carpe diem, YOLO, live in the moment.

Ever since Youth Conference, something has just.......changed. I made a lot of friends, hiked Mt. Fuji, had an amazing time, and just a life-changing experience. When I returned back to our little apartment, things just weren't the same. I felt like I have been missing something this whole summer. I'm not talking about in terms of the Hoff Cousins blowing on napkins trying to make them sound like brass instruments, and me epically failing and shooting napkin bits across the table. Although I do miss that a ton, actually. You see, in our family, my dad is a professor and he is at work all day either teaching a class, grading papers, preparing to teach, or doing research. Dinnertime is the only time of day we actually see him (besides breakfast, if I wake up early enough, which in Provo, I usually don't), so we are all very excited to tell him about our days. But because he doesn't want a lot of noise, we have a "no loud unnecessary noise, playing with food, or singing at the dinner table" rule, so mealtime has been very boring! Anyways, I'm getting very off-subject. My point is that I realized something I should've realized a long time ago; my love for Japan.

if you have been a long time blog reader, or a recent stalker (either way is fine), you already know that I wasn't too happy on the idea of coming here. most of my posts are rants about how I want to return back to Provo. and it makes a lot of sense. But for those of you newcomers, when I first got here, I was pretty upset. I was going through major culture-shock, I didn't have any friends, I wasn't used to getting around the city, I didn't know any Japanese at all (not like my Japanese has improved or anything), I wasn't very independent, the food was different, and most of all, I didn't have any personal space at all. I spent most of my time complaining about how much I wanted to go home, how I missed all my friends, how I needed personal space, and that everything was so different and not the way that I was used to at all. Everytime Mom tried to teach me Japanese, I was resistant. Whenever we were about to go to a new museum or the park, I always begged to stay home and waste time on Facebook, desperately trying to communicate with friends back home. Sometimes it worked and I was glad I stayed; other times I was forced to go, and I ended up having a really good experience. But most of the time, I was unhappy. Homesick. Lonely. Pretty pissed off because I didn't have any time to myself. I was very moody and unpleasant to be around, even though I tried my best to be happy. As the weeks went on and on, I started to get used to everything and even learn to appreciate it, knowing I was only this much closer to returning back to Provo. Because why go to Japan and not have a memorable experience there? I wish I knew that at the beginning of summer.

Youth Conference, which you can read about here, was one of those places I wasn't too excited about going. But if you read in the post, I had the most amazing week of my entire summer. It taught me a lot. As I got to know all these wonderful knew friends, I realized that they have either been in Japan for a lot longer than I have, or they moved around a lot more than I have. And they were all very happy about Japan! they would ask me about what life was like in Provo, and I already knew that it was extremely different. But as I was talking to them about where I was from, I experienced nothing I had ever experienced before. I have lived in Provo for 9 years, and it's one of those places that everyone claims to hate, but never leaves. When people actually do leave, even for the shortest amount of time, they freak out because it's like a whole different world. They are exposed to materialism, people with completely different standards, hardly any Mormons, and my own brothers would freak out even if they just see someone drinking coffee or tea. They are lost and hopeless and don't know how to cope in a world that isn't Happy Valley. Being in Japan has taught me that it's okay to get outside your comfort zone. Keep your standards high, but not to freak out about every single thing. To get to know different people. After hearing about my old life, my friends were all like "Well, that sounds like a really nice place to live!" Which it is. But to all you fellow P-Town pimps (I don't know the correct term for people from Provo!), there really is a lifestyle that is completely different from yours. and it's a good one. You get to have new experiences. Try different foods. Not take everything for granted. Be more relaxed and.....brave, instead of freaking out about everything. While still staying true to yourself. and I am so grateful for my opportunity to get away from Provo and get a completely different experience. It's been the best summer of my life.

