"Autre, Autre!"

Ahh, Thanksgiving 2010 in Montreal…. The haunting memories of the biting cold and our frozen toes were all too vivid for Jie and I, so we vowed to head south this year. The actual destination was inspired on our flight back from Ecuador last May. While Jie was sleeping, I came across a double-page spread in Copa Airline’s in-flight magazine of an enchanting elevated lake surrounded by volcanoes, dubbed by travelers as ‘the most beautiful lake in the world.’ The lake was called Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, and the stars aligned when we found cheap tickets for a flight over Thanksgiving weekend. It was time for another JieMei adventure!

Day 1:

Jie and I agreed to fly over separately and meet at the Guatemala City airport Thursday afternoon. After a few minutes of confusion, we were able to find each other and met the driver we had arranged to take us to our hotel, the Casa Florencia in Antigua. I had read that Antigua, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, would be a more charming and safer place to stay for the night. Below is the view from our room:

The Casa Florencia hotel was a cute 2-story boutique hotel that provided an oasis in the middle of Antigua. Our first observation of Antigua was that it was filled with cobblestone roads, and had very little street lighting with scarcely scattered street names, making it difficult to navigate at night. The weather was slightly chilly, but much warmer than the weather we had left in the U.S. We also noticed that the locals are very small, and so the doors that were built for them were barely higher than us. Most of the shops were styled like little bodegas, selling miniature-packed snacks. There was also railings covering all of the windows, making it seem a bit cold and deserted from the street, despite the glow from restaurants and cafes which oozed coziness from the twinkling lights and warm colors used to decorate inside.

Cobblestone streets

Cozy restaurant filled with twinkling Christmas lights

We decided to take our hotel’s recommendation, and had dinner at a cute restaurant called la Fonda de Real, which served Guatemalan food. 

Jie and I at the outdoor restaurant

Some traditional Guatemalan food, including guacamole, freshly made tortillas, and meatball stuffed in chili pepper with a side of rice. We thought the food could have used a bit of a kick!

Then we visited central park at night, where there was a gorgeous arch:

After dinner, we stopped by a cute restaurant for some coffee and dessert

Guatemalan style bread pudding soaked in sugar and water

Day 2:

The next morning, we picked up a slice of pie from Café Condesa and went back to our hotel to wait for the shuttle to pick us up to go to Panajachel, where we would see Lake Atitlan!

The incredibly sweet key lime tart we got (we were only able to take a few bites each!)

On the way, we asked to be dropped off at Solola, where there was a Friday market. It was the most crowded market I had ever been to!

We also noticed again that the locals were very small and made us feel like giants. The women were experts at carrying items on their head. The market had basic fresh produce and tropical fruits, and fried chicken with French fries seemed like a staple that everyone enjoyed eating.

Guatemalan buns

Then we proceeded to take the ‘chicken bus’, which is a recycled US school bus repainted in crazy colors and designs to use as local buses. The ride was Q3 each and it was amazing how many people could fit on the bus (a 2-seater easily became a 3-seater). It was a fantastic experience squeezing with the locals, with the windows open, views of the lake, and soft Latin music playing in the background

Chicken bus

We finally arrived at Posada de los volcanes, our hotel for the night in Panajachel!

There were lots of tuk tuks everywhere, similar to Southeast Asia!

Our first stop was the natural reserve, where we decided to go ziplining. It was relatively cheap (USD $30 per person for 8 ziplines), with the longest zipline around 300 meters, and provided breathtaking views of the lake from the elevation. 

Getting read for ziplining!

We saw some amazing views of the lake on our way back from the natural reserve:

Then because we had some time left in the afternoon, we decided to rent a 2-seater kayak! Little did we know, the waves were much rougher later in the afternoon, so we had quite a work out navigating the kayak in the water:

We decided to stop for an afternoon snack on the main strip (Calle Santander). The pastries and coffee here were delicious!

Our last activity was taking a tuk tuk to see the sunset at a viewing point, but unfortunately it was too cloudy to see the sun clearly. The views were still pretty nonetheless!

