the kindness of strangers

because I have no idea who actually reads this thing, first off, I would just like a comment/follow from anyone with a blogger/google account because it seems like the only people who are reading this are a few of my relatives. so, I would appreciate it if I could at least get 1 comment on this post! thanks so much! and again, I know, I have been blogging so much, but we have new adventures pretty much every day. and i know, my Kyoto post was extremely long, and I know I just barely posted it, but........you get it, right?

on Sunday, we had LDS stake conference, and we had to switch trains a few times to get there, it was so far away. plus, we had just gotten back from Kyoto and we had to use our Suica cards (our train passes) a ton. on Monday, since I needed to recover from blistered toes, I watched One Direction- A Year In The Making with my mom (you should definitely watch this video, even though it's super long, and even if you aren't a big fan of them, it's still really good). We both loved it, and cried about it (if you know me well, I cry a ton in movies/videos), and it is just a good example of how you should never give up, no matter how many times you get knocked down. It is also just amazing the way they handle their fame so well. They have gone on to be one of the world's biggest British-Irish boybands in the world, but they are talking about how grateful they are for this opportunity, to do what they enjoy doing, how close they are to each other, and just.....how real they are. And the part when Louis Tomlinson is talking about his mum and his parent's divorce, he never said how hard it was for him. He was talking about how hard it was for his mum. Really, that's amazing.

well, enough about that. after watching A Year In The Making, the boys and Mom rode the subway and went to the park while I continued to rest. I thought my Suica card wouldn't have any problems because I stayed home yesterday......

yesterday, we went to Odaiba to go to that one science museum that we didn't finish seeing the first time. We had to switch subway lines twice (one of which we were on for a really long time), and then ride on a commuter type of train. the museum was actually fun (coming from the girl who freaking hates science museums), and there was a really kind staff member who spoke perfect English and helped us around. but it was a really hot day, we didn't bring any food, and there's no drinking fountains. so, when we got on the commuter train, I ran my Suica card through the scanner. It said I only had 80 yen left on there-not enough to get me all the way back to our home station. but we were fine on the commuter train. however, Mom didn't believe me in that I only had 80 yen left. she thought I read it wrong, so in one of the other stations, she recharged the boys Suica cards first, thinking that because they had the child cards instead of the adult cards, they needed it more. but she ran out of money to put on my card, and when I ran it through the scanner, it turned red, made the REJECTION! noise, and wouldn't let me through the gates.

it was hopeless. Wesley and Justin were complaing of dehydration and starvation, and there was just no way that I would get back home. we didn't even think that we could afford a single ticket to get me home. but this fantastico Irish guy noticed our dilemma, and asked how he could help. Mom explained our situation and that we didn't know how to get me home because we didn't have money. but the Irish guy showed us where it had the ticket costs, which varied on which station, instead of which stop, which would've drained our money away. he asked us where we needed to go, and he told us that we actually had enough money to get me home! really, it's not everyday, especially in Tokyo, when someone is kind enough to help you get home, and who speaks English. to celebrate getting home, Mom bought Coke, ice cream, and jellybeans and chocolate covered macadamias. It was a good celebration. Justin, in fact, was just overly excited that the dude had an Irish accent that he did his "Irish Niall Horan" dance (which is even better when he's doing it in the rain), and we listened to One Direction ("to celebrate the Irishness of Niall James Horan and that dude that helped Miriam get a ticket", according to Justin), played Phase 10, and partied! I am so grateful for the kindness of strangers. In Provo, Land of the Mormons, Valley of the Happy, Place where everyone could be a little too friendly, I took that for granted. but in a foreign place, it's truly amazing when that happens.

Kyoto (WARNING: long post!)

