Nara

Nara was the capital of Japan in the period before Edo (Tokyo). This place was seriously cool. We just came on a day trip here after attending Doraina's sister's International Christian Church. (We tried to find a ward there, but yeah, we couldn't figure out the address system at all...ever...so we went with her sister).

Here are some pics and explanation:

So in Nara the park there is a huge deer reserve and these wild (though I would call them domestic) deer just walk and run around wherever they please. Most of them stay on the reserve, but you'll see a few of them wandering the streets of Nara. They're free to roam wherever they please! This was one of the few deer that paused long enough to get a picture with me. Their big dark eyes are so adorable!


This was our favorite baby deer. We loved him.


A beautiful "gate" out by the pond at the temple complex.


One of the gate guards. These things were huge...seriously 30-40 feet tall.


Here is the temple that houses giant Buddha. You can kind of get a sense of how large it is by looking at the people in comparison to it.


Unfortunately this picture does not do Giant Buddha justice. You can't tell how huge he is! But, if you think about it. That temple (compare it to the size of the people) is pretty much the height of Giant Buddha. He's about 60 ft. tall in his seated position. Seriously huge people.


This is me posing between the two scary head guys. Doraina and I thought it would have been funny if we had been doing the peace sign... why? Well... just look at the picture and think about it for a minute... haha


This is one of the five story pagodas. They are amazingly beautiful buildings we saw three in our travels. They're pretty rare nowadays.


A cool picture that I liked of the sand garden.

Anyway, the day in Nara was awesome. We saw a lot of cool things... and we got to play with deer! Yeah!

Osaka and Kyoto

So we went from Nagoya to Osaka and met up with Doraina's sister Liz. Her apartment was posh! It was really huge for Japan, especially for someone single. It was really a nice place with a great view. We got in fairly late and had a bit of confusion regarding trains... (We thought we were at Osaka station, she also was at Osaka station, we couldn't find her, she couldn't find us... then we realized that we were at SHIN-Osaka station... a very different station from Osaka. Go figure...) But we made it and basically fell into bed that evening and slept.

The next day we went to Kyoto with some of Liz's friends. It was great fun! We started out the day walking up to one of the huge Buddhist temples. Here are some cool pictures:



This is one of the fountains. No, not for drinking. At least I didn't see anyone drink out of it. Although a lot of people probably wanted to since there are no drinking fountains ANYWHERE! You have to buy bottled water out of random vending machines all over the streets. But I digress... Anyway, we were told that these were used to cleanse yourself before entering the temples.


This is just part of the temple. But I thought it looked really cool. There was this cute little kid standing underneath it putting incense in a big pot. I tried to get a picture of the kid too, but he didn't stay still long enough!


These are wishes, not prayers, wishes. I found it really interesting. I also enjoyed watching the people come and do ceremonial worship, meaning they rang a bell, clapped their hands, repeated some phrases, and threw some money in. I'm glad I don't have to pay to have my prayers answered... And I digress again...


On the left we see some stone statues with napkin/aprons. No one we asked could tell us why they had those on (they were all over in all different kinds of temples, not just this one). So if you know why, let me know!

On the right we see Buddha. One of many we saw. But none compared with Giant Buddha, which you will see in the next post :)


On the streets in Kyoto, heading toward the Ginza district. In Kyoto there are TONS of samples of mochi (rice cake...not the crispy kind we have in America, the chewy, gooey kind that I love!). Specifically the kinds that are filled with all different kinds of flavors! I loved the blueberry and lemon kinds. We also had ice cream covered with mochi, they looked like little snowballs. SO GOOD!


Some cool tapestries that were hanging in the temple in Ginza. (This is the district where the old school stuff still prevails... it's the one place you might see Geisha or Meiko. I think we saw one, but that is unconfirmed. We saw plenty of fake ones though!)

The day in Kyoto was awesomely awesome. That night we were back in Osaka and had some okonomiyaki (cabbage pancake) and it was super good, though not as good as the kind we had in Hiroshima with noodles in it!

The Old Country...aka Land of the Rising Sun... aka Japan... aka BEAUTIFUL... aka HOT AND HUMID!

Well folks, I'm getting to it a day early!

So Japan was amazing. Seriously amazing. And since I was something of a lame head and let Doraina take all of the pictures of the small things, I guess I'll have to post an addendum later...if I get around to it. The posts are either daily adventures or specific places we visited, so there should be quite a few posts by the time I finish, but I posted them backward so they'd be in order for you to read!

So here's the travelogue with a few of the choicest pictures!

So I flew down to Dallas to spend the day and the night at Doraina's house. Luckily for me I spent the night there, hence I can color in one more state on my map of the US that should, with any luck, be all filled in before I'm thirty! Technically her house was in Mesquite. (I think that's how the spelled it down there...) I met her mom and her cute dog!

