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Starbucks

Day 2

Dec 19

    This morning we woke up early, excited for the adventure ahead although the weather was not that happy. We got dressed and headed straight to our first stop, Pike Place Market and yes we came back, for a more detailed discovery of the historic public market, and home to the world famous Starbucks, which is our first stop of the day.

    Everyone knows and love Starbucks, and here is where it all started, in Pike Place Market. It was early and there was already a long line in front of the original shop. We got in line and got our coffee and some Starbucks merchandise. I got a unique first Starbucks store cup which looks amazingly classic. Then, we wandered around Pike Place Market, visited all the unique little stores in the market. Our wandering came to a halt when we came across a hall with huge windows, that overlooked the magnificent view of the Elliott Bay waterfront and it was...BEAUTIFUL! We stood there for a couple minutes, appreciating the picturesque view.

    It was about 11 AM, we headed to our main course for the morning, Pike Place Chowder. The shop opened at 11 AM and we were shy of a couple of minutes but there was already a long line in front of the tiny restaurant. This restaurant is famous its New England clam chowder and yes, Seattle is situated on the Northwest. They have won the clam chowder competition several times, beating New England as the no.1 New England clam chowder in the United States. We queued up and got ourselves some chowders. The tiny restaurant is so tiny that the crowd basically overflowed the restaurant but luckily for us, we got our table. 

    I have never been to anywhere around New England area so I cannot say that I know chowder so this is going to be a very general description of my chowder experience. I had the special chowder instead of the regular New England clam. The “special” basically means that the ingredients are different every day, depends on the chef’s choice and on that day, the main ingredients were lobsters and crabs, therefore it was a little bit expensive. Nevertheless, it tastes phenomenal, the not-too-creamy stew with a blast of lobsters and crabs, it was just perfectly balanced, no wonder they won the national title for several consecutive years. 

    After a morning boost, we went exploring downtown Seattle once again, visited some boutique shops or coffee shops and did some shopping before settling ourselves in Seattle Public Library. It is a huge complex with interesting design elements. The shape is unique and according to a quick history course at the atrium, it has been modified a couple of times until the latest design. Inside, it is as well-designed as the outside, a lot of different sections, huge space, and a reading area, plenty of books and there is a bright yellow-green accent along the escalators and panels within the library, which is quite an interesting color scheme. The top floor is the reading hall, where you can really appreciate the design and the beauty of reading, and that is where we ended up with. We read for about three hours and I have to say although it does not sound exciting, it did feel fulfilling. After that, we went down to Pioneer Square, where the original Seattle located. It was quite a scene, old buildings with boutique shops, some being modified for modern outlook, but it is where history began and it is a beautiful place to be.

    Next, we went to a Japanese book shop called Kinokuniya around the Asian corner of the city, which I haven’t been in for a long time. Right next to that bookshop is an Asian market where they sell pretty much most of the Asian foods you can find in the United States. We did a quick shop and ready for dinner. we were very hungry by that time so we didn’t bother to find somewhere far instead we went to a Taiwanese restaurant right next to the Asian market. It was a soup theme dinner that we had and it’s pretty good but not that special. That night we went to a local restaurant bar called The Good Bar for a chill night. That night was a good night.

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Northwest

Day 1

Dec 18

    3.30 am, two of my friends and I hopped on to Omalink to the airport in Omaha. We embarked for Seattle, 6.30am flight. First flight wheels down Denver, the airport was covered in thick snow, must have a huge snow storm the day before. After a while, we hopped on our second flight, and on to Seattle. On the sky, I got a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, covered in snow, which is an incredible scene. The flight to the northwest was around two and a half hours, and on the way, the scene was...pretty much mountains.

    Around 10 am western time, we arrived at Seattle-Tacoma Airport and the weather is pretty cloudy (typical Seattle weather). Next, we took the train and later bus to the house we’re living for the next several days in Seattle. The house is situated on a hill, looking over downtown which sets an amazing view. The house is charming and cozy, we love it a lot. Plus, it’s near downtown, which makes it convenient.

