iAmsterjaminParis: Day 1 (full of traveling)- SF to AMS to Paris

We left for SFO early in the morning so we will have adequate time to visit the American Express Centurion Lounge. The lounge is free entry for people with the American Express Platinum card (+2 guest or immediate family members) or you can pay a $50 fee to get in. They only have a Centurion Lounge in 6 different airports and SFO happens to be one of them. They have a small buffet for food, a wine tasting bar, a full stacked bar, coffee machines, showers, TV’s, and comfortable lounging areas. After 2 hours at the lounge we set off on a 10 hour trek to Amsterdam!

We had a 2:30pm flight so it was kind of hard to sleep. I knocked out the first hour and then couldn’t sleep so I had my meal and watched two movies. I eventually slept for another 2 hours before landing.  Landing at 12am SFO time means 10am AMS time- running on 3 hours of sleep felt awful. We got our luggage and took an Uber over to our hotel to drop off our suitcases before heading to Paris. We traveled with our backpacks + laptops. The backpack was a smart idea but bringing the laptop was not. It made carrying our backpacks all day really hard because it was so damn heavy.

After dropping our stuff off, we walked over to Amsterdam Centraal Station located right next door to the hotel we will be staying at in Amsterdam. We grabbed a quick bite to eat while waiting for our train to Paris.

And then we were off! We took the Thalys train from Amsterdam Centraal Station to Paris Nord. It takes about 3 hours, cost ~150 euros round trip, wifi included, and overall pretty comfortable. It was so comfortable that we both knocked out for the entirety of the ride.

Hi Paris~~~

Our hotel, Park Hyatt Paris – Vendome, is a 30 minute walk from the Paris Nord station. We were being ambitious and walked all the way there. 
  

The temperature was about 32-46 degrees throughout our stay.

  

Our hotel room was simply gorgeous. They upgraded us to the deluxe and boy was it comfortable. It had high ceilings and felt very homey.  

The room was equipped with a Cali King bed and a big ol’ TV. The bathroom was located right next to the bed and was open with the option to slide close the big doors.

I loved the shower because of the top down shower head! I couldn’t stop talking about it while I was there.
  

View from our room~

After settling into our hotel room, we decided to go find some food. Finding food has always been the hardest part about traveling for us. We really should start planning where we want to eat beforehand. We ended up walking around about an hour before deciding to line up for this ramen shop. It was cold af outside but people were lining up so we joined the queue.

  

  

Best. Decision. Ever. The ramen was seriously so good. Apparently ramen is supposed to be pretty legit in Paris. 

We grabbed some cake to eat at the hotel to end our night. It was great. Absolutely delicious. 🙂 We slept well since we traveled all day and night. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

  
Wishing you all a lovely Valentine’s Day! 😍😅

Roka Akor – SF Restaurant Week

I was really looking forward to SF Restaurant Week this year because I had such a good experience last year. There is always a lot of buzz around Roka Akor and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to eat here for a discounted price ($40/person)! We made reservations a couple weeks ago for a Tuesday night at 6pm.

2016 Atlassian New Year Party

Disclaimer: I did not take most of these pictures. They were taken by professionals and I must say they did a damn good job.

My company hosted our company New Year party in January at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in the Financial District. It was a building I have never stepped foot in before and I was quite blown away. Here are some pictures of the venue!

2016 New Year Resolutions

Evonne 

1. Read 15 books
2. Get my CPA
3. Pick up a hobby and/or work out 
4. Blog at least once a month 

Mika

1. Health/workout
2. Be more honest/Dutch
3. Go to more networking events (1x a month)
4. Volunteer! 

Dara

1. Keep it to 1 drink at a time.
2. Be more pro active with reaching out to people.
3. Get clarity! Figure out where to go from here. 

Cheers to bringing in the new year with great company 🙂 lets work together to better ourselves! 

I think overall I just want to be better. Be happier, let things go, make things better, and just be better haha

#BigBangingInLA – October 3-4

Christine was complaining that I haven’t blogged in a while so here’s a blog about my short trip to LA for the Big Bang concert! I thought I did a good job at posting IG pics but I guess a blog is nice too as opposed to just pictures.

Mika and I bought tickets for the Big Bang concert at Staples Center a couple months ago so it was a highly anticipated trip for me. I didn’t get to see Big Bang the last time they came to the US because I was a broke college student but I upgraded to a broke grad school student so I made sure I didn’t miss out this time!

We had an 830am flight to LAX from SFO and began our roughly 36 hour trip in LA at 10! We rented a car from FireFly (super cheap but the car was meh) and headed to Westin by LAX (not so cheap). Mika and I had an agreement that if she drives us to the hotel from the rental place, I’ll drive the rest of the trip. Turns out the hotel was literally across the street -______-. I got tricked! SO TRICKED.

Coming out on a Friday night.

