Broken but blessed

Life has thrown me a few curve balls in the last several weeks and has strained my spirit. I am having a tough go of things right now and have spent quite a bit of time feeling down and confused and sad. But over the years I have come to realize that it is the times when I am broken and feeling my lowest that my amazing set of family and friends swoops in to lift me back up, and this time is no exception. I had a terrific bunch of coworkers in Germany and they will always remain in my heart and memories, but I am so grateful to be close to my family and friends in the United States through all of this. They are the people who know me the best and will drop everything to come and to my rescue anytime I need it.

I am a very spiritual person even though I don't belong to an organized religion. And the faith that I have in the network of people around me makes me feel so blessed. It is only unfortunate that it sometimes takes the worst situations to make me realize how lucky I really am.

I hope you, my dear readers, are all lucky enough to be blessed with amazing family and friends as well.

Changes

I've been dealing with a lot of changes in my life in the last several weeks. Okay, months. Today I worked a one-day temp assignment in downtown Seattle and tomorrow I start another assignment that will last 4-6 weeks. That is the longest stint of employment I will have had since mid-July, and I'm totally chomping at the bit to get started.

I found a great place to live in a really terrific part of Bellevue, and will hopefully get into the apartment by the end of the weekend. It is scary to know that I still don't have a mattress or sheets or any of that stuff, but hopefully things will fall into place at the right time.

My dear readers, all these changes and more have been overwhelming me lately and it is difficult to organize my thoughts to keep you updated on my day-to-day adventures. I think I will need a bit of time to work through many life changes and, as a result, this blog may sit dormant for a short while. But I will hopefully return to you soon with pictures of my pretty new apartment and stories of what it's like to work in the medical field.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll talk to you soon.

In the kitchen

I have the morning free today and I'm spending it in the kitchen. This afternoon I am setting off on a weekend journey to visit friends and family south of Seattle and I wanted to gear up for my trip the right way: with cooking and baking!!

First on the list was a mini-batch of rice krispy treats for Joe. While I am away he is going to be working on some home-improvement projects and these sweet snacks should keep him motivated.

Since the weather in Seattle has turned gray and gloomy, I was craving a hot bowl of comfort food for lunch. So I boiled some baby potatoes and combined them with chili, green onions and cheese for a tasty mid-day meal.

But after lunch, it was time to take my loaf of banana bread out of the oven. The loaf had not risen one tiny bit, and I eventually realized that I forgot to add any leavening to the loaf. I am pretty sure it's cooked all the way through, but I don't think anyone would want to eat a brick of banana bread. Sigh.




















Well, two outta three ain't bad, right?

Just call me Blanche

I think I'm a little more mentally-intact than Blanche DuBois, but we do have something in common: we both rely on the kindness of strangers. Or, in my case, I rely on the kindness of strangers and anyone else I can reach on my cell phone when I get myself into a bind.

I wonder why I haven't learned, but for some reason I tend to be vastly under-prepared to find my way around a new area. I blissfully leave my house in the morning with little notes scribbled onto a scrap of paper and fully expect to find my way around an unfamiliar area without any problems. However, in the last several weeks my sister has had to rescue me twice (the most recent time was yesterday) and this morning I was completely dependant on a stranger to get me to my morning appointment.

I think my problem is that I rely very heavily on google directions and King county metro's online trip planner to get around Seattle sans car.

(Oh my goodness, are you all groaning yet? Are you asking yourself, "Is she REALLY writing about the bus AGAIN? What the heck??" Don't worry, I do have real content for this blog post....But then again, I do love writing about the bus...)

This morning I was heading to my first assignment from a local temp agency on the Microsoft campus. I have only driven by Microsoft a few different times, and I had no idea how vast the "campus" is. Well let me tell you, that place is big. And the word "campus" implies that the area is somehow a contained unit, which I can tell you now, the sprawling monolith that is the Microsoft corporation cannot be simply described as a "campus."

Anyway, I did my Metro trip planner last night before bed to make sure I knew the right bus routes to get to my meeting. According to Metro's website, I could get to a bus stop right on campus by 8:41, giving me nearly 20 minutes to find my way to my meeting. After looking at the online map and completely disregarding the scale listed on the bottom, I figured it was a mere skip and a jump to the building and quickly jotted down a cross street before falling asleep.

