Last night the “E” key on my laptop’s keyboard kept getting stuck. I panicked a little bit then decided to do a search on google (which is what I always do to find whatever information) on how keys work on a keyboard and how to fix them. Luckily, many people have had this issue and the solution was simple. I popped the actual plastic key off with a little bit of force (the mac forums said “don’t be afraid to use some muscle”) and low and behold :

picture taken from google --my key wasn't quite as dirty.

I had a tiny piece of something stuck under the plastic pieces that you see there, which was not allowing the key to press down all the way unless I pressed it at a certain angle. I fished it out, snapped the key back on and now I can type 5 Es and actually get 5 Es, not 2.

ONTO THE FOOD!

I had this for lunch one day….15 dumplings, gone in 10 minutes…maybe less actually.

Delicious dumplings--with green onion soy sauce

So, yesterday we finished up our last day of work, and we decided to reward ourselves with a good meal, since we had been basically been eating 5 dollar lunches and dinners because we were so tired. I’ve been a little sick lately, and towards the end of this meal I couldn’t really breathe through my nostrils but because the food was so well prepared, I could still taste it. We had the beef and lamb for the meats, and they had a whole shebang of assorted vegetables and goodies (cabbage, golden mushrooms–the skinny kind, kabocha, winter melon, shrimp, fish cake, corn, tomato) and we ordered an assorted seafood side plate.

There were so many dishes that I couldn't get them all into one shot

Assorted seafood plate and fruit salad starter

We also got dessert & tea! Red bean soup

Have you ever seen gray and white ice cream before? Mimi's sesame & vanilla swirled froyo. I forgot to take a picture before she started eating, so this was the best we could do.

So, because I’m in Taiwan right now, my sister is leaving for Taiwan on my dad’s birthday (1/31) and my brother is in Davis, we had my dad’s birthday celebration via webcam (me) and cell phone (Phillip) and sang him his birthday song and watched him blow his candles out on his cake. Man, that was so fun. I took some screenshots so you could re-live it with me.

The cake that my sister bought

ooh yummy chocolate sign

My dad accidentally broke the heart ...and chuckled "uh oh, broken heart" hahah

牛肉麵 － beef noodle soup and small vegetable plates

Let's say "Christine FAILED" --look at the two empty bowls and then look at hers

Duck noodle soup, wonton soup, and bbq pork lo mien

Yup, all gone as well. Thumbs up

Mimi and I had dumplings for lunch today. We had 20 dumplings and two cups of soybean drink for 130NT, which equals about 5 dollars. How absolutely ridiculous is that.

I was also able to see my grandparents and my aunt from my dad’s side for the first time in 5 years I was so happy to see them and get to talk to them. My aunt and my grandma met me after work and we had Japanese food in the SOGO close to where I was working. Then we headed home where my grandpa was waiting All in all a great night, except that I think that I’m getting sick…..traveling may be getting to me, but definitely won’t be slowing down my eating that’s for sure.

Maybe I’ll feel less guilty about gaining weight if i just say that my goal is to gain 10 lbs in two weeks. Then, when it actually happens, I can say SUCCESS!

taiwanese breakfast -- delicious ---and cost less than 8 dollars to feed 3 of us

Sorry Mindy! Don’t kill me!

The aftermath

Don’t get me wrong, we REALLY worked this trip. It just so happened that the weather was nice.

how can you not enjoy the beach when it's like this?

buildings on the beach

beautiful day

lamb kabob and falafels

Those Israelis are serious about their salads. I could definitely be a vegetarian.

Rainbow building

gelato

beach walk

clean graffiti

lunch on the water

israeli coke

delicious oysters -- after one round, we had another

salad of onions and carp (I think it's carp...)

old tel aviv

more old tel aviv

recycling in tel aviv

Raziel and Yefet street

don't these remind you of the small Korean dishes you get at restaurants?

falafel

so juicy

For my sister!

waterbulletstothebrain.tumblr.com

and I promise to post Israel pictures soon! They’re all uploaded, just have to find time to put them up!

I was watching a documentary featuring champion snowboarder Shaun White, and after a trip of his to Rwanda, he said “Even though the people here are so poor, they’re so happy. It makes me think about all of the things that we take for granted.” and for myself, it made me look back on what it means to be happy, and what makes me happy, because honestly, a steady paycheck may bring stability and security, yet feeling stagnant and not in control of my time, has made me feel very lost and unhappy.

Despite understanding my own feelings, I’ve grown to realize that the hardest thing to do is to create your own change and walk away from a job whose paycheck most people would jump for, in an attempt to build something more meaningful and geared towards both professional and personal growth.

In another sense, the lack of structure and management leadership at my job has taught me things about how NOT to manage people that work for you, and how to speak up and not stay silent. In another way, it also has made gender inequality in the workplace very apparent and all of the power dynamic discrepancies that I used to read about in textbooks come to life day-in and day-out. How long is a person supposed to try to make things better, only to realize that it will take longer than than they are willing to give it, even if the paycheck is good.

How do people find a balance between speaking up to create change, and leaving things alone to preserve sanity and let things work themselves out.

I always come back to this quote:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

It’s always been the stereotype that in order to be  a “good minority woman” you shouldn’t create conflict, you should do your work and understand that you speaking up about a matter will only label you as a trouble seeker and thus worsen your chances of succeeding in the workplace. Honestly, this happens more often than we all think, and quite often I find myself wanting to shut-up and deal with things in this matter as well, but something in me yanks me and tells me that I know better and I shouldn’t be afraid. It tells me that I should act for the sake of principle because very few will because they are afraid of repercussions, but I shouldn’t be afraid because it’s about something larger.

I thought back a little bit on my happier days, and I came up with these conclusions:

1) I am happiest on the basketball court coaching or playing with people that I care about.

2) I was happiest during my time doing Americorps where I felt like I was part of a community within a larger community, being a part of something.

Give me a few months. I’ll figure it out.