Seattle Experiences

March 6, 2010

Sorry to have been so slow at getting email #2 written. I don't feel that I've accom-plished much, yet it feels like I've been so busy. How does that happen? Rather than try to recount everything I've been up to, I'll give you some snapshots of life in Seattle.

Snapshot #1: Shopping
The grocery store closest to my new home has a few names: the GO, the Ocery, the GrocOut, or the Grocery Outlet. I've never seen a grocery liquidation store before this one. It always has a mixed bag of stuff, but there are always some great deals in the bag. E.g. organic crunchy peanut butter for $2.30 less than the next closest store; almond butter for half the price; cheeses for cheap; $1.99 for Sabra hummus; 99 cents for a Haagen Dascz sorbet bar; etc. Unfortunately, one can't depend on finding the same things there any two days in a row. They had oodles of big bags of frozen blueberries on my first two visits, and they had all disappeared when I went to actually buy one.

It's a further walk and more uphill (I'm getting my exercise!) to get to Trader Joe's and the Madison Market Co-op, where I am now a member. Madison has the cereal, tea, and soy milk that I like, and a good selection of organic produce. They also have strange vegetarian sandwiches (e.g. the New Yorker with marinated tofu, potato salad, mustard, pickles, etc. on rye bread -- surprisingly excellent!), Greek yogourt (my new favourite) and the best whipping cream in town. Mmmm.

Snapshot #2: Getting Around
I am walking a lot which, as home is in a valley, means walking up a lot of hills. Great for the glutes and quads!

I'm also learning the transit system. My first week here I got an Orca card, which is a plastic card that I can load with money to pay for the buses, local ferries, or light rail. I just swipe the card at a machine on the bus, and it takes off the correct fare, or indicates that I'm still travelling on transfer time, or takes an additional 25 cents off if I'm going into a new transit zone. How does a little plastic card have all that information on it?

The trickiest part was learning when to swipe the card. I was always doing it when I got on the bus, as I would in Vancouver, but here if one is boarding a bus downtown, you're not supposed to pay until you get OFF -- and if you don't, because you think you already have paid, the bus driver may get angry and think that you're trying to rip them off. Whoops!

The good news is that one can ride the buses within the downtown area for free, and the buses go as far south as Tacoma and as far north as Everett for only $2.50. What a great deal!

Snapshot #3: The Great Outdoors
My time outside Seattle has been at least as fun as my time in the city. The first weekend here, I took the bus to Everett to visit a friend. We spent the afternoon at a great beach where we talked and napped in the sun and ate pie (with big blankets -- it wasn't THAT warm). In the evening, we had a great beach walk, found an abandoned campfire at which to warm ourselves, and then heard WHALES -- whales calling to each other in the sound between us and an island. Magical.

The next day my roommate's girlfriend, Beth, and her roommate, Jenn, took me hiking with them. We drove north past Everett and then turned east into the Snohomish Valley to hike up a mountain to Lake Serene. The scenery on the hike was very similar to hikes I've done near Vancouver -- rocks and moss and trees and mountains. Very beautiful. The real stunner was the lake -- thinly iced, alpine, surrounded by peaks and trees with a massive rock descending into it, perfect for picnics. Well worth the many stairs and ascents. On the hike we came across a shrew foraging on the path. We think it may have been blind and deaf, because it seemed completely unafraid of us -- it even crawled across my hiking boot -- yet it was plump and active; seemed like it was taking care of itself well. We also heard and glimpsed kinglets: tiny little birds with a crown of colour that flit through alpine forests with bright songs.

Urban bird sightings have included a Western scrub jay and a varied thrush, both migrating through, not regular inhabitants of the city.

Snapshot #4: New Connections
It's been so good generally to be getting together with friends and classmates here outside of our school modules -- to get to meet them in their natural environment. On Wednesday and Friday mornings, I bus to Wallingford to meditate with my friend Katie at Present Sense, her studio. Another classmate, John A., has begun joining us, and other folks drop in. Sometimes John and I will go for a walk at Green Lake or the arboretum after meditation. Katie and I are planning a writing day together; how sweet to have company as we work through some of our homework. I'm also looking forward to participating in some of the workshops offered at her studio, e.g. visual journalling, and doing what I can to contribute to the studio's success.

I've been meeting other classmates for tea, lunch, walks, or dinner, too. Last night my roommate Jonathan invited me to have Shabbat dinner with him and his friends -- my first Shabbat. I was impressed by how joyful a ritual it was, and really liked the experience of welcoming the sabbath, weekend, or "chill zone" as one of the diners dubbed it, with a festive meal with friends and family. It didn't hurt that the company and the food were both excellent. :- )

Back to School
This week we go back to the Doubletree for our twelfth residential conference. Wednesday through Sunday we'll be holed up at the hotel focused on delivering training modules to each other, and then doing Marketplace, an intensive experience in which we second-year Leadership & Organizational Development students form and lead temporary organizations staffed by the first years, and attempt to make a profit. This is typically a particularly busy conference, with many people up in the wee hours of Friday night / Saturday morning preparing for the Marketplace sale. And then there are debriefs of the process, and our assessments of the first year students on Sunday. Busy, busy, busy. Lots to do to get ready.

I've really appreciated getting emails and news updates from many of you. Thank you! I feel lucky to have so many connections ready-made here in the form of my classmates, and I still miss you all, too, and love to hear from you -- even if it takes me a while to respond. :- )


Copyright © 2010 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.