Fast forward to this morning, where I got off my bus and became immediately disoriented at the cross-street I had jotted down on the back of an envelope. After wandering around (in what turned out to be the wrong direction) for about five minutes, I approached a group of people getting off a bus and asked the crowd if anyone knew where Building 33 was.

Thankfully, a nice young man told me that it was on the way to Building 36, which was where he was going, and he could walk me right past it. I thanked him and we set about in the correct direction. We even had a nice little chat along the tree-lined path and I found out that he's only worked for Microsoft for 8 months and that he's originally from the East Coast. After pointing out my building to me, he wished me well and continued on to his building.

Sometimes I wonder if I subconsciously leave the house without a firm grasp on how to get to my destination because I just figure there will always be a nice young man to help me find my way, or that I can catch my sister at her computer at work and she can use google maps to get me steered in the right direction. In either of these scenarios the result is a pleasant interaction with someone. I have chatted with some very nice bus drivers after asking them which stop would be the best to reach my destination. And even yesterday when I was on the phone with my sister trying to figure out where my bus stop in downtown Seattle was, a guy overheard my plight and tried to offer his own assistance.

One of the things I love about speaking my native language again is the opportunity to have casual conversations with people. Striking up a chat with someone for a few minutes here and there is a great way for me to feel connected with Seattle and to really feel like I belong back in the United States. Of course, I should probably take a page from the boy scouts and try to be more prepared when I'm heading off for meetings in a new place, but for now I'm enjoying my little daily bus adventures and the occasional kindess from strangers.

Mighty mighty metro

I can't believe I did it. When I woke up this morning, I knew today would be a challenging day. I needed to run three important errands and I wouldn't be using a car, meaning that the mighty mighty Seattle metro buses were going to be chauffeuring me from place to place. And in just seven hours, I did it all! Wanna see how?

(All my times and mileage are approximate.)
(Yes, I am this dorky.) :)

1:00 p.m.
Caught the 255 to downtown Kirkland.

1:10 p.m.
Transferred to the 230 to East Kirkland.
Errand #1 - got a cashier's check from my bank for my apartment rental application.
(distance for Errand #1 = 3.5 miles)

1:30 p.m.
Caught the 230 in the opposite direction to downtown Bellevue.
Walked almost a mile to super cute apartment complex in Old Bellevue.
Errand #2 - met with apartment manager and filled out paperwork.
Hung out with potential roommate.
(distance for Errand #2 = 6.3 miles)

3:10 p.m.
Caught the 550 to downtown Seattle.

3:35 p.m.
Arrived at my stop in downtown Seattle in a state of shock that it was so fast!

4:00 p.m.
Caught the 64 to North Seattle.

4:45 p.m.
Arrived at a close cross-street to my accompanist's house.
Had a tasty dinner at the PCC deli.

5:30 p.m.
Errand #3 - rehearsal for Ladies' Musical Club performance.
(distance for Errand #3 = 9.6 miles)

7:00 p.m.
Caught a ride to the Montlake freeway station with another singer.

7:10 p.m.
Caught the 255 to Kirkland.

8:00 p.m.
Arrived at my starting point. Whew!
(distance to arrive back at home = 16.2 miles)

Just so you can see how spread out things get in Seattle, here's a Google map of my route. The blue line is using more freeways and highways than the bus did, but at least you can see where I've been today! (click the pic to enlarge, as always)

























Yes folks, I know seven hours is an eternity to run three errands, but as you can see from the mileage, I did cover a lot of ground, and proof that if you don't have a job, you can successfully navigate with the bus. Now if I had to do these three errands on breaks, lunches, or before/after work, I might have been in trouble. Which means I may eventually have to look into getting a car. But tonight I'm just celebrating small victories.

It goes both ways

Living in Germany delivered a steady stream of interesting new experiences for me to write about. Do you remember my visit to Nuremberg with Garrie and Maggiee where I found that American food section in the grocery store and Bisquick was going for about $10.00 USD? Or when the European soccer championship was going on and all of Coburg went insane and the whole country turned black, red, and yellow? Well, my friends, it turns out that all of those auditions and rehearsals must have fogged my American brain, because it goes both ways.

