About Us

About Kiko

~Hi~ I was born and raised in Champaign, Illinois. I grew up speaking both Japanese and English. My mom (Sumie) used to take me back to Japan every year to visit my family there and to learn Japanese by going to school for 4 weeks in the summer. I also grew up going to Hebrew school and Sunday school so with my diverse cultural background I developed a love for learning about other people and other cultures at a young age. At some point, I decided that I love languages and ended up majoring in Teaching of Spanish and minoring in Math at UIC. Right now, I am a Teaching Assistant and Graduate student at UIC. I teach Spanish and am pursuing a Masters in Hispanic Linguistics.
When I am not at school, I work at Sweet Maple Cafe, (an awesome breakfast restaurant) or work teaching Yoga for CorePower Yoga.

When I am not working, I love to practice yoga, play with my cats (I am kind of a cat lady), eat/cook healthy food, bake/indulge in delicious pastries, and of course hang out with Kevin.
Kevin and I love to go grocery shopping and travel together! One of our favorite things is to do together is to go into gracery stores in foreign countries :)
On my own, I have travelled to: Japan, Israel, Spain, France, England, Brussels, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Netherlands, Italy
Kevin and I together have travelled: Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Germany.

About Kevin

Ummmmm....hi. I was born in Chicago Illinois, United States of America, Northern Hemisphere, Planet Earth, Solar System (home of Humanity and Center of Known Universe [1]), Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Galactic Group, Virgo Supercluster, Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex, Observable Universe, Universe. I grew up playing a ton of video games and watching Japanese animation. These days I am a bit too busy being a medical student to do much of either of those activities.



Yet, I still manage to exercise daily via gymnastics strength training and a once-twonce weekly yoga session. I do, as Kiko already said, love to travel. My interest in other cultures has stemmed from my families openness and experience with Japanese shows and foreign countries' video games.

Food is good.


Sources:
1) Andrew R. Liddle; David Hilary Lyth (13 April 2000). Cosmological inflation and large-scale structure. Cambridge University Press. pp. 24–. ISBN 978-0-521-57598-0. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_location_in_the_universe)

How we met

Kiko, as an undergraduate student, worked the front desk of the Honors College at UIC. During Kevin's final year at UIC Kiko was at the front desk A LOT. During that time, Kevin spent a good amount of time at the Honors College Student Lounge. He walked past Kiko everyday and as the Fall semester went on, he began to stop and talk to her for short periods at a time. Before anyone knew it, they had become friends.
Soon, it became routine for Kevin to stop by Kiko's apartment to have a quick snack after research and before returning home on the Metra every Friday night. Then... it became two or three nights a week that he would stop by... and eventually they were together during all of their free time. Kiko however, afraid of commitments and serious relationships refused to admit that the two were dating. After some arguing and some soul searching, the two decided that they would officially comit to each other and give their relationship a real try.
Their relationship was put to the test. In May 2011, Kiko left to study abroad in Argentina. In June 2011, before Kiko returned, Kevin left to go teach in South Korea with Fulbright for one full year.
After many late night and early morning Skype calls, hundreds of e-mails, 2 round trips to East Asia, a Southeast Asia trip, one return home visit, and many many heart to hearts, Kevin and Kiko were reunited.
Kevin came home and began Medical School at UIC and Kiko finished her last year at UIC. After surviving a 16 month long on-the-otherside-of-the-planet-relationship and 1 year of medical school, the 2 new that life was always better together and that they could overcome anything together.
Aug. 8th 2013, Kevin proposed to Kiko at his family's cottage that he has gone to every year since he was a baby.
Now the two of them live together with 2 kitties (Indie and Cid) and with Kevin's twin Ryan, and the twins' best friend Joey in Chicago.