Turning the Page

I had absolutely no idea it'd end up like this, but I've officially signed on with Accenture and will be writing the next chapter of my life working as a management consultant in San Francisco, CA!

If the office wasn't painted my favorite color, I probably wouldn't have signed on.

Growing up, I always thought I’d be excited to leave Seattle. I’ve spent 20 of my 21 long, but wonderful years in the Puget Sound. Over the past three and a half years of my life, I thought about how much I want to leave Seattle and get away. I traveled a ton and I couldn’t get enough of the world. Yet, now that I have an actual out and an offer to move away for an indefinite amount of time, I'd be lying if I said I'm not pretty darn petrified.

Just over three months ago, I was in San Francisco. I spent ten weeks working for Gap Inc. fiddling around with their sourcing and 3rd Party Licensing team. The Lower Pacific Heights were my home as one of my best friends and I spent our summer internship periods in a one-bedroom apartment while splitting equal time sleeping on the bed and on the couch, filming ridiculous videos, seeing Taylor Swift (twice, mind you), and getting yoked at FitnessSF. I honestly didn't think I'd be back so soon, but this time, it'll be for an indefinite period.

Quite honestly, I don't even know exactly what I'll be doing as a management consultant. It'll depend from client to client, industry to industry, and office to office. But the potential for doing 'neat stuff' is enormous and I have no doubt I'll get involved with some innovative projects. There will be times I love my job, and likely times I hate it. Hopefully more of the former than the latter.

Still, I suppose that’s part of the alluring adventure, isn’t it? I’m excited to wander out and challenge myself myself. I’m also pretty frightened, but that's apparently what life is about. From there, it’s a giant, blank slate of opportunities.

I can't express how grateful I am to have spent my life in Seattle with so many wonderful individuals who have pushed me in all sorts of directions. From baseball, to school, church, fraternity, and everywhere in between, the PNW will ALWAYS be home.

It's weird that this feels more of an end than a beginning.

That said, I'm excited to see where this new step takes me. There are tons of new people to meet, foods to nosh on, and stories to hear. I know of a church I can't wait to get further involved with, and I have relatives in the area I can turn to if I ever need help. It'll also be nice knowing that most of the local peers have never seen  their football team win a championship, while my Seahawks have.

WHEN (not 'if') the Mariners make the playoffs next season, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be flying up to watch the games. Go Dawgs & Go M's.

Above all, I know that God's placed me there for a reason that I'll continue to seek out and move towards. 

Oh yeah, and my mom and dad are probably stoked that they have a reason to visit the Bay Area more often where they both went to school and have close friends. Maybe this was their plan all along. Well played, parents.

Seoul Food

I rarely take pictures of food... but Seoul was an exception. Here's a taste of the food I had while in Seoul, South Korea. Two quick notes

1. Yes, it was at tasty as it looks, if not tastier.
2. No, I don't know how to pronounce or spell 75% of these

I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to stay in Seoul with a high school friend and his family. He, his mom, his aunt, and his grandma as well as a couple other family members I met were gracious enough to have me over, to feed me almost every lunch and dinner, and to just be superb hosts. I'll write more about my full South Korea experience in my next post, but for now, I'll let your mouths water with pictures of scrumptious food. Street food, Korean Barbeque, and more.

The Monolith of Taraw

The door creaks open with an  unoiled squeak, while an ever-so-tiny sliver of light breaks into the room. It's 4:45am and I and another roommate are to be woken up for a sunrise rock climbing tour, along with six others in the hostel.

Our Melting Pot is a special place. It's not just an ordinary hostel, although it may appear so from the front door. The OMP is filled with an energy and genuineness rarely felt among other hostels, no matter how big or small. When you wake up each morning and walk out of your 7-bedroom mixed dormitory to grab a piece of bread and a cup of fresh mango juice, the staff will immediately greet you with a cheerful "Good morning, ______!" with your name in the blanks. Whether it is your first night there or your fiftieth, the OMP staff will have a place for you in its heart, just as you grow to have for them.

EDIT: As I left the hostel this morning at 3:30am to get on a bus to the airport, both of the staff members present knew me by name and wished me well one last time. Love them.

Diana and Jonathan are to lead our climb. It's dark out. We slip on our closed-toed shoes which sit outside the hostel and grab a banana. The OMP doesn't let shoes inside to help keep the cleanliness. We ask how many times they do this climb on average. We expect "5 times a month." We get "less than 5 times this year so far" from Diana's gentle voice.

