Monday, July 19, 2004
My life in Seattle so far...
It has been about a month since I've moved to Seattle and well, I thought a little summary of my life (more specifically social events) so far. What I've seen, experienced...minus the boring work stuff.
(Basically work is more or less reading, studying, lots of time spent in front of computer feeling somewhat unproductive so that summarizes my work life and we can now move onto the cool activities in Seattle since I've moved here)
Until July, I spent most of my time getting settled in...license, registration, shopping for missing house items, cleaning, unpacking...
7/1/04 - Tertulia
Tertulia is a spanish language group that meets every thursday at Continental restaurant in U District (http://students.washington.edu/paul/ for info). I was little skeptical at first about going since I thought it would be either extremely difficult or lame, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was exceptionally friendly. They all spoke nothing other than Spanish...whether they were only beginners or native speakers. Of course, it required a lot of patience from the native speakers to listen to some of us, but I think I won't miss a meeting in the future.
7/2/04 - Friday Chill Party
I had joined this group called "Seattle International Group" (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seattle_international_club/ for info) hoping to get into some social life with people with varying interests such as any type of international events, travel, languages, etc. etc. I suppose it is simply a social group...no more. Still, I thought I'd need some company in my new life. So I went to my first event, a party held at one of the member's house. It was one of those hang out, have food, listen to music, talk, dance...etc.
I finally got to meet with several people who I had only corresponded with for few days. We talked about a lot of stuff...some even in Spanish. We danced some. I found that I had a lot in common with various people there...compared to those people I used to know for many years at other places.
I suppose I never really belonged to my work group...people who had absolutely no interest in anything other than work and occasional hanging out at bars or watching reality shows. My life cannot be that way. I crave much more.
7/3/04 - Hanging out with new acquaintances
So, I hung out with two new people I met at the party. We went to early sushi/teriyaki dinner at Wallingford. Personally speaking, the freshness of the fish was certainly not up to my standard, but it was overall all right. And what is up with the teriyaki and Seattle? I don't think I've seen so many teriyaki places in one city!
Right before dinner, we had absolutely terrible waiting period. Japanese places are certainly never big enough to accomodate decent dinner crowd. We looked around the junk store next door (run by a Japanese woman). Literally things were completely unorganized...mostly poor quality items, but I managed to find few little things. They were mere dollars after all.
7/4/04 - July 4th BBQ
Another International group member had a BBQ party at his house. Having gone to sleep very late the night before, I barely managed to get up and cook early enough so that I can bring some dumplings. Working with the small pot is not a nice thing...it took incredibly long time to make enough dumplings!
It was not nearly crowded when I arrived at the party...but lots of BBQ of meat...
We had lots of food, music, lots of talk with different people.
I left early so that I could check out a goth club
7/4/04 - The Vogue
The Vogue is a goth club located in Capitol Hill. It was certainly not a goth club I was used to in Hollywood. The music was nice with mostly old tunes and songs I've not heard in a long time. The people, however, were not dressed up at all! Most of them werejust wearing black top and bottom, no nicely clothed people to admire...I felt horribly over dressed and i was wearing one of my simple garments.
7/5/04 - Lunch with new acquaintances
Another lunch outing with my newly friends. Then afterwards, we went to the wooden boat festival to rent the row boats. I am definitely afraid of water. I suppose I just got used to the crystal clear warm water and anything else seem to scare me a little. But the boating was nonetheless quite fun...little precarious because it was so small and low, and lots of sea planes and big boats were around us.
I think I might have enjoyed more if we had gone on a bigger boat and someone in the boat knew what to do. I totally admit I am a wimp at such things, but seriously...I am not quite sure why I fear so many things in life
7/7/04 - Salsa class
There's supposedly Salsa class held every Wed. I was told by one of the club members to attend since there was actually shortage of girls. Can you believe!! I certainly could not, but it was indeed true and well, I think I'll probably end up taking this class.
7/9/04 - Circus contraption
One of my labmate is involved with this company...I've never seen a circus before, so I thought why not go check it out? I did drag myself a little, but I went nonetheless. It was one of their last two shows and all the pre-tickets were sold out. I had to go little early so that I can get the last minute tickets. I arrived an hour early, but there was already a line...incredible! I waited. I was at least one of 25 lucky ones who could get in.
