San Francisco, Embassy, Microsoft, and China Beach

August 4th, 2015

Two weeks ago, Shena and I filled out our Visa applications and were informed to pick them up on the 30th of July. We discussed with each and decided to go without doing the "mail-in-Visa" option and decided to pick it up instead since I had to replace my tablet at the Microsoft Store in SF before leaving for Korea. So, last Friday on the 31st,  Shena, Heidi, Angel, and I left at 9:30 in the morning to SF~ We were able to get there in 1hr 30mins.

We first stopped at the Consulate General of San Francisco. When we got there, I had to park uphill and I guess it was a good thing I had practice of it a little when I had to park uphill and downhill in San Diego while learning how to use the e-brake or else I would have been scared and confused of how to park and all that other stuff... Anyways, I thought that we would be taking a while in the Embassy for some reason but it was a quick and easy process beside from not being able to open the door.... The buzzer for the door came on but I kept trying to push down the click/switch on the door to open it when I only had to push it open.... lol. The lady had to tell me through the intercom to just push the door open... Well, aside from that, both Shena and I thought that we were going to receive our documents that we sent in with our Visa applications back but we only received our Passport with the visa... I made sure to double check with the Visa lady worker but she was like, "No, we are keeping them." We were like okayyyy.... and left :] We were just confused for a moment...

Chinatown~

Our next stop was to Chinatown since Angel wanted to go. Up to this point, we still haven't eaten breakfast and are starting to get hungry. We walked around shops without buying anything then we stopped by the Bakery Shop I stopped at the previous time we were in SF to buy Pork Buns!~ I got a dozen for $14 and from the whole box, I ate only one. Not that they ate it all. but I wasn't hungry for more lol. I just realized, I never took photos of the food we ate! After walking down the street and up to where we began, we set off to the Microsoft Store at the Westfeild Galleria.

Old St. Mary's Church located in Chinatown

It took quite a while to get there to to traffic and then I turned on the wrong street while staying in the wrong lane. But, it was all good since it took us to the parking structure. There was a Forever 21 there and I had Heidi and Angel go off shopping by themselves :] while Shena decided to tag along with me to the Microsoft store. Andrew helped me replace by Surface Pro 3 since it was cracked (ㅠ.ㅠ). It came out to a big total of $350 ㅠ.ㅠ At least I got it replaced and am now able to write and use the touch function again. I was going to have my tablet download Microsoft 10 while I was there but since the new tablet had no battery, I had to wait for it to charge. I set up my new tablet but it took so long... The guy was taking a long time to return to me, too, and it would be awkward to just leave without telling him so I waited while my tablet was charging... Thanks to Shena for hanging around and waiting for a long time! Then, Heidi and Angel came in while I was still setting up and then left again to go shopping around. When I was finally able to leave with out feeling awkward, Shena and I walked around the mall. It had 6 floors! and a lower level for the food court! Crazy! I'm not much of a big fan of malls but those that are would be able to spend hours in here... I'll stick to the food floor :]

Another shot that I thought was pretty~ in Chinatown

We eventually made our way to the food court. Shena and I walked around the food court 3 times before deciding on what to eat. Heidi and Angel eventually found their ways to us and we were all finally able to have our official meal of the day after 3 in the afternoon. They all got Korean food from "Sorabol (서라벌)." I went off to buy a watermelon drink from a few stalls down and then couldn't find them when I came back lol. I tried calling Heidi but she didn't answer and then I saw Shena getting up and trying to get my attention. I ate off of Heidi and Angel's food. They both go the spicy pork and Heidi got the spicy chicken as her second side while Angel got spicy rice cakes. I liked that they serve Japchae! It was my favorite.
After eating for a while, I realized for some reason that I don't remember where I put the parking ticket! I checked and double checked all of my pockets, my wallet, and my bag but couldn't find it... Disaster! well for me... I tried looking in the car, too but I still couldn't find it... I had to pay the maximum parking price and it was $36 ㅠ.ㅠ I was told that I could get a refund if I found my ticket again but I don't think I'll be seeing that parking ticket...

Panorama of China Beach. I like that it's cloudy :]

It was tiring coming back up the stairs lol

It was getting late, probably about 5pm right now. We wanted to go to Pier39. Since I thought it would be busy and it was already starting to get cloudy and windy, I decided that we can just stop by China Beach before leaving to go home. I was already tired for some reason. We made it to the beach and stayed there for about 30 minutes after taking some pictures and I decided we'll go across and explore the other side where the light house and other beach was since these kids wouldn't decide where they wanted to go, haha. But after trying to get onto the freeway, there were already too many cars trying to go onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Shena already knocked out at this point too so this means that we will be having another trip to SF after we come back form Korea to explore the other side with Shena.










More pictures of the beach:

The rice came in a stone pot this time :]

We left around around 6pm and I noticed that both the check engine and maintenance lights were on! I got scared and decided to drive slow for the ride home. It felt like the longest ride ever.... I only drove 65-70ish mph since I was scared that something would happen lol. We made it home after 2 hours and I dropped Shena off at her house. Since I didn't eat much, I wanted to eat so I took us to Pine Tree House ( 소나무집) on Folsom Blvd. I got the Kimchi Tofu, Heidi the Stir-fry squid, and Angel got Galbi. We surprisingly got our food quickly and also ate quickly, too. The workers were surprised that I came to pay for the bill early lol since we usually take longer to eat and stay for a while.
Anyways, since I had to get ready for the next day for my sister-in-law's baby shower, we stopped at Target on our way home for some last Baby Shower shopping. I also got myself 2 new watches and a set of earrings ;] This was a long and fun Friday for me since there was so much to do. Thanks to Shena again for tagging along, hanging out with us, and having to wait for me at the Microsoft Store :]

Ojingeo/ Stir-fry squid

Galbi

Kimchi Tofu

Thanks for reading! I'll be posting up about the Baby Shower on Thursday!~

P.S. Must watch k-drama: "Kill Me, Heal Me"

~Christina