We ended the night with dinner at Café Bombay, this vegetarian place that served comforting, healthy food:

Day 3:

The next morning, we started out by having breakfast at an adorable restaurant called Deli Jardin which was mostly in an ourdoor garden. We had the breakfast burrito and Deli special (scrambled eggs with Mexican roasted potatoes that had lots of cilantro)

It was so satisfying! Jie had a huge cup of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. With our hearty breakfast, we were ready for a full day of touring the lake and surrounding towns. The tour would take us to San Marco, San Pedro and Santiago towns.

View of the lake in the morning (the waves are much smaller than the afternoon)

Mei had a not-so-brilliant idea of getting on the local boat to San Pedro, which caused us to be stranded on the island for 2 hours, but we got a chance to meet some local kids!

Some little kids came to watch us in San Pedro islansd and loved posing for us, so we ended up taking a bunch of pictures for them. Each time, they would run over to see themselves on my camera screen to see how their poses turned out and would yell, "autre, autre!' for another picture. Cute!

See how small the women are? Tien in Santiago

Snacks to bring home

Another satisfying trip done!

Puerto Rico - Gua Guas and Mofongos

The anxiety crept in late Thursday night on Oct. 7^th when I received Jie’s text that her Megabus from DC was 2 hours delayed. Considering we had given ourselves (what we thought would be) a generous 2-hour time window to get to the airport, this unexpected delay threw a wrench in our plans. Suddenly, the possibility of missing our flight loomed ominously over us like a dark rain cloud. Luckily, in JieMei travel style, Jie showed up a few minutes past 10 p.m., and we quickly hailed a cab, arriving at JFK a close 40 minutes before our 11 p.m. departure. However, our relief was short-lived when we arrived at the security check line, as 2 novice TSA agents proceeded to inspect our bags in slow-motion, blissfully unconcerned that we had a flight to catch. After an excruciating bag inspection process, we fled to the gate and made it onto the plane with a few minutes to spare. Another JieMei catastrophe averted!

The flight was relatively uneventful except for a massive spout of turbulence, and we arrived on-time to warm and humid San Juan at approx. 2 a.m. in the morning. Jie and I found a cab waiting in front of the terminal, but realized too late, that the woman with a cast on her arm was in fact, not the helper in charge of directing passengers to cabs, but was actually our cab driver! After sharing nervous glances with each other, Jie and I took a deep breath and presented our address to her. As luck would have it, she could not understand our English, nor did she know where our hotel was. Throughout the ride, she muttered incessantly under her breath, and we would be confused as to whether she was talking to herself or addressing us. After making several wrong turns, a few phone calls and an extra half-hour later, we finally arrived in Coqui Del Mar, a B&B that I had booked a few weeks ago. Our one-handed lady driver insisted on charging us for the extra time she spent getting lost, but since it was so late, we felt it was futile to argue. We unhappily parted with a few more dollar bills than we would have liked to give.

Thankfully, our B&B was very cute, and we had no issues entering our combination-locked room. Although the room was cozy, the highlight was a most entertaining high-tech shower. There was a button on the wall to blast the radio, multiple nozzles to spray water from every which angle, and even a steaming function, which if you were not careful, could seriously send steam up and burn your behind. The shower provided far more entertainment than either Tien and I would care to admit and we likely spent more time fiddling with the buttons than actually taking a shower.

  Space-age shower

After passing out at 3:30 a.m., we woke up to late-morning sunshine streaming through the blinds. We decided that brunch would be the best option before heading over to the beach. Five steps into our journey, the rain started to pour, so we back-tracked to pick up an umbrella for Jie. Thank goodness we went back, because we had been walking in the wrong direction! After getting back on the trail, we sat inside a cute little café and each had classic toast and scrambled egg platters. 

 Brunch while waiting for the rain to subside

 

Random procession of horses that passed by as we were walking back

Following our meal, we decided to check out Old San Juan on the other side of the neighborhood. Unfortunately for us, the buses were on strike, so we ended up taking a cab. In the process, we discovered the colloquial term for bus is 'gua gua' - what a fantastic sounding term! Old San Juan was cute and filled with cobblestoned roads. We started exploring at the Paseo de la Princesa, and then stopped to take a picture in front of the iconic Raíces Fountain. 