Before Youth Conference, my friends weren't in school yet, I was on the computer/iPod 24/7, and I was pretty much wasting my whole summer. But youth conference happened, everyone started school, I actually made friends, and I come back to Tokyo, and none of my Provo friends are "there" anymore. The day after I got home, my dad gave me my first assignments: to contact all of my teachers and ask for assignments. I have also had to work on Japanese, read actual books, and write a whole report about Peer Tutoring. It's been a lot of work. Even though I still consider it "summer" because I'm not officially in school, I'm a lot busier than I used to be. and it's really sad to think that it has been wasted. So, as all you teenagers say, YOLO or You Only Live Once, so I will enjoy it while I can. For those of you more educated people, carpe diem, or sieze the day. or, as I say, live in the moment. 

{for once, I am actually sad to leave Japan. It has grown on me so much.}

youth conference at Mt. Fuji!

today is August 23. there are 3 possible things that could've happened today.
1. First day as a Freshman at Timpview High School!!!
2. Died on the hike to Mt. Fuji.
3. Returned home from the best youth conference ever!!!!!!!

well, the first option definitely could've happened if I stayed in Provo. the second obviously didn't happen. so that leaves the third.

when I first found out that I was going to Youth Conference in Japan, I had 2 thoughts in my head. the first one was: at least I'm not going on Pioneer Trek like I would've in my other ward. (for those of you who don't know, Pioneer Trek is a Utah Mormon thing where you dress up like pioneers, push handcarts, and march around the desert to get a "true pioneer experience." dumbest idea ever.) the second was there is no way I am going to Youth Conference with a thousand military kids I don't even know. you see, I am in the Tokyo First English-Speaking Ward, and while there are a lot of youth, they all decided to return home to the US for the summer, those stinkers. well, except for 3 girls and a few boys, but you get the idea. and only one other youth out of the entire ward would be going with me, and I'm not even that close to her, we barely even talk. none of the leaders could go either, which is why my mother acted as a "leader" for us 2 girls. that left all the military wards in the stake that aren't even close to where I live.

when I found out that we would be hiking Mount Fuji, the second tallest mountain in the world and one of the toughest hikes ever, I decided that trek didn't sound too bad after all. from all the people who have hiked Fuji before, they have had altitude sickness. dehydration. slipped on the rocks. heat exhaustion. extremely sore all over. and some people even die on that mountain.

Camp Fuji, the US Marine Training Camp our stake stayed at, was actually really nice. we had our own bedrooms with real mattresses instead of futons, our own bathrooms with showers, and a not-too-delightful cafeteria with American Food (which tasted an awful lot like school lunch). the older girls who got there first got their own bedrooms, but the people who arrived late, like me, had to get roommates. Mine was Sarah, the only other girl from my ward. and let me tell you, we are complete opposites. I am a neat freak, while she is more, not a neat freak. I spend all my free time listening to music or singing myself; she spend her free time reading. and while I was super excited for the dance, she was a bit scared. but we both enjoyed ourselves. and I made a ton of friends at the dance! there was a good balance of upbeat songs and slow-dancing. the upbeat songs I just enjoyed myself with the girls and didn't really dance, just jump around (until One Direction came on. then I went crazy.) for the slow dancing, it wasn't too bad except that all the boys were way taller than me. but they were nice, and they could dance, and we became friends. here are a few of em. (just a few; there's a ton more!)

 this beautiful, sweet, funny, curly haired girl is Penelope! we hit it off right at the start. we met in the car on the way to Fuji, and we have eaten together, talked together, did workshops together, and stuck together the whole time! we had a ton of fun together, and isn't she just the cutest thing ever? I miss her guts already!

 me and Sarah, my roommate and fellow wardie! we became good friends on this trip, and she actually reminds me a bit of Wesley with her sense of humor and her personality! (which isn't a bad thing!) we had a lot of fun as well and really got to know each other with sharing a room and everything. it was great!

Hasselhoff and Cousin Zach. they were always keeping us entertained! at lunch, Penelope didn't finish her Jello Parfait (which I admit wasn't that great), so one of them (I can't remember if it was Jacob or Zach), grabbed a spoon and mixed up the whole thing, added a ton of salt, grabbed a ton of boys, and dared them to drink it. but they didn't stop there. gradually, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and A-1 Steak Sauce was mixed in. the only one who got even close to drinking it was Jacob, who spilled one drop on his pants and freaked out. (I don't blame them, it smelled and looked pretty nasty.) Penelope was probably really grossed out by what the Hoffs turned her Jello Parfait into! but we still cracked up, because who doesn't love the Westhoff Cousins? 

