Green Valley Lake

Our four day retreat at Green Valley Lake was amazing!


Photo: In front of our cabin.


Photo: In our cabin!


Photo: Beautiful retreat.


Photo: Chapel


Photo: Zip lining!


Photo: Leap of Faith


Photo: We shop at Target.


Photo: Ladies


Photo: Awesome


Photo: First to try something new!


Photo: Gangster...


Photo: GANGSTER!


Photo: Rock climbing.


Photo: Tight rope walkin.


Photo: Last supper!


Photo: Sayin our goodbyes.


Photo: Big bear!

Dear Special

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a sentimental post. I can write about it because it's really funny... and i think it'll help me stop thinking about you.

Reasons why I can't be with you:
You're an elitist and that's always pissed me off.
You're still in college, therefore still have wild oats to sew.
You talk smack about UCR. Jerk.
You once asked me to make out with your friend. WTF?
You take really bad pictures that prompt us to call you "special".
I pushed you away, and I'm ashamed of that.

Reasons why I'd love to be with you:
I wanted you at first sight.
You would always wear my favorite shirt on you. For me.
You're smart, sweet, and dance really well for a white boy.
You wear cardigan sweaters.
You kiss the best. Hands down.
You wanted me, even when I wanted someone else.
You told me 'he doesn't know what he's missing'.
You held me.
You're younger, and in my book, that's hot.

Where we went wrong:
I picked him over you.
I tried to make you jealous. You tried to make me jealous.
Time began to run out, and we were finally just friends.
Then I realized you still liked me. I liked you back.
I didn't climb up to your bunk bed.
I didn't keep in touch. Now you're leaving.

Maybe in another life...

Torn

Perhaps it’s the buzz of a propeller, or squirm of a nervous novice that causes me to engage in nostalgia, but it’s during those moments when I sit perched upon a leather chair at the departure terminal, when I am reminded of my grandest adventures. The best and finest details of a memory come bellowing through my mind like the great ore of a tide that pulls me under, and continues to ring in my ears even after I’ve resurfaced.

But like all good things, all such journeys have an acute downside.

With worldly experiences comes the excitement of all things new, of all things untried. And as I experience more, know more, and conquer the tinges of fear that lurk within me, I only find that I know less about what I want to do next with my life. Yes, I’m on an amazing path to safety: great job, great potential at job, great lifestyle that accompanies great job. But with every new trip I make & every new culture I experience, I continue to unveil a spectrum of opportunities that make the ‘safe path’ pale in comparison. I become more aware of the various combinations of circumstance, and begin to list the opportunity costs of committing to a career so soon in life. And perhaps this is one of those subjects that I’ve completely over-thought; but with this relativity, I grow more and more ambivalent towards my career (even if I love my job as is). It’s that ripping sensation of love-hate and pros-cons. There is no longer an academic template to follow to make life infinitely easier. No mold, no default, no tangible or marketable item to tell me what needs to be done next. You’d think that the more I discover, the more questions I answer about myself (which is true in a sense); but conversely, the more I discover, the more questions I ask. And as contradictory as the two may seem, I’m almost certain that there’s a correlation between knowledge and confusion.

I will never desire to know less about the world in order to love and appreciate what I know now, because I will never cease to love what I’ve always known. And with every runway landing, I never expect to return to the intimacy of what was there before I left. I’ve learned that the world has so many facets that have allowed me to conclude that life is not one-dimensional. And if that means that I’ll have to answer a new question about myself every single day of my life ~ it’ll be more than worth it. It’s the frightening acuity of not knowing what next year will be like, that sharpens even the dullest of my senses.

Junior Achievement

One of the many benefits to working for a huge enterprise is the opportunity to partake in one of its many community outreach programs. In addition to being an active member of the mentoring program at SF, I’ve recently joined the ranks of Junior Achievement volunteers. I taught my very first JA class this morning and had A BLAST with the students.

I showed up for class equipped with Jolly Rancher lolly pops and company paraphernalia to bribe the kids into participating, but it wasn’t even needed! I had a class of extroverts who kept on referring to me as Ms. D! I had so much fun teaching the class about the nation’s economy, and making them repeat the term “sole proprietorship” approximately ten times in one hour.

