The Road Home/Abroad...

It's already been two weeks since I came home, time does fly! Here's a brief picture recap of the events and more to come...

~This is the first time we traveled as a family again in about 15 years. Japan is such a literally neat place and a nice change from living in the always hustling and bustling Hong Kong. I wasn't too into the "cute" culture of Japan before that I always thought people were always living in their dreams as I learned as a minor in Japanese Studies as an undergrad. It's not too bad of a thing after all. People strife to maintain order and natural beauty in all places. Things are way cheaper than I expected because of the economy downfall earlier. The trip included Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, and Wakayama which is the southern suburb of Honshu.

This is actually one of my favorite pictures. It's not me and the Buddhist monk at the Kiyomizudera (Clear Water) Temple was chanting the whole time as he asked for donations.

I was thrilled to visit Universal Studio in Osaka and I'm a ride fanatic. We hopped in the Spiderman rider the day Spiderman 3 came out! It's the best ride of all time! And I think I'm as ugly in the picture as that big lizard from Jurassic Park on my head...

My fam in Japanese robes after visiting the hot spring at the hotel. The hot spring experience was such a cultural shock for me and I'm still recovering from it... It did feel good afterwards though...

I think "bidet" (toilet seat equipped with "seat warmer", "washer", and even "dryer" is one of the greatest Japanese inventions. But this is my first time seeing and using one with a sink on top which you can wash your hand right after you flush using whatever water it comes out on top!

I revisited my alma mater high school for the Young Ambassadors' visit. After all the corresponding and arrangements I'm so glad things turned out fantastic. It's surreal to see the YA's perform on that tiny stage in the school hall of my high school. As Principal Liliana put it, "it's a dream come true!" I wish I had something like this when I attended SGSS over a decade ago.

Randy's giving a presentation on singing at one of the workshops afterwards. The other two workshops are on dancing and acting. The students and teachers totally enjoyed it and I heard nothing but great things from them. Some of them said they had never experenced something like this in their lives.

I hanged out a bit with the cast with a trip to Lamma Island. Here it is me and Meredith (one of the Chinese speakers in the cast who is a Taiwanese RM), Sterling (we auditioned the same year singing the same song and his brother was my mission companion!), Stacia (we were in the same tap class), Peter (a 3-year YA veteran), and Chloe (YA in my year) at an Indian restaurant. It's both awkward but fun to reunite with all the YA friends. Fond memories. Good times...

I also just saw the new BYUTV documentary on our YA Chinese tour 2 years ago and I'm in it again! You can check it out here (look for the program titled "Children of the Dragon" -- by the way, I handpicked that song!) It will be rebroadcast at the following times:
# Sunday, May 13, at 3am
# Monday, May 14, at 7 & 10pm
# Wednesday, May 16, at 3pm
# Thursday, May 31, at 6 & 9pm