nee how? i don't know chinese...

Greetings from Taipei!

We arrived in Seoul a week & a half ago and had a great time-- Korea is super clean and technologically advanced. The food was really yummy... until we ate too much kimchi!

We are now in Taipei and just got back from a 2 day trip in Hua Lien. We went to Taroko gorge (beautiful!) & also went white water rafting. Sooooo, we thought Tiffany, Mark, and Kevin all knew Chinese pretty well... until we came to Taiwan. Kevin is our strongest speaker, but even he doesn't understand everything. The instructions for rafting were yelled out in Chinese, then we watched a video in Chinese, and then... given additional instructions in Chinese. We did not have a guide in our raft with us so Le & I had NO idea what we were supposed to do, and the Chinese speaking people only had a slight idea of what to do (when you hear a whistle blow, that means "be careful!"). Thank goodness none of us fell in the water (everyone else in our raft did though, one guy fell in twice!). Pfft, who needs Chinese? We got life skills-- when the water looks scary, just stop paddling & hold on tightly to rope in the middle of the raft! =)

Sadly, we only have 2 more days in Taipei before heading back to the States. We have a long layover in San Francisco so we are going to make a short excursion out of that as well!

Time to go drink my 1039304th $1 bubble tea drink & eat more green onion pies.

Love from Asia


Gyeongbok-gung palace-- Seoul


Bukhansan Mountain- Seoul


beef & rice-- we've had so many of these bowls in Taiwan, yum!

Asia, baby! nom nom

Woke up this morning and stumbled upon cheap tickets to Asia!

Asia trip 2011-- we're going to Taiwan via South Korea for 2.5 weeks right after the P4s' graduation. I'm sooo excited-- I'm going to be eating so much delicious food in less than one month. We will be in Seoul for 4 days (I think) then heading to our main destination-- Taipei! YAAAYYYY. I've been watching chinese dramas since I was a little girl and have always dreamed about going to Asia to eattttttt (I know, I'm a fatty) so this is definitely going to be A.W.E.S.O.M.E!


So excited. I'm only giving myself one day at home before going on my trip to DC/NYC with my parents, but it's going to be soooo worth it!!

sea turtles & more

Just got back from my vacation in Barbados! It was sooooo nice to just be able to chillax with the family (ya know, I have been sooo stressed in Europe & all, haha). The best part was the nice naps on the beach, naps on the boat, & naps on the bus!


hotel's beachfront


family on the island tour


along another beach on the island tour


before snorkeling


we're on a boat


sea turtles!! the reason I went to barbados!!! there were so many, but it was really hard to take pictures of them since I spent a lot of time trying to chase after them to touch them, lol


getting searched by the Barbados security people (only one in our group) bc I'm a shady girl


Can't believe I'm heading to Atx tomorrow already, but I'm sooo excited to go back. I bought a nice new "executive office chair" for my desk, I have maps/pictures to decorate my place, planning to buy some speakers... it will feel just like home, but better. School, what?? Psha. I'm planning to live it up this semester. Last semester of coursework before rotations!!!

Love,
Loc

what up H-town

Just got back from an amazing time in Houston. I stayed with Amelia for 2 days: we ate, ate, ate, went shopping, ate, ate, and ate some more! Everything was so delicious and I couldn't stop myself even though I was constantly full.

After a full day of eating (no joke) on Friday, I headed into central Houston to see my undergrad ladies from Southwestern. Apparently, after graduating from SU, everyone went to H-town! It was so fun to catch up with everyone and to go out with the ladies again. Saturday afternoon, after a delicious lunch, I convinced the girls to take me to Herman Park. It was such a beautiful day outside and Herman Park is quite beautiful. The best part of the day was all the able girls (Cody just got ACL surgery) decided to roll down the hill, which, apparently, is on the Texan bucket list!


walking up the hill- love this pic


before


prepping- I obviously didn't know what to do


rolling


LOL- somehow we piled onto one another after awhile!


we started to roll again, but not sure how Roshni is perpendicular to us!


posed picture so Cody can have a picture of her "rolling"


After a nice lunch with the ladies at Dena's house, I managed to leave Houston this afternoon and arrived in snowy Dallas just in time for dinner. After one load of laundry, lots of folding & crazy packing, I'm ready for Barbados. Sea turtles- here I cooooooome!


Love & peace,
Locktwo (add me on words with friends!)