Me: Does anyone know what optimistic means?
Student: It's the place where my mom gets her eyes checked.
Me: [jaw drops]

Japan

After nearly missing my flight to San Francisco, I sat on the plane and debated on whether I was going to run towards my connecting flight to Japan, or stay seated and fly to London with the small group of British folk that were headed in that direction (the plane was to continue to Heathrow). After being tempted towards the latter, I decided to forgo my desire to stow away in the lavatory, in order to move forward with my original plans to trek through Japan - and it’s a good thing that I did, because the trip was nothing short of amazing.

Note: there was a sexy, sexy, sexy older British man on the plane (maybe in his 40’s) who made me drool over the way he said “no worries” to an old lady who asked for his help. A small part of me wished that he’d continue on to Japan just so that I could hear his accent while he talked. But really, I’m not that lucky.

After finally making it onto my connecting flight, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that I was flying “west” to be in the “far east” and flying “backwards” into “tomorrow” - am I clever or what?

After a lengthy flight over the pacific - where I watched two movies & was seated next to the sweetest Taiwanese girl who insisted that I eat her extra box of raisins (I accepted, even if I despise raisins), I landed in Nagoya to find a certain ‘favorite Korean’ holding up a banner that read “Rowena, Welcome To Japan!” I commend her for not only making the sign, but enduring the stare of nosey Japanese kids while she waited for me to pass through customs.

Photo: Helen

Upon arrival, I was able to pick up a few out-of-American-norms that were evident around me:

• The J-Pop trains with pink handle bars.
• The masks worn by sick people.
• Pigeon-toed Japanese girls.
• You've got to squat to use the potty.
• Japanese youth are very vain.
• Girls carry oversized mirrors.
• Foreigners get stared at, ruthlessly.
• Truth in the Japanese school girl stereotype.
• Clean cities still smelled like ass.
• A man with a cassette walk-man (how ironic).
  

I’ll break down my trip by city (since some places overlapped in days).

Gifu
I had my very first traditional Japanese meal in Gifu, where I got to sit on the floor at one of Helen’s favorite eateries. I rode Hewey (Helen’s bike) to downtown Gifu, and she rode Mr. Squeeks (the bike she was riding during the infamous ‘got hit by a truck’ incident) - and that was probably the scariest part of my entire stay abroad. It was this restaurant where I was able to experience a handful of ‘firsts’. For example, my first meal at a restaurant with no shoes on, and my first heated toilet seat experience (thank God they had a ‘western’ style bathroom). There, I met a handful of her amity coworkers, and concluded a very tiresome and eventful first day in Japan.

Photo: Helen's Coworkers

Being that I’m an art buff, I was really lucky to have met Rhonda Andrews, a real & bonafied painter from Australia who was spending a year in Japan to teach English at the Amity center. This woman is amazing. Helen and I spent a day helping her set up an art exhibit in Gifu. What an experience! I noticed that her work was really deep - which is probably because she has a very, very deep soul. Who she is today is a product of where and what she has been through in life. She’s lived everywhere from a tent in the Sahara, to London, to Melbourne, etc. You name it, she’s seen it, and I am so impressed and moved by who this woman is.

Photo: Rhonda and Helen setting up the exhib.


Photo: Vessel of a Woman, Plum of a Man


Photo: My fave painting by Rhonda.

While having breakfast one day, she said, “We have things in our life that we can’t wait to experience. Everything that happens between one experience to the next is just a filler, and we’re lucky when those fillers are fun.”

That same day, I treated myself to a massage by Koki!

Photo: Koki the masseuse.

Nagoya (Sakae)
After purchasing tart, Helen took me to the one place she knew I’d be completely happy: Fortnum and Mason’s. What the heck? Japan can get an F&M, but America can’t? Needless to say, I was like a giddy 12-year-old Japanese school girl in love. And after spending hours touring the city, we grabbed our overstuffed backpacks and hopped onto the famous Shinkansen, bound for Tokyo.

Photo: Nagoya in the background.