A few days ago Joe and I got some ice cream down at Pike Place Market. The shop was right across the way from a store Joe wanted to show me called "Bavarian Meats." My heart started to beat a little faster as we went in because I could see that this place was the real deal. It was like stepping into a miniature Coburg grocery store and butcher. I hustled over to the shelves of German groceries that you can't find in American stores and almost yelped outloud when I saw the prices! Small packets of seasoning mix (think packets of taco seasoning, folks) for sauces, meats, and pastas were going for around $4.00. In Coburg they are less than half of that. The jams and jellies were about $6.00 and I distinctly remember finding them for around $2.00 USD in Coburg. It went on and on all over the store, but the biggest shock was seeing Spaetzle, a type of German noodles, going for around $7.00 per bag! Oh my goodness, if any German tourists saw this place they would have whipped their camera out just as fast as I did back in Nuremberg!

Then yesterday I was invited to go see a Huskies football game with three friends. I never went to see Huskies football as a grad student because I was teaching on Saturdays and could never get away to see a game. So when my friends and I rolled on down in the bus from Capital Hill to the U-District and we met with gridlock traffic, I was kind of surprised. The bus was also full to the gills with people wearing purple and gold. Well, and some crimson, too, because the Oklahoma fans were out in force. Once we got down to the stadium there were throngs of people and, I kid you not, every single person in that crowd was decked out in their team colors. And once the game started, the roar from both teams was at times so deafening that I had to stick my fingers in my ears. Compared to this size and scale and volume, Coburg's packed beer garden during the soccer tournament was small potatoes!

One of the greatest things I think a person can learn while living abroad is that other cultures exist and are unique and interesting. But the biggest surprise to me is that German and American cultures are different in a lot of ways, but when it comes to food and football, they are pretty much on equal footing.

$1000.00

My internet provider in Germany (Vodafone) has now collected over $1000.00 U.S. from me in about seven weeks. Never in my wildest dreams did I think tying up my loose ends in Germany would be this difficult.

Three days before I left Germany I went to my local Vodafone shop and changed my internet package to a cheaper "basic plan" (just a few megabytes of internet per month) beccause I was not able to end my two-year internet contract early. By switching from a 50 Euro package to a 15 Euro package, it would save me a bit of money over the six remaining months of my contract. With the help of the clerk, we calculated how much I would owe Vodafone in the coming months and paid cash to settle my bill through the end of my contract.

Unfortunately, what seemed to happen is that my internet service was changed IMMEDIATELY, meaning that my 5000 megabytes of useage for July was dropped down to about 50. Somehow this change in service seemed to go retroactive for the entire month of July, because in August 400 Euros was taken out of my bank account in Germany. Apparently the fee for going over the limit is something like 50 cents per megabyte.

So Vodafone took 50 Euros out for July, 400 out in August, and I paid nearly 200 Euros in cash in July to "settle" my bill. That amounts to over $1000.00 USD for internet. It's a lot of money and I know I need to start making copies of bills, receipts, and start writing letters, but it is all so overwhelming. This must be how these companies make their money, because the whole process of trying to recover that money is going to be a long, annoying process from very, very far away.

The ironic thing about this whole situation is that the Vodafone clerk in Coburg actually recommended to me that I just leave the country and skip out on my contract, because they have no way of collecting the money if I no longer live in Germany. That was 100% his honest advice. He said the Vodafoen people were crooks and I shouldn't be forced to continue the rest of my contract when I had proof that I wasn't even living in the country. But I tried to do the right thing (after all, I did sign a two-year agreement) and this is where it got me. Oy veh.

Home hunting

Sometimes I think I subconsciously do strange things so that I'll have something entertaining to blog about. First it was auditioning for work in Germany, then it was theater life, and after that knitting. Now my life seems to revolve around finding a new place to live.

I haven't written much about my home-hunting because I've only been looking for about a week. But in that time I have spent countless hours scanning the internet looking for properties and corresponding with potential landlords and roommates. And here's what I've come up with:

Almost match #1:
On my very first day hunting I came across the *perfect* listing on Craigslist. A woman in Eastlake was looking for someone to rent a room in her house for $500 a month. After talking to her on the phone I decided I had to look at the property right away. So I hopped a bus from Kirkland and 90 minutes later I was standing at her front door. The house was big and spacious, the kitchen was gorgeous, the basement had a front-loading washer and dryer... and the room was the size of a shoebox. It was advertised as 11'x11' and when I got out a tape measurer, there were 9'x10' of living space due to a large armoir in the room that compensated for a lack of closet. I thought I could deal with living in a shoebox for $500 a month, but in the end I decided I needed a larger private sphere, especially since the rest of the house was already established with furniture and every corner of space was allocated.

