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.