However, after walking around for a few minutes, it started to rain again, so we ducked under some trees for shelter until the storm swept past us. Once the rain subsided, we headed to another cute area of San Juan, and found a bar that was selling coconut juice mixed with vodka in a fresh coconut. We were surprised at how appealing of a combination the coconut juice and vodka made! 

After our drink, we decided that it was time to go home, and we ended up getting dinner at Inca chicken, where we were served the most gastronomically satisfying chicken with green rice and mofongo (mixture of plaintains and mashed yam stuffed with skirt steak).

  Mofongo (another fantastic sounding name - I may need to name my future dog this)

 

Delicious juicy rotisserie style chicken with green rice

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to make our Aventuras tour to go caving at the Rio Camuy Cave system. A cab picked us up at approx. 5:15 a.m. from our B&B to head over to our meeting point in Condado. Once we arrived and found the rest of our group, we were greeted with a decked-out bus blaring Indiana Jones music, as a red carpet was rolled out in front of us in dramatic fashion. Our guide was Rossano, a delightfully cheerful and bouncy outdoorsman bursting with energy, outfitted in professional waterproof spandex gear - a sharp contrast to Jie and I in our ratty gym shirt and shorts. On the way to the caves, we were told to introduce ourselves to the rest of the group, and Rossano had a kick out of my name and would burst into Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ song whenever I mentioned that I lived in Manhattan. After going through safety precautions and providing an overview of what we were to expect, we arrived at a bakery / cafe, where we had breakfast and bought sandwiches to bring along for lunch. The breakfast place was also where we signed our waiver forms and were given our safety packs. The safety packs were ingenious, because they combined a small pack with a lifejacket that would prove to be invaluable in the cave. And then we were off!! There were so many things we experienced, that I decided to provide the biggest highlights below:

• The tour was very professional and briefed us extensively on safety measures. We were reminded of 3 principles: Safety, conservation, equipment
• We practiced how to clip the ropes on our own and had a small test on whether we were paying attention to zipling practices in a clearing near the entrance to the cave.. then we were off!
• We did 3 ziplines and then rappelled into a mouth of a cave! While rappelling down, we had no idea that the 'wall' or the side of the mountain would suddenly end into nothingness. It was quite hilarious to see people stranded once the wall ended, bewildered at how to get down  
• After climbing into the cave, we reached the water and dove in.This was followed by climbing, swimming and walking through quick-sand like mud where our shoes almost would get stuck inside if we didn't tie them tight enough. Walking through mud this thick was pretty intense. I felt like I was in a video game, where I'd sink if I didn't run fast enough. Needless to say, my shoes were not salvageable after this experience
• The major highlight was when we walked up to a spot that was pitch black and we had to plunge into a pool of darkness, which turned out to be a river of the cave about 10 feet below (this is where unfortunately, I was a victim of the 'when you say jump, i jump' syndrome)
• We saw a nest of baby bats in a little nook of the cave   
• There were beautiful stalactite and stalagmite formations that would seemingly appear out of nowhere and we'd only notice them by shining the lights from our helmet onto them. I have never seen such breathtaking formations in such a natural state
• We were fully decked out in knee pads (invaluable), gloves, helmets with lights, etc. We really looked like miners!
• When people wanted to take a picture, we had to help by shining our helmet lights toward the people getting their picture taken (we were in fact, a human studio!) since it was so dark inside the cave
• We had lunch in a place named 'Pandora's box', where there was an open area and the guides put candles on rocks for us to eat our food. It kind of resembled and upscale lounge!
• We had never been so wet, dirty and muddy and sore/bruised but were super satisfied at the same time!
• After coming out of the cave system, we ended our journey with another zipline back and climbed almost vertically up the mountain with our harnesses to get back to our starting point

  

Jie and I in our gear

 Getting ready for the zipline

 Where'd the wall go? Rappelling into mouth of the cave

 Pic taken thanks to our 'human studio' crew providing the lighting on the side

At the end, near the mouth of the cave again!

