It's been a while since my last post, so I'll explain why. One large reason why I've not had as much time to post is that my work schedule has gotten quite intense. In addition to starting work full time, the Australian guy I was living with started having issues with Polish Border Control and had to stop working, leaving the rest of his shifts to be picked up by everyone. This has resulted in quite a bit of craziness. For example, my schedule for last Monday:
Bus to a Business: 630-720
Classes at a Business: 730-930
Bus back to school: 935-1040
Paperwork for Classes: 1040-11
Polish Class: 11-1200
Home for Lunch: 12-1
Bus to another Business: 1-150
Business Classes: 2-4
One-on-one: 4-450
Normal Classes: 450-910
As you can see that is quite a full schedule, but most of my days the last two or three weeks have been around 8-9 hours not including transportation times.
The second excuse is much more exciting, as I now have a Polish Host Family! The house is only three blocks from the school, so I'm able to go home during slow periods and relax. The housing costs the same as my other place but my room is much bigger and I get homemade food every day :P
My family is comprised of Richard, Maggie, Ellie, and Karolina Dyduch. Richard and Maggie are both retired and spend their time on projects around the house, cooking amazing food :-P and doing crosswords. Ellie is 22 and studies Business in the regional Capitol. Karolina is 18 and is finishing studies at the high school (Polish school system normally runs until age 18 or 19). I've only been staying with them for three weeks or so, but I must admit that it has been fantastic so far. My host parents and I have about an equal knowledge of each other's languages so it has really been a great way to improve my Polish. I'll get some photos of everyone up once I get them taken. I'll get some bios up too.
My house itself has an interesting history. The street I live on (Mickiewicza: Poland's most prolific writer) was originally the Main Street for the Jewish population, which was about 30% of the total town population. My house originally belonged to a local Rabbi and his family. During WWII, the town was taken by the Nazi's and the house was commandeered by the Gestapo and used as their local headquarters. After the war, Maggie's father acquired the house and it's remained in the family ever since. My room itself is enormous. It's hard for me to quantify the size. (For Omak kids it's a bit bigger than the OHS Choir room. For UW kids it's about the size of 4 dorm rooms. For Family, it's about the size of the living room of Grandma Kathy's place in Portland) I don't spend too much time in my room though as it's a bit cold and I prefer hanging out in the Kitchen. It's quite a small kitchen, but it's very cozy and has an oven and gas range. So much better than my old apartment. It leads out onto a balcony that is closed for the winter but promises amazing people-watching opportunities come Spring-time (it's right above a larger bus stop) There's a living room with some amazing vintage furniture, but it's rather cold in there. Thankfully there's also two bathrooms so I don't really have to worry about scheduling everything in.
It's about a 3 minute walk from my school. The school itself is in the former residence of a local Jewish architect who designed most of the classic buildings in the area. The school takes up the main floor while there are residences on the upper floors. There's also a nice bar in the basement which is admittedly quite convenient. My school, The Speed School of English, was founded in 1997 as a local affiliate of the Callan School in London. We now use a modified Callan program called the Avalon Method. This method relies mainly on asking different questions in English repeatedly. All new words and concepts are introduced in English and we discourage use of Polish as much as possible in class. This is quite a bit different than how I was taught to teach, but I see quite a bit of merit in it. Though it's not the most pedagogically popular method in the world, the "Direct Method" is useful in that it allows more time with different groups and it allows groups the privilege of learning from a succession of nationalities of English teachers and allows them to understand and speak using vocabulary and formations depending on the country. It teaches them to understand the language as it's actually spoken not by what a grammar says is actually correct.
The students are great for the most part. Most of my students are high-schoolers or young adults but I've taught people from the age of 7 to about 65. This actually presents an interesting dilemma when teaching. If a class is entirely adults or entirely teens it makes it fairly easy to tailor the questions or environment a bit. But with a mix (like most of my classes)it's hard to keep the adults challenged while keeping the younger ones engaged. It's also difficult to have a set teaching style with such a varied crowd. It's actually quite beneficial as it allows me to concentrate on how to manage a classroom and maintain a conducive learning environment without having to worry about lesson preparation. It's a great way to test the waters of ESL instruction.
