San Francisco

While I was in California for Susan's wedding, I took the opportunity to explore San Francisco some more. I love the diversity of San Francisco and how because of that things are always changing. Anyways, when I was there last May, I did a lot of the usual touristy things then like visiting Alcatraz, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower, Muir Woods, etc. . . So this time, I decided to just wander around a bit and in general, just explore the city itself more. I was not able to get to most of the city that I had wanted to explore because of time constraints but it was still a lot of fun. I also went down to Ghiradelli Square for a few minutes. I did not have time to really go inside and see everything but maybe next time. I went into an art gallery that was right next to the square to see some of Salvador Dali's work. They had a sign up and so I decided to pop in for a few minutes. I rode the cable cars again. If you are not in a hurry then the cable cars are for you but if you are in a hurry, definitely do not take the cable car. They make a lot of stops and even when they are going, they still have a lot of constraints that they travel under but they are a lot of fun.

Over the months since November, I have had the opportunity to get to know one of the tax partners in PwC's San Francisco office pretty well. He knows that I am interested in the area and so when during one of our last conversations he found out that I was going to be in San Francisco for a few days, he offered to give me a tour of their office! How sweet is that?! It was not anything official or anything like that but still, I had an office visit at one of the big four accounting firms and I am not even in the accounting program yet (I just have to finish writing my essay now that we have grades back from this semester). Some people would kill for kind of an opportunity (even though it was not an official office visit geared towards getting me an internship or job). Anyways, he introduced me around the office, explained how things operated, and showed me around the different floors of the office. While we were talking, I was able to ask a bunch of questions. I felt like I asked a decent amount of questions that were good but not too few where he could perceive it as me not really being interested after all or too many questions and having him think, "Oh my goodness. Will this girl shut up already!"

Overall, I really feel like I made a very positive impression on everyone that I met and that the whole visit went very well. Plus, I was able to make new contacts within that office and strengthen the ones that I already have there. Walking out of there, I just felt so happy and pleased with how well the visit went. Success!

Hanging of the cable car. Entrance to China Town.

Transamerica Building. Coit Tower.

The beginning of the crooked part on Lombard Street.

A view of Alcatraz.

Ode to George

 He was a tank. . . Need I say more?

  On the day that I got back to Provo from California, I was involved in a car accident.  I made it back to Provo around 12:30pm, had to be at work by 1:30pm, and got in a car accident by around 10:30pm.  (Maybe it had something to do with things being done on the half hour that day?)  I had left work late and was heading home.  I was heading south on University Avenue and was approaching the intersection at Bulldog Blvd.  As I was approaching, the light had just barely turned yellow and so I thought that I had time.  But then another car started to turn left (they were heading north on University and turning west onto Bulldog).  As soon as I saw them start to go, I hit my brakes and turned to the left in an effort to avoid hitting the other car but to no avail . . . we still collided.  

  Effectively, the insurance adjuster from Allstate said that George was pretty much totaled, which kind of sucks since that that is/was the car I was driving, thereby leaving me without a vehicle, and Dad and I have put a lot of work into George recently.  I wonder what they said about the other car.  I hit their passenger side on the lower half of both doors and pushed them in far enough that you could see the edge of the car frame.  Interesting if you consider that I was only going 35 mph previous to me slamming on the brakes, so I really was not going that fast.  Needless to say, they could not open either of the doors on the passenger side of their car.  Fortunately, I was able to drive George home afterwards and their insurance is paying for me to have a rental car so I can get to and from work, among other places.

 

Giants

  While I was in California, I took the opportunity to drive up north to Humboldt Redwoods National Park.  It was most definitely worth the drive.  If nothing else, the drive through Sonoma was gorgeous!  Once I got up there, I drove through a tree and along the Avenue of the  Giants.  I was able to see several of the more famous redwood trees like the Chandelier Tree, the Living Chimney Tree, the Eternal Tree House, the Immortal tree (survived lightning, loggers axe, floods, and a forest fire), the Giant Tree, and the Tall Tree.  I drove through the Chandelier Tree, walked inside the Chimney Tree and the Eternal Tree House, hugged the Giant Tree, and walked on the Tall Tree (it fell down a few years ago or so).  It was just pretty and very green.  Walking along the trails definitely made you feel as if you were an ant (or something else small) among giants.  But yet, it was so serene and peaceful walking along the trails and being enclosed on all sides by the redwoods.

  Since it was April, the park service had not put out the seasonal bridges yet.  This presented a problem when I went to go find the Giant tree and see the Flat Iron tree as they were across a rather large stream/ small river, only the Tall tree was on the same side I was on.  Luckily though, not too far down the stream/river were two fallen trees.  I was able to cross safely and get to the other side.  I was not going to have come all that way and be so close to seeing the widest redwood tree (at 53.2 feet back in 1991) and be stopped by the lack of a bridge!