The rest of the day was spent mending our wounds, and we ate a meal of leftover Inca Chicken. The next day, after strolling around the beach in the morning and grabbing sandwiches at Kasalita (with amazing cubano sandwiches), it was finally time to say goodbye and return to NYC!

Deep Thoughts from Coca Cola's CEO

It's been a month since I've started working again, and I have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly I have adjusted to working life again. Though it was unthinkable while I was in school, I have found that I actually prefer being able to reward myself guilt-free after working hard during the week. Being able to compartmentalize work and play has also enabled me to think about the finer points in life, which have been pinpointed so eloquently by Bryan Dyson, former CEO of Coca-Cola in the following quotes that my sister found after my mom passed along his 30-second speech to us:

Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.

Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

In summary, the quotes emphasize: know yourself and what makes you happy, don't be afraid to take risks, and treasure what you have.

Too often, we seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle of benchmarking ourselves to others, when the true 'north' lies within ourselves. Therefore, be true to yourself, and it's only when you're happy with who you are, that others will want to be around you.

Signed,

Mei

Jie's Insights After Visiting Sweden and China

Starting at a young age, Mei and I traveled a lot because of our family. We continue to do so since we’ve caught the travel bug! I’ve recently decided that I need to do more analysis when visiting a new place. My dad always does a lot of thinking when he visits a new country and as a result, is a very wise person.

Visiting Sweden and China recently and seeing the troubles of the US and Europe has me thinking. My recent thought is: there are fewer barriers between countries today as compared to ten years ago. 

Companies do business across borders. People work and live in different countries. Mei and I, even with a Taiwan passport, can visit many more places without a visa than two years ago. Also, thanks to technology and people’s rights, most everyone, all over the world have access to the same information and opportunities.

Previously, the west had a competitive advantage over developing countries. They had access to more information, an educated labor force, and a democratic government. Not anymore. Now developing countries have access to the same things thanks to Google and upheavals in recent governments. Developing countries are saying - anything you can do, we can do better! 

When I was in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, everyone was really happy. However, things were 40% more expensive than in the US. Shops were closed by 6 pm and we couldn’t find a place to eat after 9 pm. There is a great work life balance but how are people earning enough to live or continue to live? The plus is that everyone is very educated and fluent in both Swedish as English. Let’s compare to my recent trip to Beijing. This capital of China never sleeps. Everyone works very hard and very efficiently too. Similarly, most everyone speaks both Chinese and English. Comparing both cities, Stockholm is more content while Beijing has more drive and motivation.

I believe that US and Europe still has a competitive advantage in innovation, creativity, and independent thinking. However, it’s hard to stay ahead when the citizens of China are 10x more motivated and work 20xs as hard…the west needs to continue to educate and work hard.

Probably because of my field, I think that natural resources is going to be a limiting factor for the economy. There is only so much coal, oil, water, and other resources to run the engine of an economy. There is not going to be enough resources to make all the products we want and also feed everyone. The west is still ahead in thinking about how best to utilize the limited natural resources and it would be amazing if we can continue to focus in that direction.

So with all that writing, the one line conclusion is that it would serve a country government well to start thinking like the CEO of Coca-Cola.

And how does this apply to our lives? Make sure we still have a job after 10 years, that's what! I’m probably going to stick with working with the environment. I still think that we haven't figured out how to balance the environment with the economy. It’s no good making lots of computers if we’re all going choke to death. We shall see - I'm probably biased and don't have the full picture. However, either way, I’ll stick with that for now.

However, I should definitely continue to build the right language skills and gain the right experiences to be competitive in an increasing global market. We're not just competing with people in the US anymore, but people from all countries. This will involve improving my Chinese and when/if there is an opportunity, work in an emerging market or two. Most importantly, make sure that I keep an eye out for the next big new idea since innovation seems to be the key to staying ahead.

That’s enough blabbering for one day.

Signed,

Jie

New York, New York (US Open, Brooklyn, Flushing)

New York for Labor Day Weekend!

For Mei, who lives in New York. Labor Day in New York was not really a vacation but rather a stacation. But for Jie it was definitely a vacation. 