Almost match #2:
I got frustrated pretty quickly searching Craigslist and trying to dig through all the scams. Yes, I ended up responding to a few fake listings that just wanted me to enter my personal information or send my rent money to a missionary in Nigeria. So after putting my own ad on Craigslist, I heard back from a woman who is renting a house in West Seattle that has access to a private beach. Those were the magic words for me, and the woman seemed like an awesome lady. But after looking at the distance to downtown and Kirkland, I realized that I would be spending a LOT of time on the bus if I chose that house. Joe commented that it would definitely be closer than Germany, but I don't want to be on the bus for two hours to visit him.

Almost match #3:
I scanned the housing listings for the Bellevue area today and came across a room that seemed really awesome. It was in a great location in North Bellevue, close to 520 and Kirkland and the room was detached from the rest of the house. I cancelled my viewing in West Seattle to take a look at the place and when I got there, I found myself in frat central. The ground lighting leading up to the house was broken and the back deck had empty beer cans littering the ground. When I went inside a very friendly pit bull jumped on me, and when the "owner" showed me the bedroom, it turned out to be a teeny shack that barely fit a twin bed located next to the questionable-looking hot tub. Needless to say, I didn't spend a lot of time at this property.

Today I posted a new listing on Craigslist specifically targeted to the Eastside. I do like downtown Bellevue and the commute to downtown would be very easy with many buses to choose from. So keep your fingers crossed that I can find something large, light, and lovely!

All Mondays should be like this

Joe and I had a really fun weekend down in Oregon, but unfortunately I developed a severe case of camnesia and didn't take any pictures. Luckily, Joe has some great shots on his camera, so I'll try and upload them soon.


Remember this mystery knitting project that I showed you a couple weeks ago?



















Well, this is the actual project! It is Elizabeth Zimmermann's "February Baby Jacket" pattern from her Knitter's Almanac book. By slightly modifying the pattern I managed to use just one skein of mystery yarn that I found down in my parents' house earlier this summer. After I knit it up, it was begging for some Autumn-themed buttons, and luckily my local Michael's had these cute pumpkin buttons.



















I think they go really well with this pumpkin cap I made back in Coburg, don't you?
























Since I had a free day today, I headed down to deliver the cap and jacket to a very special little girl who is going to be making her very first visit to the pumpkin patch in just over a month! Do you think she likes her new outfit for fall?
























I wish my knitted gifts could take credit for that mega-watt smile, but this is one happy baby. Even though she was fighting a pretty bad cold, I was treated to many smiles and giggles today. And thanks to a generous Grandma and an antique store, I was also treated to a mini concert! See kids, practicing can be fun! :)

























Since I was down in Federal Way and just a few miles from Tacoma, I decided to head down to see Monica and Tyra's new house! They got the keys on Friday and are knee-deep in home improvement projects before they move in later this month. They ripped out the carpet on the second floor (it's a HUGE house!) and are painting all the rooms.



















I even accompanied them to Lowe's for paint samples and slapped some paint on the wall with them. The main rooms of the house are going to be really beautiful no matter what color they choose.



















Their house is so great that it makes me practically itch for my own four walls. I am on the hunt for the perfect room or apartment and hopefully I will find a place soon. And maybe someday I'll be able to throw a bunch of paint samples on my own walls like Monica and Tyra. Someday! :)

This Leo is not a mountain lion

I'm glad you all liked the pictures from my first backpacking adventure. However, I must admit that my last post was a bit of a sugar-coated version of the trip. I wasn't the most prepared backpacker on the trail last weekend and it definitely showed. It took a long time to get used to the heavy backpack and I should have practiced before going out on the real trail. I didn't drink enough water during the hike down to Moose Lake and it resulted in some unpleasant dehydration (and maybe mixed with some altitude sickness). And although I consider myself to be relatively fit, I had to hike at a really slow pace and turn on my mental game to get up those 27 switchbacks out of the valley on Sunday.

However, one of the great things about the trip was that I did conquer my anxiety and did go out and successfully complete the hike. I saw some awesome things all along the way, and it was a great feeling to accomplish such a challenging hike. And I now know what to do differently the next time I go backpacking and I'm sure the experience will be even more amazing.

