Being able to travel is amazing and being able to visit
family is even more so, but when you get the chance to do both at the same
time, it is just priceless. Ever since I knew that I was going to be studying
abroad in Asia, I really wanted to come over to Japan to visit my cousins who
just moved there for deployment. We had talked
about me coming over for Christmas, but then I ended up going over to Hong Kong
and they started their own family traditions with their new little six months
old.
January 12
So when I arrived at the airport, customs and immigration was
a breeze because I had only one bag and was traveling by myself. I kept talking to my cousin via Viber so we
were able to meet up outside of customs no problem. When I got out, the first
thing that I see if my cousin, her husband, and tiny little reindeer! Hannah (my
cousin) had put her daughter in a cute little reindeer hat because of the
weather outside. Truthfully I was a
little nervous being around Emma who was almost 6 months because I was not
really sure how she would react around me. Truthfully I was afraid that she would
not like me and start crying as soon as I took her into my arms. So I mostly just
let Hannah and Chris take care of her until Hannah put her in my arms as we
were heading out to the car after we had gotten lunch. And man was lunch
amazing!
Chris took us to a ramen place near the base and I died. Japanese ramen is so different from the ramen
that I have had back in the states and even here in Korea. The broth was so
rich with beef flavor and the noodles were so fresh and tasty. I had gotten the
vegetable ramen that had green onions, Chinese chives, and whole roasted garlic
on top. I really wanted to just change into a bathing suit, dive in, and bask
in the warm, steamy goodness. But I had to settle for just eating it, and eat I
did. This was a huge bowl, here in Korea it would be a portion for two, but I
ate almost all of it by myself. I really wanted to eat all of it, but for the
sake of my bursting stomach and my skinny leggings, I refrained from eating the
last few bites and then slurping down the broth like a dehydrated camel.
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| The Deliciousness that was my lunch |
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| Oh~~~ I know you want some! |
But Emma took my mind away from my ramen dregs. Hannah had
put her in my arms and she instantly started to giggle and smile. She was just
wiggling and playing with my hair. Hannah has hair a little past her shoulder
that she usually keeps pulled back into a pony tail, so my loose mid-back lengthed
hair was a real treat for Emma to play with. It was from that moment that I did
not want to put her down the whole trip! After lunch we drove to the Base, got
my visitor’s pass, and then went back to the house.
Once settled in, Hannah and I went to the commissary to get
groceries/stock up before the Japanese holiday the next day.
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| Heaven, heaven, heaven~ |
I was able to get
cheese flavored Cheetos!! Y’all don’t understand, this is a huge thing for me. The
Cheetos here in Korea are just not the same; they are bbq and garden veggie
flavored and are really just the crunchy corn chip with seasoning salt on
them!!! So having real Cheetos and only paying $2.50, not the $8.00 that I would
have to pay for the imported cheese Cheetos here in Korea!! We also got my
second love, Velveeta shells and cheese!!
That night we had pretzel crusted fried pork chops with
brussel sprouts, the mac and cheese, and red wine. Since Emma was already down
for the night, all three of us watched the Heat and then called it a night.
January 13
Chris had to wake up early to go to work, so it was just
Hannah, Emma, and me for the day. We went to the Base’s MOPS meeting in the
morning where I got to play with Emma for the whole meeting!!! After the meeting we went back home and put
down Emma for a nap and then just hung out until later in the afternoon when we
went to the mall in the nearby town and walked around there and then went to
the Japanese grocery store in the basement. It was so fun just wandering around
and seeing what all they were selling and what flavors there were. I even saw a
few things that we have here in Korea on the shelves for sale as well. And they had a Daiso (aka my fav store here
in Korea), which it pretty obvious in hindsight, because it is a Japanese chain
( I was told by Kaitlyn when I got back from my trip).
