A Seattle Update

My camera broke. My very nice camera that I use to take most of my very nice pictures broke. Luckily, I bought the special 4-year warranty for it, so all I had to do was take it to Best Buy and have them send it out, but right now I'm camera-less. In fact, I've been camera-less since my first day in Seattle, so any new picture that you've seen has come from my iPhone, which is not really my preferred method of picture taking. Possibly this camera issue has been the cause of not having a "let-me-tell-you-all-about-Seattle" blog post. But the time has come to at least tell you a little, even if I am lacking in illustrations.

My apartment has come together quite nicely. All that I'm lacking is a desk (set to be delivered in a few weeks) and a TV stand. The TV stand is a story: we bought a nice entertainment center from IKEA, but when we opened the boxes to put it together it was missing 9 pieces of hardware and 2 pieces of the furniture bits themselves. IKEA then refused to come pick it up for free, until after much talking to the managers they realized that it was their own mistake not ours and came to get it. I still think they did it a bit grudgingly, but whatever. So now the TV is sitting on the box it came in waiting for a better TV stand to magically appear. Or for me to go furniture shopping (AGAIN) or for me to find the perfect listing on Craigslist. We shall see.

The apartment has taken up nearly all of my time. I arrived with just my Mickey Mouse dishes, silverware, some clothes, and some books, so I've needed to get a lot: furniture, cleaning supplies, cooking supplies, trashcans... the list goes on. Everyday I find myself thinking of things to get, like, "Oh, a lamp for the bedroom would be nice!" or "Huh, I don't have a microwave, but I have frozen food!" I wanted to go for a run when I realized, "Hey, I left my only pair of running shoes in Virginia! And they are old and covered in globs of dried mud!" So... the little things.

So far I like the city. Today has been the first cloudy day that I've had since I got here. I love where I live-- I'm close to tons of restaurants and shops, plus a few yoga places that I want to check out and maybe even a dance studio. I could do pointe in an adult class!!! I could make my life-long dream come true! I've found an amazing pizza place called Flying Squirrel Pizza Co. that I would seriously eat at every night if I had the money, and a great little bar with a happy hour quite close by, and a few good ice cream/fro-yo places. I ate at a local place called Dick's Drive-In Hamburgers and it was incredibly cheap and tasty ($1.85 for a hamburger!).

I have found a good grocery store within walking distance and it carries my favorite kind of yogurt: Wallaby Organics Key Lime yogurt. SO GOOD. I have found a nice, big, clean Trader Joe's not too far away. I have visited the post office. I drove by the dock area and saw a cruise ship in port, and the waterfront looks amazing. I want to go explore it soon. I got my Zoo Member Annual Pass so I can go to the zoo whenever I want, and maybe next time I'll even do the Giraffe Feeding event. Or just sit and watch the penguins for awhile.

I still need to go to the Space Needle and do most of the touristy things, though.

Additionally, I've gotten to meet up with four of the girls in my program. It's been really reassuring to talk to them about the program requirements and expectations. One of them even sent me her class hand-outs and a copy of last quarter's syllabus so that I kind of know how the class I'm teaching will roll. Also, good to know what plays I'm expected to read beforehand. Especially since I'm coming from a history, not a theater, background. Orientation starts next week and I'm actually kind of excited. It'll be nice to finally be getting into things.

And, of course, I'm working on my project. A hint: it involves paint.