U.S. of Sam

Once upon a time... Yes I really am cheesy like that. Once upon a time (more like on the 28th of October 2011) in London, I met an American boy. We fell in love, survived two years of hardly seeing each other but we're closing the distance in December 2013! This blog will be my adventure diary (:

[theusofsam]

Japan vlog part 2! (finally) 

[theusofsam]

Here's part 1 of my Japan trip in video format! 

[theusofsam]

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

Lao Tzu

[theusofsam]

Travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer.

[theusofsam]

We went sightseeing...IN JAPAN!

CULTURAL SIGHT SEEING THINGS

As a culture and language nerd, seeing sights was the best thing ever! I had never been to Asia before so needless to say, the huge cultural difference was extremely exciting to me! On top of that I am studying Japanese right now so I tried to suck up the language, the writing and the culture as much as I possibly could.

Akihabara: Our hotel was located in Tokyo's nerd/electronic area: Akihabara or Akiba for short. The reason for us staying there obviously has to do with Jordan's job (that lucky bastard). What fascinates me most about Akiba are the enormous colorful ads and billboards and screens on buildings that play video clips and advertisements. Akiba is alive. Well...around 11am it usually starts waking up. The Japanese apparently start their days really late which I just can't comprehend but ok! Akiba embraces your inner child, you can find everything nerdy here ever. EVERYTHING! I'm not even going to sum up examples, you can just find everything. 

Standing in line is something Japanese people really enjoy. I saw them everywhere. Sometimes something would get released the next day and people would camp on the street so that's what this is for. Did I mention you can find everything in Akiba? 

Everything...

EVERYTHING!

Shibuya: What I've seen of Shibuya was really impressive: The busiest crossing in the entire world, streets and streets and more streets of stores and the statue of Hachiko, the dog who waited in front of the station for his owner to return for 9 years. Hachiko's statue is the most popular meeting spot in all of Tokyo! 

Shrines: As you know I went to Tokyo for New Year's! That is actually one of the best times of the year to go to Japan. New Year's Day is one of the most important days of the year. It gets celebrated greatly. And when I say greatly I don't mean fireworks and alcohol. It's a day for family and religion. My Japanese professor recently taught us that Shinto and Buddhism go hand in hand in Japan, they are not competing religions. Shinto stands for the spirits in the world and Buddhism has to do with your ancestors. On New Year's day, the Japanese visit shrines to pray to the gods and ask for good luck for the upcoming year. Jordan, Sam, Andrew and I visited the Kamakura Shrine outside of Tokyo and it was really impressive. Obviously, the Shrine was completely packed, we stood in line for hours to get close to it but it was totally worth the experience we got from it. You walk up to the altar (kind of?), throw in the smallest change you have in your coin purse, clap twice (at some shrines you will ring a bell to get the god's attention) and then you say your prayers for the upcoming year. It was a wonderful experience! Though I must say, I felt a tad bit uncomfortable. Being blonde and tall, I was obviously a foreigner and I was afraid that people would think I'm only doing it because I am a tourist and that I wouldn't actually have respect for their rituals and religion. Which I do have, just saying! Afterwards I bought a little good luck charm which they sold at the temple and drew my fortune for the year: sadly, I wasn't able to read anything on my fortune sheet but Andrew told me it means I have great fortune! We then tied it to a rope and looked at the rest of the shrine and had delicious food. Later that day, we walked to a Buddhist temple to look at the giant Buddha statue that survived a tsunami a long time back. 

It is tradition to clean your hands before you enter the shrine

Sake barrels at the Harajuku shrine

I was really really lucky to be able to see a tanuki from up close! Tanukis are Japanese raccoon dogs and they are very well known in Japanese folklore. I saw this guy at the Harajuku shrine. 

Kamakura Shrine on New Year's day: super crowded! 

Tourists.

I don't know what these things are but I shamelessly took a selfie with them.

My "great luck" fortune sheet! 

Sam tying his fortune to the ropes.

The Buddha who is superior to tsunamis.