 Hasselhoff modeling my glasses. mmmmm.

 Oh, and let's not forget this lovely picture of Jarrod and me. Attractive, I know, right?

me, Penelope, and Sarah!

me, Penelope, Sarah, Zach, Jacob, and Jarrod

me at some workshop.

on the second day, we only had 2 workshops! one of them was that the leaders pretended to be investigators, and the youth were the missionaries and we had to answer their questions about the Book of Mormon. the second one I really don't remember but I posted a picture of it. but we did have a water balloon fight, and I got nailed in the back by my own mother! oh, how I love water balloons. we were also split into "families". our family was called the "Zions", and our motto was to eternity, and beyond! our flag had the city in the clouds on it, and the ladder leading up to it- the stairway to heaven! it was great, and we had so much fun- especially at mealtime. the Hoffs kept on trying to get me to scream at table salt (long story), and there was the mutilated apple that got stuck on my fork (another long story-- I shouldn't eat with boys!) and when I was putting my dishes away, I couldn't get the apple off the fork. finally, I pulled it off, but it hit the dishwasher person in the face! I felt so bad, even after apologizing a thousand times!

Wednesday was the death march. before I even got to the first station, I couldn't breathe. altitude sickness was really kicking in. and I had a mini panic-attack. Sarah, my hiking partner, however, was hiking backwards. but we made it to the next station just fine! Sarah decided that I was going too slow, so she hooked up with some other youth and did just fine. Mom and I were lagging behind, going as slow as ever. my only motivation was that everyone would be at the top, cheering for me. I wasn't even supposed to make it up because of my stupid feet. and the trail was super rocky. and I had all those symptoms listed above, but I didn't die. by the time I got to the 8th station, I was pretty much done. I couldn't make it any farther. but I decided that I was close enough to the top that I could get there. and I did!

but no one was there. and I was extremely exhausted, dehydrated, and I couldn't breathe. so I cried. and cried. and cried.

 Brett and me before the hike

Hikari and me at the top!

even though I was very proud of myself to be at the top, I thought to myself, what is the reason for hiking this? sure, it's a good view, but is it really this pretty? I couldn't breathe. I was dehydrated. I am still in a lot of pain. was this even worth it? why the freak did I do this?

the way down wasn't much better. tons of rocks got in my shoes, and sure, there was this nice little rockslide, but it killed my feet. I fell down a ton. and I was feeling like crap. but Mom and I did it together. and we didn't make it back in time with the rest of the group, but they were all waiting for me with pizza. and everyone was sunburnt except me. which is a big accomplishment. and we survived! and that's all that counts.

 come at me, bro.

I was pretty worn out, and by the time I woke up the next day to the reveille on the trumpet at like 5:30 am, I actually fell back asleep. then, mom woke me up like an hour later, and then the cannons went off. I had to get myself out of bed, eat breakfast, have a contest with Penelope and the Hoffs to see who could blow on a napkin and make it sound like a brass instruments (another really long story), and get to testimony meeting. that was the most spiritual part. I bore my testimony first, and I actually cried. I didn't say anything too significant, but I talked about how I didn't really want to go to youth conference, but my father gave me a Priesthood blessing that i would be able to climb Fuji without any problems and that I would be able to make new friends, and it worked. I just needed to have faith and do my part and pray. and that I knew that the Spirit was there because I felt genuinely happy, not some feeling you get because you're happy. but really, happy.  after bearing mine, all the other testimonies strengthened mine even more. sure, my testimony went much better in my head than it did when I said it, but it went pretty well. a few quotes from different youth (I won't say names):

"Hiking Fuji is like life. There's some easy parts, and some hard parts where you can barely breathe. But the Lord will always be there to guide you, so that you can make it to the top."

"Holding onto the ropes on the trail is like holding onto the rod. You have to let it guide you to get where you need to go. And don't let go!"

