Settling In and Visiting Seattle

My first month in Portland has treated me very well. The weather, for example, has been sunny every day since I've arrived, which nearly everyone has made a point of telling me is "false advertisement," as I am in for hundreds of days straight with lots of rain. Coming from the parched lands of Wyoming, though, I say "bring it on!" Portland also gave me a job that I'm loving, and I suppose that my part-time occupation is a good point of departure for this post since I ended on a cliff-hanger about it in my previous one.

I got a job as an after-school teacher working for Oregon Episcopal School, a private K-12 school in the southwestern part of Portland. My job responsibilities are simple, but I derive much satisfaction from them since they all concern human interactions: I design, shop for, and cook two snacks a day for my students, I tutor students during one hour of required study time, and then I simply hang out with students and interact with them in appropriate but enjoyable ways as an adult mentor. The job, it turns out, is incredibly fun. I work specifically in the middle school, and I love my kids. Since Oregon Episcopal School is a private school, these kids come from very affluent backgrounds and have been raised to be confident and bright. On my first day on the job, two kids wrote me a survey that I had to fill out so they could learn about me. Yesterday, one extremely perspicacious kid (he's thirteen and will take calculus next year and hopes to study physics at MIT) was interrogating me regarding my political beliefs about government intervention in economics and my feelings on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These kids come from fascinating backgrounds--two of my boys are the sons of Nike's President, I found out yesterday. One of my kids lived in Israel for awhile (the interrogator) and invests an allowance of $1,000 that his dad has given him to teach him about stocks and the market. Though philosophically I prefer the idea of public education so that all children, regardless of the socioeconomic background of their parents, have access to knowledge and social advancement through school, since this private teaching job is the one that presented itself, I'm embracing it and giving these kids the best I've got. It's not necessarily fair that they were born to wealthy parents who can afford to pay for private tutors, buy them private cello lessons, give them thousands to invest in stocks and take them around the world to live in multicultural environments, but they deserve love, too, so I'm giving them all my love. I love that these kids are being raised with opportunities and wide worldviews, and I merely wish that all children could have access to the same resources and possibilities. Regardless, my job is incredible.

I also adore my co-workers. They are sharp, educated, open-minded folks who instantly took me in. My work is 11 miles away from where I live, and I've been biking over the river (and really through the woods, too, though not to grandmother's house), and one day the PE teacher took me home in her car to save me the workout. On the way home, we stopped with her adorable daughter to get some donuts, and then we resumed singing along to Kidz Bop as I got a ride home from this wonderful stranger. My fellow after-school teacher and I get along really well, and she and I are going to carpool to save me some time and thigh energy. My boss is awesome and continually gives me freedom to do my thing and praise for the energy my co-worker and I are investing in the job. Anyway, it's all been incredible so far, and next week I'm substitute-teaching since I told the head of the school that I want to be put to as much use as possible! I'm thrilled to continue to learn in this job that I really enjoy.

Multnomah Falls, totally impressive
but very close to the highway, meaning
gobs of tourists were mobbing the scene
and depriving it of its tranquility

Because we are now both working, Susannah and I have had fewer outdoor adventures. Nevertheless, we took another beautiful all-day hike around Multnomah Falls and didn't stop until we reached a peak from which we could see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, and other prominent mountains in the region. It was a stunning view, and up top was a couple on vacation from Spain with whom I spent a good amount of time chatting in Spanish, which felt wonderful. It was a great moment of natural beauty and human intercultural intimacy combined.

A random photo I snapped of a stream
we encountered on our hike, but aren't
the moss-covered tree, the stony brook,
and the effulgent skies gorgeous?

On another day, Susannah and I went for a trail run in an enormous wooded area in Portland called Forest Park. After the trail run, which was invigorating, we hiked to the top of a hill where Pittock Mansion lies, an old Victorian house now used as a historical museum of the Pacific Northwest. The grounds were nicely laid out with many species of flowers, and the inside was full of the trappings of Victorian life in America, including an impressive shower and restrictive whale-bone corsets. The position of the house on the hill also afforded a marvelous view of all of Portland, and I had a moment of deep gratitude that I get to live for a year in such a pretty city in a deep green, fertile environment. I learned that many forests in Oregon are actually temperate rain forests, a biome about which few people know, since we are so accustomed to speaking of tropical rain forests. I feel so privileged to get to live in such a sylvan setting.

