What I've been doing...and what I'm thankful for.

So. I'm really glad this week is over. It was crazy difficult. Thanksgiving was different this year. I went to a Vegan restaurant with my roommates (Rachel's bf is vegan). It was really good! I'm sad I didn't take any pictures, but suffice to say it was amazing. It was the first time I'd ever had Tofurky and it was pretty tasty. It doesn't really feel like Christmas time to me yet. Probably because I don't have any decorations. But my moms been taking crazy pills decorating the house so I'll get enough of it when I go home. I saw Milk and Synecdoche, New York recently. I liked both of them. You should go see them, or at least go see Milk.

So. On Monday I had quite an adventure. I had to teach both the basic and advanced classes so I was kind of nervous. Long story short, I was waiting for the bus downtown where it comes only on the weekends so yeah... I was crazy late. But it ended up being ok...Somali people are sort of known for being late, so no big. The lessson was great and my students are wonderful. They are so eager to learn. It's an incredible feeling to be able to teach them. I don't know if I've said it or not before, but Somalian people have only recently had a written language. The majority of my students have never written anything in their lives. So that adds another element of difficulty for them. They struggle to hold a pen. We focus more on talking but this week they wanted to know more about writing. They asked me what a colon was. So, we discussed punctuation marks. Then we wrote down on the board our favorite foods. The difficulty is that they write down exactly as they speak, "I like Eggs and milk and cheese and beef." So that took a whole minute to tell them how to use a comma. and why. So we ended up discussing punctuation marks and our favorite foods for three hours. Somali people are so earnest and friendly. They always give me a hug after the lesson and tell me how grateful they are for me. So this holiday season, I'm grateful for my students, and for the opportunity to teach them and make them feel comfortable with their new lives in the United States.

The Research Grant.

So... Tonight...I decided to chill out at Chocolati. I didn't eat dinner... but I did eat an amazing "mud pie" cookie. Dang it was good. I missed hanging out at Java Jacks listening to people talk...so now that I've found a nitch...I'm listening to people talk. It's really surprising how similar coffee shop convos are. Aside from the Spanish and French tables, Christian meetings, Devin Hicks/Billy Clack, Old man and Yugo... it's pretty much the same. The people behind me are talking about chugging beers before taking the GRE's, the girls next to me were talking about Twilight (I was tempted to show them my copy of the book I need to finish before the movie comes out), and the guys downstairs were talking about Airborne. Pretty boring stuff huh. Well.... here's a more interesting development in my life.

I've befriended a transvestite. Now because of this... I may have to delete this post at some point. But for the mean time... here's my story.

So a few weeks ago I was at Neighbours, the big fabulous gay club here. I met "Melissa" an adorable little man...dressed as a woman. We danced the night away and I got his/her number so we could go dance some other time... So last week I texted him/her and made plans to go out on Saturday. Man oh man. It was amazing. First off...I wasn't feeling super great so we met up early in Capital Hill. I already knew this person was amazing, he/she lived in Berlin for three years, Prague for a year, New York City for a time, and was born in Tennessee. He/She's also written two novels and is going to UW for Critical Writing while working in the University Bookstore. Wow. So I'm sitting in a booth with Melissa...wait...rewind...I have to tell you first of all that I was concerned that "Melissa" would be dressed as "Mark" or "Melvin" or something. But I was in luck, open toed shoes, painted toe nails, adorable dress and little clip separating his natural, man haircut. (oh yeah, and base with no mascara or eye makeup which I should probably tell him later in our friendship is a must.) Anyway...so yes...im sitting there with Melissa and I ask what made him decide to live in Berlin. Legit right? His answer tested how well I could handle shock.

"Oh, well, my wife had a Research Grant."

Oh right...so tell me more about this Research Grant... WHAAAAAAAT. Things got more interesting when he told me he was married for ten years and got a divorce in January. Dang. Oh yeah...and has a three year old. So not only is he not 17, (hes the smallest and most youthful man ever) he's also a father. So...We talked about life and love and he gave me advice. Then we went to Neighbours and danced the night away. A few people have asked me if I know his/her real name. and I don't. That's not really relevant to me though. He/She just wants to be him/herself and I have no problem with that. It's refreshing to live in a city where someone can feel so comfortable with them self.

