Sunny in Seattle

  11^th till the 14^th of April, the last days in New York City and the first weekend with my host family.

The first thing on our program was the National Museum of the American Indian. It is a free museum and it’s very beautiful, on the in- and outside. We learned about how the tribes used to life and how they adapted to the surroundings. We saw old artifacts that wear made by different tribes and read about what they mean. We listened to music that was made by Amerindians, old and modern. Did you know that Jimi Hendrix was an Amerindian? Neither did I. After spending quite some time at the museum we took a break in the park. There we decided on further plans. I wanted to go back to fifth avenue, and spend some time in a lovely store that I saw.

But first we went to another park: Gramercy Park. The Gramercy Park Historic District provides an early example of creative town planning. The area was developed in 1831 by Samual B. Ruggles who laid out lots around New York City’s only surviving private park. Buyers of the lots became joint owners of the park and each received a key to the gate. Original townhouses in Greek Revival, Italianate, Gothic Revival and Victorian Gothic styles still line the south and west sides of the square. The friends Meeting House of the 1850’s and one of the city’s earliest apartment houses, built in 1883, are at the southeast corner.  So, just as in the past; it’s a private park and we couldn’t get in. Only those who have keys are allowed to enter. We continued our last day towards Fifth Avenue, I bought the dress that I saw and we decided to meet up with the others at Times Square to have our last dinner together. 9 out of 12 showed up, which I thought was pretty good for such a large group. Again we had a lovely dinner at the Irish Pub. Together we traveled back to the hotel and went to bed early.

On the 12^th of April we flew from Newark (New York) to Seattle (Washington). It was a long flight. I was squeezed in between two really big guys. So I had a lovely six hours on the plane. We arrived around 12:30 in Seattle, our shuttle picked us up around 15:00. After having lost some time in a traffic-jam we arrived at the pick-up spot around 18:00. The mother, Michelle, picked me up and we went toward the house. The road we took was amazing, all those hills, it was a lovely view. The house is at Lake Whatcom. The surroundings magnificent. I met Scott, the father, at the house. With the three of us we went to have dinner in downtown Bellingham. Shortly after our dinner I met Hattie, their youngest daughter. She’s a very witty girl and we get along quite well. Everybody went to bed early, we were all worn-out.

On Saturday the weekend started. After sleeping-in, and having a real American breakfast: eggs, bacon, pancakes with maple syrup, we went downtown and headed towards Creativitea. It a place where you can paint pottery and have a cup of tea and eat some scones. It was an adorable place. When we finished painting we went to get some cupcakes, I had a dark chocolate peanut-butter marshmallow cupcake. It was delicious! Then we took a stroll along the lake, that eventually flows into the sea. It was a magnificent sight to see! We met Scott at the coffeshop and had a drink. We continued our little trip by car. In the morning Scott asked what I had to do for school, so I told them about the Photo Challenge. We immediately found the first picture. It’s a Theatre Guild. The second picture was harder to find. It’s an airplane next to a dock. The lakes are really big here, so finding the right dock is quite hard. Definitely when the planes aren’t out. For dinner we had fish, and it was fantastic!

On Sunday we left early for Seattle, Hattie had a soccer game and I really wanted to cheer her on. They won of course. The first half was great; there was sun and everybody participated well in the game. The second half was a disaster. Not because they played so bad, but the weather was horrible. It started to hail and rain. The girls were soaked after the game. We quickly left so that Hattie could warm and dry up in the car. Luckily, the weather in Seattle was perfect. It was sunny and warm. We went to the Farmers Market. It was amazing to see how people did their jobs there and seeing what they sold. They threw fish, made beautiful bouquets and there were lots of crafted jewelry. I had a great time. We also saw the gum-wall. And yes, that is a wall; completely filled with gum. Years ago someone thought ‘He, I should stick a piece of gum on that wall’. And then everybody did it. It sounds really gross, it kind off was. Of course, I put some gum on it too. Scott, Michelle and Hattie also did it. Then we went down, heading towards the sea. We saw the ferriswheel and the ferries that go to Alaska. We continued our little tour to the Space Needle. Hattie and I went up and enjoyed the view. We read about the history as well. They use to set off fireworks on the Space Needle for New Years Eve and other events. I bet it looks fantastic! Also, the designer made his first draft on a napkin, and called it spaceship on a stick. It was hilarious. After half an hour or so we went down with the elevator again. We took a quick ride to the Chocolate Museum: bought chocolate, of course and had a burger at Dick’s. It’s a very famous place to eat burgers and drink shakes. According to Scott it’s been there since forever. On the way back Hattie and I fell asleep. We’re back home now. Scott is picking up their son from Canada, he’s coming home early. I wonder what kind of person he is!

Enough blogging. I’m going to take a bath.