Tokyo
We arrived at our ryokan just before the day’s end. The room was small and without a bed, but it was the cleanest “hostel” I’ve ever stayed at (that’s a byproduct of the entire culture being very clean to begin with – so I was probably the only one impressed). Sleeping on the floor wasn’t new to me, but was still quite an experience. We were to do the same thing again for several more nights to come.

Photo: Our ryokan (hostel)

We awoke in bursts of laughter on the first morning, as we both tried to ignore the banging and clanking of a small warehouse behind our window. After deciding that there was no way we were going to fall back asleep, I headed for the shower whilst Helen nearly threw down with a French tourist down the hall. We had breakfast on the floor downstairs, where I oo’d and aa’d over Irish/British/Australian accents projecting from the conversations of other worldly travelers. Then, while in the Indian-style position, I looked down at my crotch to find that my favorite pair of jeans (that have been with me everywhere) finally ripped in the wrong area. It was a sad (and funny) time.

We took a train to Akihabra to visit the electric city. While I concede that it was worth experiencing, the electric district didn’t impress me as much as I hoped it would. I wonder if that may have been a result of the fact that it was typhooning when we got there. I’ve never seen rain fall down so hard in my life.

Photo: Akihabra

We walked around a lot during our stay in Tokyo (which lasted a couple days). We visited a whole bunch of temples and tourist traps. We managed to visit the good luck temple (to aid in our desires for money and men), & our time there was hysterical. Neither Helen and I are Buddhist, so you can only imagine how utterly ridiculous we looked, as we mimicked the believers as they clapped their hands and threw money into a well. We noticed that everyone was taking tin cups and drinking water that spewed from the mouth of a dragon statue. Everyone before and after us did that bit successfully - but we, for some odd reason, could not get the dragon to spew water! We were tapping, hitting, and running our hands under its mouth in hopes to trigger some sort of sensor - but nothing. We decided to just scoop the water from the bottom and drink. Apparently, we were later told that they don’t really drink the water. They use the water to gargle and wash their hands. So the water we drank was a product of their spit and hand residue. Yummy.

Photo: The good luck temple!

In Tokyo, we also:

• Ate Japanese curry and chicken katsu, right before Helen was 'denied' by the tissue lady.
  
  
• Toured the Tokyo National Museum (my idea). There I learned that Asian history doesn’t fascinate me nearly as much as European history. It just doesn’t strike a similar cord (not to say that it wasn’t absolutely fabulous, because it totally was; but still).
  
  
• Went to Ueno Zoo (Helen’s idea). Where I insisted to sing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” while Helen screamed “Hyenas in the pride land!” whilst walking around the Lion exhibit. Oh man, we crack ourselves up.
  
  
• Experienced the Shibuya district (by Harajuku and Shinjuku). Where I witnessed more orange chickens than I thought I would, and was told by Helen to “shut up and never do that again” when I started to dance and sing Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku girls I love the way you are I am your biggest fan!”
  

Photo: One of Japan's many temples.

Photo: Another temple.

Photo: And another one.

Photo: Ueno Zoo

Photo: Shi-BOOYAH!

We forfeited our trip to Shizouka to spend our last day in Tokyo visiting [one of the] happiest places on earth (sorry Darnell). Helen wanted to go to celebrate her birthday, and I wanted to go because it’s my goal in life to visit all the Disneyland theme parks world-wide. We had the most amazing time that day, and I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much (and for so long). We’re really funny together if I must say so myself. We ended the evening with dinner at the Blue Bayou (Pirates of the Caribbean), with the scent of curried popcorn, and the taste of cinnamon churros. Together, we raised our churros into the air and smacked them together while screaming “cheers!” The cinnasugar exploded into the air (to our surprise) and covered our faces with its cinnamon sweetness - it was definitely the funniest moment of the entire day.

Photo: Pigeon-toed.

Photo: Screw Mickey, they love Stitch!

Photo: During the Stitch parade.

Photo: Back at the ryokan.
Look at how small our room was!

