Winter Break & J-Term!

Hello again,

This is Joel and I'm excited to be back, blogging about my adventures and life happenings since December. In December, I went back to Malaysia for 10 days and had a blast! I had not seen my grandparents for over 3 and a half years, and many of my friends for over 5 years so that was an awesome time!

I did so much in Malaysia: I had a big photoshoot with my relatives from my dad's side, had a Christmas party with my friends, and spent a lot of time with my parents, grandparents, friends and cousins!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Myself, parents and grandpa!

 

Us cousins :)

 

Victor, myself and Adric (Childhood best friends)

 

Christmas party with the classmates!

After the Malaysia trip, I returned to the U.S. and had drill weekend with my National Guard unit in January. It was extremely cold but I learned a lot as we dealt with a live hand grenade range. It was my second time throwing a live hand grenade and I enjoyed it tremendously!

 

Over J-Term, something huge and amazing happened in my personal life as well, I started dating this wonderful lady, Jayden, whom I've known for quite some time now. She's also in an Army ROTC program and she's from Illinois! We've been together since January and the next time we'll be together again, she's coming to visit Washington :) 

 

 

Jayden and myself at the Chicago Bean!



  

I'm excited for what the future holds for us. I will also be graduating and commissioning in about exactly 3 months from now, and am ecstatic about becoming an Infantry Second Lieutenant with the U.S. Army. Wish me the best of luck!

 

 

May 25th 2018 :)



 

Traveling during Winter break and J-term ✈ - - - ✈

Hello everyone ~ 👋  I am back again after the break 😋 .

SO this blog is to brag about how great my J-term break was haha 😂 😂 🙈 . During the break I went back to my hometown in Vietnam and I was able to travel so much during this time 😆 . 

In Jiufen Old Street

First, I went to Taiwan with my sister, it was the first trip ever that is just the two of us. Although we did argue for some time for like where we need to go next *😒 * just like some other travelers, we had so much fun together! 💕 💕  It’s always going to be my favorite trip 💛 . Taiwan is truly pretty and cute! Definitely wanna go back there in the future 😍 .

Then I spend New Year Eve in Nha Trang with my family. We had so much seafood during this time, they taste so gooddd. Love that family time 💖 .

Vinpearland Nha Trang 

I also went to the northernmost point in Vietnam, Lung Cu Flag Tower. Got to see this proudly with my own eyes and not through TV like before 😌 .

My family's first dinner in Japan  .

My last trip was to Sapporo, Kyoto and Osaka in Japan! This trip has so much memorable moments 💝  . Our flight was delayed from Sapporo to Osaka due to a snow storm, and at first they said there would be no flight until 3 days later!😥 So then we had to spend a day in the airport, but luckily we found another airline that was still able to take off. It was so crazy but I’m glad I was with my family, and we even took a picture eating and sleeping in one of the couch in the airport haha 🙋 . Other than that pretty big deal incident, everything was just perfect 😻 . Every single thing I had in Japan was bomb, they taste soooo amazing that I just wanna be there forever 😆 . Anywhere I went was like art, beautiful houses and beautiful nature. It was a great time ❤ .

Arashiyama area 

Then I came back home and pack to leave for the US. Now I’m back to school. Haizzz 😩 .

Bonus: My family year end feast this year 

Anyway you all, tomorrow, Friday Feb 16 is Lunar New Year yayyy 💃 💃 💃 . This is the best time to be with your family. I’m sad that I had to leave one week earlier than the New Year's days 😔 . In Vietnam, we called Lunar New Year Tết. This year the broadcasting in Vietnam has this quote, “Tet is hope, Tet is to be back home.” 💜  I hope everyone to have a Happy New Year (Dog year this year! ) with lots of luck and all the best .

Bye everyone, good luck with study for this term, you can do it 💪 💪 💪 .

Best,

~Cloud~