Always a Gator

I was lucky enough this month to return to a place that is always near and dear to my heart: my college town, Gainesville. I've visited two times since graduation, but those were for my sister and brother's own graduations, and there really wasn't very much time to meander around. This was my first opportunity then, to slowly wander around the campus on a nostalgic trip.

It's difficult to believe that it's been 20 (?!!!?) years since I've roamed this campus as a freshman. So much has changed, yet so much has remained the same. As I looked around at the bright eyed youth around me, I felt myself hoping that they will treasure this time in their lives. It just goes by so quickly!

One of my favorite haunts, the Reitz Union game room, was sadly closed for repairs, but I did manage to grab some shots of very familiar places. Walking into the nearly-empty football stadium was amazing and astounding, and I could only lament that football season hasn't begun yet.

My freshman dorm, East Hall

View of the stadium. The building on the left is new (to me), and houses
all of our prestigious trophies.

Three Heisman trophies, three amazing football players. From left:
Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Tim Tebow.

And three National Championship trophies on display! 

Close-up of one of the national championship
trophies (sorry for the inevitable glare).

I've never seen the stadium empty! But to my delight, it was open for
visitors. There were a few people milling around, as well as a few
groups of kids there for Preview, but it still felt crazy empty.

BLUE! ORANGE! BLUE! ORANGE! As a student, we were always
relegated to the sunnier (hotter) orange side of the stadium.

Proud Gator on duty

Century Tower, in the heart of campus.

The strange potato is still standing, in front of Turlington. 

French fries!! I'm glad the campus hasn't taken this
old structure down.

One of the business buildings I had lots of classes in.

No matter how far I roam, no matter how many countries I travel to,
this mantra always holds true. :)

Experiencing Hong Kong, through food

Whenever I land in Hong Kong, there's always a special feeling of coming home for me.

For the majority of this visit, I stayed at an airbnb apartment in Mongkok. I chose the place mainly due to its relatively reasonable price, and I figured it would be pretty accessible to public transportation. Also, I am originally a Mongkok girl, this neighborhood being the one I lived in for the first 5 years of my life. My choice was a great one, as I was literally steps from countless food options.

Fa Yuen street. I stayed in the building on the left corner.
There are dozens of food options in these few blocks,
along with lots of shopping.

For a month, I spent time with relatives, walked around the busy streets, and basically ate enough to gain over 5 pounds. Warning: upcoming pictures may induce feelings of hunger. Writer of this blog is not responsible for any keyboards broken due to reader salivation. :P

My uncle and his family took me to have an all-seafood meal. It was very
very amazing. First up, was large shrimp wok-fried in soy sauce.

Scallops in their shell, steamed with lots of garlic.

Lobster, served with noodles on the bottom. All the lovely lobster gravy
dripped onto the noodles and made them super delicious.

Salt-pepper fried mantis shrimp.

Fresh abalone. It was surprisingly tender and sweet.

Besides fancy meals, I also got to sample a variety of food available from street vendors.

Hot and sour potato starch noodles. This was an
intensely flavored bowl of noodles!

The meal of my dreams! A big bao, filled with pork and vegetables ($6 HKD),
a skewer of curry fish balls along with rice crepes ($8 HKD), and a mango
ice ($14 HKD)... it's perfect!

Braised beef brisket with turnip. 

Staying on Fa Yuen street had another perk: there were lots of fresh fruit stands on the street, all offering a wide array of fruit usually for less money than the supermarket. Being in Hong Kong during the hot and humid late Spring has its benefits: the fruit selection was amazing!

I had some of the best lychee I've ever had during this
trip. This particular strain (糯米糍) is known for its
small seed. This resulted in an unusually large, juicy,
and sweet mouthful of fruit.

My first experience with mangosteen! This fruit has a really unique
flavor, not really like any other fruit. It is sweet, with a faint tanginess, and
an interesting floral finish that you taste more with the nose than the mouth.

Look at these tiny cute mangoes! 

Additional food...

Classic Hakka dish, braised pork belly with preserved
mustard greens (梅菜扣肉). The pork was suuuper
rich and fatty, but the greasiness was cut by the tangy
greens.

Cantonese style fast food: baked pork chop served over rice, and a red
bean ice. 

An extremely large and fulfilling breakfast at a local
Mongkok 茶餐廳. The HK style milk tea is unique and
utterly delicious. I miss it already!

I dream about this dish a lot when I'm not in Hong Kong or New York...
thick rice noodles stir fried with black bean gravy. 

Before leaving, I had to have one last meal at an airport restaurant. I
decided on Shanghai xiaolongbao, and a cold jellyfish appetizer.

Ironically, Hong Kong girls are some of the skinniest women I've ever seen. With all this food, how do they do it??? Such a mystery!

Bali,Indonesia

Well this is a delayed update; my trip to Bali was nearly a month ago. But it is frustratingly slow to update via tablet, and my computer access has been spotty. Let's get some pictures up before I forget about this trip altogether!