Finally we were in...the setting was a warehouse style, not a huge place, but very quaint, high ceilings, the sets were exceptionally pretty. I was alone so it was very easy to find one left over seat for myself...otherwise, I would have had to use a cushion on the floor.
The music was what grabbed me first...lively yet strange...effective even from the beginning to set the mood of the show. As the light deemed, I knew I'd have a time of my life.
The music was what started the show. Each piece of performance had a story and music. First performer was on the rope, beautiful acrobatics and enhanced by the complementing music. There were some funny pieces, more acrobatics and ropes. I don't think this is a typical circus. I've seen some parts of Circus on the TV and videos and this was much more than that. In essence this was a theater and musical circus.
As I walked out, I realized I've never had so much fun at a theater as I had there. The closeness of the setting instead of the formal large theater had been a phenomenal experience
7/10/04 - Good old movie and Summerfest
King Arthur was out so I had to go see it...I did skip the hike because of that. Well, can always do that later...
Then I drove to the Summerfest in Kirkland. It was supposedly an art fair. I thought I'd have fun...needless to say I was slightly disappointed. The weather was nice despite the occasional rain, but the fair was so small! Even getting lost on the way (due to closure of 540 YUK!) was more interesting experience than the fair itself. There were some paintings, crafts tables, but not really interesting as other ones I've attended.
Food also left much to be desired
7/11/04 - Bastille day, international day
Bastille day is essentially French fair at Seattle Center. Lots of french food, music, but it was a small scale thing...not many food booths and the music was not stupendous.
So, that's when we decided to go to International district for the international fair. International District in Seattle is rather strange...all the different cultures are simply meshed together in it. The fair was much bigger...better food, more funky stalls, and music.
Afterwards, we shopped at the Uwajimaya market...
Thai food at U District in the evening
Movie at the house to complete the day...
7/13/04 - Japanese session, Belly dance class
This is entirely at my little house...every tuesday, I've arranged a little exchange of services, learning Japanese or dessert for teaching belly dancing
7/17/04 - Outdoor theater, Bite of Seattle, Century ballroom
Entirely too busy day!
I was told about the outdoor free shakespeare plays at Volunteer park so I leisurely made my way there...Caught little of Love's labours lost and Julius Caesar. The day was incredibly humid.
Then I had to meet some companions at the Bite of Seattle at the Seattle Center. I had no idea what this place would be like...but now I know. The big Seattle center area is totally filled with food booths (of local restaurants). There's tons of food tasting...just food everywhere!
We had sampler plates...I got a roasted corn as additional meal (I seem to be eating a lot!).
Then after checking out some blues music, we went over to the salsa band stage. Yes, there are also 4-5 live music stages.
Of course, the dancing was a must...so we did...sometimes it amazes me how much I miss dancing of any forms. Perhaps I should not have cut my dancing activities last year??
The salsa music had prepped us for the Century ballroom afterwards...
Century ballroom has different music each night...Saturday was salsa day. It is like a Derby in Hollywood with better dancers or Mayan with more style. I am certainly not at all expert at salsa, but I think I learned a lot...the whole problem with this partner dancing is that I am so unused to this whole experience.
It has been about a month since I've moved to Seattle and well, I thought a little summary of my life (more specifically social events) so far. What I've seen, experienced...minus the boring work stuff.
(Basically work is more or less reading, studying, lots of time spent in front of computer feeling somewhat unproductive so that summarizes my work life and we can now move onto the cool activities in Seattle since I've moved here)
Until July, I spent most of my time getting settled in...license, registration, shopping for missing house items, cleaning, unpacking...
7/1/04 - Tertulia
Tertulia is a spanish language group that meets every thursday at Continental restaurant in U District (http://students.washington.edu/paul/ for info). I was little skeptical at first about going since I thought it would be either extremely difficult or lame, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was exceptionally friendly. They all spoke nothing other than Spanish...whether they were only beginners or native speakers. Of course, it required a lot of patience from the native speakers to listen to some of us, but I think I won't miss a meeting in the future.