Anyway, that's where I am today. Hopefully more to come soon.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
A Brief Look into Bielsko-Biala
So I've been in Bielsko just shy of a month now so it's probably about time I get some pictures up here eh? To be fair though, there's a lot here in Bielsko to note, photograph, and lump into coherent blogposts.
Bielsko-Biala is a town of about 300,000 people located in South Central Poland near the Czech and Slovak borders. The town was formally two separate towns, separated by the River Biala but they were merged in 1951. Before the Polish Revolution in 1918, the towns were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The towns lay upon an important trade route and many Viennese had manors here. The street that I love on was the main trade road and was called "Wienerstrasse" at the time.
This is my apartment building. On the left is Schehowa Street, which is the towns center for night clubs etc. On the right is the trade road, now called 11th of November Street.
This street was recently voted as the 4th favorite shopping street in all of Poland.
The town was one of the most cosmopolitan in Poland as it was roughly a third Polish, a third German, and a third Jewish. This changed with WW2 as all the Jews were either expelled or sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is about a 20 minute drive away from here. After the War, the Germans were expelled and their residences given to Poles expelled from other parts of Europe. The town is now by far the most homogeneous place I have ever been. In the almost month I have been here I have seen a grand total of 1 Chinese person, 2 Africans, and and the handful of us at the English school. Every other single person I have seen has been Polish. It's really mind-blowing actually.
This is my entire kitchen in my apartment. Standard issue for Poland is= a sink, a mini-fridge, and a 2 burner hotplate. You have no idea how limiting it is trying to cook when you have access to only 2 burners. No oven. No pizza. So annoying. I share the apartment with my Australian roommate Mike. I'll put up more about him later. The rest of the Apartment is decent enough. Our toilet is in a closet in an entry hall that we share with 1 other family. Also annoying. The bathtub (sans shower curtain), sink, and washing machine are in a room by themselves inside our apartment. Why thy couldn't stick the laundry machine outside and put the toilet in, I don't know....my room is a decent enough size, but doesn't have any sort of shelves or wardrobe so it's a bit too messy in there for me to take a picture of. It is a recently remodeled place though, and its nice and warm, and its smack-dab in the middle of town so I really don't mind it too much. I'll be moving to a host family soon, so I'll get pictures of that place up soon too.
I think that'll be all for today, but stay tuned for the posts I have planned coming up:
.The School that I teach At
.All Saints-Day
.Communism in Bielsko
.Shopping in Bielsko
.Day-to-Day life in Poland
.Auschwitz (going there tomorrow I think)
.My new host family (I"m moving in on Sunday!!!)
Bielsko-Biala is a town of about 300,000 people located in South Central Poland near the Czech and Slovak borders. The town was formally two separate towns, separated by the River Biala but they were merged in 1951. Before the Polish Revolution in 1918, the towns were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The towns lay upon an important trade route and many Viennese had manors here. The street that I love on was the main trade road and was called "Wienerstrasse" at the time.
This is my apartment building. On the left is Schehowa Street, which is the towns center for night clubs etc. On the right is the trade road, now called 11th of November Street. This street was recently voted as the 4th favorite shopping street in all of Poland.The town was one of the most cosmopolitan in Poland as it was roughly a third Polish, a third German, and a third Jewish. This changed with WW2 as all the Jews were either expelled or sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is about a 20 minute drive away from here. After the War, the Germans were expelled and their residences given to Poles expelled from other parts of Europe. The town is now by far the most homogeneous place I have ever been. In the almost month I have been here I have seen a grand total of 1 Chinese person, 2 Africans, and and the handful of us at the English school. Every other single person I have seen has been Polish. It's really mind-blowing actually.
