Seattle – John Collings

Life on Hold

Summer Break is one of the greatest perks for teachers. It is a time for them to unwind from a busy school year, and recharge their batteries so they can be ready for their students in the fall. For some teachers, it is a time to take on some projects that they have forgotten about during the regular school year. For others, it is a time to travel around the world and create those memories that they can think back to when things get tough. For an international school teacher, it is a time to travel back to the places they left behind and catch up with loved ones, and friends.

This creates a strange dichotomy for those international teachers, and it gets weirder the longer that they stay abroad. There is a life that they return to for a couple of months every year, and though they will fall back into those routines that they used to live, they are still guests to a life they used to live. On the other hand, when they are back at their respective schools in various places around the world, they are leaving behind their home town and the identity that they built over the years of living there. It is almost like they are living two lives, and throughout the course of the year, they experience those two sides of themselves.

Some people would claim that this is true for anybody that moves away from their home town to a new location, and there is some truth to this. Those people have those moments where they head back to where they are from when they are trying to pick up what they left behind. But it is like holding on to the ocean as it laps against the shore. There is no way that they are going to be able to hold on to it because it keep drifting away from them. They can experience it for that short moment that they are back home, but as soon as they leave, it will be gone again.

Though international teachers have the same problem when they are back in their home towns, there is a little more permanence to their trips. A lot of that time is spent catching up with those people that are still there, but they have more time to settle in. It is not just a week or two of vacation, but a couple of months where they still have things they have to attend to in their other life. I have been back in the States on numerous occasions where I have had to work on professional development, or create plans for the upcoming school year. Any teacher will tell you that their work does not end during the summer vacation. They might not work as much, but they are still working. It takes away this notion of being on a two month vacation where you are visiting friends and family, and it turns into you living in that place where you came from for a period of time.

It is not like it is a bad voyage, returning to this life that you left behind, but it means that the life that you are living is the one that you left behind. I spent two months this summer living out of a suitcase, moving from place to place, trying to get little things done for the upcoming school year, and watching videos of my puppy that were sent by the boarding facility where she was staying. The life I have been living over the last nine years was placed on hold.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy my time in the United States. It is always a pleasure to go back and get to spend this time with my family. At the same time, there comes a moments where I want to get back to the place where I spend most of my life right now. I am looking forward to get home. When I feel this way, I know that the holiday has been a good one. It has gotten me to the place where I need to be, a place where I am excited to get back to work and refreshed after a long break with the ones I love. I also will not have to lead this duel existence again until the next trip out to the United States when I am ready to go back.

So, I would like to thank America for the great summer as I say great to see you again to Jordan. I can’t wait to get back to my original home, but it is also nice to be back home at the same time.

Fauntleroy Park, The Lower Half – Seattle, Washington

Seattle is a city with limited space. It cannot sprawl out like other cities in the United States. Because of this, the sky slowly disappears as house, and towers grow taller and taller. More and more people crowd on the streets, and it is only until you get to the coast that you are able to find space to maneuver about. Still, they have made sure to protect certain parts of the landscape so the people of Seattle can get away from it all and get a feel of what it was like to live on the Puget Sound before it became so overrun with people. One of these places is outside of West Seattle called Fauntleroy Park.

There are really two parts of this park. The upper half is a thick forest with paths that run through it. It has easy access because of a lot of parking lots by it, and if you wander through these forests, you will run into people walking their dogs. It also allows for access to picnic benches, and a public pool that is open during the summer months. But if you take the road down to the shore, you will find access to a path that will lead to a rocky beach that is not as crowded as the other paths are.

Many people use it as a launching point for their kayaks, and paddle boards. There are quite a few of them here, but it is quieter than other places where people usually put in such as Alki Beach or the University of Washington. It is far enough away from the city and rush of people that most people that come out here for these activities have enough space to make it feel like they have it to themselves.