When I booked this trip, I was still in the middle of teaching my toddler class. As a result, sandy beaches and lazy days sounded really appealing. I went without any grand plans, and got a super relaxing vacation as a result.

my bright sunny hotel room with a king sized bed. So big, I didn't know
what to do with it!

The view from upstairs into the breakfast/pool area. It was a small
hotel, but still very comfortable.

The hotel was located near the beach, just a 5 minute walk away. This was a quieter part of Bali, so it was mostly families playing and relaxing on it. There were umbrellas and chairs available for rental, but since I've never been a huge fan of laying out, I would just stroll down the length of the beach during the less warm parts of the day.

Not the nicest beach I've ever been to, but still pretty!

Local fishing boats were displayed on various parts of the beach.
So colorful and pretty!

More fishing boats. Don't they kind of look like crabs, or spiders?

Besides strolling on the beach, I went to different spas and got massages. Lots of massages. They were an incredible deal! My favorite spot cost only about $8 USD an hour. I indulged and ended up getting one every day.

And of course, there was the food. I was unfortunately recovering from a bad stomach, so I warily decided to skip the street food. But even then, in the local warungs, I got to sample some pretty delicious food for usually under $10 USD a meal. I also drank tons of fresh juice smoothies; they were really cheap at around $1 or $2 a glass!

Vegetable satay kabobs with a pineapple mint smoothie

Chicken satay this time, with a tomato salad and pineapple juice

Indonedian style fried rice, and fresh strawberry smoothie

This picture is really dark, but this was my favorite dish in Bali. It's a
whole red snapper, wrapped in banana leaf and grilled. The fish is cooked
in a spicy, fresh lemongrass-based sauce. It was delicious!

My favorite drink in Bali! It's an orange mango juice drink,
which doesn't sound like a great combo, but it was yummy!
And plus, it's called 'Pulpy O'Mango'!

The Denpasar Airport was surprisingly pretty and new too.

Pretty!

On my way to and from Bali, I had a long layover at Singapore's Changi Airport. It is often voted as the best airport in the world, and it's easy to see why. There are tons of things to do there, many of them for free! There are multiple movie theaters, gaming stations (both console AND PC!!!!), free foot massage machines, and gardens. I really wanted to go see the butterfly garden, but it was located in another terminal so I didn't have enough time.

An outdoor sunflower garden! At the airport!

I don't think I've seen this many sunflowers at once before

An overhead view of one of the airport's indoor
orchid gardens

Kinda neat to see so many kinds of orchids, right next
to airport terminal signs!

This was a super relaxing trip and very enjoyable. And thus rejuvenated, I returned to Hong Kong for a busier schedule and lots of eating!

Farewell Japan

I have spent fifteen months in Japan, and it all went by so quickly. It has been a learning experience living in a foreign country, and I am glad I had the opportunity to do so.

Japan is an amazing country. Their outlook is so profoundly different from America, and in some ways really nice. The hallmark of America is independence, and the basic unit of structure is the individual. To give up either would be unthinkable, and in many ways, fueled America's great economic and financial growth. On the other side of the coin, however, all this individualism makes for a very selfish society where everyone is just looking out for themselves (and their immediate family).

Japan is the opposite. This country runs on the notion that everyone will naturally do the right thing for the community as a whole. It has been refreshing to live in a place where residents will automatically act in a way that everyone's lives easier. Everything (and everyone!) is punctual, customer service is patient and accommodating, and people are nice to each other. It's also unbelievably safe here; I have left grocery items in my bicycle basket while I went into another store to get some things. No one steals! It's crazy!

Gratuitous beautiful Japanese scenery... Himeji Castle

I will, of course, miss all the food in Japan. Local cuisine is just so inexpensive, and of good quality.

Katsu-don, a fried pork chop and eggs, served over rice.

There is ramen under those veggies. 

Conveyor belt sushi joints have been a staple of mine this year, but so has
cheap supermarket sushi, which starts going on sale around 6pm. And
oh, say hello to my new little friend, Totoro! He will be joining me on my
travels the next few months.

Japanese good is heavily seasonal; this cold udon dish is only available
during the late spring/summer months.

And don't even get me STARTED on the miracle that is the 100 yen store. It seems impossible that they can offer so many useful items for such a low price. Take a look at one of my latest hauls, all for the grand total of 756 yen ($6.30 US).

Let's see, there is a screen protector for my tablet, a pair of socks, a pair
of earbuds, a canvas tote, an inflatable travel pillow, a mini-USB to
USB cord, and a neoprene sleeve for my tablet. So much stuff!

My deepest memory of Japan though, will be the children that I taught for a year. I didn't quite expect it, but they found their way into my heart, and I will miss them for a very long time. I unfortunately can't post any of their pictures here, but suffice it to say that they are all beautiful and funny and smart.

I don't know when I will return to this country. But I am grateful for the time here, and will be sad as I depart.