This is my entire kitchen in my apartment. Standard issue for Poland is= a sink, a mini-fridge, and a 2 burner hotplate. You have no idea how limiting it is trying to cook when you have access to only 2 burners. No oven. No pizza. So annoying. I share the apartment with my Australian roommate Mike. I'll put up more about him later. The rest of the Apartment is decent enough. Our toilet is in a closet in an entry hall that we share with 1 other family. Also annoying. The bathtub (sans shower curtain), sink, and washing machine are in a room by themselves inside our apartment. Why thy couldn't stick the laundry machine outside and put the toilet in, I don't know....my room is a decent enough size, but doesn't have any sort of shelves or wardrobe so it's a bit too messy in there for me to take a picture of. It is a recently remodeled place though, and its nice and warm, and its smack-dab in the middle of town so I really don't mind it too much. I'll be moving to a host family soon, so I'll get pictures of that place up soon too.I think that'll be all for today, but stay tuned for the posts I have planned coming up:
.The School that I teach At
.All Saints-Day
.Communism in Bielsko
.Shopping in Bielsko
.Day-to-Day life in Poland
.Auschwitz (going there tomorrow I think)
.My new host family (I"m moving in on Sunday!!!)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Flight
No pictures in this post...when you're flying halfway across the world, how haggard you look during the process is the last thing you want to record. But anyway: here is precisely what happened. We left Omak at 2AM and drove to Wenatchee. Mom fell asleep quite quickly (as she does on just about every journey) leaving Dad and I to talk about life, the universe, and everything. When we got there at 4...it was closed....
No duh! You say? Bit of back-story: One or two years back, Daniel was flying out to Japan and he had the same early-morning flight to Seattle as I did. They got there with plenty of time to spare, but had already closed the ticket counter, instead sending the people there to load up the plane (despite my parents being there early). They refused to let my brother go any further, despite the fact that it was still half and hour to take-off...so my parents had to drive all the way to Seatac and luckily got him there on time. Wanting to avoid this, we went extra early...and so had to wait outside.
Standing in the airport, I said my goodbyes and sped through Homeland Security (which has a full operation in Wenatchee even though there are only 4 outbound flights a day...waste of tax money in my opinion). Luckily, I was able to check my baggage all the way to Poland and avoid the stupid baggage charge in the process. Hoorah for sanity! The plane was a nice Bombardier jet, but someone on board had a crazy, intense allergic reaction to any sort of nut. Intense to the point where the smell of it would cause her throat to tighter...so we didn't get a snack. Lame. Un-eventful trip and landed in Seattle.
My friend Matt Kraske met me at SeaTac with his tricked out Volvo and we drove up to the U-District (making a quick detour for some Krispy-Kremes) where I had to pick up my ballot and rain-jacket from my friend's house. I went down to the Cafe Solstice on the Ave and enjoyed a last-minute hangout session with some of my best friends in Seattle. My ballot didn't arrive and my friend Quinn forgot my rainjacket, so I had to run up to his house to get it. I arrive there and find out that the house is all locked up so I receive instruction to crawl through a window. Kind of dodgy but lots of fun. Take the bus down to the airport and go through airport security again. I take the tram thingy to the C-Terminal and grab breakfast from Burger King. While enjoying my delicious mushroom-swiss burger, I run into Dr. Justice who was on his way to some conference in Chicago (Dr. Justice is from Omak and incidentally on hand when my brother was born years and years ago). After enjoying my burger, I watch some How I Met Your Mother on my computer and hop onto my plane.
My flight was on Lufthansa direct to Frankfurt and was quite nice. The flight wasn't full so I had my row completely to myself. My usual plan to avoid jet lag is to completely avoid sleeping the day before I travel so by the time I got on the plane to Europe I was at about 40 hours without sleep. Needless to say that is what I did the most during my 10 hour flight. I was also able to slip a movie in (The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, not too bad). I had researched the flight before on Seatguru.com and made sure that I had the best possible arrangement. The Airbus plane that I was on was equipped with Personal Video on Demand in every seat. This meant that i could start the film whenever I felt like it, and not have to try and stay awake at the beginning of the flight.