The cliffs of Taraw are truly a majestic sight, and from below, they appear to be monoliths piercing the sky. With each step closer, the giants grow in size, looming over you like if they know you won't be able to conquer them without a cheat.

Luckily, Diana has been doing this climb for most of her life. As we begin the trek in the pitch dark with only two flashlights, we stumble around, blindly grasping for footing on what feels to be a solid surface. It almost seems disorganized. The climb leaders go back and forth between the best ways to scale the mountain. We step forward into the darkness and are met with a smooth, slippery log. We step again and are met with a rugged stone. We repeat this process until we finally reach the actual climb.

I think I am a fairly athletic person and a more than decent climber. But when it comes to scaling a mountain at 6am when your energy is low, your eyes haven't adjusted to the lack of light, and you have literally no idea where your next step will be, your body will be tested. This is not a horizontal hike. This is not a 15 degree challenge up a mountain. This is a 90 degree, blistered hands, tired glutes climb.

A quarterway up the climb, one of the girls from the hostel who arrived yesterday and decided to join us on the hike (bless her soul), sarcastically remarks, "You know, Josh. I thought I liked you until you made me come on this."

With each minute, it gets hotter. The air becomes muggier. The mosquitoes rise out of their slumber, searching for a delicious snack only a human's lower leg can provide. It's only halfway up but my tee is drenched with sweat. As I write this nearly 12 hours later, my shirt is still drying from the perspiration. The admiral blue cloth shifted to a navy, and then to a dark denim while my shirt became heavier and heavier with water. It smells like a mixture of muggy summer and body odor, but the brave 8 climb higher, following Diana and being tailed by Jonathan.

Diana is lighter than air. She floats up each part of the climb effortlessly and full of life. The smile on her face seems to boost her speed even faster. We lag behind her, eventually reaching the heights she has now surpassed. 

What is that? It sounds like a hoot or a bird shrieking. Instead it is an endangered Palawan beetle.

We're tired. We stop for water, until realizing at the rate we drink it, we won't have any for the return trip. If there is one. The sun has risen behind a sheet of clouds. We climb on. The foggy light fully illuminates the rocks ahead of us. We climb on. The jagged edges of limestone and slippery footholds try to bring us down. We climb on. 

Until we all arrive at a sheer face of rock with small cracks. Diana begins the vertical climb, and says it is the hardest part, but at the top we are finished. We all shake our heads, knowing that we've come too far to turn back, yet not far enough to see the view overlooking El Nido. We're also told not to look down, as it may induce a fear that paralyzes climbers mid-cliff.

My hands are beaten and blistered. My quads and glutes are sore. But with each foothold and reach, we get closer to our view. We can see the light, and our arms stretch forward towards it. 

Until we make it.

Taraw Cliff lookout, El Nido

Getting to see the little town I've learnt to cherish from this angle was most satisfying. I can see every building I've eaten at, OMP where I stay at, the boats I took on tours, and everything in between. You can see islands we visited, and the gorgeous bay shoreline surrounded by catamarans and fishing boats.

We sit up there, take our pictures, catch our breath, and feel the cool breeze flow through our souls. The water is beginning to run dry. We hear stories about others who have climbed the beast.

And at the end of it, we head down. Facing forward and being careful, we shimmy down the face. Sweat continues to drip from our bodies as the sun rises higher and higher in the sky. One of the girls keeping pace with me discusses the differences between German words and American English phrases with me. The mountain seems endless on its way down, as we can't even recall half of the steps that were taken in the dark. 

By the end of it, it's 8am. The day has just begun and we've climbed a mountain.

and, to be honest, it was just the beginning to one of the best days of my life.

Nacpan Beach

The weather was not as nice today. It was about what I expected coming into the trip, as it is the low season for tourism and the rains fall heavily during this time of year. Still, yesterday's astounding sunshine gave me hope.

We took a trike up to Nacpan Beach, a 40ish minute drive away. We all voted to rent motorcycles and go on those, but everybody we talked to recommended we have someone else drive us as A) we don't know the way, B) it's an extremely dangerous path as is, and C) it had just rained in the morning and the roads are slippery. If a crash were to happen, we'd be liable on bikes, whereas the trikes were driven by locals as we sat in a ride-along car. So trikes it was.

