Apr 042014
 

Back in Tokyo and brought rain with me….WHAT?!

So, I had the morning to myself and managed to actually do some work. I know, shocking! πŸ˜‰ After a couple of hours of that, I went for a visit to the drugstore. Oh my gosh have I missed them?! I can spend so much time there wandering the aisles looking at what is possible. However, I must admit that going all natural and organic sort of takes away some of the joy….

Despite the rain, I did stop to enjoy the cherry blossoms, briefly.

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03-Apr-2014 10:23, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 32
 

In the afternoon, I meet up with J and we did some shopping after a lovely lunch. We went to pick up E at school and hit the grocery store. I saw these amazingly humongo breads!

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03-Apr-2014 16:56, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 50
 
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03-Apr-2014 16:56, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 40
 

Dinner was oden, which I haven’t had in ages, so it was all delish! Followed up by a gab session over a bottle of wine. Ahhhh, life is goood. πŸ˜€

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03-Apr-2014 19:34, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.059 sec, ISO 320
 
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03-Apr-2014 19:35, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.059 sec, ISO 320
 

-T πŸ˜€

Apr 032014
 

As part of my Japan visit, I decided to take the short two-hour flight over to Seoul to see my long-time adoptee friend, K. The last time I met up with her or had been to Korea was just before I moved to Abu Dhabi; thus it had been just over five years.

As always, we picked right up where we left off and reminisced on days of old when we were young campers at Holt Adoption Camp. It is amazing to think that we have been friends for almost thirty years!!!

I also did a bit of shopping and got to eat my favorite snack/treat of Hottok. I remembered eating them the first time I went to Korea in the middle of freezing winter. It was the one thing that gave me great joy at the end of the work day walking back to our hotel in the cold. πŸ˜‰

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01-Apr-2014 11:59, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 32
 
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01-Apr-2014 11:59, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 32
 
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01-Apr-2014 15:03, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.4, 2.15mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 50
 

When I first went to Korea in 2002(?), I stayed in the Insadong area, which is where I returned to do some shopping. One of the cool things about Insadong is the Starbucks sign. Back then I was a bit obsessed with Starbucks and loved the fact that this sign was in Korean since there had been some struggle regarding the fact it was in Korean. Apparently, Insadong wanted to preserve it’s traditional feel, but also have the draw of the coffee shop for all the tourists that come through. At the time, (maybe still?) it was the only Starbucks to not have its name in English.

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01-Apr-2014 15:10, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 32
 

The rest of my trip consisted of a whole lot of eating and drinking!

 
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01-Apr-2014 12:31, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.059 sec, ISO 320
 
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01-Apr-2014 19:31, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 320
 
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02-Apr-2014 12:47, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
 

A big thanks to K and J for their hosting!

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01-Apr-2014 19:39, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 640
 

-T πŸ˜€

Mar 312014
 

Today was a day of relaxation and eating! πŸ˜€

The morning kicked off with some Ethan-time looking at his programs created using Scratch – game software. It looked pretty cool.

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30-Mar-2014 08:40, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125
 

After relaxing and actually doing some work, we headed out to lunch – ramen!!

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30-Mar-2014 12:20, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.03 sec, ISO 64
 

It was delish!

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30-Mar-2014 12:37, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.03 sec, ISO 80
 

Then, J and I ventured into Tokyo for our massage and relaxation. It was a beautiful place that completely put me out! Afterwards, we did some shopping in the Ginza area and then headed back toward ‘home’ for dinner with the gents. I hit a second favorite of my Japanese food list – tonkatsu & kaki-fry (oyster fry)! YUM!

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30-Mar-2014 19:48, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.03 sec, ISO 64
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30-Mar-2014 19:49, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.03 sec, ISO 125
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30-Mar-2014 20:07, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
 

All in all, it was a wonderful day and even the rainy weather couldn’t spoil my mood. Tomorrow, I’m off to Seoul!

-T πŸ˜€

Mar 302014
 

Spring break has begun! Without wasting any time, I was on a plane to Japan to catch up with my BFF. πŸ˜‰

P joined me for the flight over as she is on her own tour of Japan and we had the first night to hang out. J had everything prepared for me to relax and settle in before we whirled out to Roppongi for dinner and some night-time cherry blossom viewing.

Pre departure at AD airport
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Pre departure at AD airport27-Mar-2014 20:31, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.4, 2.15mm, 0.042 sec, ISO 400
 
Arrived!!
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Arrived!!
 
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28-Mar-2014 21:39, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2500
 

Yesterday, we had a mini Willamette/TIUA reunion BBQ, which was a lot of fun. We hadn’t seen each other in years!

WUReunion_Springbreak2014

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What's wrong with this picture?29-Mar-2014 17:39, Apple iPhone 5s, 2.2, 4.12mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 32
 

Although it’s been a busy two days; it has been like being ‘home’ again. My heart is full!

-T πŸ˜€

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