A day late, but if you check out the sheer...LENGTH of this post, you'll understand why.
This past week...has been packed like nobody's business. Prior to sitting down to write this post, I didn't actually FEEL tired from the week's activities, but now in hindsight, the pictures clearly say otherwise lol
One Jump Ahead of the Blogline!
(bonus points if you caught the Disney reference)- Wednesday 12/13
- Friday 12/15 (Champaign Day 1)
- Saturday 12/16 (Champaign Day 2)
- Sunday 12/17 (Champaign Day 3)
- Monday 12/18 (Champaign Day 4)
To "jump", hit "Ctrl (or Cmd for Macs) + F" and type in the EXACT title.
This is...a really long post. Oh. My. Word. lol
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Wednesday 12/13
A couple of Chinese students, Minnie and Sue, wanted to come over and learn how to make char siu (cha sao), or Chinese BBQ pork from Mom. Needless to say, they loved it :)
Minnie cutting the pork. She was having a really hard time, so I actually ended up taking over for her.
Snip snip...snap snap :P
The finished meal!
Happy Minnie and Sue! Very satisfied with the results of the dinner.
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Friday 12/15 (Champaign Day 1)
Wrapped up grading and final exam video viewing for work and set out to Champaign around 5:15pm!
I arrived to get Ashriel from her internship around 8:10pm, and given that I was hungry by that point, we went to our fool proof location for delicious noodle soup, Ozu Ramen! We'd gone there the last time we visited her.
It's ma pipsqueak! :D
Mandatory takoyaki, officially my favorite "snack" item in Champaign.
Just look at this...deliciousness <3
I think it was shio ramen? Not as good as the tonkatsu, but still good.
It was cold. But ramen always makes it better :)
We headed back to Ashriel's dorm after that. There was an issue with the shower though, so in addition to the already weak water pressure of all of the dorms' showers...I took a cold shower :(
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Saturday 12/16 (Champaign Day 2)
Probably the MOST packed day of the trip.
We had quite a bit of it planned out beforehand, revolving around the fact that Ashriel had work (for her internship) from 1-5pm.
Cute wreath at the Stratford House
The first place we went was for a LIGHT breakfast, so we hit up my favorite cafe (thus far) in Champaign, Caffe Bene. I mentioned it in previous Champaign trips, and with good reason :)
At the cafe!
Ashriel with our breakfast: Chocolate Raspberry Waffle.
Ambience <3
Nommy waffle :)
This thing had chocolate ice cream (or gelato?) and delectable raspberries. DELICIOUS!
On our way to our next destination, we hit up the hipstery shop, Ragstock. There were an unsurprising amount of items with slogans that I don't particularly support, but that's where we are as a society now. Oh well.
I will say this, they had A PLETHORA OF ONESIES.
I have seriously gotten into the fuzziness these days, so I purchased meself a penguin :)
Our planned destination (to walk off our calorie intake lol) was the Student Union Building, the equivalent of the Student Center here at SIUC.
Building exterior.
SIU. Please get one of these ASAP.
Thank you.
The main reason we went to the Union building was to play DDR. I have been...unable to play this ever since the Carbondale mall got rid of the arcade. We played on a new type of machine (with 5 buttons instead of 4), that only played songs in the Kpop genre. It was HIGHLY entertaining. It was also very sad (in hindsight) when I compared how I did compared to my high school days when I was actually half decent. *sniff
Given that Ash had a few hours of work ahead of her, I insisted that we at least eat SOMETHING before we went to Japan house, so we went to Spoon House, a Korean restaurant. Unfortunately, I personally am not necessarily a GIANT fan of Korean food (like I am with Japanese and Italian), so I was terribly UNPREPARED to order :( However, we found Jap Chae, which is always a good one, so we ordered that. :)
Overall feel of the place.
Ashriel with our Jap Chae!
The noodles were perfect, with the amount of chewy "kickback" on the teeth.
We finally arrived at the main event of the day, Mottainai Bazaar at Japan House, where Ashriel is interning. I was so distracted with shopping that I didn't take any pictures...oops!
Luckily, Japan House themselves took some I like, so here are some of the things that were present (to give you a general idea).
Ashriel called an old friend of ours, Lulin (my underclassman/junior/kouhai) from CCHS days (high school), who came up to Japan House via bus to meet up with us. In light of the fact that Ashriel still had 3 more hours of work to do, she accompanied me to the Korean stationary (and other stuff) shop called Art Box.