So, my bestie in the whole wide world, Raquel/Harreh (you can call me Loueeh if you want. I don't mind that. Neither does Justin, for that matter), thought I was dead. I'm serious. I checked my iPod yesterday and I had like a thousand messages, snapchats, missed FaceTime calls, and other notifications from her saying "Are you grounded?" "Are you okay?" "Where are you? Why won't you answer your FaceTime? I'm seriously getting worried!" 

sorry, Raquel. I thought I told you. I was in Kyoto! right before we left, there was supposed to be a typhoon/hurricane/horrible storm of some sort. It even hit Tokyo! On Tuesday, before we left, Justin needed some new church pants, so we went down to Harajuku, the teeny-bopper (I don't get where my parents come up with these terms) shopping district. I spent some time in H&M and Forever 21, which I've missed. Tokyo may be Fashion Capitol of the World, but it is also Extremely Expensive, Fashionable, Some Bizarre Styles That No One Can Even Dream of Affording. and I only started earning yen by doing chores, so I made 2 purchases: 1 shirt from each place. but I only brought like 7 shirts here, so that was nice. but after the shopping was done, we were supposed to go to Yoyogi Park. As soon as I got dragged out of F21 (yes, I was kicking and screaming), thunder boomed, and rain just started pouring down. we had no idea how we would be able to make it to Kyoto. but as you can see, we found a way.

back view of my F21 shirt. I love the sleeves!

 love my flying earrings

day 1 was sweltering. it was very cloudy, but extremely humid. hot, sweaty weather + walking all day = DEAD. I don't even really remember exactly what we did, except for the walking. we went to a bamboo forest, some gardens and temples, and torii gates, those big orange gates. they are actually pretty cool, and there's so many of them, it's like they go on forever in an endless maze of them, complete with stairs of death. As soon as we got to the hotel, I pretty much crashed. but we did have 2 different rooms, and I counted as an "Adult" (ages 14+), so it was my parents in one room, and me and the boys in the other. they were not very pleased with me being in charge (Why do you sleep so late? Why do you make us go in the other hotel room until you wake up? Why won't you share your secret stash of Hershey's Kisses with you?) They are more of the "early to bed, extremely early to rise because it makes us healthy and wealthy and wise to wake up with the sun which rises at 4 am." me, just let me sleep and you're fine. I actually slapped Wesley for threatening to wake me up at 6 (and then he got me grounded. I'm a very responsible adult here). but we had a lot more room than having the 5 of us crammed in one teeny room!

day 2, I woke up to Justin in my face telling me that we were eating in like 15 minutes, and because I take so long to do my hair and stuff, I need to get the freak out of bed! (He gets his good vocabulary from me.) But at least he was nice to me and let me sleep. Dad was in charge of the breakfast place (he decided that he is in charge of all the restaurants, which means either convenience store on-the-go food, "traditional" Japanese with the raw fish, or a curry place), so I wasn't very excited. Until I saw that it was called Vie d'France. i know, French bakeries in Japan may sound a little weird, but it was just heaven. We went there on Saturday too, so I got to try 2 different quiches, many pastries, and croissants. so yeah. good food. good weather was also expected....

Not. Fun. At. All. Especially when I'm wearing TOMS, shorts, and no rain jacket. Not to mention we would be walking around in the rain all freaking day, my feet blister easily, my toes are starting to curl again (and I only got surgery 1 year ago), and my feet are just soaked. 

we first went to Nijo Castle, between 300-400 years old, and it's made mostly out of rice paper. we only got pictures from the outside. next, we went to Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion. It is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto, and everyone needs a picture by it. The rain kind of got in the way of that. Same thing happened at Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion which never actually got coated in silver. they were both very beautiful, and they could've been identical twins! Wesley liked the history of them and the shogun, so he asked Dad to make up a shogun story about each of us. Wesley was the lazy shogun that didn't tell anyone what to do, so he got overthrown easily, but he lived peacefully in his platinum pavilion. Justin was the shogun that built his pavilion in the hot springs, and he was called the raisin shogun because he spent all day yelling at people from inside his hot springs, so he looked like a raisin. I was the shogun who actually coated my pavilion in silver, built it in Ginza (the fancy, pricy shopping district in Tokyo), but ran out of money so I decided to quit and start my own kimono business, got rich again, and I don't remember the rest.

oh, and there were rock gardens, trying to meditate and find inner peace, bloody blistered toes, crowded buses, Justin rain dancing and running into geisha, missing the kimono fashion show (that we went to on Saturday), and long bus rides. 

