so you think YOUR parents are cool?

On Saturday I got a "Click 'n Ship" confirmation email from the USPS telling me a package had been sent to me from my parents.  This is what I got today (minus one item that I will probably show in a later blog):

Yep, that's fresh fruit - Asian pears, a lemon, and some HUGE Fuyu persimmons.  Even better, they're picked right from the trees in their yard!  Other assorted goodies will keep me fat and happy until December when I get to go back to California.

I found a new favorite store in Atlanta - H Mart.  It's a Korean grocery store that stocks all variety of Asian foods (in addition to "American" staples).  I was able to get mung bean sprouts and Taiwanese basil to add to beef, pho seasoning, and rice noodles I had purchased earlier for my first attempt at pho. 

It was pretty tasty!  I had Sriracha hot sauce and it would've been nice to have plum sauce as well, but I forgot to look for that.

I also got a Daikon radish and some Korean cucumbers (who knew?  I just chose the cucumbers that looked the best size for my purposes) and made my own pickled veggies.  Yummy!

Walking to and from school every day, I see leaf prints on the sidewalks - two different kinds.  I can't think of having seen either kind anywhere else.  The first one is actually imprinted into the concrete - as if someone had pressed the leaf into the concrete after it had been textured but before it even began to set.

The other kind are more common.  I have no idea how they occur - it doesn't seem to necessarily follow a rainstorm, and it's definitely not every leaf that leaves a print.  Somehow the leaves put a brownish pigment down on the sidewalk.

Either way, they're pretty, and a nice distraction when I'm walking the same sidewalks every day.

Other randomness: 

This must've been quite a sight on the road, it already looked pretty funny parked in front of Costco!

tomato update and more

I've been trimming off the branches of my tomato plant as they start to look pathetic.  I neglected it for a couple weeks (since it hadn't been giving me fresh tomatoes!), and then chopped off a bunch of branches.

The unexpected result:

 The plant has a LOT of new growth - one stalk over 10" tall, 10-12 new flowers, and at least one tiny tomato that's over 1 cm diameter visible on the upper right.  The larger tomato that's beginning to turn red is the last of the "old" crop.  The last few tomatoes were rotting on the vine before they were all the way ripe.

And here is evidence that fall is really trying to be here:

I did NOT get to play tennis with my friend Aylin on Friday since the varsity team had all the courts booked on the main campus.  We had quite the on-campus adventures instead.  The end results - we logged quite a few miles walking back and forth and around campus, I have now had my first ride on the Emory Cliff Shuttle - only to have it break down on us, I have a locker in the School of Medicine in which I can keep stuff through next summer, I now own of a ping pong ball courtesy of the on-campus gym, and Aylin and I played ping pong in the School of Medicine instead of our planned tennis lesson.

Fall Break!

I had never heard of the concept of "Fall Break" before arriving at Emory, but I'm sure not complaining! We had 3 exams in the past 3 days, and I studied quite a bit leading up to them. This semester's coursework is definitely more difficult than last semester, largely due to the sheer quantity of information we are expected to know for each exam.

I think I might've slept 15 hours total for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. Last night I slept 11 hours - I pretty much passed out on my futon by 9 pm and only got up to brush my teeth and move to my bed.  I think that should allow my body to revitalize.

Today (besides enjoying the chance to sleep in) was a bit of a catch-up day.  I did two loads of laundry, sorted through a bunch of papers, went rock climbing with Daniela, and now am back home eating dinner.  It certainly is nice to think I still have 3 more days off!  I'm looking forward to attempting to play tennis tomorrow, and possibly some more rock climbing before the weekend's over.