tokyo

I recently returned from a three week trip to Shanghai to visit Drew. A lot happened in those three weeks, and I'll slowly tell you about them. What was perhaps most surprising to me is that I did not miss coffee at all during those three weeks. I am a two, sometimes, three, cup a day coffee drinker and I start every morning with it. Plus, I'm one of those weirdos who actually likes the taste of coffee, so I drink it for more than the caffeine. I'm not a coffee snob per se, but I do love me a good cup of it, so maybe that's why it was easy for me to give it up during those three weeks--I knew the chances of finding a good cup were slim, and if I found one, it would probably easily cost 5 or 6 bucks (I was right).

Anyway, let me tell you about my trip. It got off to a fantastic start in LA, where I was upgraded to first class on my flight to Tokyo. Obviously, I've never flown first class before, so I could hardly contain my excitement.  The gate agent was very nonchalant when issuing my new boarding pass, appearing not to register my enthusiasm and huge grin, and I wanted to say "Do you have any idea how completely awesome this is???" So anyway, indeed, it was awesome. I loved the extra space, the real pillows and blankets, and best of all, that my seat reclined and then turned into a bed. The free upgrade totally made up for the 2 or 3 hour delay out of Los Angeles.

My trip started with a 20 (well 17 or 18) hour layover in Tokyo. I arrived around midnight, hailed a cab, and checked into a hotel, no small feat considering I do not speak or read any Japanese, which you probably know, because if you're reading my blog, you already know this about me. 

The next morning, I took a walk around my hotel, in search of breakfast. My memory is foggy, as this happened about a month ago, but what I first recall is that even though there were lots of cars on the street and lots of people walking around, it was unbelievably quiet, almost eerily quiet (I later learned that it was also not customary to talk on the subway). The other thing I recall is that people actually wait in lines here, do not pass each other on the stairs or escalators, and do not hurry and push and shove. Obviously, I spent a very short period of time in Tokyo and I'm comparing this to my short periods of time spent in Beijing and Shanghai, so I am no expert, but these were my initial observations. Oh, and that you drive and walk on the "wrong" side of the street, which took some getting using to. When I cross the street at home, I look left first and then right, but in Tokyo, I had to remember to look right first and then the whole thing was so confusing to me that I just kept looking right and left as I crossed the street, no doubt looking strange and as though I were observing a non-existent tennis match.   

Later that morning, my friend, who is in Tokyo for a post-doc, met me at my hotel and played tour guide. It was great to see him, and we did some catching up while he showed me some of the highlights. We started with a trip to the Ueno district, walking through Tokyo's version of Central Park.  

I think we then left the park and walked to the subway or metro station, or whatever they call it there. I guess I liked the view:

Next, we went to this big street market. I think it was your usual shopping and whatnot, but I remember eating a garlic rice cracker and seeing a lot of seafood. 

My one request was to eat sushi and so we did. We went to a conveyor belt sushi place, which in the US, is crappy, inferior sushi, but not so in Japan. 

One of the things that's really fun about eating in other countries is that you get to see how some cuisines get Americanized. I was struck by the dearth of sushi rolls; the sushi was primarily nigiri sushi, whereas it's the opposite here. And don't give me grief; I HAD to try a California roll in Tokyo. It would be wrong not to. All I remember is that it had a lot of mayonnaise but that it was better than the California rolls in, uh, California. 

We ended the day in Ginza, which I guess is a shopping district and a rich area of Tokyo. It felt like Newport Beach. 

I learned that people in Tokyo are really into Christmas. Decorations go up and Christmas music starts around October. Without the Thanksgiving buffer, my friend said, Christmas starts pretty early and gets old fast. I reassured him that even with the Thanksgiving buffer, this is what it's like in Orange County now (it's been a few years since he lived there).  

 After my quick jaunt, I headed back to the airport to catch my flight to Shanghai.

New York, New York

I've been slacking on the blogging the past few months (or year is probably more precise), but I have some good reasons.  You may not know this, but I've struggled with neck and shoulder pain pretty much throughout all of grad school due to the amount of time I spend on my laptop and my non-ergonomically correct work space.  In an attempt not to make things worse, I try to stay off my laptop as much as possible when I'm at home, which is when I would blog.  In an effort to alleviate the pain, I (along with my friend and officemate) converted my office desk into a standing desk using cinderblocks.  Standing while I work has done wonders for my productivity; I'm certainly not going to waste time on the internet if I'm standing up (not that blogging is wasting time, but you know what I mean).  And finally, Drew and I got a tablet about a month ago, which has also done wonders for my productivity.  Now I associate my laptop with work and the tablet with leisure stuff, like reading blogs and searching for recipes.  What does this have to do with blogging?  Well, I'm certainly not going to tap out a blog post on the tablet.  

A couple weeks ago, Drew and I went to New York to visit his family and attend his niece's wedding.  It was my first time meeting his dad's side of the family and his remaining siblings.  The week was a whirlwind, but a good one.  I ate a lot, paying a visit to the family's favorite bakery just a mile down the street nearly every day.

