Houston Trip Jun 1st - 4th 2007

Jun 1st, 2007

Everything seems to have its limit. I hit bottom last Friday that I eventually decided to let the dreamer/adventurer Hannah dominant the planner Hannah for this weekend and many more weekends to come in the future. I flew out to Houston at 5:30pm from OHare. It is time to nourish the adventurous aspect of my life and to keep the tedious programming lifestyle in the closet for three days.

Knowing DW, I will probably be pampered. Is it good or bad? I don’t know, all I know is that I need fresh air. Air from the ocean, air from the new places, and air that will rejuvenate the three crucial components of a human: mind, soul, and body.

The flight arrived earlier and DW wasn’t there yet. I walked through the typical airport glassy door to the outside passenger-drop-off waiting area. Spotting an empty bench, I sorted of gently dropping my body onto it. The 70s temperature weather accompanied with the constant soothing breeze made the 25 waiting minutes like nothing. I truly was relaxing. Houstonians are friendly; 95% of them who walked passed me nodded their heads and smiled to me. To my surprise that DW and I indeed had miscommunication on the pick-up place. Cell phone is useful in this situation.

It took 22 minutes from IAH to his brother’s house, a nice little brand new one-storey house. The moment I walked into the house, the somewhat disarrayed arrangement and interior decoration manifested itself that this house lacks "a touch of women". Since both his brother and nephew are out of town, therefore we had the whole house for ourselves. That would help me relax even more.

After showing me around the house and putting my luggage to the guest room, DW cooked Korean instant noodles for me. He refused any help from me, insisted that this is my vacation. I let him be. I was surprised to see the number of of laptops and computers he owns and how he enjoys the satisfactions of fixing up any broken computers. As usual, my life can never be disconnected from the Internet. Quickly getting my laptop hooked up to the DSL service, I checked my email on the bed where I would be sleeping on for the next three nights. DW, then, checked my laptop to see if he could improve its speed by removing junks. We then spent some times viewing his photos taken from Sweden. As he explained the people and the meaning of those photos, he also showed the geographical of the location where those pictures were taken via an Europe map. He reiterated a few times that he would take me to those places when/if I visit him in Sweden this fall. It was a long day. I didn’t go to bed till 1:45am.


Jun 2nd, 2007
I wake up at 6:30am. Still exhausted. Prayed a little. Could not read the Bible, for I forgot to bring one. Went back to sleep. Wake up again at 8:30am. Got online to check the email. YP wrote to ask about the wiring money and swimming gaggle. I replied saying I would try to contact him tonight after I come back from San Antonio tonight. I managed to talk briefly with mom. Then I listened to some sermon.

We left home for San Antonio around 10am. The sun was shining bright and HOT. Without sunglasses, my eyes would probably be suffering. So I decided to put on my contact lens in hopes the humidity in Houston/S.A. would help my dry eyes. During the 3-hour drive from Houston to San Antonio, DW played his favorite chinese songs, in which most of the songs I was not familiar with. Indeed, I have disconnected from the chinese culture for quite a while. I could not help but wishing I have my classical music CDs with me. Our music taste are quite different. In spite of that, I definitely enjoyed sitting in the passenger seat looking out to the sky, observing the movements of innumberable big white clouds overlapping each other and against the light blue sky, and seeing the flat landscape of Texas. I love the feeling of being free. I could hardly remember when was the last time I truly and quietly enjoyed the sky without worrying about my website development.

We stopped by Subway for a footlong sandwich. We shared. Quite tasty.

We reached S.A. downtown around 1:30pm. The closer to the ruin, The Alamo, the more crowded it was. The significant role of the Alamo in the history of America has turned San Antonio into a commercialized city. Next to the ruin are the commercial shops and a few impressive malls. Quickly we parked the car in one of the garages. Before walking out the garage, I looked around trying to find the specific description/detail of the garage so that we could find our car later. "It was B level at Crokett Garage," I reminded DW and myself.

It was hot. 90F. DW stopped for an ice-cream before crossing the street to the Alamo. I politely declined, for I was till full from the sandwich. The owner of the ice-cream shop must have made a fortune out of this store. We waited for at least 10 minutes.