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Right, so now it's time to switch gears. Are any of you wondering whether or not this diva actually *sings* anymore??? I haven't been writing a lot about it, but I am indeed practicing on a very regular basis in preparation for some upcoming performances with the Ladies' Musical Club of Seattle. I am also the understudy for one of the principal roles with Puget Sound Concert Opera. The annual Metropolitan Opera national council auditions are also coming up in October, which should be a great opportunity to get back into competition mode.

Yesterday I rehearsed my role for PSCO and LMC with the vocal coach for Seattle Opera. The ensemble rehearsal was a lot of fun and took place at the Seattle Opera rehearsal facility in downtown Seattle. It was so refreshing to sing with such a great vocal coach in a very live (acoustically-friendly) space. And I realized it was also really fantastic to have the rehearsal conducted in English. I guess I didn't realize how taxing it was to rehearse in German, where a part of my brain had to focus on translating and understanding what the coaches and directors were saying. Back home here in America, I can fully concentrate on interpreting what the coach is asking of me and that is such a wonderful feeling.

Okay, time to pull dinner out of the oven. Have a great evening!

Backpacking

(This is a very picture-heavy post and I highly recommend clicking on each photo to get the full effect. Just click your browser's back button when you're done looking at each image to take you back to the post.)

Last weekend Joe and I went backpacking with another couple in the Olympic National Forest. We got a bit of a late start on Friday and ended up car camping at the "Heart O the Hills" campsite just a few miles up the road from the ranger station.

Here's what the morning sun looked like at our campsite.




















We got a great early start on Saturday morning and drove up to Hurricane Ridge, which is a gorgeous and winding road that takes you high into the Olympia mountains.




















The road had just been repaved and we pulled off to the side of the road to take a bunch of pictures.

























At Hurricane Ridge we stopped in the visitor's center to double-check the road we needed to take to the trail head. They had a cool topographical model of the mountains. Upon closer inspection, I should have realized what kind of hike I was getting myself into. There are a lot of mountains!

























But I was too focused on peeping the wildlife along the road, including these little ground-dwellers. Are they marmots? Groundhogs? I'm not sure, but they are everywhere in the forest and love posing for pictures.




















Erin, can you see Dungeness Spit way down there in the distance? You may have to double-click on the photo to make it big enough to see. Cool, huh?




















Once we got to the trailhead it was time to abandon the car and get hiking. The trail to our final destination, Moose Lake, was 4.2 miles from where we parked and getting down to the lake involved a pretty hairy walk, including over the ridge of a mountain top and down a switchback trail that switched 27 times. Oh my poor legs.

But this is the campsite we chose when we got to the lake. Joe's tent is the little blue one and there's a little yellow one just to the right. And that's Moose Lake. And this is one of the most beautiful places on the entire planet. But I probably don't have to tell you that, you can see it for yourself.




















After setting up camp and having lunch, we went on a day hike to check out the area. We saw more craggy mountains and lush trees,




















And there were a lot of deer. We found out later that the deer really like hanging out by the lake, pretty much exactly where we set up our camp. We had many visits from does with their fawn, and they are not shy at all.




















The trails are very well-maintained by the park rangers and probably other forest staff. Joe and I are sitting on a cute stone bench that is situated next to a gorgeous waterfall along the trail.




















The weather pattern was interesting way up there in the mountains. When clouds would roll through, they would skim along the ground and the temperature change was as dramatic as the view they created.




















Here's the sunset from our campsite. Boy howdy was it cold. We were all pretty much freezing by this point in the evening.

























But before we could retreat to the warmth of our tents for the night, we had to go hang our food and garbage on the bear lines. Yes, this contraption is located about 200 meters from the closest campsite and keeps the campers safe if the bears get hungry.

























We didn't see any bears (or cougars) on the trip, which was just fine by me. If the weather was any indication, they may have gone into early hibernation, because on Saturday night the freezing level dipped down almost to our campsite. And then there was some precipitation, meaning when we woke up, the mountains had a snowy dusting.




















The wind we had felt the day before had completely died down and it felt downright balmy at times. Moose Lake was transformed into a mirror and the reflections were absolutely spectacular.

























We used filters to pump lake water into our water bottles for the hike out of the valley. When we got back to Seattle, Joe had me do a blind taste test to see if I could tell the difference between city water and alpine water. There was no comparison, the alpine water was the best-tasting water hands-down, and it made the city water taste just like minerals and chemicals. And city water has an aftertaste I never noticed before.

So those are the best pictures of my backpacking weekend. Tomorrow I'll give you the nitty gritty of how this city girl really fared out in the wilderness. :)