047 Almost Died Snowboarding

Welcome back to another episode! In this short episode, I'll be talking about snowboarding, and also the story about how I got injured and sprained my ankle. As always, I avoid using hard words, and will be explaining useful English vocabulary and phrases here and there.

Bookmark Chapters

00:00 Start
02:29 Snowboarding injury story
25:32 Recommendations if you are going to snowboard

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Kuli English Podcast, it's me, your host, Chris. So today is February 25th, it's a Wednesday, and this is episode number 47. And I'm really glad that we're almost at episode number 50, and I was thinking actually at some point I gotta make another introduction episode.

So I know it's not like episode 1, but I wanna make like another basically copy of episode 1. And it's because episode 1, like I filmed it last year and it was a long time ago, and also just in case there are people who are now listening to this podcast like kinda recently, so maybe they discover this podcast later, or maybe they find it because, I don't know, for some random reason they find the podcast, I want them to have some kind of recent episode that kinda tells them, oh, how do I recommend you study English? And that's just because, I guess, if you like listen to this podcast and you've never heard any of this podcast before, and the first episode you hear is like me complaining about a bunch of visa stuff, I'm like, oh, I tried to get a visa and then it was really annoying and the person next to me was smelly or something like that. Like it's kind of, there's no context there. So I do wanna make another introduction episode.

But that's gonna be like a different episode. So in this episode, I have this kind of topic that I have in mind, which is generally snowboarding stuff. Okay, so why snowboarding? Well, I recently went snowboarding, so I wanna talk about snowboarding stuff in general.

And I'm also gonna talk about it in a way so that if you have never been snowboarding, then you can still probably follow along. And that's the kind of general attitude that I have with most things. So if I talk about computer science, I talk as if you did not study computer science.

If I talk about snowboarding, then I'm gonna talk about snowboarding as if you have not gone snowboarding before. And that way, everyone can kind of listen to it and potentially understand. But as always, before we actually get started with like the main parts of the stories, what we always do is we take a short little music break.

So here's a short little music break of like some guitar stuff that I recorded. So have that music break, and then we're gonna go ahead and get started.

All right.

Sometimes I think maybe we take breaks too much, but you know, oh, well, I try to have these breaks every now and then so that like you can take a short little break. And then also I can take a short little break. Because if I like tell like a long story, and then I kind of mess up near the end, it's kind of like sad that I have to throw away that whole recording chunk.

So I always try to have these breaks, not just so that you can have a break so that I can have like a reset point. So then if I like mess up, I can like kind of go off the screen, drink some water, and then come back and rerecord. That's like the truth behind the breaks.

But anyways, let's talk a little bit about snowboarding. So if you have never gone snowboarding before, you've probably heard of snowboarding before. But maybe you haven't gone snowboarding before.

And snowboarding, it's like it's always a set. Snowboarding is a set with skiing. Like skiing is a set with snowboarding.

It's a set. It always goes together. The image is like really similar.

For example, like salt and pepper, you know. Maybe in like a restaurant or something, like you'll be imagining, oh, what are two things in a restaurant that often go together? Like a common answer is probably salt and pepper. And then for a ski trip or like a snowboard trip, usually it's ski and snowboard as a set.

But, but most people who actually go skiing or snowboarding, usually, I think they usually mainly do one or the other. Like they do mainly only snowboarding and no skiing. Or they do mainly only skiing and no snowboarding.

And then for me, I'm the first one. So I do mostly snowboarding and then no skiing. I've never been skiing in my life.

And I don't know if I will. Because I guess, I don't know, I've already done a bunch of snowboarding. So then every time I go, I just snowboard and then I already know how to do it.

I don't have to learn like new stuff. And I don't like learning new stuff because I'm lazy. I'm like joking, but only half joking because I actually sometimes do feel lazy.

So anyways, snowboarding, I wish I could give you like the perspective of the skiing aspect. So I wish I could say like, oh, hey guys, so I've done both. And skiing is like this hard.

It's like level five hard and snowboarding is like level four hard. But I can't tell you that because all of my experience is only through snowboarding. So if I were to tell you how skiing is, then well, it's not that I actually have experience.

