Fishing Southern California, USA

Every time I go home my father wants to take me fishing with him.  He goes quite often in his free time.  I always like going because there is always the potential to see a whale.  No one had seen a whale so far this season, but I had a feeling that we would see a whale.  I was very lucky that the water was quite calm because sometimes I can get seasick.  It was a fun day of fishing.  I caught 15 fish, but only one fish was a keeper.  There was another fish I felt I had on the line which was quite heavy, but a sea lion got it before I could reel it in!!  The one fish I kept was not that big, however, it won me the jackpot on the boat!!  I had never won before, so that was pretty cool.  Plus we saw a California Grey Whale!!!  Later in the evening my parents and I went to see the Christmas lights at the harbor.  They were quite nice! 
Seasons Greetings!!

start of the day

pelican just chilling

getting live bait

interesting bird

cool blue waters

view of salt creek and strands beach from the boat

really nice colors

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going back to the harbor

with my winning fish!

smaller boat than I usually go on

of course palm trees in southern California

happy harbor days in Dana Point

play on words

this is how we have Santa

Merry Christmas!!

CS meeting Tokyo, Japan

Monday was my last day of work and after work my co-workers and I went to a pakuchi (cilantro) restaurant.  I had pho, but the main thing I really wanted to try at the restaurant was the cilantro cheesecake.  After the meal we all ordered the cilantro cheesecake, but it was sold out.  I HAD to try it, so last night I went back to the restaurant JUST to try the cake.  It was delicious.  It didn't have a strong cilantro taste, but just the perfect amount. It was probably one of the most unique dessert flavors I have ever tried.  Afterwards I went to Shibuya for the CS meeting.  It was nice seeing some familiar faces and a lot of new ones.  This upcoming week is going to be crazy for me with traveling.  Tomorrow I am flying to Rome for a 20 hour layover, Sunday back to the Czech Republic and on Wednesday I'll be flying to California for Christmas!  I'm ready!!

cilantro cheesecake!

group pic

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Taiko! Tokyo, Japan

One of my co-wokers has been doing Taiko for several years.  Another co-worker asked her if she would be able to teach us.  Thanks to the curiosity of the co-worker, an event was created.  My mom messaged me and told me that on TV she saw that in Ueno there were sakura trees in bloom.  Since I needed to go to Asakusa for the Taiko lesson, I decided to go to Ueno first to hunt down the sakura.  My mom didn't tell me the location of the sakura and I didn't have much time before the lesson.  Luckily I was able to spot 2 sakura trees in bloom.  After I took photos of the tree I walked to Asakusa.  On the way to Taiko, I saw a soba and tempura place I wanted to try after the Taiko.  The Taiko lesson was a lot of fun.  It was a bit difficult but it was really interesting to learn the beat and technique.  It was a great opportunity to practice on a real taiko drum instead of just playing the taiko arcade game. After 2 hours of taiko most of us went to dinner to the soba and tempura place I had spotted before.  It was delicious and the owners were super nice!  It was a fun day!

Ueno Pond

sakura in December!!

let`s do this!

starting the lesson

trying it out

waiting to change turns

first time for her but it seemed like she was a pro!

crazy

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happy and posing

in action

Taiko!!!!

delicious soba and tempura

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cartoon of the two owners

Creative Thinking Event Tokyo, Japan

Last Friday I finished work early, so I wanted to do something new.  I came across an event for creative thinking.  I wasn`t exactly sure what the event entailed but it seemed interesting.  Two ladies from China are doing research about domestic violence in different countries.  They wanted to think of a creative way to obtain information from people who are suffering from domestic violence.  They decided that the best way would be to design a box that enabled people to write their situations and put it in the box.  We split into two groups and had to think of a design that would be appealing and encourage people to write their stories.  It was a good chance to be creative and meet new people.  I hope the ladies are successful in obtaining some information.  Best of luck!!

brainstorming

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box my group made

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