After Japan

Life has been absolutely crazy busy from the last couple weeks of my amazing time in Japan until now. Here is a quick rundown.

This is the best souvenir I came home with! jk Dawoine and I met in the gym on my third day in Japan. He's great! (That is an under statement). We decided to try the long distance thing. 6300 miles long distance. But, it has been so worth it!

I had AWESOME fam time once I was back from Japan! We went to the Southwest Washington fair together the day I returned. Then, Dad treated us to a weekend at the beach, though he was stuck in Alaska working. What a great man!

I moved back to the Moscow/Pullman area and started looking for jobs. I landed one as a personal trainer at Snap Fitness.

Above, is a picture of me with my best friend, Kate. She moved from Moscow in May with her husband, Paul. Paul is in the Air Force, so they get to move a lot.

My friend, Emily, graduated and stayed in the area as well. We have gone to several volleyball games and cheered the girls on as they earned a trip to Omaha for the NCAA Championships.

Nagasaki

Glover Garden

Glover Garden is a quaint Japanese garden nestled in the hillside overlooking the city. I saw the biggest coy I had ever seen!

In the distance is the harbor and the city of Nagasaki.

These are my absolutely favorite flowers! These flowers were so vibrant!

Sarie and I had a mock tea party on the deck of the Glover cottage.

This fountain was one of my favorites. 

Brennan and I look just like Glover :)

Just another scenic shot...

The garden had several ponds and waterfalls. 

Back in Town

This is a historically significant Catholic church. It has definitely stood the test of time.

The sweetest woman sold us this ice cream. It was vanilla rice milk ice cream and she made the cone in the shape of a rose. 

We found a little hole in the wall for lunch on our way to the atomic bomb museum. This was the best 500 yen meal of all time! It was rice with a bunch of random things in it like squid, chicken, lime green jelly things, some hot pink jelly things, veggies, and a pasty yellowish sauce. What a delicacy!

Peace Park

After visiting the atomic bomb museum, we went to the hypocenter of the bomb. This statue was there. To the right are hundreds of origami cranes, which symbolize peace.

This is a statue in the Peace Park. His left arm points to the bomb's hypocenter. The right hand points up to the sky and represents peace and tranquility. The Peace Park is filled with statues and monuments that remind us of the impact of the bomb and offer hope for harmony.

Kono michi Sasebo made ikimas ka (Is this the road to Sasebo?)

Sasebo, Japan

I cannot believe I have been in Japan for nearly 6 weeks. The time has just flown by! So far, it has been one of the most magnificent adventures of my life. I cannot say the experience has been completely wonderful. It has been an amazing, scary, confusing, lonely, exciting time but I would not change it for the world. Check out what I've been up to!!!

This is main base in Sasebo. I stay in an apartment type building and get to see this beautiful place on my walk to work (provided it's not raining). Otherwise I walk by but am dodging giant rain drops and miss the view. I'm a Northwest girl, but I've never ever seen rain like this before. July is the "rainy season" and it pours so hard a person gets absolutely drenched walking in it for just a few minutes, even with an umbrella. 

The flags go up every morning at 8 am. The United States National Anthem is played, followed by the Japanese National Anthem.

During orientation week we got the hook up and toured one of the Navy ships, the Essex.

 The first Japanese meal I had here... The menu was in Japanese, of course, so I pointed to a picture that looked good. It was not what I expected. The bowl of "stuff" is cold noodles with various veggies topped with a spice red sauce and a raw egg! 

Brennan and me at Mike's Tex Mex. Who would have thought you'd get great Mexican food in Japan?!  P.S. Brennan is my boss.

All eight Camp Adventure staff went on a tour of the 99 Islands. You get to ride a ship around the islands and take in the gorgeous scenery. The islands are just outside of Sasebo. We were told the walk there only takes about 20 minutes. It took about 45 minutes. We arrived just in time to quickly purchase tickets for the very last tour of the day!

Thanks to the torrential rain storms, the landscape is tropical jungle meets meets mountainous forest. There were a million jelly fish swimming.

Brennan, Sarie, and I have become close friends. We do a lot of things together! It's been great girl time! :)

I have no idea which of the 99 islands this is, but it reminded me of the lagoon on Peter Pan. 

I doubt Tom Hanks would have been complaining about being castaway on this island! 

This was our ship, the Pearl Queen!

Climbing the Tara Mountains

Sarie, Brennan, and I were feeling pretty adventurous. So, to fulfill that hunger for a challenge, we signed up for a level 4 hike with the Outdoor Recreation Center. We hiked with about a dozen other American people in the beautiful Tara Mountains. The trail we took led to the highest peak in the Nagasaki prefecture. It was a Mt. Fuji training hike, so we were prepared for a tough day. We filled our backpacks with snacks and water and headed out! Brennan and Sarie thought it necessary to casually stretch, just for the camera :)

Dan, our guide, warned us of wild boars and killer bees. Apparently, there are 2" bees that feed on honey bees. Their sting is toxic. The real problem is that they travel is groups and can sting over and over again. Brennan, Sarie, and I were after an adventure...

