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.

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!

Dan Panorama Hotel - Tel Aviv. View from my little balcony.

Friday is a weekend in Israel, and because the people we’re working with refuse to work on a weekend, we’re staying here longer.

I guess more time on the beach for us!

Finally made it back from Korea today–

I gave the Korean Air people my boarding pass before getting on the plane and the scanner beeped when they scanned my boarding pass. My first thought was “oh gosh, now what…” since usually any beeping indicates something wrong. They pulled me to the side and told me that they had changed my seat for the flight. I was disappointed for a moment because I had an aisle seat and I didn’t think that they could change me to anything better….that is UNTIL THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY UPGRADED ME TO A BUSINESS CLASS SEAT.

Oh man. I’m kind of mad because now I know what I’m missing out on by sitting in economy. It was kind of an awkward experience in business class at first because it felt like I was thrown into a completely unknown territory where I had to relearn where things were located (ie. buttons, levers, how the trays worked) and how things were essentially done (what things were served, how food was served). For example, they bring you appetizers and desserts and you have your pick of different types of wines and cocktails. I asked for wine, and before they pour you a glass, they pour you a tiny bit and you’re supposed to try it and give your approval before they give you more. I made sure to watch how other passengers did this before it was my turn. I was also very clearly the youngest person in business class, and I’m sure the way I was dressed definitely made me look out of place in my flannel, my jeans, and lace up vans. Plus, I was sitting in between two Korean businessmen that were clearly familiar with business class seating as they were already situated with their slippers on, blanket covering them, and lounged back watching a movie even before the plane left the gate.

I stole some pictures so you could see what the seats looked like.

The seats

pretty ridiculous --I think I could have actually stayed on that plane longer.

So, even though we (Christine and I ) just got back from Korea, there was no way we were going to miss seeing the Cirque du Soleil show, Ovo, in San Francisco with our coworkers and some friends (Thanks Amanda for getting the tickets and letting us know about it!). It was my very first Cirque show and it was pretty gosh darn good! Bugs! Look at how that logo looks like a praying mantis –haha or ovaries?

We had category 3 seats for the show which was actually a really good deal since all the seats in the tent are pretty much good seats.

I finally got to cross off another thing on my to-do list! Before we crossed the Bay Bridge, Christine reminded me that I wanted to pay for the car behind me before the year was over. So we wrote “Happy Holidays, pass it on!” on a slip of paper, pulled up to the toll booth and told the attendant that we were going to pay for the car behind us and to give them the slip of paper. We left the booth and watched the car behind us pull up to the booth and watched the attendant tell him that we had paid for his toll and give him the slip of paper. It took a little while for it all to process through the driver’s mind I think, but after they left the booth we could see the guy frantically waving thank you in his car to us, which was definitely brought warm and fuzzy feelings Mission well executed! High five Yow!

Swanky bed in my hotel room.

Remote controlled curtains! ahha

Za zang myun at the Incheon Airport