Home for the Holidays

December 23, Day 269: We had a closing ceremony today for our second trimester. It was a half day of school and I took the rest of the day off to catch my Shinkansen to the airport. It was blizzarding (blizzarding?) outside so I saved myself a cold and windy start of my journey by taking a taxi to the train station. A few hours later, I arrived at Haneda airport five hours before my departure time of 10:50pm. What’s weird is, I watched the sun set through the monorail window between Tokyo Station and the airport, but I also watched the sun set at the San Francisco Airport on the same day… Anyway, I sleepily wandered around SFO for a few hours until the last leg of my flight departed to Medford at 8:30pm. Thrilled to be seeing my family in less than 90 minutes, I could hardly sit still in my seat (well, and turbulence). Shortly after the pilot made the “flight attendants, prepare for arrival” announcement, he came back on the intercom with bad news.
“Sorry folks, the weather took a turn for the worst down in Medford and it looks like there are three aircrafts circling ahead of us, waiting to land. We don’t have the fuel supply to circle as we wait for the weather to clear, so we’re going to turn around and head back to San Francisco to make a further decision”. Heartbreak. I’m trying to make this story short, but it’s not possible. Upon arriving BACK at SFO, they crew escorted us off the plane and pointed us towards customer service which was swarming with hundreds of people who were also dealing with cancelled flights. I called my parents, blinking back tears, without a clue of what to do. Ultimately, the best option was to be picked up by car, a six hour drive from my house. My heroic dad and brother hopped in the car at 11:30pm, arrived in San Francisco at 4:30am and brought me safely home around 10am on Christmas Eve. I have never been more grateful for my family.

December 24:
After 36 hours of traveling and unexpected stress, I needed a long nap but I didn’t want to succumb to jet lag, so I took a lousy power nap. My family and I went to Christmas Eve service at a church I’m very familiar with and I was very happy to sing worship songs in English. That night, I put my pride on the shelf and used gift bags for my Christmas presents since there wasn’t enough time (or energy) to wrap them properly.

December 25:
Quite possibly the best Christmas ever.

December 26:
Sleeping in? Of course not. We were up early and headed to Portland by 9am. Seeing my grandparents after being away for a while was heart-warming. Heart and stomach: full.

December 27:
It rained a lot today. As we were headed to see my other grandparents, there was a massive power outage. Not to worry though because my grandma made sandwiches for lunch! Yumm sourdough bread and turkey. After some long hugs, I said goodbye to my grandparents AND my family because I was branching off to stay in the Portland area a little longer. Jittery (and cautiously because of the rain), I made my way over to Jordan. Is there anything more romantic than a long-time-no-see hug in the rain? We went out to Mexican food with his housemates and for some reason, Mexican food wasn’t as incredible as I painted it to be. Soy sauce withdrawals?

December 28:
EEEEEK my college roommate best friend! We met up at her place and headed for McMinnville for a girls night out. Along the way, we stopped at Target, Crumbl Cookie, and Goodwill. Classics. We picked out goofy oversized T-shirts and decided to wear them the rest of the night. Her shirt read “Here Fishy Fishy” and mine read: “I Make 80 Look Good” HAHA. Just for fun, we stopped in a 7/11 to make comparisons. Hmm.. I would buy sushi from a 7/11 in Japan but definitely not in Mcminnville. After checking into Mcmenamin’s Hotel Oregon, we headed downtown for some dinner, drinks, arcade games, and tater tots. In the morning, we checked out and headed to a cute breakfast cafe. FRENCH TOAST; YUM. I wish she could be my roommate in Japan.
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December 29:
My friend from Elementary Education courses and I talk every day and I was so excited to meet up with her. We started off by exchanging Christmas gifts and, being that she is a big Sanrio fan, we were both thrilled. I had so many things on my Portland to-do list, but close to the top was a cafe called Upper Left Roasters. They make the BEST matcha latte and they’re located off of my favorite street in all of Portland: Hawthorne. We warmed ourselves up with a cup of happiness and then took a walk up Hawthorne to visit all my favorite shops and stores (including Powell’s, Tender Loving Empire, Star Flower, and the vintage lamp store I don’t know the official name). We walked up an appetite and despite the feathery rainfall, we headed to Grassa, another favorite of mine. We ended the night with some disco ball karaoke entertainment and I fell asleep snuggling with her cat, Cassie.

December 30th:
My very sweet friend, whom I’ve known since the fourth grade, miraculously flew into Portland on a day when I too, was in Portland. We shared some of Pip’s famous donuts and chatted for hours. Thankful to have a friend with such history.
Later that day, I went to a symphony performance at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall with Jordan. Dreamy! We dressed up and admired a stunning performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bizet’s Carmen Suite from the nosebleeds. I feel like most men in their mid twenties would fall asleep at the symphony, but Jordan was a trooper (despite the sardine-can seats) and rumor has it, he sometimes listens to Vivaldi on his way to work…

December 31:
New Years Eve! Jordan and I attended the Champagne Ball in the Portland Art Museum which still doesn’t seem true as I re-read the sentence I just typed. After an evening of dancing, hors d’oeuvres, dancing, party favors, dancing, chocolate covered strawberries, watching other people dance, and more dancing, we welcomed the new year with a huge countdown and balloon drop. Oh, and there might have been a new years kiss? Jordan and I snacked on some Cheetos on the way back. What better way to end the night? Or should I say, start the year?
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January 1:
I have not found good Thai food in Japan yet, but I’ve have many delicious experiences with Thai food in America, so I was thrilled to meet up with a friend who, by the way, had not officially tried Thai food yet! I just said ‘Thai food’ three times in once sentence; can you tell I really like it? Anyway, we met up at a THAI FOOD restaurant and I devoured my plate of Pad See Ew as we caught up on all that was missed in the last nine months. I really love friendships that pick up right where they were left off. I got to meet her new puppy too! <3

January 2:
Before heading back to southern Oregon, I was able to see one more friend for brunch. By the way, can I mention how much I missed indulgent breakfast foods? Goodbyes are tough. I drove home feeling 50% melancholy and 50% excited to be driving HOME.

January 3, 4, 5, 6:
I got a haircut, went to Trader Joes, renewed my driver’s license, was overcharged for my international driver’s permit, watched my sister play basketball, got another haircut, happily ate LOTS of homemade food, hung out with our pets, spent some quality time with my sister, and giggled over the British catch phrases on the Great British Baking Show with my mom and dad. On my last day in Oregon, my mom and I went to a high tea lunch and drank so much tea I almost bursted. I’m still dreaming about those scones and chicken sandwiches. Even my dad was able to share the experience as he sampled our leftovers when we returned. Did you know taking leftovers home in Japan isn’t a thing? I tried to stay up as late as possible in hopes of sleeping on the plane the next day, but it never quite works out that way. I ended up just being massively sleep-deprived on my journey back to Sendai.

January 7:
Flight departure: 6:05am. Sad face.
But slightly happy face because my mom snuck some of her homemade lemon zucchini bread into my backpack.