day 3, the weather man said it would rain even worse. well, he is full of crap. it was even hotter than day 1! and we weren't even in Kyoto. Dad had a conference in Nagoya, so we rode the Shinkansen from Kyoto so we could do a little exploring. Nagoya isn't as much as a tourist attraction as Kyoto is (I swear, our hotel had only Americans!), so we're the dorky American family dragging these umbrellas around while sweating our butts off, that everyone is laughing at. oh well, at least no one knew us! while Dad was at his conference, the other 4 Castles went to the Museum of Dishes (seriously, Mom?!), the Toyota Museum, a real pizza place that served corn on top of the pizzas, and.......................
CASTLES. (The Castles looked at castles. haha. yeah, I get this a lot. Oh, Miriam, do you live in a real castle? You think you're such a princess because you live in a castle. You look like a princess. I'm getting married as soon as possible and changing my last name.)

 La Fontaine outside of the dish museum. this fountain was a lot more exciting and beautiful than any of the dishes!

The Two Famous Asians Whom Ladies Swoon Over But I Look Pretty Chill With and me. I've always wanted to run into famous people whom I don't even know and get a picture. when we got off our bus to get to the castle, Wesley ran off, Mom had to chase him down, and Justin and I had to pee, so I actually used my very limited Japanese (with confidence, I might add) and asked where the bathroom was. He replied in English, "Oh, the restroom? Right over there." classic Mimi moment.
(Not to change the subject, but to all of you people who still call me Mimi, I just barely found out that it's not only an affectionate French nickname, it is also Japanese for ear. I think I lost my affectionate French nickname. Please, don't call me that, okay? I don't even like my ears.)

we reunited with Dad and ate "traditional Japanese food" again. not only was the fish raw, but some still had the skin on! all I ate was calamari (which was delicious), chicken, noodles, and tofu. There was actually some really gross rubbery stuff inside of a seashell. even Wesley, the pickiest eater who likes the strangest things, thought it was gross. and of course, he'd wear his rain jacket when it's like 100 degrees. classic Utahn. (and I might add that he stole Justin's jacket.) when we arrived back at the hotel, my toes were all swollen and bloody and I didn't even notice for the whole day. my big toe is still in a lot of pain.

day 4: this is the last day so I'll just hurry and get this massive post done. more French food. Wesley sat in birdpoop. drank from the Holy Spring at Kiyomizudera (pure water temple). went to another temple with 1,001 statues of Buddhist gods. cut my big toe on something. took only a few pictures, but none of them are good. went to the Kimono fashion show, which was just stunning. my mom was in there on accident when she went to Kyoto 2 years ago. she modeled kimonos and had her hair and makeup done like a geisha, and everyone thought she was really a Japanese model (I guess the wig helped) and took a ton of pictures. this time, there were no Americans that were just dressed up! then we left, stubbed my toe on the train, stubbed it again on someone's luggage, and I'm never walking anywhere again.

to put it simply, it was a great vacation. I learned a lot culturally, and saw amazing things. my toes will be stronger, and we won't trust the weatherman again.

Just a few Justin quotes.

for your entertainment.....

Dad: Goodnight, Justin.
Justin: Happy Father's day! One more question: how does hair grow out of your body? because when Miriam was massaging my back, she told me I was really hairy.
Dad: Well, hair is made of things called "proteins"---
Justin (interrupting): So, if I eat more protein, can I grow a mullet?
Dad: NO.
Justin: You had a mullet once. and I want a mullet. so I will eat more protein.

Justin: Does Louis Tomlinson have a girlfriend?
Me: Yes. is that a problem?
Justin: Well, then can you marry Niall? I've always wanted to be related to Niall Horan! We can be brothers-in-laws!
Me: I wish.

"Look! Cheerleaders!" (after seeing a ton of girls at the park)

"Sometimes I wish I could just get on an airplane and fly away from Tokyo. But then again, I hate airplanes. I guess I'm just stuck here for the rest of my life!"

"Miriam, please. Stop singing. You sound like Niall Horan being tortured!"

"I have really ugly teeth. I think I might be a rabbit. Or a monkey. Because monkeys are legit. And very sexy too."