Drew's family lives in Long Island, but we had to pay a couple visits to the city.  On the day we went to Brooklyn and Queens to see where Drew's parents grew up, we ended the day with Coney Island.        

Of course, Drew and I couldn't not ride the Cylcone, a wooden roller coaster which I believe might be among the oldest in the United States.

  

On another day, Drew and I went in to the city to visit my old stomping grounds.  During the 2001-2002 school year, I thought I wanted to be a photographer and so I enrolled in the School of Visual Arts.  Below, the Flatiron building, which was just a few blocks from where I lived.

Frank's pizza was on the corner below my dorm, and even thought I ate there only a couple times, I was glad to still see it there.  Whenever I walked home, the smells of pizza were simply intoxicating.   

 I lived here, the George Washington (G-Dub for short), on the third floor. 

 SVA's main building.

Pick-A-Bagel was just a couple blocks away, and I probably ate there about once a week.  Usually I would eat an egg and cheese sandwich on an everything bagel.  This was before I drank coffee, so I ate it with a Snapple.  Sometimes I'd mix it up and get an everything bagel with cream cheese, but that was rare (and not really much of a change I realize).  Pick-A-Bagel was my first experience with Black and White cookies, a New York institution.  My friend, who came to visit a couple times, even made up a song about Pick-A-Bagel with one of his friends.  It went something like "Pick a bagel, any bagel.  All the colors, of the rainbow."

Even though Drew and I had just split a slice of cheese pizza from Frank's only minutes before, I dragged him into Pick-A-Bagel for- you guessed it- egg and cheese on an everything bagel.  And coffee instead of Snapple.  

 

After splitting pizza and a bagel sandwich, we had to walk it off.  We headed in the direction of the Empire State Building.

We hopped on the subway and headed to Brooklyn, where I worked in an art gallery.  The Rotunda Gallery was a small gallery in Brooklyn Heights, the first stop in Brooklyn.  I had a lot of fun working in the gallery, and I learned a lot.  We had a quick look around, and as everything we'd done, it brought back a lot of good memories.  We walked around the neighborhood and then to the Brooklyn promenade, which has a great view of Manhattan's skyline.

 And a pretty good view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The next trip to the city, we went with Chris, Drew's brother.  We went to the 2nd Ave Deli for lunch, which was supposed to be one of the best places to get a pastrami sandwich, a New York specialty.  It did not disappoint. 

Next, we went to Times Square. 

And then to the Marriott.  My friends and I used to go to Times Square just to walk around and have a look about once a week or once every other week.  (this is a bit strange to me now, as Times Square doesn't really change so much that you need to check it out once a week, but it was free and we liked to walk around, so that was probably a big appeal)  Anyway, one of the things we'd do is go to the Marriott and ride the elevator to the top (it's 48 floors, and we were able to get to the 45th) and then look over the edge of the balcony.   

So naturally, I dragged Drew and Chris to the top.  They were good sports.  We went up to the 48th floor to the lounge and had a drink.  The lounge rotates, and it boasts some nice views of the city. 

 

We ended the day with a Yankees game, and Drew's other siblings joined us.  It was a great game, and the  ball park was really nice, naturally.

On our last day in the city, Drew and I headed out to Central Park and walked around.

And then we headed home!

Milwaukee

I went home in the middle of August, spending about a week in Minnesota before heading to Milwaukee for a family reunion.  I expected to go home to heat and humidity, but it was actually breezy and a bit chilly.  I had a good time seeing my family and reuniting with friends at home.  It was also interesting to see how much Rochester has grown since I'd last been home (which actually wasn't too long ago).  I relished the slower pace, fewer cars on the road, and the Minnesota nice.  Everywhere I drove, I could not help marveling the lack of traffic and lack of road rage.  After six years in Southern California, the heavy traffic, gridlock, parking difficulties, and impatient drivers has clearly taken its toll on me.     

After spending a week at home, my parents and I drove to Milwaukee (Drew flew in and met us there).  We were in Milwaukee for only a few days, but the days were jam packed.  On our first day, we went to a Brewers game.  The Brewers won, thanks to a grand slam hit in the 8th inning (I think it was the 8th).   

The next day was dedicated to the family reunion, which took place in a beautiful park.  It was a lot of fun, and the fun continued at our hotel where everyone was staying.  It was great meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces.  

On our final full day, we headed into downtown Milwaukee to explore the area before heading to the Irish Festival. 

I don't have pictures from the Irish Fest, but there was a lot of green, a lot of beer, and lots of Irish dancers.

turkey trot!

Drew and I headed down to Oceanside for Thanksgiving where we indulged in running and eating way too much stuffing. Or maybe it was me, not Drew, who ate too much stuffing.

This is my 6th Thanksgiving, and I recently realized that I probably don't have many more to celebrate in Oceanside. I will eventually graduate and move out of Southern California. Hopefully. But I will no doubt miss spending Thanksgiving with the Oceanside family. It's always a riot. It's loud and everyone is talking, sometimes above one another. The only time people aren't talking is about the first 10 seconds after we've served our food and start eating. It's a lot of fun. Meals are always served family style, and sometimes there are so many people that the dinner table extends into the entryway (like it did for my first Thanksgiving there). Instead of passing around dishes of food, you pass around your plate.