So here I am...in Chocolati...my Jav's away from Jav's. I'm going to go see the new Charlie Kaufman movie tomorrow night and I'm buying a TV on Friday night. Things are getting sweeter.

At least we're not selling Mortgages.

It was nice to be in a blue state last night. I'm still in shock. I spent the night curled up with Rachel and Andrew watching MSNBC and CNN streaming live online on our respective laptops. I loved Obama's speech and I'm glad the girls are getting a puppy. :) I really think peoples attitudes will change now...I'm hoping that will reflect in the economy. The past few weeks one of the lawyers I work for kept saying "at least we're not selling mortgages, because then we'd be really screwed" when he would get really stressed at work. It makes me laugh.

So last weekend Anne Marie came to visit me. It was so much fun...Lots of craziness occurred. For instance, I became good friends with Melissa, a drag "princess" that I danced the night away with....we text each other now. (So forget the friend searching while knitting with fabric...which btw, I can't go to now because I have to teach.) There were tons of hilarious people we encountered while am was here...I've narrowed it down to two of the best.

So right when she got off the plane, we had to get on the bus to go downtown. I knew this was going to be a cultural experience but I had no idea just how awesome. So we sit down at the back, am sits next to this lady with a dog stretched out over her lap, i sat down next to this guy wearing an oversized hoodie, jeans and cap listening to his ipod. no bigs. THEN... he starts getting into it. no problem... people do that all the time. but this guy was REALLY REALLY getting into it. I'm talking drumming, arms and legs flailing, eyes closed, he was just shy of screaming the lyrics...this guy was really feeling it. (mind you, the bus was packed) so then he starts clapping. hardcore. people start turning around...semi freaking out... it was pretty ridic. but i was not in a serious-i-need-to-get-somewhere-this-guy-is-annoying-me mood since am was there...i throughly enjoyed it. we started taking bets on what he was listening to. our best ridic guess was Barbara Streisand.

so then....am just asks him.

"excuse me, what ARE you listening to?"

he didn't hesitate a second, turned his ipod around and said, "oh footloose." then he took off his headphone and am listened to it. then i did. he asked us if we listened to tom petty too...and told us his name was DX. classic.

The other guy we encountered was at Pikes Place Market. The merchants there are pretty colorful...and this guy was no exception. First off, remember those things with different kinds of sand and colored water between two pieces of glass that you could turn around and look at? yeah...well... this guy sells those. you'd think it was gold flakes instead of sand the way this guy went on. he was so excited about it. he was smiling ear to ear and his hair was some sort of blonde synthetic fiber. anyway, he tells us that he's "one of the only people that makes these now" and then proceeds to tell us that they are, in fact,

"TIME MACHINES TO THE 80'S."

and all we need is a black light to activate it. (they glow under a blacklight...) and then the kicker ...if that wasn't enough, he says...

"oh yeah, you know, they're BEST used when you're, you know, yakkin' on the phone or studying," maybe it was just the way he said it... a time machine you look at while youre yakkin on the phone. love that guy.

so now am has a time machine to the 80's. and it was only 35 bucks. not bad. too bad she wasn't going overseas... that would be pretty sweet to have to claim that.

So after my weekend of fun, I went to work on Monday. I saw that the Aurora Bridge had some crazy traffic...but I had no idea. When I got to work, one of the women that usually comes in early was late, weird. Then another coworker said that the traffic was terrible and that they would be late too. We googled it and found out that there was someone dangling from the bridge attempting to commit suicide. :( meh.... Then boom. the power goes out at work. WEIRD. I called brad to see if we had power at the house, we didn't. so it was out all over wallingford (my neighborhood). as terrible as it sounds, we initially attributed it to the suicide. then came news of a flower shop being bombed in town? what ??? maybe the world was coming to an end. What makes things worse is that one of the lawyers i work for is preparing for trial. tension through the roof! i did busy work as much as i could...pulling files with a flashlight. then, after an hour and a half it came back. We found out later what was going on...turns out... it was a GOOSE.