"Did you know that the word 'impossible' says 'I'm possible'?"

"Sometimes you need to say to the mountain in front of you, come at me, bro! and believe it!"

"In the words of Doctor Phil, no matter how hard you flip a pancake, there's always two sides."

all in all, it was a legit youth conference. I made so many new friends. my testimony has been strengthened times 10. I hiked the second tallest mountain in the world and I got to the top and I didn't die! and I'm pretty proud of myself! goodnight everyone! and the Church is true!

Olympics, monkeys, and Yokohama

so, dad got a 2 week break from his lab, so his idea of a break was 2 things: sightseeing adventures and Olympics! it is just so freaking legit to watch the athletes from different countries compete in sports that I would never really watch if it weren't for the Olympics. but this year, I feel like I haven't been watching them as much as I should've been. mostly because on Japanese channels, the commentators just blab on and on in Japanese to completely block out what's actually going on, and they only show events that the Japanese are interested in, like judo and wrestling. at least I got to see soccer! The womens soccer game was the best. U.S.A beat Japan, 2-1! I'm sure our Japanese friends were devastated, while we were just screaming and going crazy! and then there was Wesley's girlfriend.....

His exact words: Hope Solo is just.......um, just............kinda beautiful! *giggles* 
I don't blame him. she's pretty beautiful. and it's always good to have celebrity crushes! Hope Solo is his first one he's experienced, and it's actually pretty great because now he can't tell me that I'm insane when I go on and on about One Direction! and even better that he chose a USA soccer player instead of someone like Selena Gomez! this was both of our favorite part of the Olympics, mine because Hope did just amazing and that we won (even better that Japan was crying about it. not being mean or anything, but in our family, we take competition very seriously! we do not accept defeat very easily. especially Justin. just mention anytime that he lost a soccer game, and he'll rant about it for hours). Wesley's more so he could watch his girlfriend.

Wesley was in luck. he actually got to see his dreamgirl on TV. I, on the other hand, completely missed the closing ceremonies! and guess who performed in there?

you got it. my boys. now, I tried. I was begging and pleading to be able to watch them (only the One Direction part, then we can turn it off!), but Dad had something different in mind. we were to wake up at 6 am, have an hour to get ready, and be on the train by 7 so we could go up into the mountains and see a monkey park. and believe me, I was protesting. but he was not convinced. I did get to see their performance on YouTube, but there were just so many acts in the closing ceremony, they only sang "What Makes You Beautiful", and they had to edit it. neither Harry Styles nor Liam Payne (which perhaps disappointed me the most) got to sing their solos. but as always, they sounded incredible!

now you are wondering about the monkey park. Justin and Wesley, the monkeys of our family, enjoyed it the most. it was like a zoo up in the mountains full of monkeys. they did tricks and entertained us for a good hour and a half! we got to throw food to them, and Justin, who is a pro at doing the monkey face, of course, made the monkey face. after we saw the monkeys, we went on a little hike, saw a temple and a shrine, went to the top, got snowcones, and hiked back to the train station and saw an amazing waterfall! none of the pictures are that great, so to save time, I will go onto the next part.

Tuesday we ventured out to Yokohama, a neighboring port city to Tokyo. unfortunately, it decided to rain in the morning. Japanese people rarely complain, but their favorite thing to talk about is complaining about the weather! nothing can satisfy them: it's too hot, it's too cold, it's too rainy, it changes too fast. sort of like Utah! but seriously, every single day, at least 5 people complain to us about how hot it is! I can actually understand it now, it happens so much! and even in the middle of a huge Olympic event, the weatherman always interrupts everything just to complain about the weather! then, the Olympics comes on like nothing happened.

first, when it was the rainiest, we toured a sailing ship that the Japanese navy used to train sailors. it was actually really cool to be able to walk around inside the ship and actually see what it was like for them, rather than look at pictures. we learned how they slept, how the sails worked, what each persons duty was, their living situation, and the parts of the ship. and it was a beautiful boat as well! if only it weren't raining on us! a ship museum was right next door to the boat, so to escape the rain, we took a little visit there. the Japanese are really excited to show people their culture and to teach people, and at a lot of museums, we get personal guides! this guide spoke perfect English and kept us entertained with personal stories about what the war was like and history between Japan and America and the navy. I could go into a history lesson, but to save you time, I won't!