We might have committed blasphemy a couple times

The Tokyo Skytree: 

The Tokyo Skytree (Soramachi) is the highest building in Japan and the highest tower in the world (634m / 2,080 ft) It was really impressive to stand in front of it and look up and, of course, to stand on the observation desk and look down. The skytree is still supernew, the building was completed in 2011 so it was really nice on the inside and what was most impressive - apart from the height- was the insane speed of the elevator! It also made us realize just how big Tokyo is. City lights as far as we could see!

Harajuku

If you're a fashion lover you've probably heard of Harajuku before. If you're not, you might wanna skip this part. 

Harajuku is one of Tokyo's districts and it is mainly known for fashion. There is a narrow strip right opposite of the station that is called Takeshita Street and that is full of little shops that sell uniquely Japanese clothing. And by uniquely Japanese I mean super duper cutesy girly things! Japanese girls love to dress in frilly, colorful and unique clothing, you could see eyecatching outfits everywhere, not only in Harajuku but all over Tokyo! And Takeshita Street is most likely where they buy their stuff. The two times I've been there, it was insanely busy! You have to push through the crowd and try to squeeze yourself in the little packed stores with the wonderful things. The staff of the shops has to yell promotions and welcomes while they do their work so there is constant yelling and I returned with a bad headache from my second shopping trip but the cute clothes I got were definitely worth it! 

Liz Lisa

Harajuku madness

Comic Ket:

I suppose Comic Ket could -kind of- count as sightseeing. As most of you know, the anime and manga business is absolutely huge in Japan so there are a lot of artists who make a living off of drawing and a lot of people who attempt just that. And in order to get a chance, they will sell copies of their work at Comic Market, a convention that takes place twice a year in Tokyo and which is huuuuge with its up to a million visitors. People would stand (or in this case) sit in line for hours before the opening time of the convention and then run into the building to buy posters and books of their favorite artists before they sell out (for some artists you had to stand in line for hours in front of their booths). It was like an organized moshpit in there, way too many people but the Japanese - as organized as they are- managed to make it work somehow without any casualties. It was neat to see all the pretty art but to be honest, not really something I want to experience again. 

Find Jordan. Everyone had their own spot in line so it was possible to get up to go to the bathroom or get some drinks or food without losing your spot in line. Go Japan! 

And now you've reached the end of Japan Blog part 2! 

Thanks a lot for reading and thank me for writing this for you!

Though I'm mostly writing this for myself 8D

I will probably write a part 3 soon(ish) about the weird things I saw and things that impressed me and just generally topics that didn't quite fit in food and sightseeing. 

Sam out <3

[theusofsam]

We went out for dinner...IN JAPAN!

AT LAST, my friends! I was able to go to Japan. 

Number one country on my list of places I really really wanted to go to. And Jordan made it happen <3 

We left on the 25th of December, merry Christmas, and after hanging out in the fancya* American Airlines lounge which Jordan gave us access to (because he's superior to normal air travelers/commoners), Jordan, Sam, Catpillow and I were ready for the 12-hour flight to Narita! I guess Jordan and I were a little bit more ready, looking forward to it even because we flew in Business Class! (y'know, superior to normal air travelers/commoners) (justincaseanyonesoffended:Imkidding!) As you might guess, the flight was pretty nice! We got a fancy 3 course meal on a tablecloth, all the alcohol ever and most importantly: beds! We were in Narita even before I was done enjoying the flight. 

That legroom!

I just realized it'd be boring to continue writing this as if it were a diary (also I don't remember when we did what exactly) so here's chapter 1:

The NOMS! 

Yes, I start with food! Before I went to Japan I decided to only eat things that are Japanese and that I wouldn't be able to find somewhere else. Due to circumstances (my travel companions) that didn't quite work out but hey, I had Japanese food 90% of the time so good enough! 

The food was amazing! I wasn't brave enough to eat the crazy things like raw eggs on my meat and octopus and all that but I had some traditional dishes and they were all extremely delicious!  