This weekend was eventful and unfortunately mostly unplanned. One thing led to another but lets cut to the juicy part and set the setting at the climax. My dad walks by my room and says, “Evonne, your mom and I want to talk to you.” At this point, I knew what was going to happen and I question whether or not I was ready for what was to come. But of course at this point I didn’t have much of a choice given the situation. So the night goes a little something like this …

Playing with new GoPro!

We bought a GoPro over the weekend and couldn’t wait to play with it! Who knew editing a video would be so hard? I will learn to master steady video recording in a couple of months but in the mean time enjoy this video I put together.

Thoughts & Grand View Park – Last Friday of Funemployment

Woke up in a semi-bad mood for no reason. I guess sometimes you really do just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I got up and had some breakfast while browsing the internet hoping to find something to lift my mood.

I read an article about Freddie Gray’s death being ruled as a homicide and charges were filed against the 6 police officers involved. A step closer to fairness and equality amongst citizens of the United States of America, yeah? When it comes to the topic of #blacklivesmatter I feel a lot of conflict internally. I think the root of the conflict is the fact that it is so hard to watch. I know that history is never pretty in the making and some of these people could possibly be viewed as heroes in the future because they are fighting for an important change to happen. But it’s still very hard for me to come to terms with what I’m thinking or feeling. Partially because I know I am not educated on the topic and partially because I don’t know where or even how to express my thoughts and feelings. It’s hard to watch the riots that happen, it’s harder to watch the videos of police officers mistreating specifically black citizens, and it’s even MORE frustrating watching and listening to the mixed opinions of (privileged (white)) people all over the world. But I guess at the end of the day I know that black lives do indeed matter.

Being bombarded by frustrating thoughts got me really antsy so I decided to explore a little bit. It was sunny in my neighborhood so I assumed it was sunny everywhere else in SF. Boy was I wrong. I decided to go to Grand View Park aka the stairs on 16th and Moraga in the Sunset.

Weekend with the Nishiya’s~

Being done with finals means it’s time to travel! Mika planned to go home for Mama Nishiya’s birthday and asked if I wanted to tag along – uh hell yes! Why wouldn’t I want to meet the Nishiya family that I’ve heard so much about?

Our 11am flight was delayed for about an hour and a half so we sat at the airport watching Kuroko’s Basketball (anime). I think we were pretty embarrassing because we were getting really excited rooting for the main character’s team. In our defense, it was an intense episode. Perfect way to spend some downtime at the airport. Note to self – always bring iPad on trips.

It was a short plane ride down to SoCal. We took off, the stewardess took our drink orders, we talked for a bit and then it’s time to prep for landing. It was probably a shorter ride than if I were to drive down to San Jose. Mika and I found the napkin hilarious. 🙂 We were famished by the time we landed at 2pm-ish. I don’t know if you guys know this, but when Mika’s hungry she gets really moody and turns into a big baby. This is what a hungry Mika looks like so if you ever see this face, you have been warned.

Mama Nishiya picked us up in the black Mini Cooper (forgot to take a pic) and then our adventure begins~ First stop, the Nishiya house to drop off our stuff and the cheesecake we got for her birthday. (Zanze’s Cheesecake in SF is the best cheesecake ever to exist.) Then we went to Boiling Point in Gardena for late lunch! It was the Nishiya’s first time and my third. Thankfully the wait wasn’t too long since it was such an off hour. I got the house special, Mika got the spicy beef, Papa Nishiya got the seafood, and Mama Nishiya got the pomelo one. The Pomelo one tasted like yuzu and it was hella yummy. I think I’ll have to get that one the next time I go.

Mika’s parents are just so cute. I couldn’t get over how cute her family is and I still can’t! Although there was a minor (more like major) language barrier, I found them extremely likable – they made the effort to talk to me and engage with me. You can tell they were a little shy speaking English which added to the cuteness. Good thing I had Mika as a translator!

It was game day so you know Mika and I HAD TO rep the Warriors. I think on every game day this season, Mika has worn Warriors gear. Like seriously .. every. single. game. When did she turn into such a huge Warriors fan? (I would like to take some credit for this conversion). After devouring our hot pots, we kept eyeing the macaron ice cream sandwich and since we were on vacation (I guess I was the only one on vacation) I said why not!

This is what a full Mika looks like – Happy. The ice cream sandwich macaron was pretty good but a little too sweet for me. I had 3 bites and Mika had the rest. Mama and Papa Nishiya had plans to meet someone at 5pm so they dropped us off at a restaurant they regular-ed, Restaurant Shu-Chan. The owner’s children own a bar that is connected to the restaurant, Shu-Bar. The bar normally opens at 6pm but Shu-Chan (the owner) called his son to open the bar earlier for us! We were talking to Shu-Chan while we waited and he told us his wife was Taiwanese! Mika was like what? I thought she was Japanese this whole time! Bilingual people can really throw people off. We started drinking and streaming the game on Mika’s phone.

That yuzu liqueur was delicious. I really enjoy yuzu flavored stuff. We thought about buying a few bottles to bring back but we didn’t want to check our bags in. We’re going to go on a hunt around the city to see if we can get our hands on some soon.