for lunch, we headed to Chinatown! it wasn't what I expected because it looked just like Japan, apart from the food and our restaurant and the gates and a Chinese buddhist temple. we got to eat legit Chinese food, not Panda Express or P.F. Chang's, which they only really have that type of food in Hong Kong! legit Chinese food has a lot of vegetables, and Dad, who went to China 2 years ago, has eaten jellyfish, donkey, shark fin soup, Pecking roast duck, duck liver, duck heart, duck feet, and normal duck! we didn't get anything that exciting. I ordered wonton soup and fried noodles with vegetables and shrimp. it was actually better than Japanese food!

by then, the sun was shining and we went to another ship! this one was at the harbor, and it was an ocean liner- like the Titanic. we were able to actually see the different cabins, smoking rooms, the parlor, the engine rooms, and we got to go on deck and take some amazing pictures! afterward, we went on a huge ferris wheel near the harbor. we could even see Shinjuku from the top! it was a great view, even though the ferris wheel was going so freaking slow!

song of the day: Some Nights by Fun.
quote of the day: "Thanks for the adventure. Now, go have a new one!" - Ellie (from UP)

Kamakura

first things first, I would really, truly, would die to know who reads or stalks my blog! (Feel free to stalk all you want. I often go blog-stalking myself, and it is a very wholesome activity.) so, there's 3 simple things you can do.

1. Follow my blog! it's as simple as pressing the little blue follow button below the brown cutesy-utesy Shabby Blogs button that says "FOLLOW ME." and anyone with a google account can follow! you don't need a blog! Just click that button if you have a Google and you're good.
2. Comment!  it's as simple as pressing the "comment" button below my posts, and type in your thoughts. again, you do not need a blogger account or a blog! Just a Gmail account! and the comment doesn't have to be mushy gushy or thoughtful! you can just say "I liked this post" or "The pictures were legit" or "this was a ton of stupid worthless crap that I don't even care about reading but I love you anyway." and if you really don't want to comment or if you don't have a google account, Facebook message me letting me know you've been reading! email me your comments for me! my email address is miriamcastle32@gmail.com 
3. Spread the word! On your blogs, post the link to my blog (i.e. under the "blogs I read" section). I'm not asking for shoutouts or long posts about me, although feel free to do so. But I don't need a whole long shoutout post about me! but you can email, show your friends, all that kinda stuff!

second things second! leave me a comment giving your opinions on my different types of posts! do you prefer my long, picture filled, adventure-packed ones? or my short "insert like 3 pictures and say nothing" posts? stories, and no pictures? favorites? or musings of me? today, I'm going to do a completely new type of post: called an Adventure Post With Tons Of Pictures But Like 3 Sentences To Explain What We Did. so, here ya go!

third things third: the actual post. our family went to Kamakura, a picturesque-y little coastal town by the beach! the views were amazing. we didn't bring any beach gear because of my banged up toe not being able to go in the water. but it was sad that the water was calling to me! the other half of town was sort of like Kyoto with a ton of temples and shrines! besides that, the Kyoto-ish half wasn't picturesque at all. it was very run-down and shabby. we tried to get from the picturesque half to the non-picturesque half (I found a new favorite word. doesn't it just sound so descriptive and..........legit? okay, that is still my other favorite word!) but we had to hike through this forest. did a lot of walking. toe kills now! gonna rest all day tomorrow! but here are the pictures! oh, and at one of the temples, we got to go inside Buddha's belly button! what an.........interesting experience. and there weren't any Mozzo Liams, so although they were pretty legit, nothing was so freaking legit because like I've said before, I just love Mozzo Liams! (I should really learn how to spell.)

fourth things fourth, the pictures! and please excuse Wesley's funny faces, he doesn't like the sun in his eyes, so there is nothing mentally wrong with him; half of the time he was being a goofy goober, the other half he wasn't paying close enough attention to actually look at the camera.