• Lifestyle

    Look no further for your new favourite Poké place!

    I first tried Poké during my trip to Hawaii, and I instantly became obsessed with the fresh sashimi mixed with pickled vegetables, as well as a variety of sides. I must have ate Poké every day for the week that I was there, and I still find myself craving for it day after after. When I ordered my first bowl of Pokey Okey, I was actually prepared to be underwhelmed. After that first bite, I knew that I had found my go-to Poké restaurant in BC. This has to be our all-time favourite Poké place, with a diverse menu to choose from, along with scrumptious toppings like fresh avocados, torched…

  • Lifestyle

    Fun book for learning Chinese with kids!

    Between Sam and I, we have four languages in both our backgrounds combined, and as greedy as we may seem, we want our kids to learn all of them! It has been my longtime mission to teach my kids Mandarin/Chinese, as I am very glad that I was able to build a strong foundation of my mother tongue at a young age. To be honest, I had been searching for a series of Mandarin/Chinese books, not only with great content, but also appealing artwork! When Judy Li from Baby Snack Time offered to send me a copy of her book, I was more than thrilled to say yes. When I…

  • Family

    Baby-wearing experience made better!

    I was so ecstatic when Ashley from Wildbird reached out to me, asking if I would be interested in trying out their slings! I had been following them on Instagram and I truly loved the unique designs and colours they offered, and I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Although Liam was technically no longer a baby at two year-old, he still fit in the sling comfortably, and the whole time I was carrying him, the sling felt secure and Liam was almost lulled to sleep (very rare, as both of my kids are not fans of naps). Wildbird create such beautiful slings with the best materials for a truly comfortable…

  • Love in Tanzania

    Getting to know Sam all over again

    Remember the time when I wrote about how Sam and I struggled in our own way, explaining our long-distance relationship to our families and friends? For Sam, while his family had no serious objections to us being together, most of his friends doubted that I was ever coming back to Tanzania, and some thought I wasn’t even real. But I suppose Sam wasn’t easily swayed by other people’s opinion, because I didn’t turn out to be the “player” some of his friends predicted me to be. Actually, one of the first stops we met the day after I arrived, was to see one of his good friends, Julius. Buckling my…

  • Love in Tanzania

    Closing that 9,045 mile-long gap

    Have you ever been separated from someone you loved for an extended amount of time, and then when you meet again, it was as though it were only a day since you last saw them? While the waiting was long and gruelling, being reunited somehow made everything instantly bearable. I like to compare my long-distance relationship with Sam to coming home. For me, when I go somewhere, especially to a new destination, the journey there would always seem excruciatingly long. But when I take the same route home, essentially going the same distance, the journey then becomes so effortless, and before I know it, I am home again. This was…

  • Love in Tanzania

    Love is like rain

    When I arrived home in Canada and unpacked my bags, every item I bought from Tanzania reminded me of Sam and the idea of him and I together began to grow on me. And, for those of you who don’t know me, I am a big romantic at heart. For some reason, I always thought that I’d have a truly spectacular love story to tell my kids—and this was likely due to the fact that my parents had a pretty amazing story of their own (this merits its own separate post, so perhaps another time!). So, while the likelihood of me ending up with a guide that I met in…

  • Love in Tanzania

    The beginning of feeling homesick for Africa

    Before I made my way to Athens, I had layovers in Addis Ababa and Istanbul. And although it’s been less than 24 hours, I already felt an urge to check my e-mail to see if Sam had sent me anything, as he promised he would. When I was connected to a stable WI-FI at Addis, sure enough, I find a message from him. The email was very brief—short and sweet—and I thought to myself—“This is crazy,” and then sat down and wrote a reply. Back in college, I had a lenghty crush on a guy who was on the other side of Canada, and for the longest time, the new…

  • Love in Tanzania

    The end of one journey, and the beginning of another.

    If someone had asked me on that day what was going through my mind during the drive to the airport, I would tell them that I was so focused on talking to Sam, making the most of our conversation, that I hadn’t really thought about the “afterwards”. And who plans a future with a person they’ve met only a handful of times, especially with someone who was a thousand miles away? You’d have to be deliriously crazy to want to do that, right? Well, shortly after Sam dropped me off at the airport, I found myself bewilderedly stuck in that category. To this day, I am not sure what was…

  • Love in Tanzania

    Waiting for my ride

    It took me awhile to fall asleep, seeing how unexpected my last night in Tanzania had turned out. I only had one beer at the party and technically only half, since Sam accidentally spilled half of the content on me. And I was still thinking about what a great time I had and feeling simultaneously anxious and jittery about seeing him again later. Somewhere between my ambivalence and the anticipation of my Europe trip, I dozed off to sleep. When I awoke, I remember feeling extremely well-rested, and a bit jittery, for two reasons; one, my big Europe trip was about to begin, and second—I was going to meet Sam…

  • Love in Tanzania

    The World Cup Party (II)

    When I joined Greg and Sam, they each had a beer in their hand, a proudly Tanzanian brew that was quite popular—aptly branded as ‘Kilimanjaro’. They were both laughing at something when I stepped into this familiar circle, and Sam said something like—“You’re here!” with a wide grin on his face. I remember we all stood there and chatted for a while, and then Greg gallantly offered to get us both a round of beers on him. When he left, I didn’t recall any awkward silence, but rather that our conversation just flowed naturally. And while the content escapes me now, I still vividly recall the “feeling” of being very much…