The ride there was full of greens. We passed by some stunning rice fields where farmers were plowing areas with oxen.

Rice, rice, baby.

When we arrived, we were surrounded by a relatively empty beach. Really something out of a magazine. There were a few huts, a couple tiny restaurants run by locals, and maybe 20 people on the entire beach.

Trekking through hills to reach an empty piece of beach

Nacpan Beach.
Population: Me.

On the south side of the beach, there were some hills with a ridge we could walk upon, like walking upon the back of a dragon. They were covered in bushes and lush grass. We climbed them to get a better view of the beach.

Me and the 3 Germans.

After spending a couple hours in the crystal blue water, we headed over to get some food and drink. It's $1.40 USD for fresh mango juice and rum. Yeah. It was a fun time.

Soon, the clouds crept upon us and it was a clear a storm was coming. We hustled out and left. Unfortunately, our trike broke on the way home, so we climbed into the other one and squeezed together for the ride

Our poor trike driver had to walk his trike home after it broke. We hitched a ride with the other trike and stuffed 5 people in it.

Tonight we ate dinner together with a whole bunch of new backpackers. It seems like they come in waves and we were caught in between them. It is quite common to see backpackers you have seen in other places. Half the group that arrived today had met the other backpackers I had been hanging around with. They all spent time hosteling in other areas of the Philippines. Super neat.

It's 3:29am, and I'm supposed to be rock climbing a mountain in an hour for sunrise. Oops. Hoping the weather turns out. Cheers.

El Nido, Palawan - Crystal, Turquoise, and Indigo waters.

Made the trek to the relatively untouched city of El Nido, Palawan in the Philippines. Everything here is cheap, beautiful, and pure. To get a taste of who I am, the people I'm with, and the kind of person I am, I suggest reading my post below titled The Dilapidated Life of a Social Chameleon.

Today, I was awoken at 5:45am by a rooster crowing right outside my window... Then I was awoken at 8:30 by my roommate who reminded me we have a island expedition to go on.

Absolutely the best $16 I'll ever spend.

The tour was amazing. We went on Tour A today- and the weather really turned out nicely for us. We visited 5 private beaches. Spectacular. At each beach, there were only a few other boats waiting in the crystal clear water.

The first place we stopped at was a lagoon. The tour guides offered a kayak which I quickly took and started rowing my way into the pools of emerald and sapphire.

Blissful.

Aquaholics Anonymous

Screaming colours

For lunch, we were brought to an isolated beach where the tour guides presented us with fresh mussels, fresh crab, fresh fish, local emlons, an eggplant/veggie mixture, and barbequed meats. 100% delicious.

Some of the fresh grub we were provided.

After lunch, we headed to an astounding little crevice in the crags. At first, we were stunned by the crags and the sheer size of these rocks... Until we were told to dive into the water and go through a small little hole. We were a bit confused but grabbed our snorkels and followed the tour guide through the crack, and on the other side we were treated to a hidden lagoon.

One of my friends on the other side of the rock, exploring

Lagoon

This whole trip was surreal. Full of blues and greens across the color spectrum. Turquoises, emeralds, sapphires, navies, indigos, aquas, springs, and more.

Our catamaran sitting on the crystal clear, sapphire water.

Colors. Pure.

The town itself is quaint. It is known as El Nido (The Nest) and it fits the name. It is tucked in a small bay between large hills and rocks. I'd say the population is less than a few thousand, but the locals say it has increased exponentially as tourism has upticked. It's a sweet city, with lots of small shops and tourism-driven stores. 

I've had multiple conversations with other tourists about how we want this place to stay pure, stay local, and stay El Nido. Which is ironic because here we are dumping money into tourism. But it is, and hopefully will be, small and friendly.

El Nido Town Proper

Tomorrow, we go to a private beach that is untouched as far as tourism goes. As in, very, VERY few people are there. We'll see how that goes. The weather will hopefully turn out. It's always stormy at night, with pouring rains and lightning. We got lucky with the weather this morning, and hopefully we get it for the rest of this week.

For now, it is time to play beer pong hosted by the hostel, as Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake as well as other hits from the early 2000's play from a speakerbox the hostel has. I love the few other people in this hostel. They saw I blog and asked me to show pictures and share more stories, something I happily did.

Also, sorry mom, if you read this, I fully plan on renting both a motorcycle and scuba diving, both of which I know you wanted me to master in the states before attempting.