So I can't give you firsthand stories. So firsthand meaning like I actually experienced it. I am the one who did it.

I can give you firsthand experience and firsthand stories about snowboarding, but I can't give you firsthand stories about skiing. I can give you secondhand stories about skiing, which is secondhand meaning like I've heard from other people these stories. 

Like somebody said to me that when you ski in the beginning, it's like easier. And then later on, like after you've been skiing a long time, it's hard to do a really good job. Like that's what I've heard. But this is a secondhand story.

It's not that I experienced it or thought of it myself. And for snowboarding, now I'm going to tell you my actual experience with snowboarding. Snowboarding, I think it hurts your butt a lot in the first like two to three days.

And of course, you know, it depends. So some people, some people are just like really strong. I call them OP people, OP meaning like overpowered.

It's like a kind of a slang term. 

But some people are OP and they just like learn things really quickly. They just learn how to snowboard much faster than everyone else.

And then they don't really hurt their butt that much. And that's not me. Okay, I'm not one of those OP people.

I spent a lot of butt pain. And let me tell you more about this butt pain. So there's this one part of your body that you fall on a bunch.

And that part is the part that hurts a lot after you snowboard, at least in the beginning. After you get pretty good and you stop falling, then that part doesn't really hurt anymore because you don't really fall. But like, so for your butt, now I'm going to talk about the parts of your butt, but there's like, you know, your butt, and then you have like two butt cheeks and then like further up closer towards like your hip.

In the center, like in between your butt cheeks, there's like this bone part. And that part is actually, it's part of like your hip bone, like your pelvis bone. But just call it like your, I just call it your butt bone.

But your butt bone is the one that you fall on a bunch as a snowboard learner. Because when you're learning, you fall a lot, okay? Like everyone sucks in the beginning for everything. So it's the same for like learning languages.

Like when you first learn English or something, like, you know, it's hard to like form correct sentences. And then sometimes you mess up. But then the important part is that after you mess up, like you realize that, oh, I shouldn't do this.

I should do something else. And then you kind of learn from that. You learn from your mistakes and then you get better at it.

And it's the same for snowboarding too. Like after you fall a bunch, you realize, oh, I fell because I did this. And then like next time, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do something else. And then eventually you figure out how to snowboard. 

So there's that one part, the butt bone part of your snowboarding. And that part hurts a lot. Like I remember the first time I went, it was actually not very safe. I think it was in college.

Yeah, it was in college. And then I didn't really properly rent equipment because I was too cheap. Like I said, I wanted to save money, but I was too cheap, and like, I didn't rent the important things. So I should have rented a helmet, but I didn't rent a helmet. And I should have rented like ski pants.

So ski pants are, by the way, ski pants, snowboard pants, like kind of basically the same thing. But they basically allow you to like be waterproof for your legs. Because when you touch snow, like snow is actually water, right? So if it warms up, it turns into water.

And then if you wear jeans like me, then jeans, they'll get wet. And then when it gets wet, it gets pretty cold. And that's not good.

But if you wear ski pants, then like you're kind of waterproof. So like if you touch the snow or the snow melts or like water hits your ski pants, it's totally fine. And that's why like ski pants are good, ski jackets stuff is good.

But I didn't have any of that equipment. I just, I went snowboarding and I wore like a beanie. A beanie is like a little cloth, little hat thing.

And that thing also got wet. And I think I lost it too, because like fell. I fell and I lost the beanie in some like pile of snow and then I never picked it up.

But I wasn't properly equipped. So like I know the pain firsthand of snowboarding. And so I actually have like two stories for almost dying snowboarding.

I feel like every now and then I tell stories about almost dying. And maybe they're like a bit more interesting to hear. But I do have a story that I'm not gonna tell, which maybe I'll tell like another time.

But once I almost died snowboarding in Switzerland, and then I'm not gonna tell that story. But I'm gonna tell you the story about getting injured while snowboarding. So snowboarding, I had been doing it for, I think, I'm not sure, I think I had been working at Google for like, I don't know, two or three years at that point. So if I really calculate, I could probably figure out the actual age that I was. But it doesn't really matter.

