Slowly working my way through 2018 backlog :) January was quite eventful. I met up with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I also got to try some new foods and activities—the new year is perfect for trying new things, after all!
On the first week of 2018 I met up with Laura, Ashley, and Allie! Japan-based friends! Around this time in 2017, I met up with Laura and Ashley as well. I'm happy that this time Allie got to join us! We had lunch at Green Pastures in Shang (Ashley's recommendation!) and then did a bit of window shopping before having merienda at Mary Grace. As you can probably tell from our activities that day... it was 100% a tita date, haha. It was fun hanging out and catching up with everyone.
Later that day I met up with Aian, who was in Megamall. We had dinner, played Taiko no Tatsujin at the arcade, and then tried our hand at archery. I've always wanted to try archery, but was worried that I didn't have enough arm strength to pull the arrow. It was unexpectedly fun! Things got a bit heated though, because Aian and I are both very competitive. But it was fun. I want to do it again soon!
In that same week, Aian and I went to ATC to meet up with our friend Xandra. Common Room was holding a pop-up event at the time, so we dropped by while we were waiting. There was A TON of pretty stationery that I wanted to buy, but one of the rules that created for myself for 2018 is to not give in to impulsive buying, so I had to settle for just looking around.
We had cake at Mary Grace! My second Mary Grace cake that week. I've only ever tried the tiramisu, so I wanted to try their strawberry shortcake next. It was so good! Afterwards, we all went to hang out at Xandra's.
My first attempt at journaling! Which somewhat ended in failure, because the cats kept bothering me while I was doing it. (Also yes, our apartment's lighting really is that bad....)
Grocery day! Discovered that they sold Indomie in packs of 5 at the local supermarket, amazing. Also got to try BLK513 for the first time. I wasn't a froyo person before this, but I learned to like it eventually.
Two-week birthday celebration! A tita from my mother's side celebrated her birthday on the 13th, so the whole fam had lunch at La Fiesta. Exactly one week after that—the 20th—was my younger brother's birthday. We celebrated at a nearby private resort. Night swimming!
The highlight of my January!! On the 24th, the Japan Foundation finally posted the scores for the JLPT. After almost two months of waiting! I was so anxious the day before that I almost had a panic attack at home. So when I went online the next day to check the results, I felt a wave of relief pass over me once I saw my score. My total score wasn't that good but seeing all A's was so fulfilling. I was super happy. It made me all the more determined to challenge the next level.
My sweet foster children ♥ Buchi (right) is actually a foster failure—we ended up adopting him ourselves, lol. When this photo was taken, they were already 4 months old.
Finally, the event that capped off the first month of the year perfectly—the Super Blue Blood Moon! Before this, the last time it occurred was in 1982. We were super lucky that we were able to get a good view of the whole eclipse as it happened. The actual thing was beautiful, but my phone could only take this kind of photo lol. Still, I'll never forget the image of the moon that night. I saved it in my heart~
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