You walk in...and there are GIANT PLUSHIES IN CHAIRS EVERYWHERE!
Lulin!
Look at these!
This cup was so cute.
It has a little clear ball with different animals inside, nested in the bottom!
They had a resident puppy.
I was SO TEMPTED. SO SO SO TEMPTED to get these.
Syaoran Li and Sakura Kinomoto pairing bears, anyone?
After browsing through Art Box (and not buying anything), we went to the new location of Kung Fu Tea (that I had been to once before back in my NY/NJ trip to see my cousin).
It was significantly larger than the one in NY/NJ, including a whole food area as well, so that was interesting.
Vibes.
Food area.
Aaaaand I ordered takoyaki again, because why not?
I will say this though, Ozu Ramen's is better for several reasons, the most important of which is that they are both similarly priced, but Ozu gives you 5 takoyaki and KFT gives you 3 (cut in half to look like 6).
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Sunday 12/17 (Champaign Day 3)
We made it a point to go to church the next day, so we went to University Baptist Church (UBC). The service was pretty good and the worship team singers were enjoyable to listen to! (good job, Chipo, Tim, and Eric!
Program.
I didn't catch the name of the guy on the far left (the guitarist), but the Zambian woman behind him is Chipo, followed by Eric and Tim (from the corresponding dorm to Ashriel's all female dorm).
Possibly the most juvenile thing about the service to remember, but Pastor Brett was sharing about Isaiah 61 and how we should be like oak trees. However, in his description of oak trees, he said that they're very good at "throwing shade".
Hilariously (I thought I was the only one who'd be juvenile enough to laugh), our pew of 5 19-20+ year olds cracked up and there was a literal jolt that ran through the pew because we actually moved in our seats in our laughter. Honestly? That was a comfort. lol XD
We went back to Stratford for lunch and were blessed to partake in a ham casserole, fruit salad, and assortment of pancakes and toppings for lunch. Thank you Madelineand family!
After lunch (and I think a quick nap? My memory's gone lol), Ash took me to a new cafe that she's started going to, Teamoji. Cute little place, in my opinion. LOVE the look of it.
Christmas = lights, and I was LOVING the way they had theirs set up.
It was also terribly crowded, so we walked to the Union building again, Teamoji drinks in hand, and just sat and chatted and took ridiculous Asian selfies with this app called Snow.
We are totally fabulous :P
We went to a Korean BBQ place for dinner, but as stated earlier, I know NOTHING about Korean food. Ashriel really wanted us to try their Xiao Long Bao (the place is run by Chinese), and it was good, but I wasn't too satisfied with my dinner, if I'm being honest.
For Korean grill, if you want to order that.
Xiao Long Bao.
What I ended up ordering, a spicy (almost too spicy) tofu stew with beef, served with rice.
I didn't care AT ALL for the 3 side dishes it came with though. TT-TT
We had an evening tea date with Chipo (the Zambian worship leader mentioned earlier). She was lovely to talk to and to get to know and she was SO hospitable.
She also had this GORGEOUS flower tea blend that she let us have and it was absolutely beautiful to behold as it was steeping.
Just look at the colors of this thing!!
All floofed out and ready to drink!
She also brought us cookies. Immediate win.
Overall, I would say that I enjoyed my visit with Ashriel :)
Met lots of cool individuals that I would love to get to know better, and now I have more people to hang out with the next time I go up!
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Monday 12/18 (Champaign Day 4)
We left the dorm 2 hours later than planned because maintainance guys (a whole crew) were all over the basement level were I was staying, and I was NOT about to walk out in the middle of them looking like the walking dead. So Ash and I stayed in bed and read for 2 hours. Good use of our time, right?
Anyway, surprise surprise! My last meal in Champaign was at Caffe Bene again. lol XD
We got the Green Tea Bingsu, by far my favorite thing to eat from CB.
Ashriel in the new shirt she got from the Mottainai Bazaar.
Isn't she just flippin' adorable? :3
There is everything to like about this photo <3
Before heading out, we went shopping for some Asian food requests from Mom, and as soon as that was done, I was on my way home...
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And that was my jam-packed week. Props to you if you stayed till the end.
That said, please stay safe on the roads if you're traveling! I had a couple of idiots nearly tailgate me in the RIGHT LANE, with an open LEFT LANE, going at LEAST 80 mph (I was going 75, so...).
Be careful!
~Ariel
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