I'm just gonna say, yeah, a while ago I went snowboarding. So a while ago I went snowboarding and then I was doing jumps. Okay, so when you do jumps in snowboarding, I think it's actually pretty interesting because it's a really like, it's a really fear based thing.

It depends on how scared you are. If you get scared or you get nervous, and then you do something, like usually it's not good. Usually you wanna do nothing when you do the jumps in the beginning.

And then if you don't panic, and if you don't get scared, then you land. If you get panicked or if you get scared or something, actually you probably fall. So it's pretty interesting.

It's like a fear check. And I remember doing a bunch of jumps, like small, tiny jumps. And the tiny jumps, I mean like you go off a little cliff and then technically your snowboard is in the air and not touching anything for a really short amount of time.

Maybe like, I don't know, like 0.2 seconds or like 0.3 seconds, but it's definitely not half a second. And then you do these small jumps and then like eventually you work your way up and you start doing like actual jumps. And then like the big jumps, I think you're in the air for like, I don't know, three or four seconds or something.

And three or four seconds doesn't sound long, but actually it feels really long.

So anyways, let me tell you about like doing this jump thing and then getting injured. But once I wanted to try some jumps, and then I remember I was going up the lift.

And like when you go up the lift for the ski lift, you usually sit next to some other people. So maybe it's like a two-person lift or a four-person lift. And in my case, it was a two-person lift.

So I was going up and then there's this white, there's this one guy next to me. And he was like a really classic, like California dude. And by that, I mean like the way he talks.

He's like, yeah, dude. So then we're going up. And then I noticed him looking at his finger a lot.

So he has like, he has his two hands, right? He's looking at his left hand and then his like middle finger like he kept looking at it the whole time. He's like kind of touching it, inspecting it, kind of making sure everything's okay. And then I noticed him doing that.

And then I asked him, hey, is everything okay? Like, is your finger okay? And then he responds in his like super classic California accent. And he's like, yeah, dude, all good, man. I just broke my finger.

So if you didn't understand that, he said he broke his finger. And then I was like, oh no, that's terrible. Are you okay? And then he was like, oh yeah, dude, it's all good, man. Like, I just gotta get in some big air before I go home. 

So he said he's gotta get in some big air before he goes home. Big air meaning like, he means like big jumps.

It's all slang. This guy talks in like almost 100% slang. And then I was thinking like, okay, are you gonna do some jumps? And the reason I'm asking him is because we are on a lift that goes to the area that has a bunch of jumps.

And then, so I'm like asking, are you gonna go on a bunch of jumps? Because it seems potentially unsafe. Like, I feel like if your finger's broken, you shouldn't do any jumps. And then he said like, oh yeah, dude, it's gonna be good. I just won't use this finger. 

So he said he's not gonna use the finger and he's gonna like jump and avoid using his left hand, avoid using that finger because it's broken. And then after we landed, like he was a pretty nice guy.

So he was like, okay, bye, see ya. And then he just like went, whoo. And then he like went straight for the big jumps.

And these are like big jumps, right? So these jumps, I think, I'm not sure what the resort name was. I think it was Kirkwood. But anyways, it was one of the places that I guess people often go to for skiing if you live in like the Bay Area in California.

Like if you live close to San Francisco, then you know this area is the closest to you for skiing and snowboarding. It's called Tahoe. And so at Tahoe, there's one place called Kirkwood.

I think it was Kirkwood, I'm not sure. But anyways, so he just went and then like there's like the three biggest jumps in the whole like all of Tahoe resort area. And then he just went with his broken finger and he went and he jumped on the first one.

He went, whoo, and he did a backflip. And then he continued. So backflip is like he jumps and he flips and then he continues.

He didn't just jump and then land. And that's like my goal, okay? That's all I wanna do. I wanna jump and then land and then I'm happy.

But this guy, he went and he did a backflip in the air and then he also lands. And the whole time he's like raising his like middle finger. I guess like, cause it's broken, okay? If you raise your middle finger and it's not broken, it has a different meaning.