People Observations

I’m always amazed at the diversity in New York. There are all types of people with different ethnicities. There are a lot more Asians and African Americans than any other US city that I’ve lived. Also, today, we saw several Sikhs with their trademark head gear. Strange and unique is the norm. I can wear practically anything, or nothing, and no one would give me a second glance! 

Brooklyn

This weekend was packed with a flurry of activity. This is always the case when hanging out with Mei. We first went to the food festival in Brooklyn on Saturday (Smorgasburg: First-Ever Drinks Day) and had the lobster roll and Vietnamese vermicelli. We also had two donuts the size of Mei’s head. I have to say, the water view was beautiful. 

Smorgasburg Festival, Brooklyn, New York

US Open

The highlight was going to the US Open on Sunday. We took the 7 purple train all the way to Flushing which took about 45 minutes. The train was packed with US Open participants. The atmosphere was electric. Mei bought us open ground tickets which meant we could watch matches everywhere except at Arthur Ashe Stadium. So we went to Louis Armstrong Stadium. Good thing we got to the US Open around 10:30 for the 11 am match. Otherwise we wouldn’t have found good seats. As always, Mei thought ahead.

On the way to the US Open, 7 train

We found seats only a few rows from the court. The first match was with Pennetta (Italy) vs Peng (China). After a valiant effort from both players, Pennetta won (4-6,  6-7). Then, Del Potro and Simon were up. Men’s tennis was definitely more exciting and much faster. Our heads kept flipping left, right, left , right. After 4+ hours, with Del Potro looking more and more tired (very like a big friendly giant), Simon won despite the overwhelming crowd support for Del Potro (6-4, 6-7, 2-6, 6-7). Del Potro was “DEL PO” for the American crowd. It must be said that throughout the match, Simon looked like he barely broke a sweat. He was very nimble like a fairy. Even though we didn’t see Nadal, we caught up with his news on his facebook. 

Pennetta vs Peng, Louis Armstrong Stadium

Del Potro, Louis Armstrong

Flushing


After the exciting matches, we headed to flushing for some yummy Chinese food. Mei took me to the basement of New World Mall where there’s a new food court with lots of Taiwanese and Chinese delights. Mei and I had Lanzhou Noodles (Za Jiang Mian 炸酱面) and a spinach pie (Jiu Cai He 韭菜合), which really hit the spot. It was a perfect ending of a perfect day.

Happy Labor Day!

Jie

Stockholm, Sweden

Arriving in Stockholm

Stockholm, capital of Sweden, is a beautiful city made up of fourteen islands surrounded by water. One of the first impressions when walking off the airplane was “where was customs”? Nowhere, apparently! It was refreshing to arrive in a trusting country. The second impression was that the airport was remarkably similar to the United States. Everything was very well labeled in English and Swedish.

So where was customs? I went through customs during my transit in Amsterdam. The two questions I was asked were, where are you from and what will you be doing in Stockholm? Thereafter, my passport was stamped, no visa needed, and I was free to go. A friend told me that this is normal. Apparently where I land, even during transit, is where I go through customs. Good to know... after the fact!

Either way, the custom experience was remarkably different than in the United States. In Washington DC, I was first grilled at check-in about why I didn’t have a visa to the European Union, even though I was going to a Shenghan country, then my passport was checked four times on my way to the boarding area. C’est la vie!

PS A Shenghan country is a country that  signed the Shenghan treaty in 1985 which eliminated all border control between the member countries.  Only 12 out of 15 European Union countries have signed the Shenghan treaty. Amazingly, Taiwan has an agreement with all Shenghan countries and we don’t need a visa! 

Yearly World Water Week

What was I doing in Stockholm? I was there attending the annual Stockholm Water Week, one of the biggest water conferences of the year. There's usually about 25,000 people. This year the theme was “Water in an Urbanizing World”. My colleague and I stayed at a hostel in Fridhemsplan, west of Central station and north of the conference center.