I landed without any issues at Frankfurt. Evidently as soon as I got into the customs line they decided to take a lunch break or something, as I was standing in the same spot for the better part of an hour...annoying but I had a 6 hour wait so it wasn't a big deal. I grabbed a sandwich and cola and went to my departure lounge where I was delighted to discover that Lufthansa had free espresso machines. Unfortunately there wasn't any free Wifi...but I wasn't worried as I brought my Nintendo controller with me and played some Mario while I was waiting.
My flight to Poland began with a 15 minute apron level bus ride to the opposite side of the airport where we had to climb the stairs to board the plane. Sweet. After a quick hour in the air, we landed in Krakow, Poland. Baggage came on the carousel just as planned and I walked right out into the lobby.........where no one was waiting for me. I waited 30 minutes and then figured I would try and contact the school. Luckily they had an internet kiosk that accepted eurocoins so I was able to look up the school's contact numbers before finding a pay phone. Pay phone ended up being a bad idea as they're now trying to charge me $30 for the in-country call. Gar. Luckily the person to pick me up was just late and showed up 10 minutes later. After stopping by for some pizza, we drove all the way to Bielsko-Biala, where I met my Australian roommate Mike.
And that be enough for today. So yeah. Long post but that's ok. More to come soon
No duh! You say? Bit of back-story: One or two years back, Daniel was flying out to Japan and he had the same early-morning flight to Seattle as I did. They got there with plenty of time to spare, but had already closed the ticket counter, instead sending the people there to load up the plane (despite my parents being there early). They refused to let my brother go any further, despite the fact that it was still half and hour to take-off...so my parents had to drive all the way to Seatac and luckily got him there on time. Wanting to avoid this, we went extra early...and so had to wait outside.
Standing in the airport, I said my goodbyes and sped through Homeland Security (which has a full operation in Wenatchee even though there are only 4 outbound flights a day...waste of tax money in my opinion). Luckily, I was able to check my baggage all the way to Poland and avoid the stupid baggage charge in the process. Hoorah for sanity! The plane was a nice Bombardier jet, but someone on board had a crazy, intense allergic reaction to any sort of nut. Intense to the point where the smell of it would cause her throat to tighter...so we didn't get a snack. Lame. Un-eventful trip and landed in Seattle.
My friend Matt Kraske met me at SeaTac with his tricked out Volvo and we drove up to the U-District (making a quick detour for some Krispy-Kremes) where I had to pick up my ballot and rain-jacket from my friend's house. I went down to the Cafe Solstice on the Ave and enjoyed a last-minute hangout session with some of my best friends in Seattle. My ballot didn't arrive and my friend Quinn forgot my rainjacket, so I had to run up to his house to get it. I arrive there and find out that the house is all locked up so I receive instruction to crawl through a window. Kind of dodgy but lots of fun. Take the bus down to the airport and go through airport security again. I take the tram thingy to the C-Terminal and grab breakfast from Burger King. While enjoying my delicious mushroom-swiss burger, I run into Dr. Justice who was on his way to some conference in Chicago (Dr. Justice is from Omak and incidentally on hand when my brother was born years and years ago). After enjoying my burger, I watch some How I Met Your Mother on my computer and hop onto my plane.
My flight was on Lufthansa direct to Frankfurt and was quite nice. The flight wasn't full so I had my row completely to myself. My usual plan to avoid jet lag is to completely avoid sleeping the day before I travel so by the time I got on the plane to Europe I was at about 40 hours without sleep. Needless to say that is what I did the most during my 10 hour flight. I was also able to slip a movie in (The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, not too bad). I had researched the flight before on Seatguru.com and made sure that I had the best possible arrangement. The Airbus plane that I was on was equipped with Personal Video on Demand in every seat. This meant that i could start the film whenever I felt like it, and not have to try and stay awake at the beginning of the flight.