The first Japanese dish I had is Katsudon. The name is a combination of tonkatsu (pork cutlet) and donburi (rice bowl) dish so I'm sure you can guess that this is breaded pork over rice with an egg on top (and later I added the delicious sauce they provide). Eating Katsu on the first night of a Japan trip is Jordan's tradition because he loves it. It was really cheap too, around ¥500 (which is around $5, just drop the last two digits and you have the price in $ ...sort of)

The picture above shows Kare, which is the Japanese pronunciation for Curry. Just like most dishes in Japan, it is served with rice, you can't see it on the picture but it's under the breaded chicken. For some reason they highly encourage you to eat your lettuce, you can even get a free lettuce refill if you'd like. The color of the curry probably throws you off, I am used to the yellow curry as well but this was really good too! I think it was a little bit too spicy for me though but I still highly enjoyed it. And like most of the food we had, this was super cheap as well! *thumbs up* 

Now here's an example of a dish I wasn't brave enough to eat. It is called Gyudon which literally translates to beef bowl. This particular one has four kinds of cheese on top and a raw egg which you're supposed to mix in while the meat is still hot so it kind of gets boiled by the hot rice and meat. Eggs are really not my thing so I definitely won't eat them raw! The egg was optional though but I still didn't have this because my travel companions would eat this in the morning as 'Power Breakfast" and my stomach just can't handle that in the morning. 

WAFFLES! Oh my god this waffle was amazing. The pastry is in general really really good in Japan I noticed, they have amazing pastry and bread rolls and sandwiches as well. Anyway, this super fluffy sweet waffle was filled with blueberries and strawberries and the whipped cream was strawberry flavored, absolutely delicious! 

Speaking of delicious - HONEY TOAST! Oh honey toast...If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be honey toast... They freshly bake a square loaf of bread for you, take out the insides, cube them, dip them in honey and then toast them and the rest of the loaf. Then they put the honey goodness back into the loaf and serve it with whatever you want: berries, whipped cream, any kind of chocolate or maple syrup and ice cream. My ice cream was also covered in rice dough, which I LOVE. The whole thing comes with a little bowl of honey and/or liquid chocolate on the side which you can dip your nommies in. Heaven. And it's only like ¥ 800 something! 

It's hard to contain yourself when eating such delicious food

We also had this yummy cheese fondue at the Honey Toast cafe

The Honey Toast Cafe mascot - so cute! Too bad it wasn't for sale

More munchies at the Honey Toast Cafe

I already mentioned the amazing pastry in Japan. In the mornings I loved to go to Vie de France (but worry not, the name is the only French thing about it) and stuff my face with the most delicious sweet and savory pastries. They have a really wide variety of pastries, if you look closely you'll see that it's a little hot dog with ketchup and mustard in a bread roll and next to it is a chocolate croissant. Really good. 

Okonomiyaki before

And after

Okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese "pancake" which is reaaaally really good. The word literally translates to "grilled what you like" and it's true, they put everything you like in these - bacon, vegetables, noodles, mushrooms, cheese, everything. If you think about it, it's a japanese pizza. What impressed me most is that the chef will came to our table and prepared the food right in front of us on the little grill. When he was done we could add sauce, mayonnaise, fish flakes and seaweed to taste. Then everyone could just go ahead and cut off a piece of the one they wanted - pretty much like a pizza!

Ramen. Do I need to say more? This is a $3 dish that is done in 2min, eaten in 5 and off you go! Simple yet delicious! 

Mochi donuts!

All of the mochi

What you see above are traditional Japanese sweets: a flavored rice cake called mochi. These particular ones are fresh from a cute little shop at Akihabara Station. You can also buy them in the supermarket and sadly, I prefer the supermarket ones. I think the taste of these was a little too exotic for me but they were delicious nonetheless! I chose the two most Japanese flavors: matcha (green tea) and sakura (cherry blossom)

And I finally had a dragon fruit which I also enjoyed! If I had to describe it, it tastes a bit like a mixture of melon and kiwi. So exactly what it looks like.