  All in all, Humboldt Redwoods National Park was most definitely worth the 4.5 hour or so drive to get up there from San Francisco.  And now I can say that I have walked (and driven) along the Avenue of the Giants and that I have stood among giants.

 

A view of the vineyards in Sonoma.

  

  Getting ready to drive through the Chandelier Tree.

            
   Hugging the Giant Tree.  However, this is not the first redwood that I have hugged.  I hugged a redwood tree last May when I visited Muir Woods above San Francisco.  Both times I have hugged a redwood, I have been wearing my "hug a tree" shirt.  And no, I am not about to take up a career in tree hugging either.
                   

                                                            A view of the Tall tree.

Susan's Wedding

  Towards the beginning of April, I had the opportunity to go to my mission trainer's wedding in California.  She lives (or used to, now she lives near Las Vegas) in Sacramento and got married in the Oakland Temple.  I flew to the San Francisco airport (it was a lot cheaper than the Sacramento airport) on a Wednesday night and spent the night at a hostel in San Francisco and then drove out to Sacramento Thursday morning.  Susan's family was very gracious and left Laura Sheridan (Susan's MTC and mission companion) and I both stay with them.  I was very grateful that they allowed me to stay with them.  Plus I appreciated the opportunity to get to know them better.  I had met most of her family last May when I was in California but I was only there for an evening versus the 3 days or so that I was there this time.

  On Thursday, we ran around getting stuff ready for the wedding and reception.  The three (Susan, Laura, and I) all did facials Thursday night too.  We did the whole process: scrubbing, steaming(complete with lemons/limes), mask, cleaner, and toner.  Friday morning was the wedding and then in the evening, we set up for the reception.  We set up enough chairs and tables for 400 guests!  That is a lot of chairs.  I am not too sure how appreciative the young men who were helping to set up were of Laura and I making them hunt down more chairs repeatedly.  Saturday morning rolled around and with it came at least 20 Hmong men and women to help cook the food for the reception that evening.  Within 4-5 hours all the food was ready to go (keep in mind that they were making enough food for 400+ people)!  Both Laura and I concurred that if it was white people in charge of the reception, it would have taken them at least 2-3 days to make all the food and not that many people would have shown up to help make it.  At the reception, we definitely filled all the seats that we had seat up and could have used even more.

  In the Hmong culture, you have a program and a sit-down dinner, not the stand-up line and finger foods that are more common these days.  According to Penny Lo, Susan's program was a shorter one running about 30 minutes or so.  Penny said that some programs go as long as 1-2 hours!  Another nice thing that happened is that everyone helps to clean up.  The men take the chairs, table, etc. . . and the women take the kitchen.  The women  dominated the kitchen!  They had all the dishes and food packed up and cleaned up in no time at all.

  It was all so much fun and I am really glad that I had the opportunity to be able to attend Susan and VaYee's wedding.  However, I definitely felt like all I did was eat, eat, and then eat some more.  But, I probably would eat it all again because I love Hmong food!

 

Chicken popsicle, anyone?                                    

    

 The three of us with the masks on (Me, Susan, Laura).  

                   

The Oakland Temple.                               Susan and VaYee. 

  The picture depicts the making and end result of one of my favorite Hmong dishes: papaya salad.  You can see it in the lower right part of the picture.  Papaya salad is soo good!

    This picture represents a portion of all the food that was made.

 Susan and I.

Passover

  Back in March, one of my sisters, Jamie, and I attended the Passover feast that is put on every year by one of the professors here on BYU campus. It was really interesting and highly educational. I learned about the opportunity to attend Passover from my religion professor this last semester. I was taking a world religions class . . . finally! I have also wanted to take this class but have never been able to fit it into my schedule until this semester. I loved this class and I learned so much. Plus my professor really knew what he was talking about as he has been to most of the places we were talking about, has friends in all the religions we talked about, and has lived and studied in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas for several years. So he knew his stuff.
  Anyways, so did the professor, Victor Ludlow, who puts on the Passover feast every year. We did the whole thing, from start to finish. We started off discussing the different elements that make up Passover and why they are all there and then went through it all. We sang, drank (grape juice), partook of the seder plate (including the bitter herbs), read scriptures, and ate. It was fun and I would do it again. However, it did take longer than I know I was expecting. It started at 6:30 pm and got over about 10:15ish or so but it was still good.
This is the parsley that you dip into salt water. - Symbolic of the coming of spring and the perpetual renewal of life.
Haroset. - A mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon, and wine. - Represents the mortar the Israelite slaves used in Egypt.
 The Seder plate. (The white stuff behind the shankbone is the Maror aka the bitter herbs (horseradish).
 This picture depicts the exodus from Egypt and is entirely composed of miniature watercolor letters telling the the story from Exodus.