    After setting our stuff down in the room, we decided to take a walk downtown. We started off at non-other than the iconic Pike Place Market. My first ever Pike Place experience was very exciting. I got a glimpse of fresh seafood, which is what I always crave for, and a lot of other different things being sold at the market. The market is iconic for its fish throwing tradition at one of the seafood vendors. Sadly, it was almost night time, and the vendors were closing, therefore we didn’t get to see the fish-throwing. After wandering around Pike Place for a while, we decided to get dinner. We went to a Japanese restaurant just a couple minutes walk from Pike place. The restaurant was phenomenal, you get fresh seafood from a couple blocks away every day, and the rich Japanese culture in Seattle just added the authenticity of its food, it was amazing. 

     After dinner, we wandered around downtown, went to shops, boutiques, walked around more before heading back to Pike Place Market, and call it a day. while waiting for our drive, we stopped by a local coffee shop and got our first coffee of the trip, Seattle-style coffee. The first day ended up perfectly.

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Go Huskers

Sep 10 2016

Another Saturday, another game in college football(American football), and it’s another Nebraska home game. I was fortunate enough to be given a ticket by Jonathan’s dad to the football game this morning’s Nebraska vs Wyoming game. This was my first game ever, like ever, football game, and it’s exciting from the moment I knew that I was able to go to the game.

It’s a morning game, at 11a.m., so we woke up early this morning, at about 8, getting prepared, I’m especially excited because it’s gonna be a very exciting and interesting experience. We got some quick breakfast and the headed off to the stadium, which is some 5-7 minutes walk. There was already a huge crowd around the campus, and all wearing red, including us of course. Walking into the stadium was a little tricky because there’s so many people, but we managed to get ourselves in and squeezed through the crowd to our seat. I was grateful that our seat was pretty close to the field, I mean, not very close, but close enough for me to be able to witness it clearly. 

I’ll skip all the details of the game, but the main experience is the experience itself. Being in the stadium, watching the game, cheering with the crowd, and cheering for our team, is the craziest experience I have, the kind of crazy experience differ from traveling. This is the kind of unity, inspirational, and motivational experience that you want to experience in person, the vibe is just astonishing and incredible. Furthermore, being there to cheer for our school and witnessed the victory of our school, the feeling is so good. We clapped and yell Go Huskers! and Go Big Red! when our school score a touchdown, and at the student section, on the far right of where we sit, they will hold up their shoes when we kick off, that is so cool and fun. The game ends at around 2-3p.m., but the celebration didn’t, we score huge, the other team did their best too, and this is the awesomeness of sports. Next week, it’s our school versus Oregon, and it’s bound to be probably the best game of the season for our school, but we weren’t able to get our hands on the tickets, still, being able to go to one game is already good enough for me to check that off my experience list. 

GO HUSKERS! GO BIG RED!

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Columbia

Part 3

May 13th

     Today is Friday, but not a sunshine day as it’s been cloudy the whole morning. Uncle Kim takes a day off today to bring me around places that I wanted to go, it’s really nice of him, I have him to thanked a lot and I appreciated it. We went out rather late today, at about noon. Our first destination was Columbia University, which is in uptown Manhattan, and today’s trip to Manhattan as compared to previous is that we drove, or I should say uncle drove, from Flushing, Queens to Manhattan.

      It started raining not long after we began our trip and thankfully the trip to famous landmarks were yesterday, when, consider the cruise to the Statue of Liberty and the Empire States Building top-down view require a pleasant weather to get a guarantee satisfaction. The trip from Queens to Manhattan is not a short one even though they are neighbors, plus a number of traffic lights made the distance longer than it should. We crossed the Queensboro bridge, one of the bridge connecting Queens with Manhattan, and arrived at 1st Avenue, which is the west side of Manhattan. We cruised along plenty of famous street such as Park Avenue and Madison Avenue, we drove by part of Central Park before we arrived at Broadway, where the famous Ivy League University Columbia University located. Due to the end of semester, when Students were moving out of dorm, plus a graduation on tomorrow, a lot of parking spaces have been reserved for the good.

      we were lucky to manage to find a parking spot in front of a residential area behind the University, parking spot in NYC is a disaster. Walking into Columbia University was yet another phenomenal experience. The famous Ivy League University that’s known around the world for its top ranking academics and faculty, not to mention a long history of excellence, therefore being able to walk around the campus in person was just truly extraordinary and privileged. The campus is not big, rather it’s more long, the whole campus is of rectangular shape, in order to fit the structure of Manhattan I believe. It’s moving out day, plus raining, the campus is both busy and calm. I walked around the campus, looking at all the buildings, trying to take it all in before I left.