Our Thanksgiving began with the Turkey Trot. When I began running a little over 2 months ago, I was run/walking miles at a 15 minute pace. My only goal was to run the entire Turkey Trot, no matter how slow. Drew and I ran the entire 3.1 miles together, separating only to dodge walkers. The race was very flat and went pretty well. The last stretch was along the ocean, and people came out of their beach houses to cheer us on. There was a girl playing her violin and a group of guys blasting music. My cousin Mike was there to greet us at the finish line.

Near the finish line, Drew graciously slowed down to take my picture crossing the finish line.
My official time was 31:15, or about a 10 minute mile. Drew finished one second later. Here is the 'after' picture:

The rest of the day was dedicated to relaxing, football, wii, and pecan pie.

minneapolis!

A couple weeks ago, prior to purchasing plane tickets to visit Minnesota, temperatures there were in the single digits or even below zero. It was sunny and in the 70s and 80s here. Yet for some reason, we still elected to trade this:

for this:

And it was totally worth it! We started off our adventure in Minneapolis with a quick trip to Minnehaha Falls. As you can see, it was frozen, but it was still a nice sight to see. It is normally quite lovely to walk around the park, and you can even walk down to the falls, but understandably impossible to do so in the winter.

Later that evening, I took Drew to one of my favorite places: the Big 10. The place is known for its toasted subs, and it did not disappoint. I was also really excited to see cheese curds on the menu, and they tasted just like the ones at the MN State Fair. During my first year at the U, I lived a couple blocks from the Big 10 and I used to stop by all the time and get a sub to go. Later, when I moved off campus, I would stop in with friends for happy hour and to watch Twins games. And, when we didn't feel like stopping in, my roommate and I would call for delivery.

I lived in Centennial Hall, on the East Bank. Centennial was one of four dorms in the superblock (Territorial, Pioneer, and Frontier). This is where I met my future roommates, whom I lived with when we moved out of the dorms and off campus.

After dinner and a visit to my former dorm, we went to check out TCF Stadium, home of the Golden Gophers. I couldn't see much, but it looked cool. Sadly, the Twins and the Gophers both got new stadiums soon after I moved to California. And it looks like the Vikings might follow suit too.

The next day, Drew and I went to visit the old house that I lived in with 2 other roommates. We affectionately dubbed it "the Pink Pad." It was the first place I lived in that wasn't my parents' house and wasn't a dorm. It was within walking distance of the U, but far enough away so it felt like we were truly living off campus.

Between graduating from the U and entering grad school, I took a year and a half off to work and just hang out. Everyday, I walked to work at 6:30 in the morning. It was really quiet and peaceful, and one of my favorite memories is walking to work right after it snowed the previous night. There was nothing better than being outside when everyone was still sleeping, walking through the freshly fallen snow.

A trip to the U would not be complete without a jaunt around Dinkytown, named for the "dinkys," or the rail cars and trolleys prevalent in the area back in the day. Drew always lets out a chuckle whenever I talk about Dinkytown, so I had to finally take him there.

Dinkytown is one of the many neighborhoods surrounding the U. It contains quite a few shops, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants. One of the most well known is Annie's Parlour. Annie's is famous for its milkshakes, and rightly so. They are thick and creamy, and big enough to share- but you won't want to. We decided to be sensible and share the hot fudge milkshake.

Other shots of Dinkytown:

We didn't really walk around campus (too cold for that, so we'll save that for another trip), but we saw a little bit.

It was really pretty with all the snow.

We also stopped by the Metrodome, which was looking a bit deflated because the snow fell through the roof. I snapped a few pictures because I realized that it might be the last time I see it.

Later that night we went ice skating at the Depot, which was a former train station. We hadn't been skating in years, but somewhere we managed to stay on our feet. The Depot was a nice, big, beautiful place to skate. And it serves up mini donuts!

It began to snow on the walk back to our hotel. And it was lovely and beautiful.

I don't have any photos, but we did make our way to the Mall of America. (a trip to the cities would be incomplete without it) We went to the Mall of America on the same day that we toured Target Field and the same day that we stopped by the Metrodome. This is appropriate, if you think about it. The Twins now play at Target Field, and before that, they played at the Metrodome. Before the Metrodome, they played at Metropolitan Stadium, which was where the Mall of America now stands.

We wrapped up our trip to Minnesota with some visits to see both sides of my family. On Christmas Eve, we met my grandparents, an aunt, uncle, and cousins for lunch. I hadn't seen them in quite some time, and they had never met Drew. We had a great time catching up and it was good to see everyone. Later that day, we went to a Christmas Eve get together with my mom's side of the family. Drew had met many of them at a family reunion last summer, but he got to meet many of my cousins and my grandma.

I'm happy to say that Drew survived his first trip to Minnesota in the winter. He made many jokes about the cold and snow, but he was a good sport. I leave you with one of my favorite jokes (or rather, the one I can remember): Upon seeing a sign for Mound, MN, Drew says "What is that a mound of? A mound of snow?" Har har. Okay, maybe you had to be there.