Trip to Seattle & Hiking

IMPORTANT NEWS:

My son Kai injured his knee and has to have surgery on Sept 2nd. I have decided to extend my trip one week and will not be back in Japan for English class on September 2nd. I am looking for a substitute teacher for that day. I will let  you know as soon as I have more information. I am sorry for this inconvenience. If you have questions, please write a comment on this blog.

Walking through the forest

Other News:

Another week has passed. Last week I went up to Washington to see an old friend from college and also to see my parents and sister. My friend lives in West Seattle and we spent time walking along the beach and also visting downtown Seattle. Seattle is a scenic city that is on the Puget Sound. The weather is mild (but it rains too much in the winter) and the landscape is beautiful. There is a lot of fresh fish and an abundance of fruits and vegetables. It’s easy to get around the downtown area and there is a lot to see.

One of my favorite places is Pike Place Market, a huge, old market right on

Garlic and Peppers at Pike Place Market

the waterfront. I bought flowers and enjoyed the action of the market.

My friend runs an NPO called The Whale Trail. She is doing work to help raise awareness about the whales and other marine mammals that live in the Puget Sound (more information about the Sound). They have posted signs along the coast to tell people about the whales and marine mammals that live near there.

Seattle Skyline from West Seattle

I took a ferry to get to my sister’s house. There are many ferries in the Puget Sound because it’s more convenient than driving around the Sound. Many people commute using the ferries.

Ferry Boat

My sister and I both enjoy hiking, so we invited my other sister and we hiked an easy trail up Green Mountain. From the top we could see Seattle and Mt. Rainier.

My parents are doing well and we had a delicious crab lunch together. My brother-in-law has a boat and caught 10 large dungeness crab. It really is the best time of year to be in the Pacific Northwest!

Sisters

Next weekend we will be going camping and hiking in the wilderness area near Mt. Adams in southern Washington State. It has been quite cool this year, so there is still a lot of snow.

I am missing my friends in Japan and look forward to seeing everyone.

Visiting friends and family and more food

Garden Gate with clematis

Sorry that I haven’t written more frequently. Time is going by so quickly! The weather continues to be beautiful. Usually it is a little chilly in the morning, but by the afternoon it always warms up. I am spending a lot of time outdoors taking walks and visiting with friends.

This year it was colder than usual in Oregon, so summer vegetables are just now ready to eat. When I visit friends we often we prepare meals together and spend time sitting at the table eating and talking. At my sister’s house we bar-b-cued chicken and ate outside talking until we got too cold.

Making tamales

Last weekend I met with friends and we prepared tamales, a Mexican dish. Tamales are made with corn masa and filled with pork, vegetables, or even sweet fruit. The filling is wrapped in a corn husk and steamed. We made four kinds: pork, spicy pork, green pepper with cheese, and sweet fruit. It was a lot of fun to prepare together.

One of my friends has a very large garden and when I visited we did some work in the garden, weeding and watering. We harvested zucchini, lettuce, herbs, and beets for a delicious fresh dinner that we ate al fresco. Berries are in season now, so we had ice cream with fresh blueberries on top for dessert. In the morning we had fresh blueberry muffins!

Fresh blueberry muffins

Last night at home, Nina prepared vegetarian burgers (tofu burgers & garbanzo bean burger– scroll to bottom for recipe) and we had a bar-b-cue. We also grilled corn and summer squash that we bought at the Farmer’s Market. The salad was made with lettuce and cucumbers from our garden and we added nasturtiums and smoked fish.

Because it has been so cold years the flowers are blooming late. There is a large rose garden in Portland and usually everything blooms in late June or early July. When I went there last week everything was in full bloom.

Portland Rose Garden

It was so beautiful and we spent an hour walking around, just enjoying the colors and fragrance.

This week I will be going up to Washington to visit my parents and my sister’s family for a few days. I hope to take a day hike and maybe even have a crab dinner.

Lots of good food

National Palace Museum- Taipei

I am having a great trip so far. The weather has been beautiful and I have been visiting with friends and family. I left Fukuoka around noon on Tuesday and flew to Taipei. I had to wait nine hours for my connecting flight, so I went into the city and visited the National Palace Museum. The museum collection was so impressive and there were so many things to see. I especially enjoyed the jade exhibit and the exhibit of Qing carving. The work is so intricate.

Shirin Night Market

I also visited the Shilin Night Market and bought some Chinese snacks. It was a really fun adventure. There are so many different things to see, smell, and hear.

The flight from Taipei to Seattle took 10 hours. I slept and watched a movie. After I arrived in Seattle, my sister met me at the airport and we drove to her house. She had some fresh salmon that her husband had caught. It was so delicious.

The next day I went to my parents’ house and we went out for Mexican food. I had two tacos with rice and beans. I really enjoy all the different foods from around the world that are available in the US.

Tacos, rice and beans

On Thursday we drove down to Portland and Nina and Kai took us out for El Salvadoran food. We went to a very small restaurant near here that is run by one woman. She cooks, serves, and does all the work by herself. The food was outstanding.

Berries at the Farmers' Market

The next day I met with friends and did some shopping. Today Nina and I went to the Farmer’s Market and I loved tasting all the berries and fruit that are in season now. Later today I met with a friend to take a walk in Forest Park– one of the largest urban parks in the US.

I am having a wonderful time, enjoying the beautiful weather (27 degrees and 32% humidity) and eating lots of good food.

Do you know what this vegetable is?

One of my favorite places to visit in any city is an outdoor market. The markets in Taipei and Oregon both sell food, but the atmosphere of the markets is so different. The Shirin Night market is busier and there are also small shops selling clothing and accessories. In Oregon, there are a lot of people, but it is more relaxed and many families are out shopping together. Most of the vendors sell fresh produce and flowers, but there are several stalls that sell prepared foods, such as sausages, bread, and burritos.

What outdoor markets have you been to?

Daily English Show

I love this show. It was started five years ago by Sara, a woman from New Zealand who was living in Japan. She has now returned to New Zealand and continues to provide this resource for English language learners. There are now 1386 videos available.

This is the first program she produced five years ago. Script of this program

You can find The daily English Show at these sites.

Videos on YouTube The most recent video is the one that is highlighted. To see older videos, use the menu on the right side of the page.

You can also view the videos with a script on the Daily English blog.

There is a Japanese language blog with the videos, too.

Enjoy! Did you watch any of these videos? Which ones do you recommend?

4 more days

Olympic National Forest Trail- every year I enjoy hiking and camping while in the Pacific Northwest

I am busy preparing for my trip and planning my last classes before I leave on Tuesday. I am really excited, but I have a lot to get done before then. I have to teach today and tomorrow and also I am participating in a “boat race” at the Saiki Umi Hotaru Matsuri (more info) on Saturday afternoon. Last year our team came in third, we are hoping to make it to the finals again this year.

I plan to spend Sunday packing and buying last-minute gifts for friends and family. I always worry about what to buy for gifts. It gets harder each year to find things that are unique or special. I like to buy UniQlo t-shirts for my nieces and nephews. UniQlo produces a new line of t-shirts every year with designs from Japanese food products and popular cultural imagery. This year I really liked the Monster Hunter Portable design and the Shichimin design.

A couple days ago I went to a sale at the kimono shop in Tokiwa and bought several pieces of old fabric and fabric scraps to give to my mom. She is a quilter and is always happy to have Japanese fabrics. I bought several small pieces of antique lacquer ware on Yahoo Auction, too.

I will do some last-minute shopping at the 100 yen store and also Yoshida Kaisan. My family loves furikake from Saiki.

Do you have any good ideas for small gifts?