Thanksgiving with Jonas

I am back in MI now, after spending a spectacular five days with Jonas, his family, and our CA friends.

As usual, Jonas was determined to squeeze in as much tourist activity as possible, so each day was packed with eating, shopping, and visiting people and places.

I had more "real" food in CA than I have had in the past few months. (My usual meals tend to be easy snacks, like cereal, vegetarian chicken nuggets, string cheese, yogurt, etc.) But in CA, I was treated to balanced meals of real homemade Chinese food (yum). And we also went out for Chinese, Japanese, and Italian food. Oh, and of course Thanksgiving dinner was a huge feast. (Jonas told his mom that she could have fed the entire neighborhood with her dinner, and he was not exaggerating.)

We also met up with Jonas' friends and some of our friends from grad school who now live in CA. It is comforting to know that when I do move to CA, I will already have some very nice friends who live close by.

And of course, Jonas took me sightseeing and shopping everywhere, including SF Chinatown, Japantown, Berkeley, the Great Mall, and even San Francisco Public Library!

But the best part of the entire trip was spending time with Jonas.

Traveling to and from CA was pretty rough. The roads were glare ice on the way to the airport in MI and the plane had to be de-iced before takeoff. The trip back was worse. There were storms in the south that led to two very bumpy plane rides and long delays. On the way back to MI, I left Jonas' house at 6AM PAC and did not get to my apartment until 9:30PM EST.

When I got home, I asked myself, was all of that traveling worth the few days I was able to spend with Jonas?

The answer is yes. Just barely... but yes. :-)

Dinner with a Chinese family

I am so very excited because I get to see Jonas in less than a week, for my first Chinese Thanksgiving!

I was a little surprised to find out that there will be no mashed potatoes or stuffing for Thanksgiving, but I decided, who cares? Because Jonas' mom's cooking kicks ass. Seriously.

To celebrate my first Chinese Thanksgiving a little early, I thought I would share the most surprising new things I discovered when eating meals with Jonas' (very Chinese) family.

I was definitely surprised:

1. The first time I saw an entire cooked chicken served with it's head still on. I felt too sad to eat it because it was staring at me during dinner, secretly judging me. (Jonas told his mom this and she thought it was funny)

2. Same as #1, except replace chicken with fish. (And even more surprised when I found out that some Chinese people eat the fish's cheeks and its eyeballs!!)

3. When I watched Jonas and his entire family spit out chicken bones everywhere, during a normal family meal.

4. When I realized that Jonas' family does not drink beverages with dinner at home, but ALWAYS drinks a bowl of soup before dinner. (Yum tong!)

5. When I found out that there were so many rules about pouring tea.

6. Basically EVERYTHING about dim sum...

So if a sheltered white American ever has dinner with a Chinese family, please remember these pointers.
Don't be scared of cooked animal heads, feel free to spit out chicken bones like it's no big deal, and avoid pouring the tea. Trust me on these things. :)

Should I Stay or Should I Go??

I wish I could talk about my job more openly, especially since I do some pretty interesting research. However, all of the research I do is confidential, so I have to keep my lips sealed, or be extremely careful about what I say.

But I do have a job dilemma that I can talk about, which has been on my mind quite often lately.

As most of my friends know, my employment contract ends in the middle of December, but I have been asked to stay with my company longer...

Staying longer is practical for many reasons. I like my company, I like the people I work with, and I would have a chance to save up more money, before I make the next big step in my life. Staying longer would also help to enhance my resume and to build up more job experience before I try to find another job.

I don't stay, I will spend some time up north with my family and then move to California to be with Jonas and work in a public library. However, being jobless and trying to drive to California in the middle of the winter leaves something to be desired.

On the other hand, I feel like I have this great life waiting for me in California with Jonas. I have always lived in Michigan and I am so ready to live somewhere completely different. And I am not sure how long I can do the long distance relationship thing while keeping my sanity.

I feel like I have this exciting life in a new place with my perfect boyfriend, but that life is thousands of miles away. I also feel like I have spent the last 10 years or so (high school + college + grad school) preparing for my future and I am just once again putting my future on hold.

But then again, my life is not that bad now. It is much better than being unemployed and unstable all over again...

I am not sure if I should be logical or emotional in this situation...

Well, if this is the biggest thing I have to worry about, then my life is really not bad at all, right?

Photos of Arizona

Well, I won't say much about Arizona, because it has been over a week since the trip, and Jonas already gave a very nice description of what a wonderful time we had.

However, I thought I would share a few pictures of the trip ...and I am hoping that Jonas does not mind. :)