Pittock Mansion, like Laramie's Ivinson Mansion,
represents the residences of the societal elite of the
late 1800s. Today it houses a museum dedicated
to the same period.

My camera captured the many petals of this rose with
great precision, much to my delight. There were dozens
of species of roses of all different hues and redolences.

Portland is also home to a beautiful park that has such an impressive rose garden that Portland's sobriquet is "The City of Roses." I had visited this park before when Troy and I went on our Pacific Northwest trip after I graduated from college, but none of the flowers were in bloom at that time, and it was a completely different experience to see these plants at the height of their beauty. Susannah and I spent a couple of hours wandering through the rows of roses, taking photos, appreciating their scents, and marveling at nature's floral creation.

Here I stand under an archway of flowers right next to
the Shakespeare Garden. How cool is that?

For Labor Day, one of Susannah's good friends named Helen invited us to have a barbecue at her mom's place a little south of Portland in Tualatin. We prepared a salad with all sorts of garden vegetables and headed down. Everyone at the barbecue was wonderful--Helen and I met when she stopped through Laramie, and we instantly had a connection. She's a super successful lawyer who is nevertheless down to earth, emotionally sensitive, and hilarious. Her best friend is a gay man named CJ who is a vegan and has run 17 marathons in his life. CJ is one of the sweetest people I've ever met (not judgmental or pretentious at all, even though any vegan marathon-runner has the right to be in my eyes!), and his partner, Brandon, is also wonderful--a environmental engineer/architect who spent the barbecue with someone else's fussy baby and didn't complain when it spat up all over his nice shirt. They both have been so great to me but unfortunately are moving to Los Angeles where CJ will get his PhD in urban planning. Regardless, it was wonderful to meet them and to get to spend time with them both at the Labor Day barbecue and over a plate of nachos another night.

From left to right: Brandon, CJ, me (ecstatic to be in
between such rock star people!), Susannah, and Helen

My last big adventure occurred last week when Susannah and I went up to Seattle for a few sundry purposes. The principal reason for our visit was so I could meet some of Susannah's extended family who are as close to her as parents and siblings. We also wanted to explore the University of Washington campus, since I'm considering applying for a masters there, as well as to see Seattle University, Susannah's alma mater, since I find great delight in learning more about the past of people that I love deeply. First of all, Susannah's family is wonderful, and they treated me so well. Her Uncle Topher let us sleep at his beautiful place on Capitol Hill, the hip, gay-friendly neighborhood of Seattle. Her Aunt Julie and Uncle Daniel, who have a gorgeous house overlooking a lake, hosted us all for a delicious dinner of prawns, salmon, pesto pasta and then coffee and ice cream for dessert. The entire meal was full of hearty laughs, connections, and getting-to-know-each-other tales of our lives. It was so fun and heartwarming. When dinner ended, Uncle Topher took Susannah and me out to some dance clubs around his house where we had a blast dancing and just feeling young and alive. We had an amazing time.

UW's Suzzallo Library. How could you not want to study in
there, especially when the reading room looks like something
from Harry Potter?

Our visit to the University of Washington was stunning, and even though I've seen many campuses in my lifetime, I think the University of Washington is the prettiest or second prettiest I've ever seen (with the Universidad de Salamanca, in Spain, being the other contender in the ring). Though I am no expert in architecture, the buildings looked primarily neo-Gothic to me, and the landscaping, using lots of cherry trees and a long drag of tree-lined grass framing a view of Mt. St. Helens, was immaculately designed and executed. I felt sparks with the university the whole time we strolled around its grounds. Later, Susannah and I went to Gas Works Park, a park of grassy knolls and old industrial factory remains that frames Seattle's downtown perfectly between residential hills laterally and part of the Puget Sound in the foreground. I was literally so giddy with love for Seattle that I was laughing out loud. I have never had chemistry with a place like I did with Seattle, and I am absolutely going to apply for its masters in comparative literature since I think I could live a great life in Seattle for two (or more) years. We had a total connection.

One of four symmetrical buildings framing the quad, a large
grassy area lined with cherry trees. Can you imagine how
this looks in the spring when the trees are in bloom?

Seattle, folks. Ain't she purdy? Like my older sister
Laura, I too have fallen in love with this astounding
city.

I hope you all are well. You're constantly in my thoughts and always safe in my heart.