Nope

Green Tea Milk from a vending machine. All I have to say about this: delicious! Would drink every day. Much enjoy such delicious. 

Kit Kat, all of the Kit Kat, wasabi flavored Kit Kat for crying out loud! The cherry blossom ones are my favorite! 

  Tumblr doesn't like it when I post too much at once so the other chapters will come soon! 

[theusofsam]

My first two weeks in pictures and words

Ohai!

I've been in America for two weeks now, already longer than any of my visits ever was. I'm already aware that I'll live here permanently, the last two weeks didn't feel like a visit as I had to figure out where to put my stuff, how to handle my finances and what classes I would take in College. All in all, it's going pretty well!

It's a little difficult for me to live the adult life for realsies now. I've lived alone for three years when I was attending university in Antwerp but that was different. I would return home to my parents every weekend and they would give me money and make me food and take care of me. Now I have some money on my bank account, I get a sum every month and I have to learn how to deal with it. Jordan keeps saying I shouldn't worry about it too much, he's earning enough money to take care of me but I don't want him to pay for everything, he's my fiancé, not my father plus I really don't want him to feel like I'm taking advantage of him. 

We had snow...for a few hours *it's something*

This is our hamster Dandelion btw (we call her Daily for short) We bought her together last summer so she is officially OUR pet <3

On to another topic, I feel like I'm experiencing somewhat of a culture shock. Granted, the American culture isn't much different from the ones I'm used to but there are still things that strike me as odd sometimes. One of which is that American people mind their own business. AND YOURS. Watch out what you say in public because people will listen and they will give you their opinion on the topic, whether you ask for it or not. Last week, I was standing in line at the post office and me and Jordan were discussing what the best treatment for a burn would be and the kind lady behind us advised us that it would be aloe vera gel. Jordan, who is used to it, thanked the lady while I just stared at her with the "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" look on my face. Then there's buses. On every bus I took so far, there was at least one person talking to him or herself, looking around and waiting for people to reply. And while I was avoiding eye contact at all costs, people actually responded and started a conversation with the person I thought was crazy. Be honest European friends, wouldn't you think that person is crazy? I noticed that I lived in a culture where everyone minds their own business. Strangers are strangers and you don't talk to strangers just like that. Unless you're crazy. 

Another thing that is mildly annoying me is grocery shopping. It should be one of the most basic and easiest things right? America has ten billion kinds of everything in their ginormous stores but I still can't seem to find the things that were so normal to me back in Europe. Like bacon cubes. This country loves, adores, WORSHIPS bacon. There are a million different kinds of bacon but no bacon cubes, seriously? Then I start hunting down pickles, I finally find them but I encounter another dilemma; there's about a billion kinds, which ones taste like the ones I used to buy in Belgium? They even come in different sizes, mini to "THAT'S BIGGER THAN MY HEAD" (just like apples btw, they are huuuuuge (and delicious!)) 

Bacon cubes? Anyone? No?

This is what my blood looks like now. I love this stuff! Arizona comes in a billion different sizes and flavors and it is obviously a lot cheaper here than in Europe!

Those are just minor things I need to get used to though, the longer I live here, the more I'll get used to the products and I'll know what to buy and what not to buy and what tastes like home and what tastes even better. Grocery shopping is always extremely interesting to me, not only are the shops much much bigger than the ones in Europe, they also have a lot of things we didn't have, a ton of variations (like an entire aisle just for syrup) and other interesting, 'exotic' stuff. Most of which probably contains high fructose corn syrup. They use the syrup as a substitute for sugar (because it's cheaper) so if you eat a snickers here or drink a coca cola (all the same brands as in Europe) they actually taste different because they use syrup instead of sugar. 

Jordan made a monster for a Christmas party we went to. It is bacon covered in brown sugar, wrapped around ham. Fatty porkception!

*size comparison derp face*

Frankenpork

What I highly enjoy is the friendliness of the people here. When I went to college last week to figure out what classes I would take, the gentleman spent a lot of his time on me to make sure I understand everything, I get what I want and I would have all the paperwork (and copies) I need for my trip to Japan (that's right, I'm going to Japan tomorrow, OMFGBBQ!! <3) 

"Keep clam and carry on" whoever of you is coming to visit me, remind me to make you taste clam chowder 

We're on a boat!

