Happy New Year!

I hope you enjoyed celebrating the end of a decade and beginning a new one.

I have been very busy these past four weeks. On December 20, my cousin arrived from Peru and stayed with me 82% of the time. She also stayed with my parents a bit. She graduated university in Lima, so I decided to give her the trip of a lifetime. I began planning in August and gave her the news via video chat. As soon as she arranged her passport and visa, I got her plane ticket, all was set!

While our names are pronounced the same, they’re spelled differently. The funniest part is that we have the same birthday, just 15 years apart.

We did a lot while she was here. She met a lot of my friends (not all pictured) and enjoyed practicing English. We enjoyed cuisines from various cultures, but Korean was her favorite. That, and my chicken wings at home on movie nights. We took road trips, train trips, and she even cooked Lomo Saltado for my family and I on her last day here (traditional Peruvian dish). She left LA yesterday and it was hard to see her go. My brother, his wife, and I, all went to the airport and walked her through check in until she had to go through security. We said our goodbyes and waved at her as she disappeared through the crowds.

Here are some photo highlights of the fun we had while he was here.

Happy travels, Maylin. Until we meet again!