       The rain got heavier and seems like it’s not going to stop, so we canceled our initial plan to go to Brooklyn or Bronx, instead cruised around Manhattan. Along the way, we cruised by Columbus circle, which is a pretty famous circle featuring Christopher Columbus’ monument I believe, at the center of the circle with all the high-end boutique shop around the circle. The next famous location, or street I would say, would be 5th Avenue, the street that’s famous for its high-end boutique shops and malls, coupled with a lot of famous building such as the all glass Apple store, Tiffany and Company building, and Rockefeller Center. But before we reached 5th Avenue, worthy of mentioning that on our way, we drove by a rather famous hotel, it’s not Waldorf Astoria, I would hope to get a glimpse of it but we hadn’t had a chance to drive by there, still this hotel is still a landmark and famous 5-star hotel in Manhattan, it’s called The Plaza Hotel.

     Along 5th Avenue, we drove by another famous building, the Flatiron Building, where I got an up-close photoshoot of the Flatiron both with my eyes and the camera. It’s really fantastic and awesome, I couldn’t believe I were able to see all these wonderful masterpieces with my own eyes. The next chapter would be us cruising through Manhattan, from uptown to mid-town, and eventually downtown. As it gets toward downtown, there’re more and more restaurants, most of it fancy Italian restaurants. The traffic in Manhattan was simply horrendous. Due to the structure of Manhattan, which is grid style, there’s a lot of junctions, and at each junction there would have traffic lights, that’d automatically slowed everything down and that’s fine. The thing is the cars are awful lot, and there are insane amount of people in the city which makes a chaotic traffic even more chaotic. What’s more, by the time we reach mid/downtown, it was almost 5pm, which worsened everything, coupled with raining, the whole situation was just a disaster. Apparently the traffic doesn’t stop there, it continued throughout Manhattan, across the bridge, all four bridges presumably, and even the expressway, looks like there’s no exit to the traffic situation. By the time we reached home, it was already 7.30pm, and I was both hungry and exhausted. Still, it’s a fun and memorable trip.

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Empire State

Part 2

May 12th

    Today is the big day, it’s the day where I get to visit Manhattan. I woke up early today, at 6 in the morning, because Jennifer had booked a one-day trip tour to Manhattan, so early in the morning we have to get to downtown flushing to meet up with our tour guide.

     After everyone got on board, we departed for Manhattan. Manhattan as most of the people would know, is famous. It is fair to say that it is one of the places where everyone wants to go, also in my opinion, if situation would allow, must-go at least once in the lifetime. Manhattan is famous for a lot of stuff, visibly, the ever-tall skyscraper, which surround the entire Manhattan Island, so tight that it earns a name, concrete jungle. There are three main access to Manhattan Island, Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, and Manhattan Bridge. Williamsburg Bridge was the one we used.

     Our first stop was the famous Wall Street. I was super excited for this, having been waiting for this moment for years to happen, now I was able to see the place for myself, and walk the famous street, you can imagine how high I was jumping out of excitement. The tour guide let us off at the famous Charging Bull outside of Wall Street, which is an iconic landmark, we quickly took a tons of picture of and with the bull which has already crowded with lots of tourists.

    Wall Street, one of the most fascinating place in the world; if you’re into finance stuff, this is the place to be. This is where all the big banks around the world based, plus huge corporation, be it American or international. This is also where the famous NYSE located, the place where millions and billions of transactions happen every second, and the one people talked about most of the time. Mind you, the street itself is not long, about 0.6 miles, and the streets by Wall Street is not what you call car friendly, mainly because it was build for carriages back in the days. I got some fantastic shots of NYSE and the street before we headed out. I have achieved one of my big goal, to walk the most famous financial district in the world.