Seattle disappearing in the fog 

The train stations here are sooo clean omg

I also get along well with Jordan's friends, I might be a little bit of an awkward turtle, but I enjoy spending time with them. As for Jordan, he's been super supportive and sweet and even though we're together pretty much 24/7 we work really really well <3 Thank technology for Skype and what's app, I am able to talk to my friends and family at certain points of the day, so I don't really feel disconnected from everyone at all. It is a little weird to not be with my family for Christmas but I had a good time with my love!

Christmas parties pictures ahead 

The ending scene of Die Hard

Jordan and my lab from Breaking Bad

Kingdom Hearts

Gandalf the grey

I'm all hyped up and super excited for Japan! I'll try to make some time for the blog and Youtube but I am also really busy studying Japanese at the moment. I'm trying to take Japanese classes in College starting in January but the class is already half a year ahead of me so I told the professor that I'd try to catch up so I can join Japanese two. Sadly, that involves learning how to write and read in Japanese. I'm good at studying vocabulary and grammar but the 3 writing systems are giving me a very hard time (they all look the same, omg) but I'll still try.

Thank you for reading, have a very merry Christmas my lovelies! Sam   

[theusofsam]

Jordan: I'm gonna make a ham wrapped in bacon and brown sugar for the Christmas Party. Me: Hahaha....wait, you're not joking...?

'Merica!

[theusofsam]

And then that cold winter day, I left Europe for good

Hello hello

I am currently sitting in mine and Jordan's bed in Seattle.  So yeah, I live here now! Today we've been together for 2 years and one month and we actually beat the distance...admit it, most of you didn't believe we would. 

Saying good bye to my friends and family was much harder than I expected. I've always been pretty good about being away from home, ever since Kindergarten where I was the only kid who was excited about the sleepover and not crying and wanting to go home. When I studied in Atlanta for half a year in 2012, I was perfectly fine as well even though I was all alone at first. I guess I am rather good at adapting to my situation so that was not the hard part about moving. To me it was the weeks and weeks of meeting people just to say good bye. And I really did meet a lot of people! I have never been so popular in my life. Some days I was gone from 9am until 12am, meeting multiple people a day, it was physically straining as well as mentally because my dates mostly consisted of reminiscing, tears and good byes. 

My dog's face when he heard I was moving

Packing up my stuff was pretty frustrating as well. And not only because I REALLY didn't have the time for it, I also just threw away a lot of stuff that had been around me for years. Obviously I couldn't bring a lot because shipping is really damn expensive and I also wanted to start over new just with the stuff I really need or that means a lot to me. So what did I pack? Shews. And clothes. And honestly, not much more at all, my laptop obviously, some books, make up and jewelry. I DID bring a couple of keepsakes though and shipped them here in a separate box and it just had to be the box Homeland Security decided to open and completely tear apart... They broke my little piggybank I got from my mom for my 20th birthday and tangled up all of my bracelets and necklaces, I was pretty upset about the lack of respect but what can I do...

Luckily I was already used to the insanely long travel from Europe to Seattle so that wasn't much of a problem! It took surprisingly long to get rid of my jetlag this time though for whatever reason. 

Anyway, I am here now and I am happy <3 I will keep in touch with you guys, I promise, you've all been such good friends and family to me and I will never forget the wonderful times we had together! 

I'm going on an adventure!

Love,

Sam

[theusofsam]

At least you'll have like 50 Starbucks. Yeah I can drown my sadness in hot chocolate.

Inge & Sam

[theusofsam]

It's so easy to dream about a new life but it's so hard to leave your old one behind...

