Back on the Blog, Baby

    It's been a while since I've dusted this little corner of the internet off. Life looks a lot different now, but I'm coming back to keep you all in the loop. Instagram stories disappear, texts get lost, but here we can all slow down, and I can share snapshots of what our life really looks like. Trying to approach this like a monthly letter, short, simple, and honest. 

    Of course, the new star of the show... Monster! He's the newest addition to the Slayitz household. For privacy reasons, I'm keeping him private, but not a secret. He's real name, face, and personal information will not be put on the internet, and I ask all family and friends to please respect our decision in keeping him protected. You'll still see glimpses of him here and there; tiny hands, little feet, messy stroller adventures, but always in a way that keeps him safe online. 

Motherhood, is a wild mix. Some days I feel like I've got a rhythm, and others I'm Googling every thought in my head at 2am. It's not always Instagram-ready, but it's real... and even though it's not always insta-ready.. I'm making an effort to step out of my comfort zone and post on my social medias again.

Right now, Portland is hanging on to summer, with another heat wave approaching us this weekend, while I'm mentally preparing for fall. Both in season and in work. I'm slowly setting out the fall decorations in our new house, breaking in the oven with baked goodies and counting down the days until Halloween. 

On both sides, our family is spread out, all around the state, the country and the world. We don't always get to see each other as much as we'd like, but if this blog can help bridge the gap even a little, I hope it's worth taking a few minutes out of your day to read. 

For now, here's the plan: one post a month. Nothing fancy, just updates, little stories, and whatever feels worth sharing. That way, you can peek into our world. 

Thanks for reading! I'll check in with ya, right before spooky season.

A Year Away

Photo from 2018/2019

    "New year, new me". A sentence said by many, sometimes repeatedly throughout their lives, and now it is my turn. Or my year. 2024 is forecasted to bring many exciting adventures, changes, and hopefully improvements for me and my family, but before we get into that, I think I should start with where I've been. 

     Last year was a year of getting established and getting grounded. After the years of COVID, 2023 felt like the year of starting over or returning to pre-pandemic days. We went to several of our friends' weddings, went to baby showers, and started to experience life again. Roy started working again and quickly excelled while I returned to my true passion for fitness and recreation. New lifestyle changes, new apartments, new cars, and most importantly new adventures all to read about. The most exciting part about last year was our travels to Saudi Arabia. 

     Of course, if you'd rather skip the reading and see the picture timeline, you can see it on my Instagram, or you can see a quick highlight video on my TikTok.

     Let's start at the beginning; a month-by-month play-by if you will. At the beginning of the year, Roy started personal training again and is still currently in the process of building up his online presence. Readers, if you have some time we would both appreciate it if you could give his platforms some love: | Website | Instagram | TikTok | Youtube | He also does some training at a local gym and continues to enjoy training and building up his social media. 

     In the early spring, we took a weekend trip to the coast to attend the wedding of one of my friends. We took the opportunity to spend some time at one of our favorite towns, Lincoln City, and searched the shoreline for glass balls. Unfortunately, we didn't find any glass, but the weather was good and we made a fun road trip out of it. The wedding took place in Newport, so we also got to spend some time seeing the attractions of Newport. 

Red Sea

    A month later we packed our suitcases, checked our visa, and took a month-long trip to Saudi Arabia. Since the direct flights to Saudi were not available, we had to take a slightly longer route and a short detour. Our flight to Saudi Arabia went to Qatar first and we had a six-hour layover in Qatar. Since we didn't have enough time to leave the airport we wandered the Doha airport and enjoyed the beautiful indoor garden they have. Doha even has an indoor pool, but we choose not to swim, although, next time I might have to (just for the Instagram picture). We arrived in Jeddah late at night and went straight to our rental. 

     We traveled during the month of Ramadan and while Roy had informed me that the day would be quiet, I was surprised by how different observing Ramadan was in a truly Muslim country. Like many, we spent our days inside, resting and fasting, then explored the city at night after Iftar. However, I did drag Rowaid out of the house for a few days to go take Instagram pictures with me. Especially in Old Town Jeddah, Al-Balad. The beautiful architecture and experience of Arabian culture at night were busy, with people enjoying games, food, and re-enactments of life and other various Ramadan activities, but during the day, while everyone was fasting the streets were empty. Same with the beach. In the photo, I am along the beach at the Jeddah Corniche, a waterfront park with sculptures and events. Typically it is very busy, with lots of people enjoying everything to offer, but the first few days we were there during the month of Ramadan it was quiet and setting up for a festival. 