This was after a couple hours of hiking. We finally made it to 103! I have no clue what the significance was of 103, but we made it!

At last, we made it to the top! The lookout was amazing! The group stopped for lunch. Our bus driver brought pineapple for everybody.

We tried to stay at the front of the pack because we were loving the faster pace. Sarie (front), Brennan (middle), and I started posing for pictures while the rest of the group was catching up. A few people were carrying packs because they were training for Fuji.

I'm no horticulturist, but I do believe this might possibly be bamboo.

The climb down was almost as hard as climbing up. There were parts where we had to hold ropes and rocks were sliding from under our feet. 

Tired from 6 hours of hiking, I was just relieved we were almost finished! I met a guy who lived in Pullman for 3 months, which was interesting to find all the way over here in Japan. Fortunately, we never saw a wild, man-eating boar or any killer bees! But, I did acquire a hiking bug and am planning on climbing Fuji after camp is over!

Good-Bye (for now) Palouse...Hello Real World

WSU Graduation

On May 9th, I graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. Mom, Dad, Davey and Kevin made the 6+ hour drive to hang with me for the weekend. We had breakfast at Tim and Carrie's before the ceremony. (Their family goes to the same church I attend in Pullman. She leads my Bible study as well.)

Davey and Jamison quickly became friends! Jaime is Tim and Carrie's son (second of five kids).

The boys were obviously thrilled to be in Pullman for the weekend...packing up my apartment and waiting for me to get ready every time we went out.

I got a little nervous before the big ceremony. Mom captured all the best moments...

Here we are, trekking through campus to Beasley Coliseum for graduation.

About 500 students graduated at the 11:30 ceremony.

The boys were happy when it was over. But, it only took about 2 hours.

Yay! I'm graduated! And, of course, I wore my finest workout clothes under my gown. It only makes sense. I was a Kinesiology major. :)

Davey and Kevin got to go to their first ever college baseball game. The Cougs played the Oregon Ducks. Davey and Kev posed with Butch.

We saw a herd of elk in Packwood on the drive home. (See Facebook for the crazy video Mom and I made.)

It's hard to believe I'm already finished with college. It was absolutely wonderful having Mom, Dad and the boys in Pullman for the weekend. I'm blessed to have such a supportive family.

But, some exciting things are in the future! I'm leaving for Sasebo, Japan on June 5th. I get to be a camp counselor for military kids on a U.S. Navy base. After that 10 week stint, the job hunt is on! Please keep me in your prayers while I take on these new adventures!

She must have it all together...

To all of you who were looking forward to a detailed account of the month without makeup, I apologize that it never came. I have journal entries abound, but while trying to finish up my degree at WSU, I just haven't found the time to put the truly life changing experience into words to share with you. 

In essence, it was an amazing time of self-discovery and character development. It was an opportunity to redirect my mind from my appearance and onto other things, to put it lightly. Today, I have the freedom to wear makeup or not. And it ain't no thang!

I want to share where my heart is right now and the things that seemed to come up since the no makeup challenge. I have been reading a thought provoking book, "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" The following was something I wrote following a great time with my nose buried in this book.

“If we could somehow understand that there are no suffering exemptions for the living, maybe we would not give our minds over to such depths of worry and fear…There is no such thing as an insulated life. Even the woman that you think has it all together and seems to have every material blessing walks the same path you do—one fraught with twists and turns of heartache where she can be ambushed by the bully of suffering.”

The above was written by Angela Thomas in her book “Do You Think I’m Beautiful?” in which she invites every woman to peer into the most secret places of her heart and acknowledge she is dearly loved by the One who created her and calls her beautiful.

When I read this yesterday, I was awkwardly reminded and slightly ashamed of my own tendency to judge. By judgment, I do not necessarily imply a negative connotation of any sort. Rather, it is more of a general opinion based on first impression. Quite regularly I may see a person and, from superficial characteristics, automatically assume she has it all together.

I was awakened to the idea that beneath some Crest-whitened smiles is a suffering soul, wilting more with each lonely day. I was reminded that the prettiest faces and most fashion forward figures might only be a disguise to conceal a wounded spirit and starving heart.

To truly live is to experience the joys and blessings, the pains and sufferings. Whether we appear as if we have it all together or as if we were thrown under the bus, life hits hard. Today, take a moment to look past the surface, peer into the secret places.

 

 

 

 

No Makeup Challenge Week 1

February 2, 2009

Day 1

Today is my first day of the no makeup challenge. (For info on the challenge, see truecampaign.org). I rolled my eyes at the thought of not wearing makeup for an entire month. Subsequently, I skipped February 1. But, over the past few days, I have not been able to get it off my mind. “Be radical, step out, and tackle this challenge.”

My friends are extraordinarily supportive, but I feel like they do not really see a point of depriving myself of makeup. Actually, I don’t really understand why I want to do this either. At least it’s only for the month of February and this journey/torture will be over in 28 days. It could be worse and go for a whole 31 days! (Such an optimist!)