?!?

a goose flew into a powerline and knocked out power for over 4,000 people. weird huh? didn't know that could happen.

i didn't put pictures up yet because i want them to be really good. and its getting dark around 5pm now...not a lot of daylight to work with. meh. but i will soon. soon soon.

Have a nice day. Somewhere else.

So. I'm sorry I've been away. Andrew told me that I was a "blog tease". Sorry bout that. I'm currently at the boutique waiting for an hour to roll around when I'll go get hot chocolate at chocolati on a date. That's all I'm saying about that. I really want to post pictures of my neighborhood and the city, but I really don't have very much time these days to go anywhere but work and well...work. The past two weeks I've worked from 8-4:30 at the law firm then 5-8 at the boutique, then on the weekends. I like being busy, I wish I didn't have to work on the weekends.

Also, I'm sad that I'm missing the season finale of project runway tonight... I don't have a TV so I have to wait until tomorrow when it's posted on youtube anyway...oh and is anyone watching The Riches? I really like it a lot...Eddie Izard and Minnie Driver...How could you go wrong?

So I have something to tell you that I learned about on Sunday night over Afghan cuisine (which is good btw).

The Seattle Freeze.

Apparently it's when you make specific plans...then boom. they dont show. they dont call. nothin..you've been frozen. or something. see, i thought this was silly, something that happens everywhere all the time. but then I mentioned it to Andrew and he knew about it... He's actually done it three times. Then Rachel, a much better source (she's lived here for 10 years) just shook her head and said, "yeah... it's true." So I guess I have that to look forward to. Yikes.

Well, in other news, I had my first meeting with the East African Refugee Community Center people about teaching ESL. We just threw around ideas...but I forsee a few sentences devoted to how adorable Somali children are in the future.

I'm currently listening to the debates on the radio...It's nice because people who come in the boutique want to talk about it. And I'm proud here because I can say that I'm from Texas and I voted TODAY in Texas. yay! (Literally I did...I'm voting absentee) I carefully shaded in every choice I made and saved the best for last. It makes me feel good to have that out of the way...I just hope they actually open it.

oh and I have a story.

Monday night I was on the bus. It was rainy that day and the bus windows were foggy so all you could really see was blobby lights. Suddenly the bus driver slowed down in the middle of the road. I could see quite a few police lights to the right and one to the left in the middle of the road. I thought, "oh man... I bet it's a wreck or something." But the bus driver said, "Oh, huh, you dont see that everyday..." Everyone started getting up at the front of the bus to take a look at what was going on. So, of course... I did too. I really can't do justice to what I saw out the window.

Picture this... outside of a X-Men movie.

Tall man, black leather trench coat all the way to the ground, hands in clenched fists with black gloves, THEN a black mask covering his face with leather straps wrapped around his head.

oh and five police officers surrounding him.

WHHHHHHHHHHHHHAT........

The best part was that no one on the bus knew how to respond. They all looked around at each other abiding by the unspoken rule of riding the bus (not speaking to anyone around you no matter what). The guy sitting next to me broke the weirdness and said, "What the hell?!?!" and I thought to myself, "huh.... now I have something to blog about."
So I'll try not to freeze on my blog again... in fact I'll make a promise. I'll promise to post some pictures of my daily walk to my works very very soon.


Sorry for the brainfarting on this one. Being cold, distracted by customers (remember I'm at work ha), the debates, and worries of the seattle freeze make me a bit scattered.

trash, friends and baking.

(First off, pumpkin ice cream is great, go buy it and eat it right now.)