     For Eid, we traveled to spend time with Roy's family. I got to see other parts of Saudi Arabia and visit Roy's childhood memories. Other places we visited while in Saudi, included KAEC -King Abdullah Economic City and Thuwal. While in KAEC we visited more of Roy's family, swam in the sea, and explored the city. In Thuwal we went to the fish market. We got to select our fish, and after they cooked it to our liking we got to enjoy a traditional Saudi sea dish. The fish market was probably my favorite part of the trip. Not only is seafood a favorite of mine, but it was a great experience of the culture and a great bonding moment with Roy's family. 

Eid

     To return home from Saudi, we took the same flight route home, with an added layover in Seattle. Once we returned home, we quickly fell back into our routines and let life carry us away. My work became really busy, really fast and I let it consume most of my time. At the end of the summer, we were able to escape to attend our first Renaissance faire, and take another trip to the Oregon coast. On our summer coast trip, we had allotted ourselves a little more time and were able to make a week of driving south to Florence, and slowly driving back up north. 

     The coast trip is one I hope to repeat again in the future, maybe in the opposite direction, but it gave us a good starting point for exploring our state. We started in Florence and spent two days between Florence and Reidsport, meeting a family friend and playing in the sand dunes before driving up to our favorite town, Lincoln City. We spent the days there relaxing and sitting on the beach before continuing up to Seaside. We went during the Hood-to-Coast race, so we enjoyed the various vendors and new attractions put up but left for Astoria before the crowds came in. 

    The final stretch of the year was filled with busy work schedules, a move to a newer, bigger apartment, and time to prepare for the new year. Now that it's 2024 there have been some big changes, the first being that I'll be starting a new job at the end of the month. We also have some big plans lined up, and if you haven't already guessed, my New Year's resolution is to get back to Samable and keep you all updated/entertained. Let me know what you want to read more of this year!

Welcome to 2020 Too!

      Hello readers, friends and family and everyone else in the world. Returning from my internet sabbatical I am here again to continue telling stories. There’s a lot to unpack in this post, so sit down, grab a hot cup of coffee or tea and settle in. Let’s catch you up on the final leg of 2021 as we round into what started to be the second year of 2020… 2022. Following up on my last post we left off with the season finale of our wedding! Shortly following we celebrated the holidays.

     For Halloween we dug through the black hole in our closet to throw together costumes, feel free to name our costume in the comments! I jumped on the opportunity to return to my favorite activity, dancing! We spent our Halloween night at Dance with Joy Studios scoping out a potential venue location and learning some new moves. Dance with Joy Studios is one of my favorite locations, not because I love the owner, but because they cater to every level of dancer. While it was a small covid friendly crowd Halloween night, there were beginner and advance dancers sharing the floor and teaching each other. This is why dancing has become one of my favorite activities. Many locations in Portland mirror this atmosphere of accepting and learning. I’m definitely looking forward to the return of pre-covid dance days. 

     Our next adventure took us to Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving. After Hawaii, Roy and I were both eager to get back into a plane. Flying in on Thanksgiving morning Roy and I jumped right into family activities. For Roy it was getting to meet the family, in person, for the first time. For myself, it was catching up on the latest family shenanigans and events. Roy fit right in with the family, thankfully since I left him to fend for himself for almost two hours while I ran off with my cousins. You know what they say, sometimes the best way to learn to swim is to jump right in, I threw Roy into the deep end and shouted “Good luck” as I watched him figuratively sink under water. Luckily my uncle saved him from drowning and now they are what you could call “besties”.  

     Being Roy’s first time in Salt Lake we spent the next day showing him the sights and giving him a tour of my life. Showing him my beginning. Starting with where my parents met, their love story and my first house. Roy and I have this joke that he is secretly a Saudi prince. Of course he always denies it, but showing him the difference between an American neighborhood he almost admitted he had a mansion back home. The key word here being almost. Following the tour of Salt Lake we finished the day with a visit to my great grandma’s house. There Roy learned the family game of Oh Hell… story has it, he’s still practicing for the rematch. 

     Salt Lake was a short trip, being over Thanksgiving weekend, and the fact that we now had two brand new additions to the family to come back home to. On November 8th we officially brought home our two fur babies, Arakan and Squid. From that day on we would be known as the SlayitzFamily. Keep an eye out for that social media handle on Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube… okay, enough plugging, back to the important part - the kittens. Squid is our baby girl and Arakan is her brother. These two tabby’s took no time adjusting to there new home and now are the true owners to the apartment. There favorite toy being plastic springs my parents bought for them. 

     For Christmas, I took Roy on his first trip to The “Real” West, Pendleton. A quick flight there and we had left the city for good old cowboy country. Of course, most of the time was spent with family celebrating the spirit of an American Christmas, but Roy and I did take an hour to drive around the whole town. Shortly following Christmas, Roy and I took our next trip up to Seattle for New Years. 

