Sunday, May 31, 2009
Update
Ok, I passed the hygiene portion of the Western Regional Boards for those of you who haven't heard. Hooray!!! Now I just have to pass 3 more tests and spend about $6,000 more dollars before I can get my permanent license, Hooray!!!
Life in Seattle thus far has been good. I'm really impressed with the quality of life here. Definitely a notch higher than San Francisco. The people are nicer and it's a little more laid back. The standards and requirements for everything are a notch higher as well. For example, if you want to be a substitute teacher, you have to enroll in a teacher's prep program in the University. In CA, to be a substitute, all you need is a pulse.
It took me roughly 10 hours to drive from Boise, ID to get to Seattle on May 8. On my first day in Seattle, I stayed with Uncle for one night. Then the next day, I moved into my new digs on Sat May 9. It's actually my Uncle's other house and I'm staying on the bottom level for a monthly rent. See the quick video above to see what my room actually looks like.
The video above is of me and my auntie at Folk Festival in downtown Seattle. There were all kinds of street performers along the sides of the event. I think most if not all of these street performers were not endorsed by the event planners but just kind of showed up on their own. It was a wacky wild wild west type of environment. Security was rarely present. Many of the young people present were dressed as hippies. The selection of street food was outstanding, from whole meals, to delicious tasty desserts like elephant ears, crepes, apple turnovers, etc. I tried some African food Sambusa which was a triangular shaped pastry with lentils inside, really good.
Above is a picture from Greenlake. It is a largish lake in the middle of Seattle and it takes about an hour to walk/jog around the entire perimeter which is perfect for most hikers and bikers. I love the fresh sweet smells of the trees as I walk around the lake. I also enjoy watching the little ducks and people fishing. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout. I have tried fishing twice but haven't caught anything. Trout are hard to catch. Oddly enough, there is a Theater on the side of the Lake from which plays are performed regularly. Surrounding the lake area there are many bars and pubs, and small restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. This is considered an expensive area to live in so if you can buy a house here, you'll be very happy.
Here is a picture of 3 trout that a German man caught. He couldn't speak english unfortunately so I couldn't ask him questions like what bait he used.
My cousin took us to a Mariner's baseball game during my second week in town. It was a Wed and they were playing the Anaheim Angels. The Angels won the game because the Mariners weren't very good. The fans here are very passionate about their sports, just like in San Francisco.
Here is a picture and profile of one of the Mariner's players. It says his favorite High School class was P.E. Safeco field is where the Mariner's play their games. They have all the popular ballpark foods like hotdog, hamburger, beer, popcorn, garlic fries, coffee/espresso, and drinks. The experience here is quite good. They have a retractable roof for when it rains, which is almost every day, and the stadium is wired to work with Nintendo DS.
Mike's parents had season tickets and brought their DS with them. From the little gaming device, we could order food and have it delivered to our seat. We could also stream the game live, and see the pitch locations after each pitch. Really neat stuff. Of course, it took a few seconds to stream so it wasn't exactly seeing things live as they happened, but it was still very neat for a little portable device. Nintendo is part owners of the Mariners so that's why they have such a connection with the team.
This pic was from Folk Festival. This was an annual festival held in downtown Seattle near the Space Needle. There were lots of people in attendance. This was done on my second week here. The first weekend I was here, I attended a street fair near University of Washington. At the street fair there was a lot of artwork on display as well as crafts and street food. I love streetfood and had to get a helping of some Chinese food before I left. The prices weren't kind, but I didn't care.
The Folk Festival was much larger than the UW Street Fair. The Folk Festival was host to literally well over 100 different musical and theatrical acts. It seemed half of Seattle was in attendance for the 3 day event. I saw some Arabic dance with my auntie who went with me on Monday (Memorial Day). I love getting to know a culture I'm not familiar with better which made Arabic dance very interesting to watch. The previous day I went by myself and saw the Seattle Chinese Orchestra play traditional Chinese music along with several different acts which included beating of the drums as well as the Guzheng.
I'm excited because I've found a new place to stay. It's only a little over a mile from where I'm currently staying. It's a large 8 person house. Every person has their own little room and toilet with kitchenette. There is also a regular full size kitchen in a common area with a regular cooktop and oven. It is so new it hasn't even been built yet but I'm waiting until the 7th of June when I can move in.
The following pic was taken by me about 2 days ago. It is a picture of the side of the house as you are looking at it from the street. Note there is a bus stop right in front, the number 41. There is still much construction going on and the parking lots still have not been created yet. When I stepped inside the house, none of the doors had been installed, nor the carpet, cabinets, window treatments, curtain/closet rods, etc. In fact, they had just laid down the sewer line about a week before and I was informed that they won't have hot water until the 11th because that's when the gas will come on. Guess I might have to take a cold shower until then.
Here is what it looked like before they cleared all the trees out. I got this shot from Google Maps (street view) who took their picture approximately a year or more before I took my shot. Use the bus stop in front of the building as a reference as to what it looks like now and what it used to look like. The bus stops literally right in front of the building which is sort of good I guess. It means that there will be noise from traffic because the buses and cars will be constantly driving to and fro. Good thing I got one of the rooms towards the rear.