The lush surrounding within the wall of the Alamo was extremely pleasing to the senses. I repeatedly told DW that I just loved the green. Having lived in the city of Chicago for six years and constantly breathed in the polluted air, greenery has meant something to me. Sometimes, honestly, all I wanted in my daily life is a quiet place where I can see the green. The picture on the left displayed one type of uniforms wore during the war, in which i have forgotten the name.

Walked back to where we parked our car, and the famous River Walk of S.A. was right underneath us as it was shown in the picture on the right. I was indeed impressed with what I saw. There are a variety of restaurants and trees on both sides along the river. The trees not only provide shade to the customers who enjoy luncheon/dinner on the river, but also to the walkers who enjoy the stroll along the river. I guess people do stop for meal or drink as they are tired of walking. The winding staircases that connect to the hotels or restaurants against the backdrop of the river left a deep impression on me. Every few minutes I would see tourist boats passed us by. I have hard time understanding why would people choose to pay for the "River Walk" ride instead of truly taking a River Walk by feet. Well, again, it is a matter of preference. We walked for at least 1 hour, if not longer, until we both thirst for water.

Mission San Jose >

THe other side of Mission Concepcion

Due to the fact that DW wanted to take me to the newly open Chinese restaurant in Houston, therefore we tried to leave S.A. by 5:00pm and made it back to Houston by 8ish.. Nonetheless, right before we left, I stopped by a sourvenior shop for postcards. I discovered there were four other old "churches". I asked the owner of the shop whether they were nearby. It turned out to be within 10 miles from where we were. DW was okay with it. I, then, memorized the direction given by the owner. The deal was that we would try to find it for 20 minutes. If we could not find the location within the allocated timeframe, we would just head home. Luckily we did find it. We managed to visit two of the four churches.

My favorite picture in the entire trip, taken in Mission Concepcion church. >
And we managed to get to the Chinese restaurant before it was closed. It was the cheapest and yummiest buffet I ever had. I had a lot of raw salmon, sushi, and crab. It was too late to call YP when we got home.

Jun 03, 2007

On the way to Galvesion, the Gulf of Mexico. The leftmost picture is Houston's downtown. Next to it is the houses near the Galveston. The houses reminded of the old Malay houses near beaches in Malaysia. Of course, these are much more beautiful.


DW did take me to his brother's factory where he showed me his handy work on renovating the office. Quite a good job that he has done. (So was the dog house that he built for his two dogs.) Now I eventually understood the type of business his brother is involved in. Seeing is always better than listening to a thousand words.

It was hot enough in S.A., but it was even hotter in Galveston, the Gulf of Mexico. As a girl was pouring onto the ground some bread, the sensitive seagulls quickly detected it and fearlessly touched down and picked up those bread. It was quite a scene. The water looked murky, just as DW described prior to our arrival.

University of Houston campus.

The computer lab at UofH. >

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We both had ice-cream here.

We reached home before dark. We wanted to each ride a bike around the neighbourhood, but one of the bike's tire was punctured. We ended up taking a stroll to the pond. It was a decent size.. I jokingly teased DW that I would come here more often if his brother's house was facing this pond. I love water since I was a child. I can totally forget about myself whenever I am in the water, swimming pool or ocean. Surprisingly, I saw five puppies and one cat in one of the houses' backyard. I found the puppies' barking very pleasant to my ears. DW was standing from a distance as I approached them. The closer I were to them, the higher they jumped inside the fence and the louder they barked at me. Those puppies were so darling and so was the puffy cat. Weird but true, at that moment, I truly would like to hold them and also had the unprecendented urge to want to own a pet. Will I? Who knows. But I am also fearful of the potential strong attachment I may develop with them. Attachment is a vulnerable thing, and to be vulnerable is definitely a scary thing.

The trip ended when I took the earliest flight out of IAH to Chicago on Jun 4th, 2007. Cheers to our 7 yrs of friendship, DW. Friendship is priceless.

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly." anonysmous.