     In Seattle we spent our first day with my best friend Calies and her boyfriend. After brunch we made our way to the Selfie Museum and the gum wall. Of course we ended our day with watching the New Years Fireworks from my aunt’s condo. 

     Now jumping into 2022, we are already at March! Well… almost April now. My final updates include a last minute trip to Pendleton for my birthday and a new job closer to home. For now Roy is still at home with the kittens, the kittens are almost full grown now, and I have hopes to restart my online presence. Be sure to find us on social media (links below) and leave a comment for what you want to hear next! 

My instagram

Slayitz Family Instagram

My Tik Tok

Slayitz Family Tik Tok

Falling into Routine

New life

     Following the excitement of beach days brought about summer in Portland, my very first summer in Portland at that! Staying true to the 2020's summer blew past as time was lost and the days ticked by. As summer has come and gone, my life, now "our life" with Roy - more on that later- has also changed as the seasons changed. The first, and barely outshined change in life stated with graduating! Through degree changes, traveling abroad, online classes from COVID-19, and other normal college obstacles, I successfully completed my bachelors degree in Applied Health and Fitness from Portland State University. Sadly, it is not the final destination of my acedemic journey, but it is one step high on the ladder. Of course I have a plan for the next steps, but knowing me it's already plan C or D, whereas the actual exucution will probably be plan Y. For my bachelors degree my parents came up to celebrate and took me on a mini shopping spree and then took Roy and I out to dinner. They also gave a gracious gift of money to have another celebration or something fun.

Chocolate fondue

     In the weeks that followed, Roy and I found time for a fancy date night at The Melting Pot sponsored by my parents. It was a dual celebration for us, graduation and.... drumroll please... our engagement! Roy had asked me earlier in the week, in a way I had once said I would never say yes to, but when you're in love things change! We had been talking about our futures and how our futures might become one future. Roy stated he had an "idea" but he wasn't sure how I would feel about it. He continued to hint and ask around the question until finally I asked "So what exactly are you asking me here?" To which Roy finally found the words to say "I want you to marry me." Of course I said yes, even though there was no big show of him getting down on one knee ( I made him do it later of course).

     After that night I went straight into planning mode, I pulled up my 2015 Pinterest board on weddings and started a whole new one! I looked into venues, color schemes, caterings, and dances, all before I had even told anyone! We told my parents over the phone unexpetedly, and even made them a cute announcement box. Due to the chaos of it all they didn't get the box until much later, but it's the thought that counts right? Drawing on older Saudi tradtions the box contains two camels to present to my dad, even though I'm clearly worth 75 according to this Camel Calculator, and fake diamonds and gold rolo chocolate to give to my mom. 

    Just around the other corner of life was a new job. I still occasionally help out at the assisted living facilty for traumatic brain injury survivors, but temperature taking at the hospital doors was a quickly dying career (or so we thought). With COVID-19 stating to take a turn for the better, I applied to any and every open position in the hospital. After quite literally hundreds of applications and a smaller handful of interviews, I was able to find a full time position working front desk in a primary care office on the hospital campus. 

Work Attire

   Of course, this changed filled the rest of my summer. The transition from one position to the next and from one department to the next was filled with weeks of training, but if I'm being honest the most exciting transition was the one out of scrubs. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved not having to choose what to wear, and the comfortability of scrubs, but it's nice to have an excuse to go shopping again. 

    While Roy and I get ready for the next steps in our life, I have found my career in this job. For now I will be working as a patient relations representative, working as the first person patients see and interact with during primary care visits.  It's a good job, and good hours. With the new job, slightly better pay, and better hours have allowed for more connection with Roy and allowed to settle into our new life together, as well as our new lifestyle. 

Newly Weds

    Now for the moment you've all been waiting for. The wedding! With COVID-19 continuing to be a problem in our lives, Roy and I were having a hard time trying to plan a wedding, especially with the logistics of international travel. After many discussions, with many parties we decided to have a true COVID-19 wedding. A small elopement ceromony broadcasted over zoom and instagram live, filled with family and friends. We began the night with everyone gathered around for Korean Fried Chicken from our favorite place, Chimcking. Following dinner my parents joined us for the rehersal and the ceremony. My closest friend in Portland graciously got ordained and performed the ceremony dressed in his otter onesy. Our other friends Sunho, Asme, and Jean joined the celebration as well as my parents. My father gave me away, my mother gave me her veil and we closed the ceremony with champagne and better than sex cake.