     Before going for the cruise around the statue of liberty, we stopped by an aircraft carrier harbored by the port in Manhattan. We chose not to go in so we go for a walked around at the same time waiting for other tourist who chose to go in. We walked around the pier and get some street hotdog New York style before going back to our van. Apparently the place that we were going on a cruise was just 2 blocks down that it’s saved to say that we walked past there prior. The cruise didn’t only show the Statue of Liberty, but also a part of Manhattan and part of New Jersey on-cruising view. It’s amazing how picturesque Manhattan looks like on a big-picture view, and it’s phenomenal looking at all the skyscrapers and buildings side by side, so dense. On the other shore was New Jersey, also filled with several tall buildings, but not as crazy as Manhattan. Ah, the Statue of Liberty, right by our sight. The goddess of freedom, how iconic it represents the United States, “The Land of Free”. Unfortunately we did’t get the chance to land and go up or close to the statue, which is such a pity, but I still got a clear footage of the statue, which was pretty awesome still.

    It’s lunch time, the tour guide let us off Times Square to get some lunch, also to walk around the famous Times Square. We had lunch in Applebee’s, which takes forever, by the time we had finish it was more than an hour later. We hurried off to catch a glimpse of the famous intersection in Times Square that filled with tons of LED screen, also the famous spot for countdown every at the end of the year. Around Times Square, there are a lots of boutique shops, malls, restaurants, and also characters that people dressed up as to take picture with people for a fee. A lot of things going on in Times Square. We didn’t have much time left to walk around, I hurriedly run to get a view of Macy’s, the famous department store. Although we haven’t had enough of Times Square, and it’s not night time, where the most going on, I was so happy and fortunate to be there, one of the spot that iconize NYC greatly, and the place that earned NYC the city that never sleeps.

    After Times Square, pretty much everyone has worn out, at least I have started to feel kind of dozy. The next destination, happened to be the last one for the day, was the Empire State Building, once dominant as the world’s tallest building for 40 years, also the only building to get a bird eye view of Manhattan that’s opened to public. We went up to 80th floor with one elevator, then changed to another elevator to go up to 86th floor. Worth of mentioning that the elevators were quick, they jumped 10 floor in a speed of a normal elevator jumping 1 floor. When you reach the top of 86th floor, your ears pretty much rotten, but it’s worth it, because the view was just... mind-boggling. You’re standing so high up that the entire NYC was pretty much within your reign, and circling around you get a 360 degree view of NYC with several landmark such as Chrysler Tower, One World Trade, Central Park, etc., within sight. It’s so picturesque, and I’m greatly thankful for the opportunity that I have to be able to get the view and experience engraved in my mind, it’s an eye-opening, as well as a mind-blowing experience. This greatly sums up my entire NYC trip.

    When we got back to Flushing, it’s about 6-7pm, it took longer than it supposed to be due to heavy traffic. But before we headed home, we had some Malaysian food for dinner at a local Malaysian restaurant, this got me up on energy again after the aftermath of traffic getting back. It’s been almost half a year since I came to the states, and being able to have a come-back taste of Malaysian food was a blessed. I had a Nasi Lemak, which, when translated to English means fatty rice, not a pleasant name, but it’s indeed oily, it’s one of the must-have Malaysian food, also one of my favorite. It’s good to felt like I’m back.

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The Big Apple

    It’s the second week of the second five week of my summer classes, and it suddenly dawned on me that it’s been more than 2 months since my days in New York. Time flies fast, looking back, that was the most fun I had, one of the best trip I’ve had, and this memoir would be a great throwback to the days.

Part 1

May 11th

    Stepping down the plane and here it is, New York City. It was always a dream of mine to be here, and finally I am here, in the capital of the world. I arrived yesterday dropping on LaGuardia Airport at around 10 pm due to some delayed. I started out from Des Moines, a flight to Chicago O'Hare before transited to LaGuardia, it was an exhausting journey, yet a fun one at the same time. I stayed at my mom’s long time best friend, Jennifer’s house in Flushing, Queens. It was pretty late at night and I was so tired that I literally fell asleep in like 30 seconds.

   This morning, Jennifer and family brought me to dim sum for lunch, which I haven’t had for quite some time, so it was already starting out awesome, plus, I got to have a look at downtown flushing. where the restaurant was at, which is a bustling town full of Chinese and Koreans, better known as chinatown and koreantown. The road to dim sum gave me the real experience of a New Yorker, where there are tons of people everywhere, with narrow streets (not like in the mid-west) and traffic chaos, it was an insane experience. Because of the traffic, we got down the car on the way and walked towards our final destination because it was more convenient that way and you need some time (especially on weekdays) to find a parking spot in New York City, no kidding. Walking through the street of downtown Flushing was just awesome, albeit with a lot of people, like you need to squeeze through the crowd, most of it Chinese or Koreans and everywhere you can see Chinese stores and Korean stores but you know you are not in Asia because there is a subway station.