Overheard at the dinner table...
Wesley: Justin, if you're really that smart, name all 4 parts of the UK.
Justin: England, Scotland, and...............Greenland?
Wesley: NO! Northern Ireland and Wales!
Justin: California has whales! They live in the ocean!

"My new favorite song is Paradise. It's by Coldplay. It goes like this: when she was just a girl, she expected the world..........and dreamed of PARA-PARA-PARADISE, PARA-PARA-PARADISE, and there's some part about elephants in there."

"My hair is getting long! Look at my beautiful sideburns! Soon, I'll have a full on mullet!"

Justin: Why are your friends so weird?
Me: You're weird.
Justin: No, they think it's funny to throw water balloons at me when you're having a party. It's not very funny. It got my favorite shirt wet! And now they think I'm like......... hot or something because they chase after me!

seagulls, seagulls, seagulls.

.....did I mention seagulls? on this boat, they were everywhere. people were tossing them ebi-snacks (sorry, I can't spell), and a massive flock/swarm just flew up, trying to eat the food. if you have seen Finding Nemo, imagine the seagull scene, but 10 times worse! one tried to eat my hair, our tour guides got seagulls in their hair, their hands, their fingers..........and Mom and Justin both got pooped on. I'm not kidding. there was poop everywhere! well, now I know why they call it the poop deck! I had to run inside the boat because I am a chicken (haha, I'm also a bit freaked out by chickens), and I was screaming. (If you have ever heard me scream, I bet you are just dying of laughter, imagining this scene.)

yesterday, we went to Sendai, where the big earthquake and tsunami were last year. it is a very beautiful place now. my dad was giving a chemistry lecture at the University, so a few of the researchers/grad students took the other 4 Castles on a tour of Sendai for the day! (note how I said for the day. we were there literally all day.) it was.......... must I even explain? long. exhausting. exciting. slow. nice. beautiful. I know, I know, I'm not making very much sense. but, it's pretty true. we woke up at 6 to get ready. we had to take the subway to Tokyo Station (more like "the human zoo with trains in there too" or "easiest place to get lost in"), and from there, we had to get on the Shinkansen, which we were on for about an hour and 40 min, and right after we got off, our wonderful tour guides drove us down to the bay, which took.......forever. I get extreme motion sickness without actually ever throwing up (which is almost as bad), and I left my Dramamine at home, thinking I'd be okay on the subway and the Shinkansen), and I was not ready to get on the boat. Well, thank goodness, we missed our boat! Must I even explain the relief? wait.........no. they decided to eat lunch while we waited. 1, it was only 11 AM (I don't usually eat until around 1ish), and 2, I was feeling extremely crappy. but it would be one of the only chances to eat, so I ordered something I didn't even recognize on the menu, but it looked like tempera (asparagus fried in breadcrums with shrimp). from what I ate, it was pretty good. not until this morning did Mom tell me that the stuff that looked like breaded halibut was actually eel.

the boat......I already explained. we were supposed to be looking at breathtaking views of the ocean and the islands, but SEAGULLS.

next, we drove for what seemed like eternity to a building where you could look out on the city. my stomach was disagreeing with the eel (I ate freaking EEL. I still can't believe it), and time was passing by so slooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwly.... okay, we'll skip all the slow, boring driving parts, and listening to Justin belt out One Direction in the car (which I admit entertains me everytime, and he could sound like them if he practices a ton more), and get on to the part where we went to one of the Shinto temples. Wesley was cold, so he stole Yuki, the girl grad student's scarf. the boys (child and adult) found some bamboo sticks and played Star Wars. it was quite hilarious.
we also drove up into the mountains (freaking killing me), went into this little craft shop and painted traditional Japanese dolls. Let's just say, I'm the abstract/creative/Asian/French/Mexican one.....

finally, it was dinner time. a breath of fresh air. Dad met us at a shabu-shabu place. he is always talking about how shabu-shabu is his favorite food in the world (he went to Okinawa, Japan on his LDS mission), but I've never actually tried it. it is actually really good. what you do is you boil Kobe Bryant in this nice sauce (oops, I meant kobe beef. in case you didn't already know, I am a Jazz girl!) along with vegetables. once the Kobe Bryant and the veggies are rescued from the boiling stuff, you dip it into sesame sauce, and dig in. for dessert, there was frozen yogurt. I haven't had that in ages! the researchers all wanted a picture.

and just like that, we were back on the Shinkansen to Tokyo! but first, Mom and I did some window-shopping (note how I said window. everything in Japan is just so freaking expensive!). it was a good experience, but it feels so good to be back!

