any way the wind blows,: 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!