    Hopefully in the near (covidless) future we will be able to have our larger reception, filled with everyone and filled with dancing. Roy has already accepted the fact that I will be making a him participate in a choreographed and propably slightly over the top first dance. More to come on that next year.

     Like any newly weds we had a honeymoon, a COVID-19 stay at home honeymoon, filled with finalizing moving in and officially making the apartment, "our home".  Roy is currently taking the time off from work to focus on his career goal of personal training, and his personal goal of personal training himself... and me when I put up with it. For the time being that means we will be fighting the gender cultural norms and I am the bread winner of the household. 

     Currently our plans for the upcoming future include a small Halloween celebration - although we haven't decided on custumes yet, Thanksgiving plans, Christmas in the works and New Years on the drawing board. More to come in the months ahead!

    Eventually I'll get back into a regular posting routine.

Beach Vacation

Roy, my and Stanton

     With Covid starting to slowly ease up, I've begun to get back to my adventures, as much as money can finance at least. The first glimpse of returning to normal was after my birthday. My parents and brother came to Portland to pick Roy and me up for a three-day vacation at the Oregon coast. 

    Shortly after arriving, we walked along the beach until it was time to check into our rental home. Once in the rental home we spent the evening enjoying pizza and games, it was the first experience Roy had of what my family is like. The next morning, I had set up for Roy and my father to go for an early morning walk along the beach while the rest of us blissfully slept in. The rest of that day was filled with reliable Oregon coast rain, clearing up just in time for low tide and for dinner.

     The Oregon coast vacation was short-lived but well needed. It was time for Roy and me to return back to our normal lives. Roy went back to work at his wellness clinic and I moved into a full-time position at the hospital. The remainder of April and May was filled with less stressful work hours, finishing up my college degree online, and returning to normal life. As May approached, Covid cases were still fluctuating, but the hopes of normalcy were insight.

     With my new schedule at the hospital came the promise of a three-day weekend that appeared every other week. A three-day weekend meant trips and activities to be planned. For the first weekend of freedom, I hopped on a bus down to Salem to celebrate a belated birthday, homecoming and wedding.

Waikiki Beach

     The most recent adventure, however, took Roy and me on our first vacation together to Hawaii. We arrived mid-morning on Saturday and explored the area around Waikiki beach before checking into our condo. Exploring the mall, beach, and Hawaii's famous convenience store, ABC, I even convinced Roy to buy matching floral outfits with me. For lunch, we went to Shorefyre's and had our first taste of Hawaiian cuisine. Dinner, on the other hand, was a classic Mcdonald's convenience. 

     The next day we spent our time in the sun. Laying on the beach, playing in the water, and overall enjoying the luxuries of being away from work and school. On our second day, we explored more of the cultural side of town; the modern culture. We took a bus to Chinatown and visited the Botanical garden as well. The highlight of the garden was getting to see a Corpse Plant in bloom! Apparently, they only bloom once every three to five years for 48 hours and we were able to see the very beginning of it; before the rotting smell was pungent. We ended the day at Tanaka of Tokyo, it was my first experience at a restaurant where they cook the food directly in front of you, as well as enjoying some Japanese steak and cuisine. 

Roy's

     While we were vacationing, Roy celebrated his 25th birthday, I reminded him several times of his seniority. For his birthday we celebrated at Roy's, another well-known Japanese restaurant. That day we had also both gotten to experience surfing for the first time. Unfortunately, I had not planned ahead well enough so we were unable to get lessons, so we just rented two boards and tried to figure it out. Getting out to the waves was easy, and even catching a wave proved to be easy for me, but of course, it took me a couple tries to stand up. Once I was standing, I wasn't surfing as much as trying to stay standing. Eventually, I ended up catching wave after wave but had moved into the shallow end. At one point, I had fallen off the board onto a rock. Roy reported that he had a much harder time standing up. The second part of Roy's birthday took place the following day. We rented a convertible from a nearby rental for a few hours and took a joy ride around our side of the island. Stopping at several beautiful spots, taking endless amounts of photos, and enjoying the glimpse of luxury we were living in for the week. 

Vacation

     The day before returning home, we met with one of Roy's classmates for Hawaiian food and a drive-by tour of the university. As well as enjoying our final moments in Hawaii and final moments of rest before returning back to reality. Now that we're back it's time to start preparing for the next trip; and that means, working to get money for it. Roy has already returned back to work and is getting ready for the weekend. My vacation lasted a little longer, but I'll be returning back to work tomorrow to start a busy week... or three. 

     Any suggestions for the next trip?