    The restaurant where we ate dim sum was a Hong Kong restaurant that serves fantastic dim sum, cantonese style, and although it’s not in Asia, but I have to say that it taste authentic, super delicious, and most importantly, seafood! Everything just brought back memories instantly. After having a wonderful brunch, Billie(Jennifer’s daughter) went to the zoo at Bronx with her friend, while uncle Kim went to work, that left me and aunt Jennifer. Aunt Jennifer brought me to a Chinese barber shop to get my hair cut. After that, we wandered around more of downtown Flushing, Jennifer showed me around the town for a moment before we went to Chinatown in Manhattan.

    Manhattan, the fabulous city, the city never sleep, the city that has so much to offer, although we were just gonna walk around in Chinatown (Midtown, Wall Street etc. will be on the next day), but You can imagine how excited I was when the skyscrapers were within sight when we crossed the bridge, that I finally get to Manhattan, the notorious city that outshines every major cities with its modernity, the city that always shown on TV, magazines, or newspapers, the place where everyone dreamed of going, and now I’m here, about to explore this fabulous city (bits of it). We got down on Chinatown, which is our initial planned destination, and we wandered around the famous Chinatown on the east coast, which happens to be the largest in the United States. It was an eye-opening experience for me, in fact, the most phenomenal experience to date. Having been hearing the place from mom, and known it for quite some time, being in the atmosphere to experience the vibe myself was a whole other level. Chinatown was both thrilling and messy. While I see a lot of familiar Chinese characters, at the same time it was very messy, and stuffy (as you would expect in anywhere in New York City) messy as in the chaotic traffic (also what you would expect to be in New York City). We walked through all the street on Chinatown, and interestingly came across Little Italy, which is just right off Chinatown, and there are plenty of Italian restaurants, which makes charming streets with Italian flare. After wandering almost the whole Chinatown, we were already out of battery, and since we were in Chinatown, Aunt Jennifer suggested that we have to get the cantonese food that she thinks is super good, and so we went to get some food in a restaurant called Da Wang, they really do have great cantonese food. After that, we wandered around for a bit more, before heading back using subway.

     Ah, the subway, another quintessential New York City experience. An icon of New York City, whether you watch a lot of American movies or not, going on the Subway is THE New York City experience that you really have to have. I have always know about the subway, countless movies with New York City scene, and of course from mom, getting to be on board was truly a special and exhilarating experience. Not a bad day to start off my New York City experience.

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Good food...

So this post will be all about pictures of the wonderful foods that I was fortunately to be able to enjoy throughout my trip to Des Moines, Iowa. The foods were fantastic, from home cooked to restaurants, to one of the best in the country, it was a mouth-watering journey, so enjoy! :)

Cool Basil’s 3 flavors chicken

Potato mashing right there...

Fantastic Cuban coffee, mamma mia!!

Jethro’s BBQ, one of the best in America

Down at Gong Fu, tea lovers’ heaven

Ruby’s classic

Fong’s Pizza!!!

Home cooked variety

The Cheesecake Factory version

Chick Fillet chicken sandwich, yum!!

Sushi!!!

Meatloaf is love

$5 burgers at Bar Louie at happy hour (only Tuesday)

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Green Leaves...Sun Shine...Blue Wind...almost

(Part 4)

I really love this pic!

          Another day at Des Moines, it’s Tuesday, a pretty laid back day, we went for a haircut (not me), at a very nice saloon. After that we had our lunch at Chick Fillet, which is a very delicious local restaurant that serve, you’d guessed it, everything chicken. Jonathan had a chicken sandwich, which he claimed was the best, so I had to try it right? I had gone for the spicy version of the chicken sandwich, and it was mouth-watering, awesome chicken fillet, crispy, and fresh from the fryer, fantastic.

Jon’s favorite salon

          The rest of the day...was pretty boring, we done nothing but hanging out in the living room, with tv...

