. $61o volunteer fees for a 3rd world country just seem ridiculous when I know housing and food for a week wouldn't even break $200. Plus tickets to India aren't much cheaper from Japan than they would be from the U.S. Not to mention I am pretty worried about health risks since I am not sure if I can actually receive vaccinations for many of the things that I think might actually be a problem in India. In the end I just hope for karma immunity, that my good deeds will keep me safe...

I guess because this is something I wouldn't normally consider doing, that is why I chose to do it. It is possibly one of the largest leaps into the unknown with undoubtedly great tests. It is because of this though that I rise to the challenge so I will walk away much stronger a person than I am now.