Yokohama
After having our final floor meal at the ryokan, we put on our backpacks and made the trek to Yokohama. I must say, of all the cities visited, Yokohama was my favorite. Never mind that our trip to Chinatown and the famous shopping district made me despise how crowded and rude Japan was; I still thought that the port city was aesthetically amazing. We visited the second biggest mall in Japan, as well as Cosmo Land, where I forced Helen to ride a roller coaster “non-Lovers style.”

Photo: Outside the ryokan.

Photo: Yokohama

Photo: Yokohama at night.

Photo: J-Pop train ride to...

Hamamatsu
We met up with Helen’s friend Anne (from UCLA) at the Hamamatsu train station. Anne was kind enough to let us crash at her place so that we could attend the famous kite festival the following day.

The festival itself was INSANE! The crowd was huge and we were almost hit a couple times by falling kites. The amount of kites in the air was unbelievable… you could barely see the sky.

This was also the place I experienced my first squatting porta-potty. And yes, it was just as gross as it sounds. For those unfamiliar with the culture, 90% of their “toilets” are built into the ground - so you have no choice but to squat. Gag.

It was overall an amazing experience. I got to put my feet into the Pacific Ocean and eat street food (mmm, cheese balls). We then spent hours watching the festival parade roll by. The parade was composed of a bunch of marching Japanese folk, who were grouped according to the town in which they lived. Each town wore robes accordingly, and had the most unique (and creepy) floats I’ve ever seen.

Photo: The boys.

Photo: Spence

Photo: Amity hostess' and hosts!

Photo: Rhonda

Photo: Insane!

Photo: Diane and Kenji. Yes, we are at Starbucks.

Photo: Scary town float.

Back to Gifu
I spent my last full day in Japan hanging out with Greg (a Japanese boy from San Francisco), while Helen returned to work. Later in the evening, Helen, Rhonda, and I had another very traditional floor meal at Tora, where we declined to eat [what we thought was] ‘turtle’ salad, and debated over the meaning of homeostasis:

Rhonda: Goose bumps and the way your hair wraps around your body to keep you warm is an example of homeostasis.
Helen: What? Doesn’t homeostasis have something to do with plants?
Rowena: That’s photosynthesis. Homeostasis is when your body makes up for things it’s lacking, like sweat to cool your body off.
Helen: Whatever.

We then continued our conversation onto more important things:

Rhonda: Facial hair is sexy on men.
Rowena: It sure is.
Helen: Facial hair is nasty. You’re trying to make out with a guy and his hair is rubbing on your face. His lunch could be in there!

And later that night, as Helen tried to self medicate her allergic reaction to the prawns we had for dinner:

Helen: High-stem-myne… OHHH Histamine! Shut up Rowena.
Rowena: Heeey, I didn’t even say anything!

Photo: Last night in Japan.

We ended my last night with a pint of Guinness, courtesy of Rhonda, at a bar with Irish and Australian men. There, I forced Rhonda to speak in an American accent - and man, she’s mastered the art of mixing surfer boy and cowboy together. I countered her performance with an Australian-British hybrid accent that made her laugh hysterically… looking back, her chuckle may not have been a good thing, lol.

Last morning in Japan...

I’ve never been great with goodbyes, so you can only imagine how hard it was for me to say farewell to Rhonda. Heck, I’ll probably never cross paths with her again (what a sore thought) since she’ll be moving back to Australia in two weeks.

Afterwards, Helen and I headed for Chubu – Central Japan Airport. Once I was checked in and ready to go, Helen and I bid our farewells. I can’t say it enough - how thankful I am for her hospitality during the entire trip. I’m glad to have known/met so many people during my stay there - and I’ve come to realize how valuable it is to know people who live in a place you want to visit, versus being a tourist and trying to do everything on your own. Twas overall, a very successful and well-paced trip. Definitely going down in history.

Photo: So sexy.

The most important thing to come from this trip is the realization that I am still a work in progress. I don’t have everything figured out - which kind of excites me. While I embrace the stability of my life to date, I’ve come to realize my willingness to forfeit physical attachments in order to do a bit more traveling. I have many important (and life changing) decisions to consider in the coming months, and I only pray that I make the best decisions - even if they’re not the easiest ones.