           That evening, we went out for dinner with Andrew and his girlfriend Allison, who is a very nice person, she’s sweet. We had dinner at a local restaurant called Bar Louie, in time for happy hour, we had burgers for $5 (every burger), and they had Martini as well (I had only the burger with water). After that, we went picking up some of Andrew’s friends and headed downtown to the Trivia. Trivia is an answering game, where the host ask questions, and players answer, mostly about general knowledge, but the one we went to was more of asking pop culture questions. I have to admit it’s a little bit boring, so I’m not going to go into details, and thank you Jon for noticing, and asked me to go for a walk. We went a walk around downtown, it’s a pretty quiet night that night, not much going on.

Dinner at Bar Louie

           There’s a park in the middle of downtown, where there have several art pieces (I didn't take any picture those art pieces because it’s too dark). And then we reached a classic car showroom where they have several American classic such as the AC Cobra, Batmobile of the 60′s or 70′s I guess, and several more classics, they’re awesome. After a little bit more of walk, the trivia finished and we went back.

That AC Cobra!!

more cars...

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Green Leaves...Sun Shine...Blue Wind...almost

(part 3)

*a lil’ late, anyway

        So on March 21, or last Monday, still on spring break, I got to visit Ames, home to Iowa State University. We went there because Jonathan needs to give his brother peter some stuff, me though, I was excited because I got to see Iowa State University, but also I got to meet up with friends who’re studying in Iowa State University.

The Football Stadium

        We departed at about 10.30 a.m., and it’s roughly a 45 minutes journey to Ames. Ames is a college town, like Lincoln, only they have a wider land space. Iowa State University is bigger than UNL, 1,984 acres compare to 613 acres (according to wikipedia) and it’s pretty too, but subjectively I think UNL is prettier. We arrived in time to catch lunch with Peter and his girlfriend McKenna. We ate at one of the dining hall, which is not bad, just like UNL’s dining hall, only that they have sweet tea. After a cool lunch, we got a tour of ISU by Peter, we got to walk around the campus, look at all the architecture, the landscape, the engineering building, which was awesome, they have an open classroom, how cool is that! Not only that, I heard that they have a flight simulation as well, wow!! We arrived at the gym, everything is normal, not much difference, but guess what, they have a smoothie bar, WTF, why don’t we have that. Not only that, they have a big tower bell, like London’s Big Ben, only not as big as London’s. That afternoon, Peter treat us with smoothie, and it’s super refreshing and delicious, thanks Peter. We seriously need a smoothie bar!! We walked across several more buildings, before I got to meet up with my friends.

Great lunch!

Main Entrance to the Schools

          3 o’clock, I met up with my friends from Malaysia, we went to the same college, and had some same classes. Never seen them in a while, but not much had change, they’re doing good at their school. We talked about how life has been, what’s it like to attend America school, how’s the people, do they miss home, and all sorts of questions you’d ask when you meet up with old friends. They shared with me those trips that they’d been, and it’s entertaining listening to their experience. Although the meet up last for just an hour, getting to meet up with them and know that they’re doing well, and having a great time was such a blast.

Haven’t seen them in a while, they’re well!

         After I met up with my friends, Jonathan and I met up with Alec, remember that first night in Des Moines we hung out? Yes, Alec, he studied in Iowa State. We went to the union, walked around, have a little chat, before we parted.

The Hotel Memorial Union, apparently they have a hotel behind it (see the tall up building behind?)

         That day was such a blast, I got to walked around the beautiful campus of ISU (I still love UNL more), got to meet 1 new people, meet up with some old friends, and a new friend, plus a mouth-watering smoothie. it’s a good day well-spent. On our way back, there’s some traffic, my first traffic in U.S., but it’s ok, not as crazy as Malaysia’s.

Traffic!

More Pictures...

Library

Administration building (I believe)

Connection bridge of engineering schools (3 buildings of them)

No idea what it is, but it looks cool

The bell tower

The Farm House Museum, oldest building on campus

Hello there!

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Back to Reality

*I’m going to sum up my trip for the spring break on this post

        So it’s Easter Sunday, Jonathan and I were both back in Lincoln. It’s been a wonderful and exciting trip to Des Moines for the whole week for spring break, not to mention staying at Jonathan’s place, the charming warm house with his wonderful parents hosting me with love and food, I can’t forever forget the experience.