But this guy was like raising it because he's like trying to protect it, I guess. So this guy is like crazy, right? He's crazy and he's also crazy good at snowboarding. And then that kind of made me feel like, oh, so maybe I shouldn't be so scared, you know? Because like, it's pretty natural to get scared of like jumps and stuff.

And so I was thinking, all right, I gotta try it. And so eventually I like tried it a couple of times and then I actually got it, okay? So remember this story, this story ends with me getting injured. And also like now I'm totally fine, okay? So I don't want you to feel bad for me or anything like that but this is a story about how I got hurt.

And so the first jump, like I remember the first time I like charged the jump like at a really high speed. Charge meaning like, you're like, it's not just run but you like, you run really, really fast. So like, I'm like charging this jump at a really high speed and then I actually landed the first jump.

And then when I landed it, I felt like a big rush of like energy. I was like, yeah. And then it's like, it's exactly like what the finger guy said, right? He like jumps and he goes, whoa.

And I think that's a good description of how you feel when you land, which is like, yeah, woohoo. Like you wanna, you're like really happy. And then the dangerous part about that is when you're really happy and you're like pumped up, you get really confident and then you wanna do more jumps.

And that's like fine. But remember this story is a story about how I got injured. But anyways, I landed the first jump and then the moment I landed, I was like super like, yeah, I was pumped up.

And then I went for the second jump. And then on the second jump, I also landed that. And I was thinking like, wow, this is amazing.

I can do any number of jumps now, like I win. I win and I was so happy. And then I was going for the third jump, but the third hill, like the third thing that you go off of to jump, it was actually a little bit off to the side, like it's off to the left.

And then so after I landed the second jump, remember these jumps are pretty high. So you do land at a pretty high speed. So I like had to really quickly turn to the left to try to go on this jump.

And then so I like quickly turned, but actually I was kind of going too fast and I couldn't really control my turn. So this is where the story gets kind of sad, but basically I went on that third jump, which is a pretty big jump, but I went into it and I wasn't ready. And I was in the middle of a turn.

And then so I was like kind of falling already. And then when I went on the jump, I went at a really weird angle and then I landed. And you know how like if you watch like the snowboarding Olympics or something, like people do these like crazy tricks and they always land, right? And sometimes they fall, but then when you watch it on TV, it doesn't look that bad, but when you experience it, it sucks to fall.

So like you go and then I went on that thing and then I was twisting and then I fell and then I crashed. And then actually the thing that was really bad was I like my foot came out of the snowboard bindings. And this is like really, really rare.

I think, I don't know anyone who has ever gone snowboarding and then like their like foot came out while they were snowboarding. Like that basically never happens. I think I got really, really unlucky.

And then so like my right foot came out and then the interesting thing is the foot that came out, that's guaranteed safe. Because if you take your foot out, it's fine. But there was one foot that was stuck on like a falling, twisting snowboard and that's my left leg.

So then like, I remember hearing this noise that was kind of like. And that's like my left ankle like kind of cracking a little bit. And then so like basically I kind of like broke my ankle.

And then it's like, also I remember like when you watch like movies or TV or something, like sometimes you have like a main character and the main character is like fighting the bad guy. And then the main character gets hit or something. Like it's not looking good for the main character, right? Like the bad guy like hits the main character and they're like, oh, and then they're like on the ground because it hurts.

And they're like, oh, it hurts. And then they don't do any kind of movement or anything. And I always think like when I'm watching those movies like, oh, hurry up and move.

Like just get up and do something. Go, go, go do something. Like stop being there and doing nothing.

But then like when I had this experience from like falling on the snowboard, like I realized, oh, when you're in that much pain, you're like, you're kind of in shock and then you can't really do anything. And so like, I was like on that area and I knew that I needed to get out of the way because if I don't get out of the way, other people who are gonna come on the jump, they're gonna fly into the air and then they can't control where they land because in the air, nobody can control where you're going. But if I don't get out of the way, I might get hit by somebody and that would be really bad.