 

Happy Covid Holidays

Yuseong and I 

     For a brief time, before the second lockdown, I was able to meet up with friends, celebrate birthdays and return to an almost normal Portland lifestyle. I was balancing three days of work, while half attending online university and slowly began seeing a glimpse of future social gatherings. This fleeting moment lasted through Halloween. For the remainder of the Portland Metro 2020, our governor issued a new Covid-19 freeze. For my 2021, I am enjoying that my work schedule will be busy for hopefully the last half of the Covid-19 virus. My work schedule has become my social line, and hopefully I'll start to see an uphill in finances, rather than a downhill.

Odella

     Somewhere around the end of September and beginning of October, I finally was able to purchase the pet I have been wanting to get since returning from South Korea; sugar gliders. It was in South Korea that I first heard of these pets. Jin from BTS, has sugar gliders, and after researching I was hopeful that they would fit my lifestyle. I was able to buy three girls, a mom and her two daughters. For the first couple of days I had them, they were not open to me, or the apartment, but in time they warmed up. The mother is named Bat, because I knew I wanted a sugar glider named Bat. I find it amusing when animals are named after different animals. Her two daughters are Odella, named after lake O'dell on Lake of the Woods, and Eretria from Shannara Chronicals. Odella is by far the most social one and always runs to the cage door when she sees me. As soon as I open the door she jumps out on to me and will hang out on my shoulder, or runs around the apartment exploring. 

Pirate by day

     On Halloween day I worked at my brain
rehabilitation residence. For the Halloween spirit I pulled out my corset, and puffy shirt for a pirate gypsy. During my shift at work, one of the clients was giving up a beautiful black tuxedo kitten, that I shortly attempted to convince my friend Yuseong and my boyfriend to look after. The kitten however, found a safe home at one of my co-workers homes. After my shift, and a quick costume change I headed to my boyfriends apartment for a small gathering of six as a samurai. We spent the night eating pizza, playing games and enjoying our last bit of social enjoyment before the next unknown lockdown. The morning after Halloween, I returned right back to work, in my normal clothes.

Calies, Georgie, Shar

      A silver lining around the storm clouds, was having Calies come visit the West Coast during the second week of November. Unluckily for her, she got here just in time for the city of Portland to begin its preparations for the new Covid-19 guidelines. Our restaurant choices were limited, it was raining the whole week and not many places were open. However, we still made the most of our time together with a photoshoot, window shopping (and actual shopping) at malls, and I even took her to a drag show.  The first day in Portland we spent the day exploring downtown around my apartment doing a wet, Portland fall photo shoot. Georgie and Sharmaine drove up from Salem as well to join us for the evening before heading home again. Another day we all spent window shopping at the mall and eating Korean fried chicken back at my place. The next day Calies and I went out for coffee, walked around the mall again some more and ended with empanadas at a tapas restaurant and ended with Voodoo donuts. Calies's take: they're not worth the hype; which I agree. For Calies's last day we drove to the outlet mall during the day and viewed the drag show at night. I took Calies to the well known Darcell's XV, which is listed as one of Portland's must sees and we were lucky enough to be able to get a show in before the freeze. And just like that, the week was over faster than it came to be. 

Zoom

    The remainder of the days in November leading up to Thanksgiving fell into a routine of work, and school when I remembered. Thanksgiving almost snuck up on me this year and due to Covid-19, work and finances I celebrated in Portland via zoom. The day before Thanksgiving, my boyfriend and I did a mix of making some food, and ordering the chicken from Popeyes- yes, including their new chicken sandwich. For Thanksgiving day, we had the leftovers. Thanksgiving morning, like many other families, was celebrated with various zoom calls.

Providence

     In December I started my second job at Providence St. Joseph Hospitals. For now I'll be working as a "Health Access Monitor"- just a fancy name for temperature taker, and working at my brain rehabilitation job. These two jobs will take me through the last six months of earning my bachelor's degree at Portland State University and hopefully will set me up to begin shadowing an occupational therapist and a recreational therapist at both locations. For now, that is the goal and plan for my 2021. Again, with Covid-19 protocols keeping everything in Multnomah county closed, and with bills to pay, I'm working six day weeks between the two jobs. I come home to sleep, and eat, and play with my sugar gliders, before getting up the next morning to go to work again. With that being said, if you want to help support me, please check out my work-in-progress LinkTree for important links. :)

Pioneer Tree

     For Christmas, Roy and I celebrated early since I had to work Christmas night. On Tuesday we went got dressed up for our "second" date at Southpark Seafood. The seating was outdoors and Roy let me sit closest to the heater, so I'm sure he was cold. We ended the night by going to Pioneer Square to see the tree and all the lights. For our actual Christmas Roy opened his presents on Christmas Eve and I got to open mine after the Christmas weekend. Christmas morning was filled with zoom calls with both sides of my family before I finally headed off to work. After the short break I had for Christmas my weekend was packed with as many hours of working as I could squeeze in. Between my schedule at the brain rehab center, I worked my first overnight shift in the Providence ER. Luckily for me, the shift ended up not being too hectic and I was able to find an on-call room to sleep in for a few hours before my next shift in the western wing. 