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| That is sake with my hand for a size comparison |
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| grilled, cut up squid anyone? |
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| Radishes that were as big as Emma~ |
January 14
We woke up early again, well normal time for the Greens,
early for me. Yea, if it is before 9, then it is a little too early for me (aka
the sleepy, nocturnal college student). But this time it was because we were going
to go to the Great Buddha, The Kazakerra!!
We met up with Hannah’s downstairs neighbor and best friend and her two
girls and we headed off to the Buddha. It took a little over and hour and a
half to get there because we had to take the trains and transfer a few times.
That is the cool thing about Japan, there are no subways (that I saw), but
rather above ground trains. I guess this was why it took longer to get there,
but I loved that I was able to look out the windows and see all the scenery that
was going by.
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| Walking to the Trains. Loving the blue sky! *This is not altered at all!!* |
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| Probably my favorite picture form the whole trip. Was really honored to be able to get this perfectly timed picture of this beautiful women in her traditional clothing! |
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| They have vending machine canned soups. Korea you need to get on top of this!! |
We had lunch right outside of the train station at the town
where the Buddha is located. It was a really cute Hawaiian themed restaurant and
super delicious. One thing that I noticed about the Japanese is that they
really like anything that deals with Hawaii.
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| My salad!! The first one that I have had in a long time and man, it was so good~~~ |
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| Spam sushi? |
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| It was all on a bed of rice and utter perfection~ |
On the way home, we got ice cream. Now I got the green tea and
vanilla swirl which it the specialty of
the area. And I swear on the glass that is sitting next to me that it was the
best ice cream that I had ever had. I
really want some now….
January 15
This was our “lazy” day in my visit. Hannah, Emma, and I
just stayed at the house for most of day because Emma had not been taking her
daily naps like normal, probably because I was there and we were traveling a
lot. So Hannah and I decided to let her sleep and we could do some stuff around
the house. Hannah cleaned and I was working on enhancing my photos and
journaling in my personal journal. That afternoon, Hannah took me to the bigger
mall that is near their house where we got lunch and then walked around. We got lunch at an "American Burger" chain. I ended up ordering the blue cheese burger because I have been craving something other than chedder /mozzerella adn it jsut sounded really good!
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| The Glorious Blue Cheese Burger. Was good, but kind of wanted more of the blues cheese. |
After lunch, we walked around and window shopped until we came to a Gap. I
bought a thick sweater, because for some reason here in Seoul I can only find
thin fashion sweaters that look nice but don’t really keep a person warm in the
frozen artic that I live in called Korea in the winter. I was also able to pick
up two tanks that were on sale to replace the ones that I brought because the
other two were 1) not fitting (too big) and 2) were starting to look a little dingy
because of all the wear that I have been putting them through.We got back to the house in time to give Emma her bath,
which I might say was the best thing ever. She really likes the water and
splashes like there is no tomorrow!
January 16
After completely stuffing ourselves with lunch, we went back
on base where I was able to stock up on American food to bring back to Seoul
(not everything was able to make it over here, but I got a few goodies).
Later in the afternoon, we (Hannah, Emma, and I) went out to
find a park that was designed to look like clouds so we could take some cool
pictures, but we ended up getting turned around and a little lost. But never
fear, because we made an adventure out of it and got to see some really pretty
houses and the surrounding neighborhood that Hannah had not seen before. After
failing to find the park, we went back to the mall so that Hannah cold stop in
Daiso and pick up a few things. We even got a free balloon animal for Emma!
January 17
All of us (Chris, Hannah, Emma, and I) woke up early to make
the drive to the airport to make my 12:00pm flight back to Seoul. The car ride
was really fun because I got to hear about their lives now that they are
parents and living in a different country and what they were thinking of in terms
of future plans and such. Plus I was
sitting in the back with Emma so we were able to play when she was not
sleeping.
When we got to the airport Chris had to stay out in the car
with Emma so I said my goodbyes to the out in the parking lot. Hannah stayed
with me all the way to the security gate. We had a slightly tearful goodbye and
promised that we would keep in touch. I
really am going to miss them and really hope that they come visit me while I am
over here in Korea!