So I knew I had to leave, but I couldn't because my body and my mind was in shock and my ankle hurt. And so I'm like crawling my way out, trying to go to the side. And then like the whole time, there's like people jumping over me.

And then they're like, woo, oh dude, get out of the way, man. And then the next guy comes. Yeah, oh dude, don't stay there, dude.

Get out of the way, man. And that was pretty stressful because I knew that like even though I'm kind of hurt, it would be really, really, really bad if somebody came and like landed on top of me, then like more stuff is gonna get broken. So not just my ankle, but probably like my back or worse my neck and then maybe I'll die or something.

But the end of the story is like I didn't die because I'm like here recording this podcast, right? And my leg is also fine. So that was pretty terrible. And then I remember this is, I think this was the first time I took the lift to go down because you can take the lift to go up when you go snowboarding.

And then like, that's like what most people do. And then when you take the lift down, it's actually a pretty nice view. But I remember I did feel pretty bad because like my snowboard was just like hanging on my leg and then my leg hurt.

And I was thinking like, oh man, I don't know if I can walk, this is pretty dangerous. So that was pretty sad. But anyways, let's take a short little break here and then I'll come back and tell you a bit more about snowboarding stuff.

All right, so let's continue this story. And I'm sorry that the story sounds kind of sad, but I don't actually think it's that sad because now I'm like all healed. But I do remember at the time it kind of sucked and I was kind of scared that I wouldn't be able to like walk again.

Because after I injured my foot, like I couldn't really walk. And I think there was like, I don't know, like three, four days or so where I just like couldn't walk. And then I had to get crutches.

So crutches are like those like sticks that like you kind of put it in your armpit and then you kind of walk and it's like a replacement leg. So my right foot was fine so that I can drive and stuff. Because when you drive, you only use your right foot, you don't use your left foot.

At least, anyways. And then when I had the crutch, I remember I went into work and then all my coworkers were like, dude, Chris, what happened? What happened? And then like I think I was kind of known amongst my coworkers as like a crazy guy because they're like, oh yeah, Chris is always doing random stuff. And then so Chris one day shows up to work and he's got like crutches and his like legs hurt.

And they're like, oh, Chris, what happened? And it's like, oh, it's a snowboarding accident. And then when I tell that story to people, a lot of people like kind of don't believe me because usually your feet don't come out of the snowboard. Like that's usually something that's really, really rare.

But it happened. And then I had to do like a physical therapy. So physical therapy is, it's basically like when you injure something and then like you're recovering, like you're supposed to basically do these exercises to make sure that it heals well.

So in my case, like my ankle was like, it wasn't broken, it's called a sprain. And so a sprain is kind of like basically broken, but then they sort it into like three categories. So it's like first degree, second degree, third degree.

So do you remember earlier I said, oh, I can give you firsthand experience or like secondhand experience, secondhand like stories. These are things that I heard from other people and then I give it. So it's like kind of further away, but it's kind of similar to that.

But there's like a first degree sprain, which is like kind of a small sprain. And there's a second degree sprain, which is like pretty bad. And there's a third degree sprain, which is like really bad.

Like your foot is like basically almost loose. So I was a third degree sprain, which is not good. And then when you recover from that, you're in your physical therapy, you have to do stuff where like, you basically balance on that one leg that is like broken.

Well, it was broken and then it healed, but then the muscles are kind of weak. So you have to like strengthen those muscles. You have to make those muscles stronger.

So then what I did was like my left foot was my hurt foot. So what I would do is I would like balance on that left foot and then like hold that position for like 20 seconds. It actually, it's not that easy.

Like it takes a little bit of strength and balance and stuff. And so if you're able to do it, like you should appreciate your body and you know, do it every now and then to help strengthen yourself. But so that's like physical therapy.

And then like I went to go see the doctor every now and then and the doctor's like, okay, so if it doesn't hurt that much, like you need to walk on it to make sure that, walk on it, meaning like you use it to walk so that you can use those muscles. Because if you don't use those muscles for a long time, those muscles are gonna like fade and then you'll get weaker and you'll never like fully heal. So it took like a long time, but eventually I think I was basically fully healed.