1 Month Anniversiary

after living in Tokyo for a whole month, we decided to have a little celebration. On Sunday, we only went to sacrament meeting, and rode the train home. we packed 1 set of clothes, toiletries (I still don't get why they are called "toiletries", I mean, why not toothbrushes and shampoo and soap and personal hygeine items? None of those actually go in the toilet), changed out of our church clothes, ate a quick lunch, and just like that, we were gone! we boarded the Shinkansen, which is the fancy official name for "extremely fast bullet trains that just blaze past everything without even realizing you're going that fast", and we were off! goodbye, Tokyo! It's been a good month here! and guess where we ended up?

Uzawa, aka Park City in Japan, or the rainiest place on this freaking planet. Wesley, who is always cold and he always overdresses, never leaves anywhere without a sweatshirt-at least (most of the time it's his massive ski coat), only wears long sleeves, and sleeps in footsie pajamas all year long, only brought shorts, a baseball jersey, and Crocs. (Here, in Japan, they are actually a major fashion statement. I'm not falling for it. the boys tried to start it back in Provo a long time ago, but like me, no one fell for it.) Mom made me lend him my sweatshirt, which she still thinks is hers (honestly, why did we buy matching rain jackets, Mom? so you can look like me without stealing my clothes!). we stayed at a little ski-resort place that was not too different from Park City, but we weren't there for the skiing. we had a massive traditional Japanese room, with tons of extra floor space. and there were 2 bathrooms! (one more than our apartment!) the entire room was made out of tatami mats, and the window shutters were made out of rice paper. there were 2 separate bedrooms, and all we did was chill and relax! and then there was dinner....

this was "Traditional Japanese fine-dining." they thought Justin was a baby and gave him a "kiddie special", high chair and all. this was a surprise because he is actually taller than Wesley, who is 2 years older than him! he wasn't very pleased with his situation. I got a full on "Adult Meal", which was several courses of who knows what the heck is on my plate. You just never know. it could be pickled eggplant, raw fish, raw octopus (one of the sickest things on the planet), tofu, sesame ice cream......it could be anything! the whole night was a Liam Payne situation for me, in that I didn't receive my special fork until halfway through the meal. Wesley and Dad were all gushing about how it was an amazing opportunity to eat traditional Japanese foods, and how we were so lucky to "taste Japan", but all I can say is 6 words.
I. Freaking. Hate. Raw. Fish. Itissofreakingdisgustingandyoushouldneverevertryit.

{I did like the prawn fried in edemame, and I can't even spell that.}

next came...................................hot springs bathing!

what is hot springs bathing, you might ask? it is where you take off all your clothes, put on a robe, boys and girls part separate ways, and you step into heaven where you can't actually breathe, but it's still pretty much heaven. it's like being in a gigantic natural hot tub, and the water feels good on your skin. it was (here's my transcandentalist words): serene. refreshing. simplicity. relaxing. until the water gets so hot that you can't even breathe! after you exit the hot springs, you shower, get back into your special robe, and there was a whole place where you could do your hair, rub lotion on yourself, and fix yourself up. it was............................surreal.

breakfast was at a buffet, where you could either choose Japanese or Western (which is what they call American). i don't think I even have to tell you what I chose..........bacon, scrambled eggs, almond pudding, peaches, crossiants, more bacon, and even ice cream! on the other side of the buffet, there  was..........rice and raw fish. not even going near there.

oh, and one more thing: I may post quite a bit now because we're doing a lot. do not get annoyed with either my frequent postings/ramblings, or a long break with no posts at all. and please make sure to comment so I know that I actually have people reading this thing!

have a legit day.