Shu-bar was awesome. They have happy hour 6-8pm every day and a pint of Sapporo was $2.50! What a steal, right? We each had 2 pints and ordered some yakitori mid-game (even though we had just finished eating).  It was so delicious. Like damn I love Japanese food. WARRIORS SWEEP THE PELICANS! WHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The whole family gathered for dinner and it was a party. Those two fine gentlemen are Mika’s younger brothers, Kent (blonde) and Takuma (hat). Mika talks about her brothers often so it was exciting meeting them for the first time. I had to remind myself that all the information I have on them came from a third party and that I would come off as really creepy if I just talked to them like I knew them (which I feel like I do). After dinner it was already like 10pm so we went back to Mika’s house and watched tv until midnight. I was tired by 10 and was ready to knock out but the Nishiya’s are night animals.

The next morning, Mika and I woke up early and decided to walk to Nijiya Market located 3ish blocks away for some breakfast. It was 9am and already warm outside! I definitely wouldn’t mind some more sunny/warm days like that in the city every once in a while.

We had spicy salmon sushi for breakfast. I mean why not? I’m on vacation! After we got back to the house, Mama and Papa Nishiya went out to buy groceries to cook “breakfast” for us. I quote breakfast because it was served at noon lol. While we waited for them to come back, Mika pulled out her yearbooks. Middle school and high school (minus her junior year). I took pictures so I can put it on my blog. 😛

6th and 7th grade Mika. Hehe so cute.

8th grade Mika and the boy she had a crush on. hahahhah

Freshman and Sophomore Mika.

 

Senior Mika and her Senior Prom picture. TOO GOOD NOT TO SHARE.

 

Mika’s crew was called Tofu Crew. Their Senior panoramic picture on the left and their own page in their yearbook on the right. At noon, breakfast was served! Omelet prepared by the birthday girl and fruits~

Afterwards we headed to the beach in this cool ass ride. Papa Nishiya is really into old cars so it was really cool seeing and being in one of these.

We drove to El Segundo beach and from there we walked to Manhattan beach.

I wanted to take a picture with the Nishiya parents and they were more than happy to! Mika took the picture and she was like “I just got replaced.”

The weather was fantastic that day. It wasn’t very hot and a little windy so we didn’t over heat walking from pier to pier.

 

The beach was gorgeous and the houses along the beach were so pretty. We got to Manhattan beach and Mika told me that Manhattan beach is where all the beach volleyball action happens. As we walked out on the dock I noticed these Manhattan Beach Open Champions things on the floor. Of course, my heroes Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were one of them! I mean they are 4-time olympic gold medalists afterall.

We hung out on the dock for a while to watch the surfers do their thing. I really have to come back so I can enjoy the beaches!

We walked around the store fronts by Manhattan beach for a little bit before heading back. LOOK HOW CUTE MIKA’S PARENTS ARE. 🙂

We stopped by 85 degree bakery on our way back because we were getting hungry. It was my first time there and I loved every second of it! There were these calamari breads that were black and apparently very good but nope! Too exotic for me. Their sea salt mountain green tea was just the boba fix I needed. A LA trip is not complete without boba. Next time, we will explore other places. We got back to the house around 5pm and hung out for a little bit. Kent volunteered to cook dinner that night so we went grocery shopping and bought 4 bottles of wine.

While Kent was cooking, Papa Nishiya started to make a birthday card for Mama Nishiya. It was adorbz. Mika joined in and helped her dad.

Dinner was served at 9pm? Kent sautéed some mushrooms and onions to go with the chicken! It was delicious. I was so full but I couldn’t stop eating.

We popped the wine and took some pictures! Kent’s friend (I’m a horrible person because I forgot her name) joined us for dinner too! They kept referring to her as Nene-chan so Nene-chan it is.

I’m pretty sure Mama Nishiya said “funny picture” but this was the result. The Nishiya’s and Nene-chan were all on the same wavelength. I think Kent wins though.

 

After hours and hours of eating, drinking (3.5 bottles of wine) and talking at the dinner table we were finally winding down. Kent offered to give his mom a birthday massage and it was so touching. I remember him saying “it feels great to finally be able to connect with mama like this”. (cue the awwwwwww’s) Mama Nishiya was so happy she started crying and then everyone started crying!! IT WAS JUST SO CUTE. EVERYTHING IS CUTE. THEY ARE SO CUTE.

We slept at 3am and had to wake up at 8 to run some errands in the morning and catch our flight at 11. Mika’s parents dropped us off at the airport before going to work. Hugs all around! 🙂

It was a memorable trip for me. I always hear stories about Mika’s trips back home and how her family interacts but it’s so different hearing about it vs being a part of it. I think the part I liked the most was how ordinary it was. We did everything the way they normally do. They didn’t go out of their way to show me around LA or to impress me. I simply tagged along and it felt so natural. From the going for long walks by the beach to the sitting at home and watching tv to the hours and hours talking at the dinner table. It was my first time watching Mika interact with her family and it was just so .. you guessed it .. cute!