Time Flies: Around the World in 365 Days

So it seems like my frequency in personal writing has fallen overall. Journal entries have become more sparse over the years, and well, I’ve only had this blog for barely 2 years, so don’t feel too bad about that hehe. But a big reason for the lack of writing is that life has been happening! Outside of da internets…new job, new love (ish) I just never wrote about him before ha, new city…So here is a recap since my last post on April 14, 2014.

May – October 2014: Did my work thang at News for Chinese. Commuted daily between San Jose, Mountain View, and Redwood City. Explored more of the Peninsula and South Bay than I had in my entire childhood growing up here! Lots of picnics, hikes, outdoor sports, road trips & skiing in Tahoe (my first time ever! I took a 2 hour morning crash course with my friend and got the hang of it). In October, I also went to the Renaissance Fair in Casa de Fruta for the second year in a row as an adult. My mom used to bring us every year when I was a kid, and it is one of my favorite memories from my childhood–my favorite part is dressing up of course!

November 2014: Left for Sydney, Australia for 3 weeks to visit my homegirl Mo of the MoJo duo. Many silly adventures & deep conversations around the meaning of life and love were had. Saw the 12 Apostles off Melbourne coast during our trip down south, played around with wallabies, went to lots of museums, even more bars, had awesome Brazilian food, snuck our way into Taronga Zoo for free (unintentionally) after a seemingly century-long hike, but most importantly–just got to see her beautiful face. After all the crazy things that happened in the previous year before we first met, it really helped me come full circle and move on from those difficult times. Overall, it was an amazing and blissful trip in a beautiful country–I’ll definitely be back to fulfill my goal of working abroad there one day.

December 2014: Finished work at NFC, accepted new position as Head of Social Media at Feastly, the coolest startup ever. We create pop-up dining experiences that bring together strangers who share a passion for food. It started out as home chefs hosting supperclubs in their own homes, creating a way for travelers to have authentic culinary experiences like a local in major cities across the country. I’ve tried so much amazing food and also improved my hand at food photography quite a bit since I started. But more than all that, I love my team. Everyone has such unique qualities and skills to them that I truly feel like we are a Feastly family rather than just coworkers. *cheesy, I know, but it’s really awesome* December also marked my first onstage Flamenco performance or juerga, which was exhilarating. Dancing with my mom was so special and funnily enough, made me so proud of her, I felt as if I was her mom.

January 2015: Moved to Sunset, San Francisco, just below Golden Gate Park. Started my job at Feastly and got to know the city by the Bay.

February 2015: San Diego trip with Will for Valentine’s weekend! Ah yes, never gave him a formal introduction. Will is from Paris, and moved to California almost 3 years ago to explore the USA…but never thought he’d end up staying this long! If I had to describe him in one sentence, I’d say: The most interesting, kind, intelligent (especially good with random facts!), chivalrous, passionate and caring man. I feel so lucky and thankful to have met such a amazing person, who teaches and encourages me to be a better person everyday.

March – April 2015: Work, eating, work, eating, and drinking: that Feastly grind. We did our second round of skiing trips this season! A ton of fun, and also one Tahoe trip where we just rented a house out with the French friends and went hiking in the snow 😀 Click the pics below to check out what daily life is like at Feastly.

May 2015: Yellowstone trip during Memorial Weekend! Can’t believe we covered 4 states in 3 days: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Saw lots of bison, elk, some rabbits, and one bear in the wild! (Will and I also went to a reservation to see bears and wolf packs) It was quite rainy during the majority of our trip, but a very happy bucket list accomplishment. There was this surreal view at the end of our drive through Yellowstone on the last day. We looked out onto this incredible valley with bisons and their calves grazing, as light rain revealed a rainbow across the road. Winding creeks, lush trees, and a calming silence made it my favorite moment of the whole trip.

June – July 2015: Summer in San Francisco! Meaning…fake summer pretty much lol. I quickly learned that “SF Summer” is during the spring season, and the actual summer feels more like late fall with lots of fog, clouds, and blegh. It’s an experience though, and I stand corrected that not all of California has perfect weather, all the time. The first week of July, I had an impromptu business trip come up for News for Chinese, and was given the chance to fly to Taiwan for 5 days on a media tour. It was beyond amazing (we flew first class and stayed in 5-star hotels omg) and I made some really great friends from the trip, although I was the youngest there (as usual haha). But guess what…I got to see my bff Mo when I was there! It was literally the craziest coincidence–she and I had no idea we’d be there during overlapping times. And when I sent her a voice message on Whatsapp telling her I was going to Taiwan, she only listened to it the day she was already supposed to leave–but ended up delaying her flight. I was completely booked during the day times, but we got to spend the late evenings with each other which was more than enough for me, considering I never know when I get to see her again.

The Here & Now:
So there you are, we’re coming to the end of July, I’d only just returned from Taiwan 2 weeks ago. Currently I’m trying to find another place to live in SF, because my lease ends on the 31st of this month. It’s been enormously stressful–finding housing is harder than finding a job–but I think I’ve got something worked out. Update: I GOT HOUSING! THANK ZEUS! (Thanks, Aleks!)

So what’s next?
My next trip is coming up just around the corner: EUROPE!!! from August 3-17 with none other than my lovely Will. We will be hitting up his home city Paris as well as Normandy, and also visiting London and Barcelona in between the days. I’m so excited I can’t express myself effectively in words at this hour of the night (12:08am) haha. He’s told me that I shouldn’t get my hopes up for the super touristy stuff like the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre because we’ll be aiming to visit his favorite local spots (which I’m 150% okay with!) in these short 2 weeks. August gets a bit insane with the summer lines for all those classic destinations, and those monuments will still be there the next time I return. The most exciting part is that I’ll get to see a part of his life that we’ve never shared together before, as these past couple years have been him seeing where I grew up, meeting my family, exploring California and such. So nice to have a bit of role reversal!

Anyhow, I’ll also be putting up a post with more details and pics of my excursion in Taiwan to share very soon, so look out for that! 🙂

xo,
Joce

ps. This post took me over a month to complete, from June 5 to July 22. Crazy eh.