So. There's this trash bin across the street from the boutique. One day, I couldn't get the mouse to work on the computer so I had no internet access, no music, and oh yeah, no way to easily make transactions. So I was bored. After guessing the color of the lifesaver in my mouth by the taste incorrectly for the 2nd time I noticed almost every person that walked by this particular trash can peered into it. What's great about my location is that you can't easily see me. Most people look around to see if anyone's watching, then stare into it. I thought at first, "Oh clearly they're homeless and looking for something to eat” It’s right outside of the grocery store. But, I don't think all of them are. I saw at least 7 people fitting this description peer into it; an overweight guy with an unnecessarily big coat, a skinny guy with a t shirt tucked in...and a guy in a suit. What's going on here? I wondered if maybe one guy saw the last guy look into and decided to check it out for himself. But then why did the first guy look into it? Or did some loon decide one day to take a gander? Who knows. My roommate Rachel told me I should invest in a baby monitor to talk to them. I just might. Anyone have an old baby monitor?


So to follow up on the last post about friends...(tap class, knitting with plastic etc.) I really like the two girls I work with at the law office. They've clearly been hardened by the lawyers they work with but are really funny and nice. I can definitely see myself being friends with the two of them. One of the lawyers (oh yeah they’re both complete dorks) stood in a superman pose wearing his coat like a cape and asked me if he should go to lunch like that. I laughed and one of the receptionists said, "Yeah, you won't be laughing after he does the elevator for the 50th time." I left early today for an interview with an award winning small mom and pop coffee company that's growing here and internationally. They pay really well and I'd get my own desk. (One of my recent goals... my own desk.) I got "two stars" from the Italian owner because I told him my favorite coffee drink was a macchiato and that I'd been to Italy. He actually made me a ridiculously good macchiato during the interview. So, we'll see. we'll see.

oh yeah, and I can't fit this in anywhere but its worth sharing.

Today I was waiting for the bus downtown while talking to my mother on the phone and this guy got right in my line of vision. He was trying to distract me but I wouldn't let him and kept talking. THEN he says to me, "Baby, you look like you're about to go bake something."

...

huh.

As it were.

So. I start every journal entry in my private journal with "so", its only fitting that I do it here...very publicly.

First off, this is my story: I moved to Seattle Washington from Nacogdoches Texas a month ago tomorrow. I came with two friends, my possessions on a uhaul, some money in my pocket, and no job to speak of to a beautiful house, and wonderful third roommate. I started working at a boutique a few weeks ago part time and today I had my first day at a Law office. This sounds like it came to me very easily, but rest assured I spent almost every waking hour applying to jobs on craigslist and using every reference I could. What I love about these jobs is that they are both within walking distance. I google mapped the Law office for my initial interview and it said the approximate walking time would be "4 minutes."

So now that youre up to speed on last months hurdle (finding a job and feeling guilty for having fun because of it) I'm now ready to have for real fun and explore the city...and make friends. One of my roommates told me I should probably find a job with people my own age so I can make friends. But I just wanted any job... now that I have two, I see what he meant. So this weekend, I decided that I'm going to do just that. Make friends. This is not as easy as it seems, if youre over the age of 19 I feel that you will understand. Not sure why I chose that age, but it makes sense to me. But how do I go about doing this? I met with a very nice lady who works at Humanities Washington last week. She told me about all the neat things I need to do in the city including go to ACT Theatre where they adapt books into plays that they perform exactly as the book details. (And also about Theo Chocolate which i cannot wait to go to) So, I signed up to volunteer here. They haven't contacted me about any possible opportunities yet, but I'll keep you posted. She also told me about a really neat program here that allows people to teach something they know a lot about for free. I'm talking all classes from soapmaking to getting your irish citizenship. Or raising hens in your backyard. I signed up for the knitting and crocheting with plastics class. I also decided to take up a tap dance class on Wednesday nights starting this Wednesday. I'm nervous, but also excited. I love dancing, and tap is my favorite. I wanted to go to the knitting group at bad knitting yarn in the Wallingford Center where I work at the boutique but was informed this evening that it was mostly older women knitting and drinking wine. So far, I have three outlets for seeking friends; volunteering at the theatre, knitting with plastic, and tap dancing. We'll see what kind of friends I make during these ventures. So here we are, at the ending of my first blog post. I hope I continue to have a fabulous time here. For my sake, and for yours. I look forward to sharing my new adventures with you.