The next morning we got up at literally the crack of dawn to be at the airport at 6:30am (an hour away from her house). But all was well and we got on the flight to SLC (yes, the cruel irony was that I had to fly to Dallas to get on a plane to come to SLC...) Lucky for us, a lady on the plane decided to pass out about two minutes before we were going to get to the runway. Yup. It's true. So we taxied back to the gate and had paramedics show up in a neon green (I'm not joking!) paramedic SUV. It was brilliant. In more ways than one.

At any rate, the captain decided to have a maintenance "issue" looked at while we were back at the gate. So we sat there. And sat there. And sat there. The woman came back on with the "all-clear, I'm not going to die mid-flight," and still we sat. After a while the captain got on the intercom to tell us that the maintenance "issue" was taking a little longer to fix. (I would say it was more of a problem than an issue...) At any rate, there we sat. And then we began to fret about missing our flight to Tokyo out of Seattle. Yes, there was still one more plane to catch.

Eventually we got on our way, but we literally ran off of one plane and onto another. It was wonderful because the flight was barely half full, so there was plenty of space for our luggage, and Doraina and I both got entire side sections to ourselves. Not to mention we got the nifty little individual screens where you could choose whatever you wanted to watch/listen to/do. It was a lovely ten hours...well, as lovely as ten hours on a plane could be.

Eventually we landed, and after getting business taken care of, we hopped on an express train to Tokyo, and from there to Nagoya. After an amusing little interlude with our taxi driver, we found our hotel and were settled for the night.

The next day took us on an amazing two hour train ride out of Nagoya Station to a little folk village called Takayama. As I was telling Eric the other day, you know those pictures where you see the mist rising off of the river with the lush green vegetation all around it up the surrounding mountains...I lived that picture for two hours there and two hours back. It was spectacular!

Takayama was a fun little old-timey area. We walked around a lot and saw some cool temples. Here are some pictures from Takayama...

This was pretty funny. There were about eight of these up and down the streets...so of course we took pictures with most of them :)

That evening we walked around Nagoya a bit, then boarded the Shinkansen bullet train to head to Osaka...

Going Home

So, after not being home for pretty much a month, I'm going home this evening with the hope of somehow being there for longer than a week. Not going to happen. Life is too ridiculously busy! But at least I'll be there for most of a week!

Upcoming blog posts to look forward to: Japan, my trips from last year (NYC, DC, and Chicago), family craziness...and probably some other things.

Hopefully on Monday I'll have some time to post some pictures and give you a travelogue. Until then...

Oquirrh Mountain Open House

Hey peeps. So today the fam and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house in South Jordan. It was incredibly beautiful! I appreciated the fact that, not only did the film that they showed at the beginning of the tour talk about the purpose of temples, but it clarified why in the world the Oquirrh Mountain Range is called the Oquirrh Mountain Range! A fact which has been a mystery to me since the fourth grade when we learned about the Oquirrh Mountains in Utah History. And luckily, the knowledge has now come with little to no effort on my part. I kind of like it when that happens occasionally!

So, just a suggestion, if you live in Utah, or you're coming here before August 1, go to the open house! Take a couple of hours and go. There is beautiful artwork and architecture! Do it.

Traveling

So I'm leaving in a few days for "The Old Country," as my father calls it. I'm heading off to Japan for a crazy exciting twelve-day adventure.

Yes, I realize that I still haven't posted pictures or anything about my trips to NYC or DC...but I have concluded that I will...along with Japan...when I return.

So, look forward to that, y'all! And Happy Canada Day!

Atlas Shrugged

It's one of those moments for me. But I'm going to do my best to keep my academic exuberance from bursting forth and simply tell you that the book Atlas Shrugged is most definitely my favorite book. It has taken me my entire life to find a book that I can actually say is my favorite. And a whole lot of books.

In the last ten years, I've read over 500 books. That doesn't even count the newspapers, magazines, short stories, plays, etc. And yes folks, Atlas Shrugged is most definitely my favorite piece of literature (I should probably put in the disclaimer piece of secular literature) ever written. That I've encountered thus far anyway.

Now, I don't want you all to pick up the book, read it, and decide that I've given up on morality. I do have a few major differences of opinion and philosophy than Ayn Rand (the author). But, as it applies to most things secular, political, economical...she hit what I believe as dead on as someone who is not me could. And her theory (objectivism) is stated with such a convincing argument and fervor that I found myself thinking for a moment that what she was saying made complete and utter sense. Funny enough, the thing that convinced me otherwise was her 50 page discourse given by her (well, it's the character that "comes up with" this theory in the book) about objectivism and laying out all of its tenets that finally convinced me that it most definitely was not the right way to go in things personal, but in things public, most definitely.

And I also don't want you thinking that I don't believe in sacrifice. I do. Or that I don't believe in the necessity of giving of one's self, talents, and treasure. I do. But she makes quite the case against it... but the final action sequence of the book itself punches some serious holes in her theory as a whole. Why save one man? Because I want to. Why do you want to? Ah, and that is the question. Because if it's because that one man made their lives more worth living, that's fine. But what if helping someone who is struggling succeed makes mine more worth living? I say that's fine too.