     For New Years, Roy and I spent the night in, watching tv. At midnight we stepped outside to the river to watch the fireworks, then at 12:05, we went back inside and went to bed. Now for 2021, I'll be heavily utilizing my google calendar as I balance, two jobs (a total of 70 hours a week) and two online classes. 

Back in Portland

Nikki

     After a year of moving and traveling from Canada, to the Midwest of The States, to South Korea, Japan and back to America, this September I found an apartment to settle down-for a year- back in Portland. The month of September was filled with moving into my new place, rearranging the furniture several times and job hunting before classes started up. The week before school started I balanced job interviews and meeting up with friends. 

     My first day back in Portland Roy and I had our very first date. After getting the keys to my new apartment and of course checking it out with overjoyed excitement. Roy and I went to Buffalo Wild wings. Aside from Roy, Nikki was the first person I got to meet up with again in Portland. Her and I were both craving Bingsu and luckily for us, there is a food cart near my apartment that has it. After getting our food we took it back to my place to eat and spend the rest of the night catching up. Later in the week I met up with another one of my friends who lives in my building. We met for lunch and I shared my stories of Korea with him and made plans to see each other often as we are now neighbors. Now all moved in Georgie and her twin sister Sharmaine drove up from Salem to visit me in Portland.

Georgie and Sharmaine

Georgie and I reminisced about Korea and found it humorous that this was our first time meeting in America. With Nikki, Georgie, Sharmaine and I enjoyed a night of pizza, popcorn and seltzers. 

     For classes, they are of course, all online. My senior year at university is looking to be completely online. This term I have Research in Health Fitness, Physiology of Exercise and Health, Mind and Body. I was taking Korean as well, but after the first week of class I felt I would benefit more from studying on my own, also, I don't mind the extra time in my schedule now. Portland State University has already announced that winter term will also start online, so for the time being I can officially do my university studies from anywhere I want. My desk, the library, my bed... or anywhere in the world. If only I had the money to travel again. 

     My second week of school brought no excitements or new stories, but the interviews paid off and I started my first day at work the second week of October. With the pool closed at Portland State University, returning to my job at campus rec was not possible in the near future. I extended my horizons and now am working at Brain Rehab Network. An organization that works with individuals and families who are living with a traumatic brain injury. I work in the residential aspect, helping individuals in their apartments with cooking, cleaning and anything else they might need assistance in. 

    For now it is work and school; until the upcoming holidays bring more stories. 

  

2020 in a Road Trip

     After packing the food, camping gear, and gathering our maps, Oceane and I left late Sunday morning for our week away from society. Two hours into our drive we got pulled over for speeding, luckily the officer let us off with a warning and we were back on our trip in no time. We spent the rest of the day driving down US 97 until we made it to Bend. Stopping in Bend for gas and food we enjoyed Panda Express for dinner. 

     From there we continued on to our first campsite in Newberry Volcanic Monument in Deschutes National Forest. I was nervous about camping there because we did not make any reservations. A sign at the entrance of the monument announced that as of this year, all but one campsite in the monument will be reservations only. The only campground that had walk-ups available was the furthest one on the East Lake called Cinder Hill Campground. Before looking for a campsite we drove up to Paulina's peek on a very narrow and very steep dirt road. The view from the top was worth it, but I recommend making the hike over the drive. 

    We ended our day by looking for a campsite in a very full campground. After finding one and setting up we went for a swim in the lake. The volcanic lake was refreshing and thanks to the thermal vents it was as warm as any outdoor pool with a beach made of pebbles that sparkles from all the obsidian pieces in it.

      Our first night ended with s'mores and drinks around a campfire, followed by an unsuccessful comet search and a successful obsidian hunt.

     The second morning was filled with exploring the rest of Newberry Monument. A mile-long loop on the obsidian flow gave both Oceane and I some great tan lines. Our tan lines, or rather burn lines, were deepened with a three-mile-long hike along Paulina lake to some thermal hot springs. The hot springs are holes dug out into the beach along the lake. The water was too hot to get into, but if you sit in the lake around the shore, some of the thermal vents keep the shoreline warm. For lunch, we made sandwiches on the hood of our car in the parking lot. 