I landed without any issues at Frankfurt. Evidently as soon as I got into the customs line they decided to take a lunch break or something, as I was standing in the same spot for the better part of an hour...annoying but I had a 6 hour wait so it wasn't a big deal. I grabbed a sandwich and cola and went to my departure lounge where I was delighted to discover that Lufthansa had free espresso machines. Unfortunately there wasn't any free Wifi...but I wasn't worried as I brought my Nintendo controller with me and played some Mario while I was waiting.
My flight to Poland began with a 15 minute apron level bus ride to the opposite side of the airport where we had to climb the stairs to board the plane. Sweet. After a quick hour in the air, we landed in Krakow, Poland. Baggage came on the carousel just as planned and I walked right out into the lobby.........where no one was waiting for me. I waited 30 minutes and then figured I would try and contact the school. Luckily they had an internet kiosk that accepted eurocoins so I was able to look up the school's contact numbers before finding a pay phone. Pay phone ended up being a bad idea as they're now trying to charge me $30 for the in-country call. Gar. Luckily the person to pick me up was just late and showed up 10 minutes later. After stopping by for some pizza, we drove all the way to Bielsko-Biala, where I met my Australian roommate Mike.
And that be enough for today. So yeah. Long post but that's ok. More to come soon
Dad's 50th/My Going Away Party
I was only able to back in Omak for a handful of days, most of which were dedicated to preparing and packing for my move. Since my dad's birthday was close to my departure date we decided to make an occasion out of it and had a large party for our friends in the area. Per the norm, we had an assortment of our own favorite foods (such as my own fav, the tabbouleh) in addition to those brought by our guests. There was freshly grilled clams, shrimp cocktail, and fresh fruit.
We also had many young ones running about, stealing food, playing with Moondancer, and occasionally making themselves useful.
We had many guests filter through and at a time when most of them were there we sang our birthday wishes to my dad.
We also grabbed a last photo of us as a family before my departure.
I had barely 24 hours left in Omak by the time I had said my goodbyes and went to bed. For more pictures of the party please go here.
We also had many young ones running about, stealing food, playing with Moondancer, and occasionally making themselves useful.
We had many guests filter through and at a time when most of them were there we sang our birthday wishes to my dad.
We also grabbed a last photo of us as a family before my departure.
I had barely 24 hours left in Omak by the time I had said my goodbyes and went to bed. For more pictures of the party please go here.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Trip to Washington DC
*Sorry that it is taking me so long to get caught up to the present, but I assure you that I will get there soon.*
Towards the end of the summer, I had the fantastic opportunity of visiting Washington DC with my family. Other than waiting inside Dulles Airport, I've never had the opportunity of visiting the East Coast and I must admit that it was quite an experience.
I flew into Baltimore on a Red Eye flight and found myself waiting around the airport for 4 hours waiting for the first public transit opportunity to Washington proper. Apart from the initial annoyance, Baltimore's Thurgood Marshall Airport treated me quite well. There is a really nice overlook lounge complete with rocking chairs and long padded benches; what a perfect place to take a nap. After taking the bus and then subway to the city center, I rendezvoused with my family. The next few days were spent exploring the DC area visiting the usual sights. Luckily for us, we hit the perfect touristing window as the summer rush had largely subsided but the school groups had yet to appear. This meant virtually no lines at any of the places we visited.
My mom was involved in conferences during the day, so my brother, father and I explored the city. We visited the usual sights (whose cliche photos can be found in their entirety by clicking here) As we were walking we also had the opportunity to see some sights that are not so often seen. My favorite of these was the FDR Memorial on the Tidal Pool between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials.
It was beautifully appropriate and served as a great reminder of one of our most influential presidents.