        We’ve done a lot for the break, had great foods, hanging out with friends at the bar, get an awesome night view and day view of the city, and more. Having able to stay at an American house and experience the daily life of an American was truly amazing. We had typical American breakfast, and dinner (lots of specials), and of course the Easter dinner yesterday.

        Jonathan has a quite big family, with 2 brothers and a sister, a lot of things going on in the house. Jonathan’s parents are the sweetest person I’ve ever met, they fed me with a lot of foods (I know it sounds weird, but I’m going to describe it that way XD), bring me to a lot of different restaurants some more, and Jonathan’s mum gave me a chance to taste her treasured California wine, it can’t get better than that. By the way, both of his parents graduated from UNL. Jonathan’s younger brother peter is a cool guy, he brought back her girlfriend’s dog, Zoey for the week for break. She was the cutest thing to be in the house, she kept running around the house, biting people’s socks and sandals (mine as well) and took it around the house, we had a wonderful time playing with her, she was so adorable. Peter’s girlfriend, McKenna, a sweet Texan, went to Iowa State with Peter, is a nice girl, we met briefly at Peter’s school. Andrew, Jonathan’s older brother, I’m thankful for him to have to drive and show me around the neighborhood and downtown, walked with us in the mall and bring us to great restaurants, it was nice for him to do that. Andrew is an engineer at MidAmerican Energy, while his girlfriend, Allison is a teacher at a local elementary school. She is a very nice person. Lastly, Katie, Jonathan’s only sister, a younger one, is a very nice teenager currently in her junior year in high school. This family is the best one. 

          Des Moines has a lot to offer. The first night I arrived in the city, we hung out with Jonathan’s best friends David and Alec at Hessen Haus, the first true German-oriented restaurant and bar I’ve been to, and the best one in town I believe (or at least for me). Next, we went to El-Bait Shop, a local favorite bar that has at least over 50 taps!!! Our next stop was Fong’s Pizza, another local favorite, serves pizza, Asian style, how cool is that, never even heard of Asian style pizza, but apparently it worked. It’s thin crust, and super delicious. Not to forget that I got a wide perspective of the city that night, on top of a hill where the majestic capitol resides. I love tea, and I make sure Jonathan knows that, lol. He and Andrew brought me to a tea shop named Gong Fu Tea, where there are numerous tea  selection, it’s awesome. Not to mention one of the best barbecue shop in America and definitely the best in Des Moines, Jethro’s. I have the best barbecue, and of course first true american barbecue I’ve ever tried (I haven’t been to other states before). Thank you Mr. Lewis for that dinner! Des Moines is really a thriving city with more to come, and I’m excited for it.

           Throughout the week, I were able to experience, and live like an American, seeing and doing things American way, and it’s a wonderful experience to be able to blend in, I truly appreciate Jonathan for inviting me to Des Moines and his house in the first place. I were able to get a new perspective about America and Des Moines, experiencing different place and things, especially food. Most importantly, I got to meet a lot of wonderful people, they truly made my journey, and will be a part of things that change my life. I can states a lot more of the things that I encountered and experienced throughout the trip, but nothing beats meeting new and great people. They are the one that will truly affect your life in many ways. I’m thankful enough to meet Jonathan, and be able to meet his family. He has the best family that I ever met in America, and his best friends Alec and David, Peter and his girlfriend, McKenna, Andrew and his girlfriend, Allison, and Katie, and of course Zoey the dog, thank you all for making my trip and experience the best ever. Of course I won’t forget to thank Mr and Mrs Lewis, I just wanna say how grateful I am and how thankful I am to be hosted by you and your family, it’s been a blast, blessed, love and warmth in the house, and I guess it’s been a while for me to experience that, this is the best trip I have, and a warmth one, like going back home, my American home. :)

[blueventure-blog]

Green Leaves...Sun Shine...Blue Wind...almost

(part 2)

First weekends on Spring break.

        Saturday was a long day for me, since Jon and I hung out late the previous night. With that being said, I woke up quite not late, thanks to the dog in the house, who’s become the natural alarm clock. I woke up, take a little walk around the neighborhood, and play with the dog. 

