Yosemite!

Wow how did it become August so soon! Time flies by without me noticing. About 4 weeks left of my internship…

The Saturday before the past one, Tony and I went to Mt Soledad to try to see sunrise. By “try” I mean… we got up early and went there, but the cloud was so thick that I cannot see the sun at all! Quite disappointed, but regardless, it was a fun time and we decided to see sunset sometime, so no need for getting up early ;) hehe I am not a morning bird… passed out almost the whole day after that =P

The past weekend … was time for Yosemite with Tony, Yehia, and Jen! Hiking!? So… people who know me well… would ask… “what the heck? You would even drive to class which is 10 minutes away!” Hmm… exactly… for “laziest person in the world” walking isn’t my favorite activity. Especially with 2 cross country runners, my little legs couldn’t quite handle that… haha They led most of the way and I just walk my pace in the back and enjoying the scenery. The 4 mile trail to the top of the mountain was quite steep. And when we get higher… I start to get nervous when I look down… not the best thing to do for someone scared of height… haha… but the great view at the top and the feeling of achieving something was wonderful. Of course, for a “camera pimp” like me, producing 100 pictures there was a piece of cake ;) On the way down the mountain, we went on another 8.6 mile trail. (So total was about 14 miles!!!!!!) We passed by 2 waterfalls. I’d say the first waterfall was my favorite part of the hike, because it was easy, relaxing and fun! I did not bring bathing suite and did not want to walk in wet clothing for the rest of the day, so just sit on a big stone and watched them swim. The most exciting moment I would say was in the middle of the night and we got woke up by the noise of a bear banging on our food lock and try to steal some food. It was right next to our tent, I say 5 feet away. Yehia turned on the flashlight and shined towards the bear, then funny conversation started:

“Is it gonna come in and eat us?” I got a little scared...
“Should I go out there?” said Yehia and looking tough.
“Are you kidding me? You want to get eaten by a bear? Go back to sleep!” Jen couldn’t believe what she just heard.
“Go away bear! I want to sleep!!!” Tony mumbled. I guess he was tired.

To bad we were too lazy to catch it … I missed a bear dinner =( haha

The second day we were trying to see what we should do at the breakfast and we happen to sit next an old couple. They were the nicest people I have seen. They told us about their trip and gave us a map to show where to go and stuff. Then the old man mentioned Israel. So I got excited and told him my friend is in Israel right now. And then we started to talk about the death sea and how beautiful it is while the wife were telling Tony and Jen the possible route of the day. In the end, we said good luck for each other’s trip. Then I decided to show off my few Hebrew phrases, “Be’hatzlacha!” I said it twice then the old man finally got it and was surprised =) He replied with “Be’hatzlacha!”, “Le’hitroat!” and “shalom!” hehe, that was a fun time.

On the way back, we stopped by a shop by the gas station. We were joking that as a HR (Human Resourse), Jen has the people skill that we engineers don’t have, which proved to be true. First she got us map from the old couple, then she got tissue for me at the store for free, while a moment ago another lady got refused. One amazing thing is that the casher asked me if Jen was my sister. “Nooooo!” I pointed to Jen, “White?” then I pointed to myself, “Asian? Eh???” haha I got confused how he could even think of ask this question haha.

After getting back from Yosemite we were all pretty tired. Tony had to skip the salsa class to finish his Harry Potter book and unpack stuff. I went there along and the instructor taught the most moves on that day. I am certainly not a good teacher, because I can barely manage to do my own moves haha Not a good day to miss.

Yesterday we went to Acura classic tennis match. It was so cool that I got to see Martina Hingis play! She was a former world No.1 player for almost 4 years, and she used to be my favorite player since like … 10 years ago! I am pretty excited to know she was playing. I got to watch Jelena Jankovic, current number 3, play, too. Even better, I got their signatures on my cap!!! =) xoxo happy =) Every time after watching professional plays, I always feel like playing myself… hmm gonna find some friends to play tennis sometime =) xoxo

Today’s activity is bowling =) should be fun! hehe

oh, pictures for Yosemite is here, and for tennis is here =)