O Canada!

Last weekend, my good friend Joseph came up for a visit.

Side note: I've totally lucked out. 

In the past 4 months I've seen 3 of 

my teaching buddies from Taiwan.

Seriously, how cool is that???

You remember Joseph, right? The one that I went with to the amazing waterfall near Taiping? Yeah, that's the one. Well, he came up last Friday for a visit. And it was soooo good to see him.

{Me and Mr. Joseph. Taken from the picnic area of the BC Temple. Trying to hold onto our Taiwan style.}

 Saturday, we took a little trip up to the Vancouver Temple open house with my ward (which is pretty much the best ward in the world). It was absolutely beautiful!

{The crew: Me, Diane, Jackie, Matt, Sam, Lyndsi, Aaren and Derek}

The temple tour was amazing, and I can't wait to get back to do an actual session!
And then...we went to China Town!!!

{Me and Lynds at the gates}

  

And what did I see?

A wonderful park dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, the father of the ROC.

Complete with Chinglish.

It made my day!

I was on the hunt for a dong gwa neo nai, or for pineapple cakes, but none were to be found. But, Diane, Matt and Jackie found some delicious mochi at one of the bakeries:

And I was super excited when I came across this little bank:

You're wondering why, huh? Well, I recognized a Chinese character!!! The character next to the red design thingy is Feng, as in Feng Yuan! So all those months in Taiwan did pay off! :)

Here's to Vancouver, BC in all it's loveliness. I wouldn't mind retiring there one day!

Aren't Volcanos Cool?

I know there are probably some people out there that would disagree with me--especially those living and/or stranded in Europe--but I have to say that they amaze. I was talking to my co-workers today and saw this video (see below) on the volcano that just erupted in Iceland, and I decided that if I hadn't majored in Humanities, Earth Science would have been my alternative.


As much as I'd love to see an erupting volcano in person (umm, not at all--way to scary), I do hope to one day see the lava fields on the Big Island. How awesome would that be?

I guess in the meantime I have to be satisfied with this active (what? I thought it was dormant) volcano:

And this one:

Hody, hody, doprovody...

...Dejte vejce malovaný.
Nedáte-li, malovaný,

Dejte aspoň bílý,

Slepička Vám snese jiný.

(Give me a painted egg.

If you don't give me a painted egg

At least give me a white one,

The hen will give you another.)

Every Monday after Easter,  I always think back to my time in the Czech Republic as a missionary. On that day, my mission companion and I got permission to stay indoors most of the day. Why, you ask?

Well, on this day tradition has it that all the menfolk go around and whip the womenfolk with their pomlázky (whips made out of braided pussy-willow branches). The willow branches are supposed to bring youth and health to all that are whipped with them. In return, the women give these beautifully painted eggs to the men. Go figure!

 Back in the day, the whipping was more of a light swat, but in later years the guys have become more brutal. I remember looking out our living room window while I was studying Czech and watching this hoard of teenage boys hounding a couple of teenage girls. Their pomlázky were at least four feet long!

I didn't have time to dig out my pictures from that day, but we had a friend and fellow ward member stop by to give us our Easter whippings. It was hilarious!

One of my other most favorite things in the Czech Republic were the holiday markets. For Vanoce (Christmas) and Velikonoce (Easter), huge outdoor markets could be found in the town náměstí (plaza). I've seen nothing like them before, nor since! At the Velikonoce market I bought at least a dozen of the above eggs, and a pomlázka of my very own--the tricky part was figuring out how to get them home after my mission.

What fond memories!

Here's to the Česká Republika and all their amazing traditions!

And here's to all my amazing Czech friends and their hospitality!

Easter...

I've been thinking a lot lately about the different incidents that have been happening all over the world, from the wars and natural disasters happening in far off lands to intolerance and hatred occurring in our own country. These are the last days that the prophets having been foretelling for centuries.

 I feel like there are so many people out there that are bitter and without hope. Some question if  there is a God. Others go as far to ridicule those who do believe in a higher being.

I am so grateful for the faith and knowledge that I have. I know that there is a God, and that He is our loving Heavenly Father. He sent his son, Jesus the Christ, to earth to suffer and die for our sins, and for every trial, inadequacy, or sorrow we have ever felt. He did this because He loves us.

I'm grateful for my Savior's suffering and for His ressurection. It is through His love, humility, and sacrifice that we are able to return and live with our Heavenly Father some day.

I love Easter! I love that on this holy day we celebrate that He lives!

And, oh, how I love Him!

Hanami anyone?

 {Cherry Blossoms in DC. Spring 2009}

Yes, please!

Hanami is a centuries old Japanese custom of admiring the beautiful sakura, or cherry blossoms.  Even though hanamis were originally for viewing the cherry blossoms, nowadays people seem to go to hanami parties for the food and sake.

Since the cherry trees have been blossoming for a couple of months (at least it feels like it), a friend of mine decided to have a hanami party. Unfortunately it was a typical Seattle evening full of wind and rain, so we weren't really able to see cherry blossoms. Despite the weather, the evening ended up being fabulous.


Mary had gone to Uwajimaya, the famous Asian grocery store that's provided Seattle Asian goods since1928 (pretty cool, huh?) and bought a ton of cool Japanese treats. I felt like I was in Taiwan again with all the Pocky and Hello Pandas.

We also learned how to roll our own sushi (hoorah!) and watched a very cute Japanese flick called Linda, Linda, Linda. Even though Linda, Linda, Linda wasn't Death Note, it was still very good.

Here are some more pictures of the evening:

Despite what it may look like, there was no sake involved. Girl Scout's honor. We were pretty excited to try out Ramune, though. It tasted like candy in liquid form. Enough sugar to hype anyone up for a week. 

{Me, Matt, and my sushi roll (not in that particular order). It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.}

 

{The whole crew chillin' like villains.}

Here's to the Japanese and their 

fabulous custom of

Hanami!

I have a feeling...

 {It's Spring in February!}

Not that tonight's gonna be a good night, as the Black Eye'd Peas sing, but that this year is going to be THE  year.

Having turned the grand number of 27 on the 27th of February, this is my birthday year. What that entails, I'm not entirely sure, but as my friend Connie has told me, it is destined to be full of  luck.

I can handle that. 


And great things have already happened. I'm living in a beautiful part of the country, winter has been spring, I have awesome friends, two dear friends are now married, and I've landed my dream job which I'll be starting the beginning of May. I don't think it can get much better than that, but you know, if it does, I won't complain.

Here's to birthday years, especially this one!

Is it summer?

Or is it just me?

Today it hit a remarkable 72 degrees. Quite unheard of for this town that is known for gray skies, and miserable rain all winter and spring long.

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the sweet smell of flowers is permeating the air. I definitely had an extra bounce in my step on my walk home from the bus stop.

With the coming of warmer weather, I couldn't listen to the same ol' tunes. Funny how that happens. Does anyone else have different songs or playlists that they listen too for the different seasons? Well I sure do. Today it was a random mixture of Lady Gaga, Blonde Redhead, The Bird and the Bee, Passion Pit and The Temper Trap.

What are you listening too?