7/2/04 - Friday Chill Party
I had joined this group called "Seattle International Group" (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seattle_international_club/ for info) hoping to get into some social life with people with varying interests such as any type of international events, travel, languages, etc. etc. I suppose it is simply a social group...no more. Still, I thought I'd need some company in my new life. So I went to my first event, a party held at one of the member's house. It was one of those hang out, have food, listen to music, talk, dance...etc.
I finally got to meet with several people who I had only corresponded with for few days. We talked about a lot of stuff...some even in Spanish. We danced some. I found that I had a lot in common with various people there...compared to those people I used to know for many years at other places.
I suppose I never really belonged to my work group...people who had absolutely no interest in anything other than work and occasional hanging out at bars or watching reality shows. My life cannot be that way. I crave much more.
7/3/04 - Hanging out with new acquaintances
So, I hung out with two new people I met at the party. We went to early sushi/teriyaki dinner at Wallingford. Personally speaking, the freshness of the fish was certainly not up to my standard, but it was overall all right. And what is up with the teriyaki and Seattle? I don't think I've seen so many teriyaki places in one city!
Right before dinner, we had absolutely terrible waiting period. Japanese places are certainly never big enough to accomodate decent dinner crowd. We looked around the junk store next door (run by a Japanese woman). Literally things were completely unorganized...mostly poor quality items, but I managed to find few little things. They were mere dollars after all.
7/4/04 - July 4th BBQ
Another International group member had a BBQ party at his house. Having gone to sleep very late the night before, I barely managed to get up and cook early enough so that I can bring some dumplings. Working with the small pot is not a nice thing...it took incredibly long time to make enough dumplings!
It was not nearly crowded when I arrived at the party...but lots of BBQ of meat...
We had lots of food, music, lots of talk with different people.
I left early so that I could check out a goth club
7/4/04 - The Vogue
The Vogue is a goth club located in Capitol Hill. It was certainly not a goth club I was used to in Hollywood. The music was nice with mostly old tunes and songs I've not heard in a long time. The people, however, were not dressed up at all! Most of them werejust wearing black top and bottom, no nicely clothed people to admire...I felt horribly over dressed and i was wearing one of my simple garments.
7/5/04 - Lunch with new acquaintances
Another lunch outing with my newly friends. Then afterwards, we went to the wooden boat festival to rent the row boats. I am definitely afraid of water. I suppose I just got used to the crystal clear warm water and anything else seem to scare me a little. But the boating was nonetheless quite fun...little precarious because it was so small and low, and lots of sea planes and big boats were around us.
I think I might have enjoyed more if we had gone on a bigger boat and someone in the boat knew what to do. I totally admit I am a wimp at such things, but seriously...I am not quite sure why I fear so many things in life
7/7/04 - Salsa class
There's supposedly Salsa class held every Wed. I was told by one of the club members to attend since there was actually shortage of girls. Can you believe!! I certainly could not, but it was indeed true and well, I think I'll probably end up taking this class.
7/9/04 - Circus contraption
One of my labmate is involved with this company...I've never seen a circus before, so I thought why not go check it out? I did drag myself a little, but I went nonetheless. It was one of their last two shows and all the pre-tickets were sold out. I had to go little early so that I can get the last minute tickets. I arrived an hour early, but there was already a line...incredible! I waited. I was at least one of 25 lucky ones who could get in.
Finally we were in...the setting was a warehouse style, not a huge place, but very quaint, high ceilings, the sets were exceptionally pretty. I was alone so it was very easy to find one left over seat for myself...otherwise, I would have had to use a cushion on the floor.
The music was what grabbed me first...lively yet strange...effective even from the beginning to set the mood of the show. As the light deemed, I knew I'd have a time of my life.
The music was what started the show. Each piece of performance had a story and music. First performer was on the rope, beautiful acrobatics and enhanced by the complementing music. There were some funny pieces, more acrobatics and ropes. I don't think this is a typical circus. I've seen some parts of Circus on the TV and videos and this was much more than that. In essence this was a theater and musical circus.
As I walked out, I realized I've never had so much fun at a theater as I had there. The closeness of the setting instead of the formal large theater had been a phenomenal experience
7/10/04 - Good old movie and Summerfest
King Arthur was out so I had to go see it...I did skip the hike because of that. Well, can always do that later...
