Friends and food in San Jose

tldr; civilization is nice.

Our next stop after a week in Carmel was San Jose, where we spent lots of time with friends. Our friends KP and Lisa graciously let us stay in their home that they’d just moved in to a few days before. Like many homes in sunny California, their home had beautiful landscaping. An orange tree grew out of the back corner of their yard. Spider plants and flowers lined the sidewalk leading to their door. Big, orange, bell-shaped flowers hung from a vine just before the front door, greeting you with a light floral aroma. As we spent the days working from KP and Lisa’s living room and patio, we gradually watched their house begin to get filled with furniture and felt grateful to them for opening up their home even in the midst of moving.

We also got spend time with Sydney, one of my friends from my study abroad program in France back in 2017. Sydney took me to a famous taco place “La Victoria” and we sat on her front porch, catching up and reminiscing on study abroad days. Sydney’s parents welcomed us to their home for dinner one evening and made us a delicious meal with ice cream for dessert!

KP, Lisa, and Sydney all showed us around the great food scene in San Jose and we were spoiled with milk teas, Vietnamese rice plates, Korean barbeque, onigiri, egg sandwiches, ice cream, and tacos with amazing orange sauce. Sydney, Lisa, and I watched Choi and KP play a soccer game. Sydney showed me around Stanford’s beautiful campus. We all played settlers of Catan together.

Choi and I did a bit of exploring on our own too. After work we went on walks and admired the huge and unique houses in Mark Zuckerberg’s neighborhood. We explored a nearby park and did sprints and pull-ups on the playground. We gave our bikes a much needed cleaning and then biked them over to Stanford, where we took advantage of the free bike pumps on campus. One evening, we went to Choi’s friend’s sushi restaurant just south of San Jose. It was so fun to get to sit at the bar watching the chefs slice the fish and make delicious rolls and nigiri by hand. Choi and his friend caught up over the bar counter in Korean, while I listened closely to try to pick out any words I knew.

It was a great week, full of good times with friends, lots of great food, and relaxing, but not a lot of photos. You’ll have to imagine the orange trees, soccer and Settlers of Catan games, and all of the food we ate.

San Jose, we love your delicious food, your beautiful flowers, and your welcoming friends. Along We Go!