     We filled up on gas at a little station just outside La Pine and made our way down the Oregon Outback Scenic Byway. For our first stop, we went to Fort Rock. Just a quick drive-by on our way to Derrick's Cave. Unfortunately, the road to Derrick's Cave was closed, so we were not able to go explore the cave. We continued on our journey to Crack in the

Ground. 

     The Eastern Oregon travel book I borrowed from my dad said that the walk in the crack
would eventually be filled with boulders and that we would be unable to continue on. We may not have reached the point the book was talking about, but we did reach a point that also could have been the mentioned boulders. We, however, found a way through. 

     The next point we came to in the crack was a part that came back up to the surface. We walked back along the ridge of the crack back towards the car. We continued along on the dirt road as we made our way towards the sand dunes.

     We were almost 7 miles away from the paved road when disaster struck. Not one, but two flat tires. We felt the back one hit something as we were driving so we pulled over, unloaded the back, and got ready to put on the spare. Just before I pulled out the jack, I noticed that the front tire was also flat. With two flats and one spare, we had no other option... but to call our parents and ask for help. From Pendleton, my dad helped me find the nearest tow truck and nearest Les Schwab. From there we had an almost two-hour wait for the truck. 

     While we waited we played cards and ate cereal. A few cars passed by us and offered us help, but we ensured them that we were okay. The tow truck took us back to La Pine in about three hours, the driver dropped the car off at the Les Schwab and took us to a cheap motel.

     The motel we stayed at was right next to a gas station-- with the same owner-- and the teenager that was working the front desk that night also worked at a restaurant in town and was able to get us burgers and cider at 11 o'clock at night. 

     The next morning we went to Les Schwab. The mechanic replaced the front tire with a new one and put our spare on the back wheel. He also warned us that another tire was not going to last long and that we should avoid dirt roads for the rest of our trip. With no spare and another tire that wouldn't last long, we decided to cut our trip short and go home. 

     We drove back up to Bend and took US 20 to Burns. From there we took the curvy US 395 through John Day, all the way back home. 

Camping at 21

Camping

     Since my last post was towards the beginning of quarantine I haven't had much to blog about with my adventures. I tried to fill some time by writing short stories and beginning to write a novel of my own. My novel writing took me to halfway through my rough draft, but a wall of writer's block mixed with online school pushed that project to the back burner of my to-do list. 

     My job working with the city came to an end and with the decision to keep the outdoor pool closed for the summer, it looks as though that job will not be continuing. So for now, my job at Dickey's is acting as my sole provider. 

     For the whole of quarantine, my schedule consisted of school, work, and massive amounts of sleep.

Now that places are starting to open up again, my travel itch is starting to become hard to ignore as I want to fill my summer with adventures and traveling. Unfortunately, social distancing laws and lack of finance are putting those adventures to a later date. However, I'm still managing to find a way.

      With our two days off from work this week, Oceane and I packed up the car and headed east for an

Oceane and I

overnight camping trip at Minam, Oregon. We left late Monday morning and made the two-hour drive to the campground located just off the high way. Making it to our campground at noon, we ate a quick sandwich lunch and then set out to explore the nearby area and take photos. For the remainder of our time at the campground, we had a few families stop by for a quick break, but we were the only two that were camping overnight.  

     This adventure only brought us to three in the afternoon, so we started a fire and began our long and large dinner of hotdogs, s'mores, and Mike's Lemonade. Four hotdogs each and endless s'mores later it was eight at night and we were ready to call it a night. 

     The next morning we woke up to a light rain on the tent and headed back to sleep until noon when the rain finally started to calm down. Packing up camp and enjoying s'mores pop tarts for breakfast we continued on our drive to Wallowa Lake before we made our way home.

     On the way home, we stopped in Lostine at the Blue Banana for coffee and smoothies. It was a small

little coffee shop with a bug parked in the side of the building and an airplane crashing into the roof. Oceane was excited to get coffee and a lavender lemonade she had had a few years ago. I got a four berry smoothie. It was very sweet and definitely tasty, but I was upset that the four berries were syrup flavors, not actual berries. 

     Lastly, our adventure ended back at home with a birthday dinner at Prodigal Sun followed by a birthday shot at the Rainbow Cafe back in town. 

     Hopefully, for July, my travel plans will come through and I'll have more stories for the end of summer. 