And then it was fine. So, you know, as I tell you the story, I'm sorry if it seems like kind of sad or scary, but it's actually a good experience because it's like a, it's a good slap in the face, good slap in the face to remind me that, you know, when things are going well, don't get too carried away, okay? And make sure you value your life and like do everything in a safe way. Because, you know, if I didn't have that experience, I'm sure there would be other situations in life where I like do some stuff and then I think, oh, this is a little bit dangerous, but it's probably gonna be fine.

But, you know, like a little bit of fear, a little bit of fear is good for people because it prevents you from doing like dangerous things. So then sometimes I'll like have a chance to do something that seems fun, but dangerous. And then I think back, oh yeah, I remember I did the snowboarding thing and like now I'm fine, but back then it was kind of painful.

And then like, I couldn't really walk and I was like scared. So I don't wanna do that again. So I'm not gonna like set myself up for super dangerous situations.

Yeah, so that's like the summary of like my snowboarding almost died incident. And I do think I was very, very lucky because like when I was laying there in the snow, like, oh, it hurts and I can't move. Like, I'm really lucky that nobody came and bam, like hit me.

Cause if someone hit me, like I probably would have like been much more hurt and would have taken a much longer time to recover. So anyways, this episode is gonna be kind of short, but let me also just mention this one part again, because, you know, I always like to bring everything back to English learning. But remember when you are doing snowboarding stuff, you wanna be safe, okay? Because when you snowboard and you fall, it hurts.

So what can you do? You can get like safety pads. So you put on like knee pads or you put like butt pads. And then when you fall, it doesn't really hurt.

It still hurts a little bit, but it doesn't hurt as much. And so when you study English, what happens if you fail? And actually it's not zero, okay? It's not that if you fail, when you speak English, like there's no pain, there's no physical pain, but there's a little bit of potential emotional pain, okay? So maybe you're like talking with your friend. That's like, maybe you're talking to your American friend and then you're like trying to practice English or something.

If you mess up in English, you might feel embarrassed. You might think, oh no, like I tried to tell the story, but then I messed up and then now I feel embarrassed. And so that's like a little bit of pain, but you can try to do things like put on like pads.

There's like pads for English learning. And then the way that I describe it is what you do is in the beginning, like when you talk to your friend or something, or as you make mistakes, you say like, oh, sorry, I made a mistake. And then if you like kind of say it directly, it's like, sorry, my English isn't really that great.

Sometimes I make mistakes. Then it's kind of like putting these pads. And then after you say that, and then you make a mistake, like it's usually not that bad.

So, you know, like falling and failing and, you know, like feeling pain, these are things that you can't avoid all the way, but you can usually do something to kind of avoid it part of the way. So for snowboarding, you put on pads and it kind of reduces the pain by, I don't know, like half or something. And then for when you practice English and stuff, if you like, don't like the feeling of messing up, you can like put in a little bit of effort and say like, hey, sorry if I say something wrong.

And then, you know, if it's like with your English teacher, you can say like, sorry if I say something wrong and I want you to correct me and tell me the correct way to say stuff when I say stuff wrong. And then like when you set those up so that when you fail, you realize, okay, perfect. Because these failures are really important for learning.

As you learn from your mistakes, that's how you get better. It's the same for snowboarding and it's the same for learning English. 

So I have another story, which I'm not gonna tell, but I do have a story about when I almost died in Switzerland snowboarding.

That one's kind of a funny story. And that one was a bit more intense. I don't know.

But anyways, this one's gonna be a little bit of a short episode. So, you know, thanks for listening until the end of this episode of Kuli English Podcast. And as always, you know, you can follow me.

You can share this podcast with other people that you think might enjoy it. If you want to, you don't have to. And next time I'm gonna be back, I'm gonna be telling you a story.

It might be the snowboarding story, or it might be like a story about how there's like a bunch of pollen in Japan. Holy crap. Or I might actually make that introduction episode again, because I do wanna make another introduction episode since we're close to episode 50.

But anyways, again, thank you so much for listening until the end, and best of luck with your English studies. And other than that, I hope to see you next Tuesday on Kuli English Podcast.