Staying on the coast is just as rewarding. Even though it is pretty packed with people out walking their dogs after work hours, and others come to hang out on a beach that is not as crowded as some of the more sandy ones in town, but it is not enough where you can’t find your own private spot on the expanse of shoreline. A walk down the beach will reveal a lot of little surprises as well from shelters made from the driftwood to carvings that will remind you that you are in the Pacific Northwest.

It is one of those hidden little gems in a city that continues to grow bigger and bigger every year. It is a little bit of a hike from the hustle and bustle of the main parts of the city, but it is worth the trek because it will feel like what the city used to be in it infancy. I hope that they make sure to keep this so that feeling never leaves this part of the country. It is something that is important to hold on to in this busy age.

The Alki Art Fair – Seattle, Washington

There is a rule of thumb in Seattle – when the sun comes out, you go outside. It is strictly followed during the winter months when the sky is usually shrouded in a cloud, but things are a little different during the summer months. There might be some clouds in the early morning, but they usually burn off before the afternoon, and the day delivers the perfect weather to enjoy. This is why many people come to visit this city during the summer, and certain places crowd in with people.

The city knows this as well, and uses the opportunity to have their festivals and fairs. They find the most iconic places in the area and gather artists, food, and music to give the people something to do while the weather is so beautiful. One of these celebrations has been coming year after year in late July on Alki Beach near West Seattle.

The Alki Art Fair is a chance for artists from the Pacific Northwest to come together to show off their latest creations. It is a great place to find paintings, photographs, woodworking, clothing and jewelry directly from the artists who created it. Many people gather here to find that next perfect thing for their house while being able to talk to the artists at the same time. Most of the work has the feel from this part of the world, and helps to support the arts in just Seattle, but all of Washington and Oregon as well.

The best part of coming to this art fair as opposed to others across the country is that afterwards, I found myself still on Alki Beach. It is one of the hidden treasures of Seattle. Yes, it does bring out many tourists who want to have a great view of downtown Seattle and hand out on beach right on the sound, but it is not as many as are found in Queen Anne or Pike’s Place Market area. It is the place where you can find more of the local population, especially on a great summer day as they look for the perfect place where they can come out and enjoy it.

Alki Beach is far enough away from the Seattle’s city center that tourists rarely find it, but it is a great location to hang out on the beach all day, enjoy kayaking or paddle boarding, and there are plenty of shops and restaurants on the other side of the street from the beach to entertain you as well. The art fair is just a great excuse to make it out to this part of Seattle and adds more flavor to an already great spot. If you were unable to make you way to it this year, don’t worry, there will be another chance to make it there next year. It will help you to make it out to this spot of Seattle and see something that many people miss out on during their visits here. It won’t take you long to figure out why when you come.

Summer in Seattle – The Move Day 3

I need to officially make an apology. If you read my post yesterday I talked about waking up on the floor in Seattle. This is not the truth. I have been given a lovely, and very comfortable air mattress to sleep on, and without it I would not have ever gotten over jet lag so quickly. I need to thank my sister-in-law for her hospitality.

The view from the oldest Starbuck’s looking at the farmer’s market at Pike Place Market.

And yesterday, I was able to enjoy her hospitality even more by heading to downtown Seattle to enjoy a beautiful summer day. Most people think of Seattle as a dreary and rainy place, and for most of the year, they are probably right. But if you are ever in Seattle during the summer months, the rain clouds get blown out of the way, the sun comes shining down, and it is the perfect time to go outside and enjoy the day. There are plenty of things to do when it is sunny outside too. Being right on Puget Sound, there are many things to do on the water. Go to the shore, and you can see people out there on boats, kayaks or paddled boards. And if you go to the right points during the right time of the year, you can see whales as they make their migration through the waters. There are also many great restaurants and night spots, and if the Mariners are in town, you could always go out and catch a baseball game.