        Jonathan and i have some brunch, and then we just hung out for the rest of the day. At roughly 4 o’clock though, Jon’s mother drove Jon, Peter, and me to Costco for shopping. But before we touch on Costco, we went to a Nike Factory Outlet store at the Jordan Creek mall because Peter needed to shop some training outfit, also it’s a chance for me to look around, especially when you got a sport fan (sort of) like me. The store was huge, it’s a factory outlet, so the price mark was slightly lower than most specialty store. I can go crazy in that store but I didn’t, cuz I’m a college student on a tight budget. Anyways, next up was Costco. Again, it’s super huge, its size was like Walmart, in fact it might be bigger than Walmart. Costco is sort of like a discount distributor store, where there are plenty of stock and they sell at a lower than average price, but then of course you have to buy a lot to maximize the discount. We bought some necessities (food), Peter got some stuff for his dorm, I got to walk around and check out some brands, it was good shopping. Worthy of mentioning that it’s snowing that day!

Jeep in Costco, nice XD

        That night, (here comes an exciting part) Jonathan’s dad brought us to Cool Basil for dinner. Cool Basil is an Asian Cuisine restaurant that serves fantastic Asian dishes. I had three spices chicken, and it tastes savory. Thanks, Jonathan’s dad.

Doesn’t it makes you hungry? XD

        ...It’s 9 o’clock in the morning, and it’s Sunday. It’s March 20th the first day of spring and it’s a pretty layback day, not much going on. Peter went back to Ames, and we’re chillin’ at home. Later that afternoon though, Andrew brought us to the mall to walk around, and we had our afternoon lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, it’s a beautiful restaurant that serves beautiful food. They are quite famous for the cheesecake I believe.

Jordan Creek Mall

Cheesecake Factory (gorgeous interior!)

         After a quick lunch, we walked around the mall. The mall is big, there are a lot of stores, retail stores such as GAP, Scheels, and more. We walked around the mall for a bit, then we headed out and Andrew drove us around to show me around the neighborhood. We drove by a lot of beautiful houses, also we drove by Salisbury House, one of the oldest I believe house, built in the 20′s. It’s registered as a historical landmark. It was a great afternoon walk around on Sunday. Thanks for showing around, Andrew!

The first Apple store that I came across

Scheels

Salisbury House

[blueventure-blog]

Green Leaves...Sun Shine...Blue Wind...almost

(Part 1)

        It’s been more than 3 months since I arrive at Lincoln, Nebraska, and a lot of stuffs have been happening, I learned a lot about the place, the school, new knowledge, took part in a lot of activities and made a lot of new friends. Although things got rough, a lot of test, exams, but now, I get to rest for a while with my first spring break in my life, how cool is that XD

        I’ve been visiting and staying at my friend Jonathan’s place in Des Moines, Iowa for the past 3 days, and it was fun. We arrived at Friday afternoon, along the way I get to see the great plains, and a lot of different places that I haven’t seen before.

       Jonathan’s family was so welcoming and so nice, I feel like my home. Their house was pretty, charming, and comfortable. They have a puppy for the week, which belongs to his brother’s girlfriend and we have great time playing with it. That night we went downtown with Jon’s friend Alec and David. Alec and David are so nice and so fun, I have a great time hanging out with them. Ooh they are Jon’s best friends by the way. We went for dinner in Hessen Haus, which is a great German restaurant, their schnitzel is D E L i C I O U S, at least for me. That place was packed for the night, plus it’s St. Patrick’s day, as you can imagine. Next we went to a bar named El-Bait shop, and they have the most tap I’ve ever seen (it’s my first time at a bar XD) and it’s packed as well, but we managed to find a spot. Our next stop is a restaurant called Fong’s Pizza, and it’s the best pizza I’ve had in my life for several reasons, first, it’s different, thin crust (I’ve never had a thin crust), then the toppings are unlike conventional, they reengineered it to be Asian style, and it’s awesome. Ooh I forgot to mention that the restaurant was in Chinese theme. 

Hessen Haus

El Bait Shop

Fong’s Pizza

        After finish our food and bar trip, we went to east side of downtown to the Capitol, and gosh it’s majestic in the night. After that we just head home and hang out for a little while more. That night was wonderful thanks to Jon, Alec, and David, I get to eat great food, meet new people and hang out, and had a great night view of the city. It’s the best time I had since I arrive in America, and I’m looking forward to the days to come.

The Capitol

Night view of downtown

Chillin’