Lara and my sister were so loud when I was TRYING to sleep. We had to wake up fairly early and since our plane landed at night I really wanted the rest, especially because I love my sleep. I value my sleep. So on December 28 we woke up really early and headed into the SUV house to drive to the zoo, which was HUGE. We had a tour guide because there is no way someone could find their way in the zoo. The tour guide was driving in a golf cart/ ATV looking thing, which was convenient because now, I don’t have to walk. There were many sections, our first stop was the Asian Passage, I was expecting elephants but I guess I’m…what’s the word…dumb? And elephants are in the African section, but to be fair India has many elephants and India isn’t in Africa. There were snow leopards and red pandas, like Turning Red. We also saw this bird eat a mouse which was so cute. The bird apparently didn’t like the mouse though because it threw it up but then ate it again, which wasn’t so cool but more disgusting. My favorite exhibit though has to be the Polar exhibit. I couldn’t see the polar bear as well because it was hiding a lot but the little glimpses I did get I could tell this thing was massive. Bigger probably then the SUV house/tank we rented. When we exited the zoo guess what happened! Nothing, it just rained. I was determined and motivated to get into the car, but not because I was wet, I love the rain. My legs were just crying. When we were almost to the car my sister saw something and physically attacked me and said “Look it’s a Blackpink mask on that lady.” Which is normally what you wouldn’t say, you would normally say that lady has a Blackpink mask and I WAS about to say that but she wouldn’t let me talk. Every time I was going to speak she kept saying Blackpink is the revolution.

At the winery, on the 29th. The adults were tasting the wine which why are we here, it’s not like I can taste it, I’m a minor. I was waiting for pizza because, hello, I love carbs. The wine smell however was very not so yummy tummy tee hee see what I did there. If you got that, you’re my friend. Anyway, back to the story, my sister literally ruined the surprise because she said, “Is that Macie?” I was like where girlie where. I saw her dad waving frantically and I saw her walk through the door, and I was speechless, excuse me? What am I supposed to do with my legs? At the end we literally ran into each other, it hurt my face but I was crying so it’s fine. My dad was even crying at the sweet embrace, do YOU KNOW how HARD it IS to make an INDIAN DAD CRY? Preston, her younger brother was there and everything was so nice, until the winery people yelled at us because Meera and Lara were acting like children, because they are, and played tag. Macie did later kidnap me into her car because ya know how it is, we were having a sleepover. She lives in Temecula which was an hour or something away from where we were, and there was traffic so it was pretty long. I was in the car with Macie and her mom and Preston was with his dad and older brother, who’s in college, Dylan. The drive was nice, until it wasn’t because I had to pee. The conversation actually went like this. “I have to pee.” “Me too.” “How much longer?” “Until the age of time.” ??? Wot does that MEAN? Then her mom said 20 minutes and I was like ok cool cool I’m ok. We were stopping at a Middle Eastern restaurant because that’s what dinner was going to be so while Macie’s mom was picking up the food, Macie and I ran for the bathroom.

Back in the car Macie’s mom said this is very uncommon weather and that’s when I was like great I messed up the weather by bringing the Arkansas weather to California. Other than that, the night was nice and quiet. Preston, Macie, and I all settled down for a horror movie but Preston quit mid way because they were cutting ears, tongues, and plucking out eyes. After the movie we talked and talked and I was like dang the tea has been spilled. Also randomly at 10:00 or maybe later my mom texted me saying our flight was cancelled, which NAUR~ why. We were supposed to fly on Friday but now it was cancelled to Saturday, and Macie and I might….MIGHT have another sleepover.

The 30th, we were in Legoland, HUZZAH. It was boring cause it’s for kids but huzzah. Before that Macie and I got Starbucks and then they dropped me off at Legoland. Preston and I were begging for another night, and my mom understood, I mean she lived under her best friends roof for a few days, AKA Prajakta’s. I said my farewells and I went towards the entrance of Legoland. All of the rides were for little kids so none of the rides were thrilling for me. Except for the first one, it had a huge drop and it was so fun, but then it got boring because it was on one level. Lara was freaking out and sobbing which is weird because she’s been on a bigger roller coaster in Myrtle Beach and was fine, like lady? We did get the photos of the ride and it was so funny, I looked like I was kissing the sky, Meera was biting her lip and one eye was partially closed and the other wide open, and Lara had tears in her eyes. The girls got their “Drivers Licenses?” and I did manage to stay another night with Macie. That night was CHAOTIC because at one point I brought up about being Asian and she was like no you’re not. The conversation was so funny. “MY dad being the Asian he is..” “Wait you’re Asian?” “Yeeeeaaaahhh.” “But I though you were Indian.” “… India is in Asia, I’m South Asian.” The conversation actually reminds me of that one vine where the girl says to her brother, “Hey, I’m Lesbian.” and the brother was like, “I thought you were American.”

December 31st, the Friday we were supposed to go back home, I left Macie’s house and we booked a hotel. In the car however, Lara was telling me we were sleeping in different hotels, which took a minute to process because normally we do everything together. I felt pretty cranky, and my head kind of hurt so I just laid in bed and watched a K-Drama while my sister was blaring Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I was getting restless and bored but the adults planned something for us kids and we were going… drum roll please….ICE SKATING. It was fun, it wasn’t raining which was a win, like slayyyyy. However, I did really suck, it’s been a while, but after a few minutes I got a little better. I wasn’t Sunghoon but sure, I was ok. I was zooming until I wasn’t because my foot was throbbing and it was disgusting because I had a huge blister. However, from there the trip only escalated, and in a bad way too.