 

Settling in Before the Quarantine

WTF

   For the recent turn of events in the world, I thought it best summed up in this meme of J-hope from BTS.
   This past month I've settled into my hometown routine of work and school. This week I just finished up my winter term classes online with spring term also looking to be online.
   Before the social distancing rules were put in place I was able to work on several events. The first was the annual Daddy Daughter Dance. With a decoration theme of 50's drive-in. The fathers of the town bring their daughters all dressed up to this dance once a year. I got to help with planning, a little bit of decorating and working the door during the event. The next event I got to help with was our first Life Outdoor Show. It was my biggest project for the month of January and February, having spent those two months reaching out to countless businesses in hopes that they might want to be a vendor at our very first show. In the end, there were around twenty vendors for the show. It seemed to be a good hit for our first year and we've already begun some basic planning on next years show.

Daddy Daughter Dance

   After the Daddy Daughter Dance and the Life Outdoor Show, my two biggest events were over and I was looking at some downtime before another big event. On Monday nights I started to work as a gym attendant for our Rookies Soccer program. I even got to coach a little bit. My favorite activity, that all the children seemed to enjoy was teaching them to "protect their penguin eggs". I would demonstrate by holding the soccer ball with my feet and waddling with the ball between my legs. Whenever I wanted the children to stop and listen I would just shout out to protect their penguin eggs and they would all stand with the soccer ball between their feet. Sadly, I only got two Monday's of this fun before we had to cancel all programs.
    Last week I also started working at Dickey's Barbecue Pit again, but now I am wondering how long I'll still be able to work with the recent decision to close all restaurants in Oregon.
   For now, I'll be working as planned for as long as I can.

Madi

   For my personal life, I have taken up dog sitting.  I spent a week watching over this beautiful Newfoundland, lab mix and an Australian Shepard. It was up in the mountains so we got to spend a lot of time playing in the snow during the day and binge watching The Untamed at night.

   When I'm bored I have also taken up some more arts. Sketching or taking photos, but also more exciting, I've decided to take up writing and am currently working on a novel. I want to work on more writing, maybe some short stories, but I haven't decided where to start or how to go about it; but maybe you'll start seeing some short stories pop up on here! Any ideas or themes are welcomed recommendations if you want to see
something!

21

   Lastly, I just celebrated my 21st! The day of my birthday, I actually had to work and study for a final, but the Monday after I went out to dinner with my dad at my favorite restaurant in town and had a fiesta bowl with my dinner. Luckily I made it the day before the restaurant closure!

   For the time being, I'll be working, taking online classes and hoping that the BTS concerts do not get canceled, since I bought tickets for two concerts! 

Return Home

Last subway ride

   After being home for almost two months now, I have settled into my weekly routine. Living back in the United States is amounting to be much more repetitive and uninteresting than my life was in South Korea. 

   Still sick, I returned to the States on the Second of January. After a long flight, I met my parents and brother at the airport, and met my aunt and uncle for lunch. After finishing lunch, it was time to go home. The rest of the weekend was spent recovering from traveling and sickness (I later found out, that it was mono).
   Now, that I was back in the United States, I had the month of January to complete my senior capstone project. If you remember, while I was abroad in South Korea, my senior capstone was to connect an American high school to the life, culture and history of South Korea through weekly blog posts. My final requirement for this project was to visit the classroom and present one final lesson. I scheduled my trip for January 17th.

Snow

   On the 17th, I woke up to snow in my hometown, but made the flight to Portland anyways. I got to Portland and used my free time to go back to my old work to visit some friends. I was surprised to see my work wife had returned to our job! While I was in Korea, I had spoken with her on the phone about how we had both left working at the recreation center and were doing different things with our life now, but she was the first person I saw in Portland.

Read my blog post here

   After reuniting with her, I began to make my way to the high school, only to check my email on the
max to see that Portland high schools had a two hour delay due to weather. My teacher had originally asked to reschedule, but because I flew in, we were still able to make it work. I gave the class a short lesson on Korean names.
   After finishing the lesson, I made my way back to the Portland State University campus to meet with friends. I spent my weekend with my friends Isaac, Roy, and Haley, playing mini-golf, catching up and of course, sharing all the missed drama.
   It wasn't long before I was in Portland again. The very next weekend I drove back up to Portland to join the Seollal celebration put on by the Korean Student Association. I got to see me good friend Sunho and see many of my other Korean friends. I was very happy to be back in Portland, but I realized, that coming to Portland a second time in such a short time made it even harder to return home.
   As for the rest of my time, I am keeping myself busy between working at the local parks and

Bam.Bam Designs

recreation department and my human anatomy class. I have started to get back in to photography as I drag my best friend along to abandoned locations to take photos.
   Also, I was able to convince her to have a Galantines with me this year. My best friend, her two younger sisters and I all went to the local sushi restaurant for Valentines and then went and saw Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey afterwards.
   For now, I just have work and school planned, but in my distant future I have very exciting plans to go see BTS in concert at Fedex Field!!