Dad loved the Botanical Gardens on the mall and took great pleasure in identifying the various trees surrounding the Capital and White House
Daniel had a lot of fun in the Air and Space Museum and the Library of Congress, but also had a very memorable conversation with a forward squirrel on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
As a family, we made the trek to Arlington Cemetery. It was a quite a solemn occasion and was especially impactful due to the grave of John F. Kennedy next to the freshly interred Ted Kennedy.
After this, the rest of the family went back home to Omak.I, however, stayed in the area for another 3 days as I had an acquaintance in Baltimore who put me up for the nights. (Thank you Xylena for you great hospitality!!)
With the family gone, I made a mission of seeing some of the sights that they had passed on. I started my morning with a trip to Ford Theater where I had the apparently rare opportunity of viewing straight into the booth where Lincoln was assaulted (supposedly the door is normally kept closed). The theater has been beautifully preserved and retained by the Park Service and has returned into operation as a fully functional playhouse.
Along my way to the US History I stopped by the Old National Post Office Building. This building had a view that was much better than that of the Memorial and also had an interesting history. After being built, it became quickly obsolete and was under the sword for many years as its architecture was not in vogue at the time. Luckily a group of concerned citizens blocked demolition efforts and instead helped pave the way for its rehabilitation. The trip to the old tower is operated by the Park Service, most of the floors have been converted into private offices and the lower floors have become a small food court and mall.
The US History Museum was full of interesting oddities and facts but I was most impressed by C3P0 and Stephen Colbert :P
After that, I stopped by the Smithsonian Castle, and the DNC National Headquarters before rendezvousing with my friend Alex Lark who was interning in the office of Washington Senator Patty Murray I also stopped by the Congressional Officebuildings to flip off Michelle Bachmann (her door at least).
After such a long day, I took the train to Baltimore where I met up with my friend.
She graciously allowed me to drive her awesome little Subaru to get around town. (I am quite thankful for this as Baltimore doesn't feel nearly as safe as Seattle). I started off by visiting Fort McHenry which was gearing up for the Bi-centennial of the War of 1812. While there, I got to help raise the full size replica of the flag that would have been waving during the Forts Bombardment.
Next I took a quick drive down the freeway down to Annapolis: Maryland State Capital and home of the US Naval Academy.I had a quick lunch of Oysters on the Half-Shell (a Chesapeake specialty) and explored. I was really surprised at how small this town really is. It felt to me quite like Winthrop of Leavenworth. It's a city held captive by the tourism it draws by its identity.
Despite this, Annapolis seemed friendly enough and the Academy tour was quite thorough and entertaining.
The next day I spent driving around Baltimore. I started by visiting the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. This cemetery is probably the coolest I've seen in the US. It is full of interesting graves accompanied by interesting stories.
From there, I saw that the House of Poe wasn't too much further away. I naively decided to walk the 8 blocks and found myself going through a failed African-American housing project. I felt quite foreign walking past the unemployed sitting on the steps of boarded up and bombed out buildings. Poe's house was right in the middle of all this, with the folk all around seemingly oblivious to the historicity of the neighboring house. How appropriate.
My next stop was near Camden Yards where I saw the Birthhouse of Babe Ruth. Just up the street was Baltimore's oldest Cemetery, nestled right in the middle of the University of Maryland medical campus. This cemetery was locked up, but held the graves of the Armistead's and of Francis Scott Key. Determined not to let a high wall or fence stop me, I followed my MO and scrambled over.
From there I went into northern Baltimore where I stopped by a museum, saw the US's first statue of George Washington, ducked into the Peabody Library, and hopped on a plane back to Seattle.
Overall a great trip. Enjoy the photos (commentary is coming soon)
Towards the end of the summer, I had the fantastic opportunity of visiting Washington DC with my family. Other than waiting inside Dulles Airport, I've never had the opportunity of visiting the East Coast and I must admit that it was quite an experience.
