daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
I LOVE to go running while on vacation, even a short weekender like this one. This morning it was a beautiful beachside jog up the Pacific coast. 🌞🌴🏖
If you are also on Strava, why don’t we connect?
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today was a busy day for Mariko and me, plus a milestone for my son Bay. For him, it was the first time that he drove alone – he took my car to school and then back home at the end of the day. And happily, it was an uneventful trip. I am hoping this is the beginning of a long and safe driving career. 😆
The reason that Bay took my car today was that Mariko and I flew to California in order to attend my brother’s wedding this weekend. We actually flew to LAX, where my parents came to meet us, and then we all drove down to Oceanside together, where my brother and his fiancée rented a beach house for the weekend. We’ll be having the wedding here, on the sand, with dinner to follow. It’s gonna be a blast!
Earlier at the airport in Austin, Mariko and I splurged a bit on some wine and cheese at the Vino Volo wine bar. It was pretty good, but of course more expensive than normal being as though we were at the airport. Still, we enjoyed living the high-life for a little while before getting on the plane. Speaking of planes, we like Delta a lot these days. The Delta planes we’ve flown on the past few times have had a great entertainment system with plenty of Japanese and other international movies. I watched a little bit of a Chinese movie How Long Will I Love You but then decided to read my Kindle. I really enjoy flying (being on the plane) because I can concentrate on reading. I love it!
And when we arrived at the beach house in Oceanside, we had a little birthday celebration with cake and gifts. It was fun. 😊 (It’s 10/19!)
I hope you had a nice Friday!
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going? Today’s blog post will be a bit of a ramble, but hey, it’s my blog, so here goes.
I’ve been lucky so far that I have been able to travel for vacation, and also on rare occasion for work, and I now recognize certain distinct affinities I have for different places. For instance, when I traveled to Japan for the first time, I immediately felt like Japan was somewhere I wanted to live. So much so that I gave myself a deadline of 6 months before I moved there.
On the other hand, when I returned from trips to Morocco and Spain, I didn’t have that feeling at all. It was really fun to visit those places and experience a bit of the culture, but I never felt a deep connection. I’m sure it has to do with being Asian in a non-Asian country, although I haven’t thought too deeply about it yet. 🤔
The same can be said of my trips to Stockholm. I’ve visited twice and although I loved it there, felt safe and free, I was simply just a visitor. The thought of having a life there never crossed my mind. Nevermind the complications of having kids and a family… but even if I were single, I don’t think Europe would be on my list of places to live.
And how about my hometown of Torrance? I love visiting family there and am happy I grew up in Southern California, but I have no desire to live there. It’s just not interesting to me… and speaking about the USA, I’ve lived in Texas for almost 20 years now. Honestly, living in Austin never even occurred to me as a possibility before we moved here. It’s a wonderful place, and the people are so friendly and warm. But no, I have no real affection for, nor interest in, Texas and the moment we have the freedom to leave, I’ll be the first one on the plane. 😆
But back to places that I feel a real affinity for. Obviously, there’s Japan. Whenever I visit, I feel right at home, even though I can only understand maybe 25% of conversations. But I love it there. When I lived there I never considered leaving. It’s somewhere I want to live again. (My dream hasn’t died, haha)
Interestingly, I felt a similar feeling towards China when I visited there last month. After returning home, I felt that same blue feeling (could it be like homesickness?) that I felt after returning from Japan after my first visit there. That’s how I know I feel a real connection to a place – after returning, I have that melancholy feeling. It’s like I am living in a dream. 😌
Anyways, that’s pretty much what’s on my mind these past few days. Thinking about a connection to a sense of place I suppose. Although I live in Texas, I feel like it’s a temporary situation… just waiting to move on really. Someday. 🛫
I hope you had a nice day, and thanks for reading!
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Well, I’m back home. It has been a great trip but unfortunately, vacation’s over. As my friend told me, “Even banquets have to end”. 😢
The trip from California to Texas was actually quite good. I made it through security quickly, and while waiting at the gate, the Jetblue gate attendant asked me if I’d like to switch my seat to an “Even More Space” type if I was willing to be in the exit row. I agreed, and the gate attendant assigned me his favorite seat, which is special because the seat in front does not recline! It was so nice. Even though I have short legs, the extra space is welcome. 😀
To add to the “luxury”, I got to feast on a pastrami sandwich that my mom made for me. So good… 😋
It was nice to see my family again after over two weeks of being away. And the super-bonus was that I got to enjoy my favorite meal, oyakodon. ❤
I hope you had a great day!
またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today our China tour comes to an end, with our scheduled departure from Shanghai at 2pm. But that gives us the morning in the city! So, we start with breakfast at the hotel, which has a wonderful buffet. I have been eating small breakfasts of coffee, juk (rice porridge) with pickles, and maybe a dumpling or two. But today I “splurged” and had some beef noodle soup. It was delicious! 😋
Oh, by the way, the hotel has this display which shows the current air pollution level in the city, and the air quality inside the hotel. Pretty cool, but also kind of sad that it is needed. 😒 Speaking of the notorious air-quality in China, I don’t think it has been that bad. Perhaps it’s been due to the time of year (winter is supposed to be the worst for air pollution), but even though it is relatively good, blue skies were rare.
I still needed to do some shopping, so my brother and I headed to the nearby grocery store to stock up on goodies, including Japanese Kewpie in Chinese containers, some hotpot mix, spicy fish mix, durian candy, chocolate, noodle snacks, and curry. A pretty decent haul. I can’t wait to try the hotpot later. 🌶🔥😀
After saying goodbye to most of our tour group who were on an earlier flight, we waited for our own motor coach to take us to the airport. By the way, I’ve been to eight different airports during this trip: Austin, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Beijing, Xi’an, Chongqing, Wuhan, and Shanghai. 😮
The long flight was without incident and we arrived at my parents’ house in Torrance at around 5 pm the same day we left. Pretty cool traveling across the international date line from west to east!
For dinner, we decided to get Mexican food at a nearby restaurant that we hadn’t been to in a few years: Alfredo’s. The deluxe carnitas burrito I had really hit the spot! I’ll indulge in a huge meal before returning to my smaller portions again. 😁
I technically have one more day of vacation (a travel day) but since I’m no longer in China, I consider my trip over. Very sad… 😢
またね～