 

February 3, 2009

Day 2

If I were not so strong willed, I would quit this challenge right now. What have I got myself into? I have some serious mixed emotions. Something is tugging at my heart, so I know I need to do this. But, I don’t want to go to school today. I don’t want anyone to see me. What will people think? I am honestly worried that people will think that I look incomplete without makeup and that I need to go even out my skin tone and highlight my eyes. Ok, they probably will not think those exact words, but what if people notice?

 

February 8, 2009

Day 7

The month without makeup challenge has surprised me. Not like, “Surprise, you look great without makeup!” It’s deeper than that, not what I expected. I am surprised at how easy it has become. I don’t feel challenged to not wear makeup. I’ve actually enjoyed it! (Today I like it; I didn’t like it the other day when I felt gross.)

I have been free to be me. Cliché? Yes. But, it’s true. When I took off the Maybelline mask, a cascade of heart issues were enabled to surface. This past week, I have acknowledged my insecurities and self-consciousness, but also recognized an unfamiliar facet of Kelsey. I’m sure it’s been there this whole time, but I have been too focused on outward “stuff” to ever give it the time of day.

I am quirky, a little nerdy, fascinated by the human body. I am organized and scheduled. I cry often and laugh even more. I am ultra feminine, a girly girl some might say. And that is ok!

All in all, I have come to the conclusion and truly believe that a person is so much more than his or her outer self. (Although not to be disassociated.) I’m sure some of you have realized and owned this truth before me, and I commend you for doing so.

I am free to be me…free to read a book instead of go out, free to cry while watching a chick flick by myself, free to let out and embrace my girly giggle, free to love being a woman.

Who would have thought the first week of a month without makeup would not really be about the makeup?!

A Month Without Makeup

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I dedicated the month of February as “A Month Without Makeup.” Initially, when I heard that Constance from the True Campaign and Finding Balance was doing this, I thought it was absolutely crazy. She asked for others to join her, but that was definitely NOT going to be me!

But something about a month without makeup struck a heartstring and I could not get my mind off of it. I knew God was asking me to break out of my comfort barricade (not a shell) and just do it!

To be quite honest, the first day was pure, unadulterated torture. I would not consider myself a girl that can never leave the house without makeup, because sometimes I’m at school with sweats, a ball cap, and a tube of Blistex. I was just overwhelmed with the daunting thought of 27 more days without the glistening bronzers and other complimenting colors. I’m not going to lie, I really do love makeup.

I set my mind on making it through this month. After the first day, the excitement and my stubborn determination beat out the doubt and self-consciousness. On campus, I coincidently only saw other girls with the best makeup. I think other women will relate on the whole comparison thing (not that it is acceptable). I kept telling myself that there were more pros to not wearing makeup.

1.     I can get ready for school 15-20 minutes quicker.

2.     When I wake up in the morning, I do not have raccoon eyes from leftover mascara.

3.     I am actually saving money. Cosmetics are expensive.

But, the most wonderful blessing from dedicating a month without makeup has been the way God has revealed himself to me. He has show

n me that His word is real and alive. Psalm 45:11 says, “The king is enthralled by your beauty.” The Lord has engraved this truth into my heart. I have found a confidence in Him that I never knew before. As stated in 1 Peter, my beauty should not come from outward adornment, but from a gentle and quiet spirit. I have learned that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).

Though I am somewhat eager for the end of February because I want to try out the new makeup I ordered, A Month Without Makeup has been a truly wonderful time of self-reflection and growth.

Me and Cassie at the WSU women's basketball game vs OSU

Life at WSU

With graduation in sight, emotions are stirring. Actually, "stirring" does no justice to the excitement, thrill, nervousness, and anxiety that has been provoked. Although I am eagerly looking forward to the day I walk across the stage and receive a folder that looks like my diploma (knowing it isn't actually the real thing and that I have to wait for it to come via snail mail), I have started realizing how much I will miss the Palouse. This wheat covered, wind blown, snow stricken, desolate piece of land has captured my heart, -12 degree days and all. 

It is not really the freezing, yet charming geographic setting that I have learned to love so dearly. It is the people. I have been blessed with so many friendships. From a second family away from home, to girlfriends who I can laugh with for hours, to my fourth set of grandparents, to my care group with Real Life (my church), to professors who genuinely care about the progress of their students, to my roommate, and on and on. Pullman/Moscow is my home. I love it here! 

Ok, enough mushy stuff. This is what's next in my life...

• I will be spending the summer (June 6-August 23) in Sasebo, Japan. I am involved with Camp Adventure, a program contracted with the U.S. military. I get to help lead a summer camp for 6-12 year olds whose parent(s) are deployed. Amazing, right?! 
• When I get back, my sister, Kristen, and I are going to spend a week camping in Yellowstone for her 21st birthday. Pretty untraditional 21 run! We're camping and hanging out. Can't wait! I hope I see a bear. 
• And after that...I have no idea! I'll keep you updated though :)

Brittany, Me, and Emily hanging out at one of many girls' nights.