I flew into Baltimore on a Red Eye flight and found myself waiting around the airport for 4 hours waiting for the first public transit opportunity to Washington proper. Apart from the initial annoyance, Baltimore's Thurgood Marshall Airport treated me quite well. There is a really nice overlook lounge complete with rocking chairs and long padded benches; what a perfect place to take a nap. After taking the bus and then subway to the city center, I rendezvoused with my family. The next few days were spent exploring the DC area visiting the usual sights. Luckily for us, we hit the perfect touristing window as the summer rush had largely subsided but the school groups had yet to appear. This meant virtually no lines at any of the places we visited.
My mom was involved in conferences during the day, so my brother, father and I explored the city. We visited the usual sights (whose cliche photos can be found in their entirety by clicking here) As we were walking we also had the opportunity to see some sights that are not so often seen. My favorite of these was the FDR Memorial on the Tidal Pool between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials.
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| From Washington DC and Baltimore |
It was beautifully appropriate and served as a great reminder of one of our most influential presidents.
Dad loved the Botanical Gardens on the mall and took great pleasure in identifying the various trees surrounding the Capital and White House
Daniel had a lot of fun in the Air and Space Museum and the Library of Congress, but also had a very memorable conversation with a forward squirrel on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
As a family, we made the trek to Arlington Cemetery. It was a quite a solemn occasion and was especially impactful due to the grave of John F. Kennedy next to the freshly interred Ted Kennedy.
After this, the rest of the family went back home to Omak.I, however, stayed in the area for another 3 days as I had an acquaintance in Baltimore who put me up for the nights. (Thank you Xylena for you great hospitality!!)
With the family gone, I made a mission of seeing some of the sights that they had passed on. I started my morning with a trip to Ford Theater where I had the apparently rare opportunity of viewing straight into the booth where Lincoln was assaulted (supposedly the door is normally kept closed). The theater has been beautifully preserved and retained by the Park Service and has returned into operation as a fully functional playhouse.
Along my way to the US History I stopped by the Old National Post Office Building. This building had a view that was much better than that of the Memorial and also had an interesting history. After being built, it became quickly obsolete and was under the sword for many years as its architecture was not in vogue at the time. Luckily a group of concerned citizens blocked demolition efforts and instead helped pave the way for its rehabilitation. The trip to the old tower is operated by the Park Service, most of the floors have been converted into private offices and the lower floors have become a small food court and mall.
The US History Museum was full of interesting oddities and facts but I was most impressed by C3P0 and Stephen Colbert :P
After that, I stopped by the Smithsonian Castle, and the DNC National Headquarters before rendezvousing with my friend Alex Lark who was interning in the office of Washington Senator Patty Murray I also stopped by the Congressional Officebuildings to flip off Michelle Bachmann (her door at least).
After such a long day, I took the train to Baltimore where I met up with my friend.
She graciously allowed me to drive her awesome little Subaru to get around town. (I am quite thankful for this as Baltimore doesn't feel nearly as safe as Seattle). I started off by visiting Fort McHenry which was gearing up for the Bi-centennial of the War of 1812. While there, I got to help raise the full size replica of the flag that would have been waving during the Forts Bombardment.
Next I took a quick drive down the freeway down to Annapolis: Maryland State Capital and home of the US Naval Academy.I had a quick lunch of Oysters on the Half-Shell (a Chesapeake specialty) and explored. I was really surprised at how small this town really is. It felt to me quite like Winthrop of Leavenworth. It's a city held captive by the tourism it draws by its identity.
Despite this, Annapolis seemed friendly enough and the Academy tour was quite thorough and entertaining.The next day I spent driving around Baltimore. I started by visiting the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. This cemetery is probably the coolest I've seen in the US. It is full of interesting graves accompanied by interesting stories.