FYI, I don’t have any pictures TT.

We landed from cold and brisk Arkansas to cold and brisker Houston Texas. How nice. This was 2021 of December, currently Christmas Eve so, so long ago. The airport was nice and warm, and we decided to find food. AKA NOT BURGER KING. Last time I had Burger King in an airport I threw it up in the plane. Horrendous. We found a place called Which wich? Nice and friendly sandwich shop. Overall, the plane ride and airport experience was nice. My dad decided to not fly with us and would fly another day to meet up with us. The plan was to meet my mom’s old college friends from India and then go to San Diego to meet up with current friends. Our current friends were driving in Arizona, which TOTALLY was not fair because it was HOT in Arizona. Literally the first day we were there in San Francisco it rained. We settled into Prajakta’s house, Prajakta = mom’s friend. Prajakta has these two ADORABLE kids Ashmi and Aarav. Ashmi was like 8 maybe 9? Aarav was 5? It’s been a while. The weather was just not it. I assumed California was hot and feisty, it lowered the expectations. I mean I’ve been before and it’s always been hot like spicy. My mom was already ready to get out of the house on THE FIRST DAY. I was about to say chill, ya know, we just got here. Jet lag. Of course I didn’t say that. Next thing you know I’m in a car. My mom said “I can’t wait to see the baby.” I was literally was like woah woah woah woman, hold up what? Who the heck is pregnant? Are you pregnant? *GASP* Plot twist. Am I pregnant? Then I actually thought about it after being spaced out for a while and remembered, ha, oh yeah, my aunt had a child. I walked in and saw the child and I was literally trying to hold in my aww because she was so cute. She was only a few weeks old, and get this, when we were talking she smiled like AHHHHHH how are you so CUTE. The Indian food and desserts were top notch, for middle schoolers, you might say bussin, which is starting to get really cringe by the way. I beat my sister 3 times in uno that’s a slay moment when we were there.

On Christmas, second day, after we wrecked the room in wrapping paper and me stealing…I mean borrowing Ashmi’s skateboard she was gifted we got in the car again TT and went to meet some more college friends of my mom and Prajakta. There we met Priya and her kids Riya and Diya. Literally their names rhyme lol. The food over there was really good, they made little menus and everything and please it was so cute. The thing that literally blew my mind was the fact they served CHOCOLATE dosas. HELLO? A CHOCOLATE dosa? Like why has NO ONE told me that was possible. Dosa is normally a savory thing so it was mind blowing. It’s made out of rice, it’s like a crepe but made of rice and savory. The day was chaotic, we played dolls, we being my sister and her new friends I was just in the corner, eating the Harry Potter every flavor jelly beans things, absolute garbage, excuse me why is this sold to kids. I almost threw up. Also I hid in a closet because these girls were chasing me and I was terrified sooooo.

December 26… was eventful. I was babysitting 7 children for the adults TT. They ranged from 3-10. We played hide and seek so that was pretty chill actually. My dad was FINALLY reaching San Francisco and people started saying congratulations to him when he did, which was weird but I brushed it off because yeah he didn’t die in the plane ride congratulations. My dad said it was his anniversary and I felt bad, like oh no….I forgot. What do I get you? A pencil? Anyway back to the children, they were cute and nice but I’m not even joking when I say that the youngest the 3 year old girl looked like the Indian version of Chungha. Like she even had a mole on her nose like Chungha too and I was like crying. Like please. I seriously thought the babysitting was over when ding dong Ashmi’s cousin came over. HELLO? I was tired and angsty so I went to the room to be sad and depressed and watched a horror movie. You know how it is watching people get slaughtered in the movie and watching the girls act the same in real life. I also got a bruise because guess what they did, they put a skateboard next to the door, thanks.

The 27 of December, we left for San Diego. Before that Prajakta took all of us for Boba because slay she’s awesome like that. I ordered Taro because I LOVE Taro, but I couldn’t hear the counter guy and so I just said yes. That was an oopsie moment because it tasted horrible, at first I thought the guy ruined my drink, HELLO? It doesn’t taste like this. But alas it was my own fault because I said yes when the guy asked if I wanted the actual taro vegetable flavor. TT My boba. Heading to the airport and saying our goodbyes was sad. The airport was crowded but it was after Christmas so understood. It was pretty boring though, all we did was eat ramen and watch movies for about 2 hours. The flight to San Diego was really comfortable and by the time we reached it was about 9:00 maybe 9:30. Some time at night. We were finally going to meet our friends, it was one family Harsh and Zuzanna with their kid Lara. Harsh said he rented a tank for us and when we went out of the airport he was literally not joking, the SUV was HUGE. Yet again, it is America. Unlike Norway and other European countries, where it’s hard to find a big car for all of us, America has huge cars TT, why are they so big like actually, it’s not necessary. Literal house. We reached our rental house which was a nice and cozy three bedroom and two bathroom place. RIP for me because it was still raining making me rush out of the car and dropping my, at the time NEW phone, in a puddle. Huzzah. One of the bedrooms went to Lara, my sister, and I. I got a bed to myself cause yas I’m older and have more freedom. Lara and my sister shared a bed together. We needed a lot of rest because the next day we would be going to the San Diego zoo, which I haven’t been to in many years, I think I went when I was 3?