The catch-up on December entry

so I wasn't a very active blogger in December... which is why I will try to catch up here a little. Mostly the pictures speak for themselves!

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!"

Watch out in Seattle traffic - it might be more dangerous than you are aware!

And they always say traveling by bus is so safe. Well, apparently it depends which bus you are on! This one had gotten a little hotter than it was supposed to. Reason enough for the Seattle fire department to send two giant fire trucks to the scene.

Bainbridge Island

Calm, nice and quiet and stuck in 1930.

Bainbridge Island is a fantastic spot. Like all small islands, it feels like somebody has halted the time. The scenery is fantastic and the island makes for a great day trip by foot or bike.

Seattle Music

The scene is alive!

After missing out on the music scene of Seattle for quite a while, I went to two concerts in a row to enjoy the local music with some of my special friends.

I will have to return and get more of that. Sucking up more of Seattle's culture is one of my goals for the next quarter.

"Building the Global Community"

Snowshoeing with Jenna

After we had tried to get together for weeks, Jenna and I finally had a designated hang out day. It had snowed the first time the night before, so we decided the "Fulbright connection" was up for some snow shoeing. We drove up to Hyak in the Snoqualmy forest over snow covered roads.

Since hardly anyone had made it out to the mountains yet, there was no trail and so we walked through the deep fresh snow, making snow angels on our way back to the car.

There we had a "nice" surprise waiting for us. The passenger door would not close and it was only 12° Fahrenheit (far enough under 0° Celcius to hurt) outside. I would have had to hold the door for the entire way back to the city, hadn't we found a road maintenance service close by. The guys there were able to fix the door and I could finally start defrosting my fingers and toes. It was my first time snow shoeing and a lot of fun to walk through the winter wonder land. The next day, I was having trouble moving, however.

Excuse me - Can I live here?

Before leaving for Mexico, I experienced the pros and cons of homelesness. I had taken about 6 weeks to find a new place. Since my former contract had ended on Thanksgiving weekend, I had about two weeks to cover until I could get into my new place the day before our Mexico trip. I was lucky that Oleg, a friend from Israel was willing to share not only home, but even bed with me for a good week and a little more. It worked out really good. We cooked together and I would write my papers until 4 in the morning while he was sleeping. Then I would go to sleep and he got up at 8, which gave me another two hours of the bed for myself. You learn a lot about a fellow living with him. Oleg is originally from Russia and posesses red USSR underwear. Unfortunately he doesn't want pictures of that online ;-).

Some nights I would sleep at Estelle's, a girl from France whose house had several empty rooms or on Kamil's couch. It is a really dwarfing experience, however, if you do not know where you are going to sleep the next night. Although I always did have a place in the end, it made me sympathize with homeless people.

The day before we headed out to Mexico, I went to my new place in Fremont to get the keys, drop off my stuff and get some things sorted out, buying a Christmas Tree for example.

After that, we were off to foreign lands....