The prettiest part of Stockholm was Gamla Stan or “old town”. Old town was charming with cobble streets, little bookshops, cafes, and restaurants.  The best part were the little gardens with statues and fountains sprinkled all across the city. According to Wikipedia, Stockholm is made up of 30% water and 30% parks. 

Gamla Stan, Royal Palace Backside

Gamla Stan, Royal Palace (See Best Boss in the World?)

Water Water Everywhere

I decided to take the last day of the conference off to do some site seeing with my colleague. It was a beautiful sunny day. The weather was perfect. We started off by taking the tunnel bana (or subway) to Gamla Stan. There we stopped by a cute little café to have my favorite Swedish food to date – Spaghetti Bolognese. My colleague had potato salad in a hollow potato. Thereafter, we stopped by the Royal Palace which is the official residence of the royal family. Since we didn't buy tickets, we only saw a beautifully painted church. After the palace, we took the ferry to the island Djurgarden where the Vasa Museum is located. The Vasa Museum houses a huge ship that was built in the 15^th century and salvaged in the 1960’s. It’s a magnificent piece of work. After the Vasa museum, we took another ferry to Stora Fjaderholmen Island. This island was tiny with only four restaurants and a few farm houses that sold crafts. By the time we got there around 6 pm, almost all the shops were closed. There was only one restaurant open and I got the mandatory smoked shrimp and potato salad. My colleague and I sat on the patio and stared out to sea and the port dotted by little boats, all the while drinking beer and wine. There we enjoyed European bliss.

Gamla Stan, Cafe Gronan's Menu

Gamla Stan, Cafe Gronan's Flowers

Gamla Stan, Cafe Gronan's Potato Salad in a Hollowed Potato

Gamla Stan, Royal Palace's Church

Gamla Stan, Royal Palace's Church Ceiling

Gamla Stan, Cafe Gronan's Spaghetti Bolognese

Gamla Stan, Royal Palace's Guards

Gamla Stan, Statue

Gamla Stan, Port where Ferries Dock

Djurgardin, Vasa Museum

Djurgardin, Public Transportation

On the Way to Stora Fjaderholmen, Statue

Stora Fjaderholmen, Map

Stora Fjaderholmen, Sunset

Stora Fjaderholmen, Water View

Big Mac Index

Mama mia, it was expensive in Sweden. One US dollar was equivalent to 6.3 SEK (swedish kroner) and one euro was equivalent to 9.2 SEK. Although, Sweden was part of the EU, it has not adopted the euro currency. Based on the most recent big mac index, one big mac in Sweden was equal to US $7.64 as compared to a big mac in the US for $4.07. Also, according to an – oh –so-credible –website- Numbeo – the cost of living in Sweden was 40% higher than in the United States! I am not surprised but I’m also not sure how the Swedish survive given that 50% of their income (>US $60,000) is taxed. One good thing is that there was no tipping! In addition, credit cards can be used almost everywhere so there was no need to take a lot of cash around.

Enjoying Life

If I were to describe Stockholm in five words, it would be: beautiful, clean, expensive, calm, and trusting. My few humble observations was that Swedish people have life figured out. They are content with what they have, as compared to let’s say, China. In addition, Swedish people are friendly, quiet, multilingual and attractive. There is a good work life balance with a focus on enjoying life.

Recommendations

Hostel: STF VAndrarhem Fidhemsplan, www.fridehmsplan.se, Sankt Eriksgatan 20, 112 39 Stockholm. Best hostel ever. Who wouldn't want to stay here with free wifi, tv, breakfast, a high pressure shower, and a location near a subway station? The price was about US $80/night.

Hostel Fidhemsplan's Smoking Box of Shame

Transportation: The 7-day tunnel bana travel card for US $90 was the best deal and can be bought at the  nearest Pressbyran store (aka Asia’s 7-11 stores). Taxis, buses, and ferris are also readily available and easily accessible.

Bar: Stampen, Stora Nygatan 5, 08-205793. A jazz and blues bar in the middle of Stockholm. What else can you ask for?

Food: Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce. Other Swedish delights included smoked fish/shrimp and potato salad. There’s also lots of Chinese, Middle Eastern, and other ethnic food.

Signed, Jie