I'm not one to spoil spectacular events, so I won't tell you all about the book or its philosophical contents. And it is a big book. 1079 pages, with very, very small print. But if it were me, I'd take the month, year, or years it takes to get through a book of this magnitude, because it's worth it. Really.

Read it. Even if it doesn't fit in with your world view, at least it will make you think. And thinking is something that's so underrated these days. Hah... the irony...

But hey, who is John Galt?

The Awesome Nature of Siblings

So it's like this. I'm seriously shocked and awed by how well my siblings get along, and yet, since we've reached a relatively mature age, it hasn't really been any other way.

I love my siblings! We are all so different, and yet we are so much the same. It's pretty amazing. I thought I'd just give everyone a little update on my amazing siblings, since they are such an important part of my life.

So Nate got back from his mission about three months ago. He served a great mission in Guadalajara, Mexico and can now speak Spanish. Something that definitely never occurred in all of the years that he took Spanish classes! He's currently attending Weber State University up in Ogden and has plans to transfer elsewhere in the relatively near future. A couple of weeks ago he sang at a benefit concert for Ashlee's (and all of our) high school's theater program. He was amazing! He sang three solos and two duets and he sounds even more amazing that he did two years ago! That time off did his voice good! He's also auditioning for various roles at some different theaters, so we'll hopefully see him back performing on the stage soon!

Kimi is living with me down in Provo. She finished up her first year at UVU and is doing ballroom dance and studying psychology! She's had a busy year of change and adjustments, but she is doing pretty fantastically. She is crazy fun to live with, even if she sometimes eats my food. It's okay, because I eat hers... but I did buy her a new bag of Marshmallow Mateys today! She's currently rehearsing for West Side Story. She's playing the part of Rosalia, Anita's friend. So she gets to put her Latin groove on and do some dancing. The show starts on July 3rd and runs at the Scera Amphitheater until... the 20? Something like that. So you should go if you can!

Ashlee finished up her Junior year of high school. She played the lead role of Sarah in Guys and Dolls this last spring, and next year she has some awesome parts! In November the school is doing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Ashlee is playing the Narrator! Then, in the spring they're doing Les Miserables and Ashlee is playing Fantine, Cosette's mother. She'll be great! You should try to come if you can! She's also the President of the school's madrigal choir Tapestry, so that should keep her busy all year!

Basically I just wanted to say what a great blessing it is to have some of your best friends as your siblings. To know that they're always going to be there. Nate came down to visit Kimi and me this weekend, and we spent an hour just laughing together over ridiculous things. But that's just how we are. And I love it.

Hunting UFOs

So when I was in elementary school... fifth or sixth grade... I became a nerd, geek, whatever you want to call me. I fell in love with Star Wars and Star Trek. Like for real. Hah. If you're ever lucky enough to see my room at my parent's, which, I might add, is fully intact, you will notice two center calendar spreads of the starship Enterprise and that a full fourth of my book collection in that room is Star Wars books.

It all began innocently enough with watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with my parents at 10 on weeknights. Re-runs, of course. I guess it really began earlier than that. See, my school had this program called "Pegasus" where a group of about 15 students from the 5th and 6th grades in elementary were asked to essentially leave school for two days and become the crew and mission control of our very own space shuttle simulator Pegasus. It was awesome. We got to do science experiments and activities, and then conclude the adventure with an actual simulation of the space shuttle launch, mission, and landing. Fantastic, right?!

The instigator of this program was a third grade teacher named Mrs. Hanebut. She was amazing. And I blame my obsession with science fact and fiction on her. So anyway, I digress...

So I would watch with my parents and I felt pretty cool because I was able to stay up late. One of the perks of being the oldest, I suppose.

That led to my fascination with Sci-fi in general, and led me one day a book rack at Albertsons and specifically to a book for young adults about the children of Han and Leia. I was intrigued. And thus began my collection of a ridiculous number of Star Wars books.

And yet, I have fallen far from where I was going with this whole blog post in the first place. Being that it is opening weekend for the Star Trek movie, you may think you know where this is going, but, no indeed, you do not.

See folks, apparently I'm going to be working next week on the History Channel show UFO Hunters. Not even joking. It's going to be awesome, and I think that the 6th grade geek in me is going to come out with a vengeance. I'll let you know how it goes...

Soccer

So I played soccer again today for the first time in about a year and a half or two... Pretty ridiculous. My skills are lagging, not to mention the fact that it always takes me about two or three games to re-learn to account for playing on turf instead of grass... Whoops! There goes the ball...

Yeah. At any rate though, I've determined that I really love playing soccer, and I wish that I played more often. More than that though, as Kamie and I were discussing on the way home from the game, I miss playing on a field with real grass, lines that are for soccer instead of football (welcome to the indoor practice facility at BYU), with nets that are actually stuck in the ground, and of course the little flags marking the corners--that really signifies that you have arrived... in terms of playing on a real soccer field.

Soccer rocks.