Beautiful Manila & Boracay

Hello!  Back and sort of recovered from jet lag from the Philippines trip.

I went away for two weeks with the boyfriend.  The plane ride was super long; thank goodness for the stopover at Narita.  That marked my first time in Japan!  I got so excited that we tried to stuff as much Japanese food as we could in our stomach.  The ramen wasn't too good, and the omurice was blah ):  BUT at one of the shops in terminal 2 (not the main terminal), we found the oh so yummy Haagen Dazs Green tea classic Crispy Sandwich.  It's basically a green tea ice cream sandwich.  Upon purchase, I thought that the wafer would be soggy or stale, but it was most definitely not.

Wafer
green tea chocolate layer
green tea ice cream
green tea chocolate layer
wafer

Cuz I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

Will be back on the 28th.  Where am I going? To the Philippines!  It will be my first time in a tropical country.  But as a person who gets highly irritated in hot weather, can I enjoy my two weeks there? I leave in three days and haven't even pulled out my luggage yet.

My friends keep telling me to take photos of all the food and street food.  I supposed I should bring some TUMS in case I get sick?  I ate raw fish that was left out of the fridge for 6+ hours earlier... feeling OK still.  I must have stomach of steel LOL =_=.  Got my Tetanus, Hep A-C shots already from prior job working at a senior hospital (yay!), and booked my dental & wisdom tooth removal appointments.  I feel very accomplished today.

Oh, and I also picked up my postage package before heading off to work.  They were the circle lenses I ordered in mid-December 2011:

Time

When you live in a bustling busy city like Vancouver, you may often forget that it does not require a lot of money and planning in order for you to have fun.  If you take the time to step back, just for a moment, you might be able to see why and how it is so.

After church service, the boyfriend and I had five hours to "kill" before dinner plans with friends.  Guess what we ended up doing for those five hours?  Vegetate in front of the T.V. We're usually busy with school/work Monday through Fridays every week, and so rarely get to see each other.  Because of that, we save our weekends to do "exciting" things.  To be honest, I think we both needed that chillaxing afternoon.  Sherlock Holmes and The Lion King were on, one after the other, lucky for us. 

After the night ended, with dinner and all, the boyfriend thanked me for my time and that he had fun, even if it just being couch potatoes for five hours.  I then suggested something about it "being a waste of time," to which he said that people often take these little things for granted.  What do we live for, really? 

Left me thinking (though unconsciously, until now).  I can see what he means now.  How we use our time and how we prioritize things in life lead to the rationale on how we define "waste of time."  He cherishes the time we spend together, so it was not time wasted, regardless of how we spent it.  It's not like I didn't enjoy the vegetating on the couch for five hours, but in my mind somewhere I thought that maybe there could've been "better" ways to spend the time.  I mean, we're not getting any younger.

Could be the Asian upbringing, though.  Hmm... just something to think about.
Happy January, everyone (:  Bloated on sushi.


P.S. My friend, a UBC student, is going to Uganda to volunteer for The Aids Support Organization (TASO), an indigenous HIV/AIDS organization, for three months.  If you feel like helping out in any way, check out http://juliesou-uganda.weebly.com/index.html for more information (: Thank you!