Kauai 2016

We recently took a trip to Kauai with Caleb's parents and it was so much fun! Kauai is known as the garden island and it unsurprisingly lived up to its name. The place was very "untouched" and not too developed; probably because the locals want to keep it that way. I loved it. We visited before the rush so it wasn't crowded and we didn't have trouble with parking at all. The weather was in the 80s and rainy some days, depending where you are on the island. The weather was a bit sporadic, but that didn't hinder us from all the things we wanted to do. We did everything we wanted and it worked out perfectly.

We drove up Waimea Canyon and took pictures at different lookout points. We found this cool little waterfall. The red "rock" is actually really red hardened sand.

Madre and Padre's Michigan Trip

May was a very fun and exciting month for Caleb and I. My parents came to visit for ten days, their first trip to Michigan. Ten days sounds long, but we kept busy for sure! We first went to a museum in Belleville called the Yankee Air Museum.

2015 Memories

This past year was a whirlwind. It went by quickly and because I'm a terrible recorder of my life I naturally went to my facebook to see all of my posts. 2015 was truly a great year for me. I'm the kind of person that is always looking to improve and learn. I definitely didn't fulfill my new year's resolutions from last year, but I feel that I started taking steps in the right direction. I have been blessed with so much. I need to complain less. I have grown closer to my family. I am more in love with my spouse. Caleb and I have everything we need to live plus more. Our lives are definitely not perfect, and we have our struggles, but our blessings have always outweighed our challenges and I need to keep remembering that. Here are some of my favorite memories from the year:

Canada Trip

Hello! Well it's been ages. When the spring and summer seasons come, I always get more busy. There's just more stuff to do! We recently got back from a family trip to Vancouver, Canada. It was amazing! I have relatives in Coquitlam which is not too far away from Vancouver, so we were able to do a lot of things in Vancouver proper. Our trip was jam-packed with lots of sightseeing, eating, and shopping. I'm sure there is more to British Columbia (the province) than just Asian food, but all we ate was pretty much Asian. We had noodles, vietnamese, chinese, dim sum, korean bbq, sushi, and hotpot. I thought I was going to explode. There is a large Asian population in the area and there were signs everywhere in English and Chinese. It felt like being in Hong Kong again. And it felt good to use the old Canto with the parents. Caleb had a blast with that. My cousin had to do a double take when he heard Caleb speak Cantonese. He was so surprised!

Here's a day by day rundown of our activities:

Effective Communication

Back when I was in college, I started a blog for an assignment and I managed to pull up those old blog posts. Reading them now makes me a little embarrassed, but I thought this particular rant of mine on Communication was worth posting:

Root of all Problems

The spoken and written word are probably the most important ways of communication we have in this world. It is the fastest and most impactful way that we reach out and understand one another. Is it also ironic that this spawns some of the most difficult problems we face in our personal lives? The heated argument with the parent. The lack of expressing one’s feelings to a significant other. The refusal to apologize when you know you’ve done wrong. The predicament that somebody is mad at you, but they don’t want to talk to you. These problems and others happen to everybody; and it’s a cycle that people don’t seem to fix.

Communication is sometimes the problem, but it’s most definitely an answer.

I have been a huge advocate of effective communication. It has served me well and I wouldn’t be the person I am without loved ones teaching me how to do it. Over the years I have formulated some key principles about communication.

1.       Say something. If you have a problem or opinion, say it in a way that is not offensive and only say it when you are ready.

2.       Feel ready and don’t force others. Only communicate when you feel ready. Don’t force others to talk about their feelings when they’re not ready. If you push someone to talk when they don’t want to, only frustration will result.

3.       Cool off. If you recognize that you are angry, you are not in a position to say anything. Calm down and think carefully what you are feeling and why. Once you say something that you regret, you cannot take those words back.

4.       It’s not a one-way street. You can’t expect somebody to share their feelings and not share your own. That’s not fair to the other person. You also can’t talk about yourself and not be interested in what the other person has to say. If you want to have a meaningful conversation, make it one, by having both people contribute.

5.       Don’t make others feel stupid or odd. Just don’t do it. That won’t get you very far.

6.       Don’t be condescending. There’s nothing worse than when somebody makes you feel insignificant.

7.       Listen and give feedback. Please hear everything that the other person needs to say and try not to cut them off with some topic that is not related to what they’re talking about. The other person needs your attention and focus. This is also important in group settings.

8.       Do not kick a dead horse. If you can tell that the other person is bored of the topic even though you still want to talk about it, change to another unrelated topic. You’re practically having a conversation with yourself. Be receptive to the other person’s needs.

9.       Face to Face. Speaking directly to the person is always more meaningful than through any other route. There may be exceptions to this, but for the most part, this is a good way to go.

10.   Have fun. Enjoy the other person’s company and try not to overanalyze what they’re saying to you while you’re having the conversation.

I have never before written out the things that I’ve learned about communication, but it’s interesting to me that I have this much to say about it. I’m not perfect in these principles by any means; these are only based on my observations that I have been trying to reconcile in my mind. Communication may not solve everything, but it's worth trying first before anything else.

I hope this helps you in some way. Let me know if it does.