I just have 2 days left at my internship at Listen & Talk. It has been such a fantastic place to work. I am going to miss the staff, the kids, my supervisor, the parents...everyone involved made me look forward to going to work every day. It's a small staff, and everyone is so supportive and is always looking out for everyone else. And of course, I have grown attached to my little ones. There were certainly challenging days, but to see the amount of progress these kids have made, even in the little bit of time that i have been here, is just incredible. Children that were barely speaking are starting to put words together. Kids with limited vocabulary are able to do more complex stuff. It has been amazing to watch these kids grow over the last 12 weeks. I am going to miss everyone involved in this program, and I hope to get back out here eventually (at least to visit, if not stay a little longer... :)
Since the end of June, Lucy and I have set up a 'boarding house' in our apartment. George came and stayed for a bit, which was our first experience as tour guides. We went to almost every vintage store/used music store in Seattle I think. We also gave him a true Seattle experience on his first full day in town by bringing him to the Fremont Summer Solstice, complete with lots of free-spirited and eclectic folk (including people only wearing body paint and riding bicycles). I think he was in shock for a bit, but he came to love and appreciate Seattle and all of its quirkiness. Then Lucy's friend Joanna and my friend Tina came to visit for a long weekend over the 4th of July. We again played tour guide, including, but not limited to, a Ride the Ducks of Seattle tour, top 5 nation-wide fireworks/4th of July Festival, a Seattle Mariners game (and they won!), and a day trip to Vancouver, which ended with a game of charades 0n a Greyhound bus with 2 Canadians and a fellow American. We had a blast that weekend. The next week, our parents were in town for 8 days. During that time, we went to Victoria, BC, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We rode a ferry through the San Juan Islands to Victoria, and stayed for an overnight there. The architecture, the water, the mountains...it's all incredible. The night we were there, we went to Butchart Gardens, which are simply incredible. We had a picnic supper at the gardens, then watched a Celtic band perform, and finally, saw some of the coolest fireworks I have ever seen (including the 4th of July ones from the week before). These fireworks were mainly ground level ones, but they were set to music, and they almost seemed to tell a story with the music. It was really neat. The day after we returned from Canada, we headed over to Snoqualmie Falls and Snoqualmie Pass, both of which are absolutely breathtaking. We hiked over to the falls, and then drove over to Snoqualmie Pass for some great photo ops. For the rest of the week, we did the typical touristy things of Seattle (went up in the Space Needle, went to Pike Place Market where they throw the fish, etc), as well as showed them around our neighborhood. My parents even tried Indian food for the first time-and loved it! On their last day, my supervisor at work invited my mom in to come observe one of my therapy sessions, which was pretty special. That night she had us over to her house for a delicious dinner of grilled salmon, asparagus, and cheesecake. (Are you understanding why we don't want to leave?)
This past Friday (the morning my parents left), Lucy and I got up at the crack of dawn and caught a bus to Portland for the night. We had been talking about heading to Portland while we were in Seattle since the beginning of the trip, and we found out that a concert was being played in Portland that Friday night, so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to go. Portland is another great, and beautiful place. It's a big city, but much smaller than say New York or Chicago. Therefore, it wasn't intimidating at all. It's also one of the most walkable cities in America, which Lucy and I put to the test. I'm not sure how far we walked, but we are estimating about 5 miles on Saturday. The show was great, and our hotel was very modern (minimal decorations, all white appliances and bedding, chrome and white in the bathroom, doors made of slate with chalk provided to draw on them...) Also on Saturday, we literally happened upon a Sand Art Contest in the downtown area. There were tons of markets and street fairs going on that day, but at this particular one many sand artists had sculpted all sorts of items to raise money for different charities related to kids. It was really fun to see.
Since Saturday we have been recovering from our whirlwind July, and gearing up for the end of our trip which includes: a concert at the Woodland Park Zoo tomorrow night, a music festival Friday and Saturday, and our final visitors of the summer, two of my best friends Maggie and Sarah, who arrive on Sunday and leave when we do, next Friday. Here's to hoping I can post one more blog when I arrive home with all the final details of our trip!
British Columbia Parliament
Snoqualmie Falls
Sand Art in Portland