From there, I saw that the House of Poe wasn't too much further away. I naively decided to walk the 8 blocks and found myself going through a failed African-American housing project. I felt quite foreign walking past the unemployed sitting on the steps of boarded up and bombed out buildings. Poe's house was right in the middle of all this, with the folk all around seemingly oblivious to the historicity of the neighboring house. How appropriate.
My next stop was near Camden Yards where I saw the Birthhouse of Babe Ruth. Just up the street was Baltimore's oldest Cemetery, nestled right in the middle of the University of Maryland medical campus. This cemetery was locked up, but held the graves of the Armistead's and of Francis Scott Key. Determined not to let a high wall or fence stop me, I followed my MO and scrambled over.
From there I went into northern Baltimore where I stopped by a museum, saw the US's first statue of George Washington, ducked into the Peabody Library, and hopped on a plane back to Seattle.
Overall a great trip. Enjoy the photos (commentary is coming soon)
Monday, November 2, 2009
My 21st Birthday
After graduation, the next biggest event of the summer was my 21st Birthday. I hosted it at my house in the U District. There was a BBQ, freshly made cake, a whole bowl of Pico de Gallo that everyone helped prepare and lots and lots of friends around to help celebrate. The night began with some cooking and soon evolved into a singing/dancing party. My friends all sang Happy Birthday around 11 and then those of us that were 21 rushed off the The Ave for a few celebratory drinks before coming back to the party. It was a huge success in my opinion, as I've never had so many friends around for my birthday (since it falls on Stampede Weekend we always tried to be out of town) nor have I ever had so much fun hosting. Here are one or two choice photos (more can be found here. Don't worry...nothing outrageous.)
My friends and I making the Pico de Gallo
More friends
Blowing out the Birthday Cake
My Friends at A Pizza Mart
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| From My 21 |
My friends and I making the Pico de Gallo
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| From My 21 |
More friends
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| From My 21 |
Blowing out the Birthday Cake
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| From My 21 |
My Friends at A Pizza Mart
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Graduation
In June, I had the honor of participating in the 2009 University of Washington Commencement Ceremony in Husky Stadium. I walked into the Stadium with my good friend Reuben Holober. Our commencement speaker was Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. In spite a bit of protest in the audience, I was very pleased with the address. I was presented my diploma by UW President Mark Emmert. I'll get that photo up too as soon as I can figure out how to download it without the watermark. The official photos are available here if you want to see or order them. After the ceremony, we went to a local restaurant where I met with my Grandma and my Aunt who both came all the way from Oregon to see my commencement.
This my Grandma Kathy and me
Daniel, Nancy, Myself, Paul & Burhan (Our German Exchange Student)An Intro
Sorry that this has taken me so long to get going, but I've had some issues getting the internet going and getting everything uploaded. Though I realize that most of the people reading this will already know me, I will give a quick introduction nevertheless. The posts to come will catch ya'll up to the present day and then I'll try to diligently update the blog with new sights and observations.
I was born in August 1988 in Portland, Oregon to Paul and Nancy Nash. As a Forester for the US Forest Service we moved to Winthrop, WA when I was less than a year old. We lived there for 7 years before we moved to Omak,WA, which is about an hour away from both Winthrop and the Canadian border. My family still live there today. I was raised in the Baptist Church and attended private Christian school until the end of 7th grade. Middle School and first two years of High School were both in the Omak school system. I started attending a local Free Methodist Church shortly before spending a half-year as an exchange student near Düsseldorf, Germany. After returning to the US, I dual-enrolled at the High School and the local Community College and graduated with my HS Diploma and AA degree at the same time. Fall of 2007 I started my studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. I originally focused on German and spent the spring quarter of 07/08 studying German in Vienna, Austria. Around this time, I decided to focus on International Studies and graduated with my BA in it in Spring 2009.
I spent the summer taking courses to be an English teacher and found employment with a school in South Central Poland. And that is the short-but-sweet of where I am now. Future elaboration may appear but who know...
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