Then I drove to the Summerfest in Kirkland. It was supposedly an art fair. I thought I'd have fun...needless to say I was slightly disappointed. The weather was nice despite the occasional rain, but the fair was so small! Even getting lost on the way (due to closure of 540 YUK!) was more interesting experience than the fair itself. There were some paintings, crafts tables, but not really interesting as other ones I've attended.
Food also left much to be desired
7/11/04 - Bastille day, international day
Bastille day is essentially French fair at Seattle Center. Lots of french food, music, but it was a small scale thing...not many food booths and the music was not stupendous.
So, that's when we decided to go to International district for the international fair. International District in Seattle is rather strange...all the different cultures are simply meshed together in it. The fair was much bigger...better food, more funky stalls, and music.
Afterwards, we shopped at the Uwajimaya market...
Thai food at U District in the evening
Movie at the house to complete the day...
7/13/04 - Japanese session, Belly dance class
This is entirely at my little house...every tuesday, I've arranged a little exchange of services, learning Japanese or dessert for teaching belly dancing
7/17/04 - Outdoor theater, Bite of Seattle, Century ballroom
Entirely too busy day!
I was told about the outdoor free shakespeare plays at Volunteer park so I leisurely made my way there...Caught little of Love's labours lost and Julius Caesar. The day was incredibly humid.
Then I had to meet some companions at the Bite of Seattle at the Seattle Center. I had no idea what this place would be like...but now I know. The big Seattle center area is totally filled with food booths (of local restaurants). There's tons of food tasting...just food everywhere!
We had sampler plates...I got a roasted corn as additional meal (I seem to be eating a lot!).
Then after checking out some blues music, we went over to the salsa band stage. Yes, there are also 4-5 live music stages.
Of course, the dancing was a must...so we did...sometimes it amazes me how much I miss dancing of any forms. Perhaps I should not have cut my dancing activities last year??
The salsa music had prepped us for the Century ballroom afterwards...
Century ballroom has different music each night...Saturday was salsa day. It is like a Derby in Hollywood with better dancers or Mayan with more style. I am certainly not at all expert at salsa, but I think I learned a lot...the whole problem with this partner dancing is that I am so unused to this whole experience.
Friday, July 16, 2004
Page Updates
I've made some updates to travel page...added more pictures if you care to see.
Bolsa Chica bird reserve:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/bolsachica.asp
About UCLA:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/ucla.asp
Huntington Library flowers:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/huntington2.asp
Seattle:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/seattle.asp
Jeju Island in Korea:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/jeju.asp
More on Seoul, Korea:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/seoul2.asp
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/seoul3.asp
Egypt:
Around Cairo: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/Cairo.asp
Luxor/Karnak: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/Luxor.asp
Nile Cruise: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/NileCruise.asp
Aswan: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/Aswan.asp
Abu Simbel: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/AbuSimbel.asp
I've made some updates to travel page...added more pictures if you care to see.
Bolsa Chica bird reserve:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/bolsachica.asp
About UCLA:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/ucla.asp
Huntington Library flowers:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/huntington2.asp
Seattle:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/seattle.asp
Jeju Island in Korea:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/jeju.asp
More on Seoul, Korea:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/seoul2.asp
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/seoul3.asp
Egypt:
Around Cairo: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/Cairo.asp
Luxor/Karnak: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/Luxor.asp
Nile Cruise: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/NileCruise.asp
Aswan: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/Aswan.asp
Abu Simbel: http://www.cafedeminuit.com/AbuSimbel.asp
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Egypt - Afterwards...
My trip to Egypt is over and now it is time to consolidate my photos and tell a little story. The pages with Egypt photos and little stories can be found at:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/travels.asp
Under "Egypt" section.
The trip had been simply incredible. Heat (up to 130 degrees), smog (could not see the city from the mountain due to this, can you believe it?), perpetual blowing of the nose (I was sick during the whole time) didn't bother me at all. :)
Enjoy!!
My trip to Egypt is over and now it is time to consolidate my photos and tell a little story. The pages with Egypt photos and little stories can be found at:
http://www.cafedeminuit.com/travels.asp
Under "Egypt" section.
The trip had been simply incredible. Heat (up to 130 degrees), smog (could not see the city from the mountain due to this, can you believe it?), perpetual blowing of the nose (I was sick during the whole time) didn't bother me at all. :)
Enjoy!!