Life in Seattle thus far has been good. I'm really impressed with the quality of life here. Definitely a notch higher than San Francisco. The people are nicer and it's a little more laid back. The standards and requirements for everything are a notch higher as well. For example, if you want to be a substitute teacher, you have to enroll in a teacher's prep program in the University. In CA, to be a substitute, all you need is a pulse.
It took me roughly 10 hours to drive from Boise, ID to get to Seattle on May 8. On my first day in Seattle, I stayed with Uncle for one night. Then the next day, I moved into my new digs on Sat May 9. It's actually my Uncle's other house and I'm staying on the bottom level for a monthly rent. See the quick video above to see what my room actually looks like.
The video above is of me and my auntie at Folk Festival in downtown Seattle. There were all kinds of street performers along the sides of the event. I think most if not all of these street performers were not endorsed by the event planners but just kind of showed up on their own. It was a wacky wild wild west type of environment. Security was rarely present. Many of the young people present were dressed as hippies. The selection of street food was outstanding, from whole meals, to delicious tasty desserts like elephant ears, crepes, apple turnovers, etc. I tried some African food Sambusa which was a triangular shaped pastry with lentils inside, really good.
Above is a picture from Greenlake. It is a largish lake in the middle of Seattle and it takes about an hour to walk/jog around the entire perimeter which is perfect for most hikers and bikers. I love the fresh sweet smells of the trees as I walk around the lake. I also enjoy watching the little ducks and people fishing. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout. I have tried fishing twice but haven't caught anything. Trout are hard to catch. Oddly enough, there is a Theater on the side of the Lake from which plays are performed regularly. Surrounding the lake area there are many bars and pubs, and small restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. This is considered an expensive area to live in so if you can buy a house here, you'll be very happy.
Here is a picture of 3 trout that a German man caught. He couldn't speak english unfortunately so I couldn't ask him questions like what bait he used.
My cousin took us to a Mariner's baseball game during my second week in town. It was a Wed and they were playing the Anaheim Angels. The Angels won the game because the Mariners weren't very good. The fans here are very passionate about their sports, just like in San Francisco.
Here is a picture and profile of one of the Mariner's players. It says his favorite High School class was P.E. Safeco field is where the Mariner's play their games. They have all the popular ballpark foods like hotdog, hamburger, beer, popcorn, garlic fries, coffee/espresso, and drinks. The experience here is quite good. They have a retractable roof for when it rains, which is almost every day, and the stadium is wired to work with Nintendo DS.
Mike's parents had season tickets and brought their DS with them. From the little gaming device, we could order food and have it delivered to our seat. We could also stream the game live, and see the pitch locations after each pitch. Really neat stuff. Of course, it took a few seconds to stream so it wasn't exactly seeing things live as they happened, but it was still very neat for a little portable device. Nintendo is part owners of the Mariners so that's why they have such a connection with the team.
This pic was from Folk Festival. This was an annual festival held in downtown Seattle near the Space Needle. There were lots of people in attendance. This was done on my second week here. The first weekend I was here, I attended a street fair near University of Washington. At the street fair there was a lot of artwork on display as well as crafts and street food. I love streetfood and had to get a helping of some Chinese food before I left. The prices weren't kind, but I didn't care.
The Folk Festival was much larger than the UW Street Fair. The Folk Festival was host to literally well over 100 different musical and theatrical acts. It seemed half of Seattle was in attendance for the 3 day event. I saw some Arabic dance with my auntie who went with me on Monday (Memorial Day). I love getting to know a culture I'm not familiar with better which made Arabic dance very interesting to watch. The previous day I went by myself and saw the Seattle Chinese Orchestra play traditional Chinese music along with several different acts which included beating of the drums as well as the Guzheng.
I'm excited because I've found a new place to stay. It's only a little over a mile from where I'm currently staying. It's a large 8 person house. Every person has their own little room and toilet with kitchenette. There is also a regular full size kitchen in a common area with a regular cooktop and oven. It is so new it hasn't even been built yet but I'm waiting until the 7th of June when I can move in.
The following pic was taken by me about 2 days ago. It is a picture of the side of the house as you are looking at it from the street. Note there is a bus stop right in front, the number 41. There is still much construction going on and the parking lots still have not been created yet. When I stepped inside the house, none of the doors had been installed, nor the carpet, cabinets, window treatments, curtain/closet rods, etc. In fact, they had just laid down the sewer line about a week before and I was informed that they won't have hot water until the 11th because that's when the gas will come on. Guess I might have to take a cold shower until then.
Here is what it looked like before they cleared all the trees out. I got this shot from Google Maps (street view) who took their picture approximately a year or more before I took my shot. Use the bus stop in front of the building as a reference as to what it looks like now and what it used to look like. The bus stops literally right in front of the building which is sort of good I guess. It means that there will be noise from traffic because the buses and cars will be constantly driving to and fro. Good thing I got one of the rooms towards the rear.
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