[theusofsam]

Hey lovelies,

this song definitely deserves a spot on my blog, it's already got a very special spot in my heart <3 

I met Eva, the singer of The Mathbox three years ago in university and we instantly became good friends. Not only is she supersweet and fun to hang out with, she's also got a ton of musical talent! Earlier this year, she asked me if she could write a song about Jordan and me and I instantly screamed YES, YES PLEASE DO and so she did write this amazing song, which really is unlike anything I've ever heard, I love Eva's voice so much and the other band members did such a good job composing the music, I was so moved when I heard it for the first time and I can't stop listening to it!  Thank you so much The Matchbox for this wonderful song! Everyone else, go listen to the song and buy their music when they're famous! 

[theusofsam]

"Distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold. It's for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It's for those knowing a good thing when they see it, even if they don't see it nearly enough..."

[theusofsam]

That day I went to London with no intentions at all of falling in love with an American man...

Well hello everyone!

My name is Sam and as I am writing this, I am 22 years old, bored out of my mind, living in Belgium and very much looking forward to the future. 

I'll tell you what to expect of this blog right away: I am in a long distance relationship with an American man named Jordan. We've been together for almost two years now (November 15th, 2011) , engaged for six months (May 10th, 2013) and about to move in together! (December 10th, 2013). So this blog will basically be my diary since moving to a different country to go live with your long distance fiancé is kind of a big deal! 

I'll start by writing down the story of how the two of us met:

In October of 2011 me and my friend Zoe went to London to a convention, just for fun. Jordan was also there - for work. He's working for an import/export company and was selling at the London MCM where we met for the very first time. A loooot of coincidences were involved in getting where we are now. It all started with my friend Zoe and Jordan's boss Bryan playfully arguing about something and that could have been the end of it. But much later that day, Zoe and I were sitting in the hotel lobby, being way too loud with some people we met at the convention and just a minute before the staff asked us to gtfo, Bryan and Jordan walked in and because of the previous encounter, they recognized us and Zoe and Bryan started arguing all over again. We each went to our rooms then and that - again- could have been the end of it but we stepped in the same elevator, got off at the same floor, walked into the same hallway...and our rooms happened to be right next to each other. 

We all thought it was funny and then we each went into our own rooms. Later that night, we heard someone knock on the wall and as Jordan later told me, it was him, being amazed at how thick the walls were. This is another event that, if it hadn't occurred, I might not be typing this right now because us, in room 805 interpreted the knock as a declaration of war and it was the start of a night full of pranks, craziness and fun: 

- they prank called us telling us they were the hotel reception and we were being too loud - we sent them a dude in a bra  - we stole their stuff and dragged it through the hallways (the hotel reception did not give two shits)  - we made them eat weird European food

Jordan was the last person to stay in our room (except for sleeping drunk guy on the couch) and we talked until 4am. I offered him to stay on our couch the next day because otherwise, he'd have had to go all the way to central London every night to the new hotel and he accepted. When we went to pick him up after the convention the next day, we weren't allowed to go in anymore and completely lost all contact with him, which worried us a lot, because we didn't want him to think that we just ditched him but hours after that, he found a friend of a friend (told you, coincidences) and she gave us a phone call and Jordan and I were reunited again! I won't go into too much detail for the rest of the weekend because a lot happened but it all comes down to: Jordan and I fell in love and I left in tears when we all said good bye in the London underground. 

Of course we didn't start dating right away. The distance was just too big and I didn't think it would work out. But after skyping each and every night for two weeks straight, we decided to go for it after all. And very soon after that, on December 7th, he came visiting me in Belgium, which was the first of many fun visits in the past two years.

How we got engaged (May 10th, 2013): My birthday is in April but Jordan had to work so he couldn't come over. But one week after my birthday he surprised me by showing up at my surprise birthday party, which was, as I later found out, actually an engagement party! I was so extremely happy that Jordan was there but I didn't expect what he came for: I unwrapped the presents from all of my friends and the last present was from "anonymous" and when I opened it...there was a ring inside! Jordan then took the ring out of the box and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said "YES, ALL OF MY YES" which I am still being made fun and will be made fun of for the rest of my life (I regret nothing). 

And for those of you who are too lazy to read:

Love,  Sam