Tempest7: Blogger

Out from Seattle

I just settled down at my cousin's place in Vancouver. Time for me to try to relate all my little experiences of this trip.

Even though the weather in Seattle wasn't the best (in fact it rained most of the time I was there) I still managed to have a good time. This was the first time I've been to Seattle. This is alos the first time I've been to a hostel. My trip last year to Vancouver with my parents was fun and a rich experience, but travelling alone is a totally different experience.

Upon arrival at the Grey Hound station in Seattle I was a bit worried. The place seemed a little shady, and reminded me of the one in Washington. Surprisingly everything that I had planned the day before went through smoothly. The hostel was great, the room was pretty clean though I had some personal complaints with my roommates. Living with other people is pretty difficult, I got along socially with my roommates, but they had some bad habits (and I am certain so did I) that got on people's nerves.

I arrived and set myself up. I noticed someone had already taken the top bunk but the only signs of him were the clothes all piled up at the side of the room. I had a bad feeling about this person. He didn't arrive until really late at night and as I expected he just undressed, dropped everything to the ground and crawled into bed. The second night we were joined by a German fellow who was in Seattle to see a friend's show or audition. He was a very proper sort of fellow but couldn't stand the noise my keys make when I typed on them late at night. I felt bad because I think it is very difficult for him to sleep with us. I reframed the majority of the time from turning on the lights and relied on my notebook screen to find my way in the dark. This person had a lot of complaints as well, we had a long discussion about Canadians during breakfast. Our 4th guest happened to be a very elderly Japanese man. He doesn't speak English it seems, and I feel he is somewhat strange. He appeared to be a business man who's been kicked out of his house and job. He had an aweful odour about him which forced us to open up the windows a bit, even though it was fairly cold outside at night.

Aside from my roommates, I met some friendly Japanese people from Okinawa. I remember the movie I saw with Akira about Okinawa and had a lot of questions for these people. I also was introduced to two nice Korean people. They taught me some Korean and we exchanged contact information. They had gone to the Seattle game and I believe were hitching a ride to Portland. We met a few other people but I did not stay long enough to get to know them.

I tried a number of the local restaurants that were recommended to me. My favourites were the Market Grill down in the Pike Market. The sandwich and the clam chowder were very good in my opinion. My favourite Japanese spot is a place called Maneki located on 6th just on the border of the international district. The location has a lot of history, spanning back something like 100 years. The popularity of the place can be seen by the huge lineups every night. I literally waited 1 hour for a single seat at the bar. There I was greated by a Japanese Buddhist monk and another Japanese regular. The people in the bar were so friendly and generally I had a friendly feel for the people of Seattle. So many strangers offered to help me find my way. I spoke with several people at the bar that night including Katsu-san the young married bar-tender, Simon a local Chinese Indo-chinese executive of some sort, and briefly said hello to "Hiro" I believe, the Sushi chef. I loved the place so much I returned 2 nights later and met Ken, an elderly Japanese person who had a lot to talk about. There was also a California girl who had moved into Seattle. She was having some pretty difficult times in her life, so we tried to be supportive. I was also introduced to 30 year old Sakura-san. I thought she was younger about my age. She is a North American raised Japanese, who has flipped back and forth between Seattle and Japan. We seem to get along well enough and she happily parted to go drinking with her girl friend. She has some interested friends.

There are many more interesting stories, but this post is already getting pretty long. I met a Korean and Japanese on the bus ride back into Canada. We had some time at the border when people were being checked and got together and talked all the way back to Vancouver. I have plans to meet up with Jay (the Korean male), and hopefully I will see Michi (Japanese girl) sometime in the future. The girl really surprised me, she has only been studying in Canada for 7 months, but is an Advance Plus student at her school who already has her TESOL certification.

Plans tomorrow is to travel to Aberdeen Centre then to meet up with Amy and Jay in the evening.

posted by Tempest7 @ 17:34