My best memories of 2023 by Da Hee Jang

May 20 - Girls night at a tent

10785121 — 2024-01-09 20:15:36 UTC

A few days before this, I helped my mom set up a huge tent near a river that is a 10 minute walk from our house. We set the tent right next to it and there were bugs everywhere! Any light we lit, a bunch of bugs would surround it but they didn't really bother us. A few days later, my mom suggested if me and my sisters would want to sleep at the tent for a night and we all agree since we didn't have classes. I asked my mom I could bring ym dog and she agreed! So it was going to be an all-girls night.

We drove to the tent and brought blankets, pillows, and food. We watched the Lego Ninjago movie while eating ramen and it was super fun. We also did games and my dog just rolled up in one part of the blanket and slept. She was so adorable!! Me and my oldest sister slept together while my mom and my sister slept at a different section. I fell asleep while watching a show and I woke up very early in the morning. It was super cold and I was the first to wake up so I strolled around the river and walked my dog for a bit before everyone else woke up and packed some things before heading home. That day was amazing and it's really nice to spend time with family because now that we're older, we barely have time to. I'm thankful for this day.

July 4 - My Dream Vacation

10785121 — 2024-01-09 20:22:30 UTC

This pic was taken at Tokyo Disney Sea in Japan! We stayed in Japan for 4 nights and it was an amazing but painful experience. We visited several cities such as Akihabara, Tokyo, Asakusa, Shibuya, and Shinjuku. My fav was definitely Tokyo. We walked about 20k steps EVERY DAY in the scorching sun and I was dying but at least I got my cardio in haha. We ate super delicious food and one day we ate ramen and it was... THE BEST RAMEN I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! It was so chewy and the broth was so smooth and salty. It was perfection. We visited Disney Sea and rode tons of rides while eating a bunch of food. We rode a ride called Indiana Jones and it was the most exciting one so we decided to ride it again. But when we were in line, we saw a group of American kids speaking english and it was so funny because they were super cringe and young at the same time. I was hoping that we would ride with them and we did! We rode behind them on the same coaster and I screamed as loud as I can while the kids were yelling at me to be quiet. It was a core memory and me and my sisters laughed a LOT. I loved Japan because I watch anime and I find Japanese culture to be beautiful and I'm thinking about going again with my family in the future. I love Japan!!!

August 4 - The Death Beach

10785121 — 2024-01-09 20:28:38 UTC

After Japan, we flew straight to Kona, Hawaii and man, it was the best. We went to YWAM and my parents visited it after 20 years. It must have been such an amazing memory for them to see that place again because they lived there for a long time. We first settled into our home that we would stay in for 2 months and the house was nice. I slept well and the food was great. We volunteered as a staff for a parent-teen bible event that lasted for a week and the preparation was horrible! We had to stay in a room for 6 hours, listening to lectures and preparing for the event and it felt like school. But I met amazing people and made new friends. It was kind of awkward meeting Americans after 3 long years in Korea but it was amazing. Now let's go back to the picture. This beach was called Magic Sand Beach in Kona, big island. The moment we saw the beach, we knew we would have an awesome time. The waves reached about 40 ft tall and people were getting wiped out. We took this picture before we went into the waves and the moment we went to the shore, a huge wave appeared. Huge waves would appear pretty rarely so we would get excited when one comes. So when that huge wave came and hit us, I actually almost died and the water was so salty and yucky and sand went EVERYWHERE but it was super fun and me and family enjoyed it a bunch. We visited several beautiful places in Hawaii and I already miss it. Hawaii is a beautiful land wherever you look and I hope to visit it again.

August 13 - Memory Land

10785121 — 2024-01-09 20:33:14 UTC

This in the picture is my childhood friend. We've been friends since we were babies and she's an amazing person. Now the house you see is the house of my childhood in California. I lived there for a such a long time and finally seeing it after 3 years, brought tears to my eyes. Before we saw the house, we went to the neighborhood's swimming pool. When I was younger, I'd swim there every single day and when I saw it again, it looked exactly the same. I jumped in and had such a good time there. And then we went to see our house and it changed a lot because new people lived in it. And it seemed so much smaller than when I was younger (obviously) but it was such a beautiful house. We played games and ate a delicious dinner while sleeping there for 1 night before going back home. We went to Japan, Hawaii, California, and Nevada for summer break and it was the best summer break I could have ever wishes for. I learned to thank the days I'm living in today because when I'm older, I'll look back at it and be like, "wow, I missed when I was in Korea and doing online school."

November 17 - Contest Time

10785121 — 2024-01-09 20:37:36 UTC

We took this picture right after we finished practicing for our dance competition. These are my teammates and they are great people. We practiced the contest dance for a whole week, sweating and panting for 4 hours and eating meals together. Our dance was pretty hard so we had to work hard. This was taken the day before our competition and at the day of the competition, we dominated. We were so in sync and we ate up the whole stage. Our competitors were amazing dancers but we were proud of ourselves. Right after this, me and my sister drove to a tennis match and we lost to little kids but we didn't really care because we don't take tennis that seriously. We just play with our parents every 3 months and we enjoy it. After a few days of waiting, we saw that we won $1000 for winning in popularity!!! We each got $100 besides my sister and my dad who got a lot more because they led the group and managed it. This was a great experience and I'm going to cherish it.