The strange art that can be found at Pike Place Market

But Seattle’s biggest draw on the waterfront is the Pike Place Market. The daily catch of fish is brought here, and the farmers will also come in with their freshest produce. This is the place that offers Seattles most iconic picture of big salmon being tossed from one employee to another so they can sell it to the nearest customer. Despite the fresh food that can be bought here, it also has the oldest Starbuck’s, a few brew pubs, and a bunch of tiny shops that offer anything from souvenir t-shirts to little knick-knacks that are made by some local artist. Musicians will come down and perform for spare change, and there is one of the strangest collection of eclectic people that you will ever see. It is a great way to spend an afternoon, and I do not believe that it could ever get boring, no matter how many times you visit it.

The view from the top portion of Pike Place Market and the construction taking place right now

Unfortunately, right now, it is being renovated and expanded. The demand for new shops and new nooks and crannies has caused Seattle to tear down the eyesore that was the overpass that ran along the coast, and to build more to their biggest tourist destination. It makes it a little difficult to navigate at this time. If you want to get from the pier to the central market, you might have to go up certain elevators, find hidden staircases, and backtrack from time to time, but in the long run, it will make this part of Seattle even more exciting and fun to visit.

Even though Seattle has this image of always raining, there is a reason that so many people flock to this city to visit or live, summer. It makes me see why this place has grown over the years into one of America’s most iconic cities, and I am glad that I got to spend a little time out here while I am in the process of moving. I would also like to thank my sister-in-law again for the great space for me and all my stuff and your air mattress is a lot more comfortable than it would be sleeping on the hard floor.

Waking up on the Floor in Seattle – The Move Day 2

The biggest question I have gotten from my friends over the last couple of weeks has been, “Has it hit you yet?”

It is a legitimate question, especially from teachers. They know the feeling when it finally does hit. It usually happens about a week or two into summer. They have been running at a break-neck pace throughout the school year to make sure that their students get the most out of every moment during the school day, and all of a sudden it is over. The pace slows down, but the mind still grips on to this reality that they have been forced to live for ten months. And then some time during that second week, every teacher will look over at whoever they are hanging out with, and ask, “What day of the week is it?” That is when it hits them. They are on summer break, and they can now relax a little bit before the insanity starts up again.

This feeling happens to everybody who goes through huge changes in their lives. They know that it is coming, and they try to handle it with grace while trying to juggle all their usual responsibilities. It makes life busier than what they are used to, and they do not really have the time to process the change that they are going through. It isn’t until they have started to live that new lifestyle that they can actually process the change that their life has undergone. That is when it has officially hit them.

When my friends asked me if it had hit me yet over the past couple of weeks, they were talking about the fact that I would be wrapping up my life in one country and moving out to another country; that the great students I got to work with in Korea would no longer be a part of my life, and that I would be working with a completely new set of students with their owns little quirks and ambitions; that the lifestyle that I had become accustomed to over the past four years would have to change and I would have to adjust a whole new culture and language. It would be a lot to process for anybody, and I was too busy closing out the school year, and packing to really think about it. When asked that question, I would always have to tell them, “No, it probably won’t hit me until I wake up on the floor in Seattle.”

A rare sunset from Alki Beach in West Seattle

Well, yesterday was that day. I had taken all of my worldly possessions, and put them on a plane to travel half way around the world to end up crashing on a floor at my sister-in-law’s place in Seattle. And yes, I did spend the day walking around like a person that only grabbed a couple of hours of sleep on a long plane ride finding themselves in a completely different time zone, but I was able to start to process that changes that my life was going through. And of course, it is a little scary because there is a little bit of the unknown that I am venturing out into. But at the same time, it is exciting because it means that I will get to enjoy a new adventure that allows me to see the world in a whole new way.

But at the same time, the answer is only partly true. The whole reality has not hit me yet. I can only process the fact that I am no longer a resident of South Korea. So I will have to adjust my answer for those who ask me if it has hit me yet. It won’t be able to process how much life has changed until I wake up in my new place in Bangkok. So until then I will continue to move my worldly possession from place to place and wake up in various other places in America in the meantime.