Seattle and Traveler Tips

Totem poles created by First Nation communities reflect Seattle's heritage.

 I recently returned from a three-week trip to the Seattle, Washington area.  Seattle is a beautiful, magical city when you can catch her on a sunny day without a cloud in the sky.  Similar to her sister city of Portland (notoriously dubbed 'City of the Weird'), Seattle's quirky character gives her a certain charm.  Seattle, I suppose, could be called 'City of the Liberal Salmon,' 'Land of Starbucks and Mountains,' or, in a fit of California envy, 'Rain, rain, go away.'  But really, Seattle is a great city.  I love all of the small antique and art shops downtown interspersed with a cornucopia of coffee houses, cheese shops, specialty food marts and bike
shops, yarn havens, and seafood-centered restaurants.

Pike Place is a typical tourist trap, though well worth the while for the giant ten-dollar bouquets of flowers and gift-style foodstuffs.  When my husband and I go, he always gets the Chinese-Vietnamese pork rolls (pronounced Hum-Bow or Banh-Bao) that reflect the French influence and obsession with bread and South Vietnam's love for pork.  There are also a few scattered comic, used book, and photo shops that have surprising finds tucked away, if you take the time to look.

View of the Harbor from Bainbridge Island

I talk with market and shop vendors to get their take on the lay of the land.  On one of my first Seattle trips I was planning to go on the underground tour of the city reflecting its early tumultuous history as a frontier town.  Tunnels, underground hideaways and passages are all around the city.  After talking with an African mask dealer about dream states (of all things), we were shown the underground passages directly parallel to his basement-stationed shop.  Very cool, indeed.  (And no, we didn't find anything spooky or old in there, but I did find the remnants of chicken wings consumed and partially petrified...woohahhaha!)  But it was a fun experience and I wouldn't have had it were I to have not struck up an interesting conversation with a perfect stranger.

Let your wings be your compass!

That is what I love about traveling... you never know who you are going to meet or what you'll come by once you jump off the designated tour circle.  And mostly, I've found over the years that people are generally nice.  (I know--surprising right?)  It's amazing what you can learn when you are willing to listen and sit and ask a few questions.  People LIKE to exchange ideas and thoughts.  And people for the most part ENJOY telling you what they have gleaned from years of daily habits and experience residing, working, and eating in a place.  It makes them feel helpful, important, needed.  And it's a great way to strike up new relationships.  Take note, dear friends, take note.  The best tour guides are often those rare individuals who genuinely desire for your experience to be a great one even if they won't remember your name or get anything out of it other than knowing they've been kind to another human being.  Finding people like that who are willing to share their knowledge is TRAVELER's GOLD.

More coming soon on THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA.  Ciao for now!  

  

Things to Consider When Moving Abroad: Part 3

Things to Consider When Moving Abroad Continued: Culture and the Daily Grind

6. The Cultural Milieu: Food, Festivities & Activities
Ask yourself earnestly, "What do I consider FUN?"  Not everyone defines enjoyment similarly.  Sitting at the beach knitting all day while knocking back appletinis may be the bee's knees for one and the definition of hell for another.  If given the opportunity to really do what you want within a foreign country, what would you actually want to do with your time, money and resources?  Compare your daily routine (traffic, congestion, shopping, cooking) with the adventures and excursions you idyllically imagine your upcoming life will entail.  When it comes down to the daily grind, what are you willing to tolerate and what can you admit honestly would be too tough or too intolerable to personally handle?  The travel will be amazing, yes, but really focus on the daily routine realities to determine if the country of choice would be up to snuff for your plans and preferences.  A country may have fabulous, lush pictures of flora and fauna, but if you will be residing in an urban jungle (read: lots of concrete), imagine what city hustle and bustle on a daily basis will be like on your commute, walking the dogs, grabbing groceries, jogging, etc.

Cultures have subtle cues for interrelations.  Find out what is expected of males and females, young and old, marrieds and singles.  Learn about typical community activities: are you a dominoes aficionado or a karaoke queen?  A film fanatic or sports enthusiast?  Know which country activities match your own interests.  If bowling is the national activity and you wouldn't be caught dead in polyester and bowling shoes, think about alternative options for entertainment.  Some communities use religious or social organizations as primary vehicles for community relationships.  Others rely on a tight-knit family network of support (which may be hard to break into if you are not a local).  Learn whether or not the community is comfortable, familiar, or inviting of foreign guests: will you be a welcome addition or perceived as a communal burden?

Read some ex-pat country specific blogs to find out how easy (or difficult) it is to make lasting friendships.  Find out what type of night life abounds: is drinking in public acceptable or highly frowned upon?  In the community is dancing impermissible (read: punishable) or virtually required when more than three are gathered?  What time do most businesses, shops, and restaurants open and close?  Is dinner time the 4 o'clock early bird special or will restaurants not open their doors until after 8:30?  On Sunday or weekends do businesses close shop, or will it be near impossible to find some peace and quiet with 24-7 city life?  During holidays and events like Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting) does the city shut down or will market shopping be open for business?

Other questions to ask include: What are the local and national songs, dances, stories, and proverbs that children learn from an early age at bedtime?  What are the foods that are ripe and abundant, and which foods (if any) are considered taboo?  What gifts are expected when you show up at someone's house?  Do you have to arrange the cost of taxi fare before getting in the car?  Will haggling be a part of your daily shopping experience?

Learn whether or not it is okay to: use your left hand (most Muslim and African countries consider the left hand unclean); address people informally; look at a person in the eye when speaking; talk with the opposite sex; travel without accompaniment.  Find out what the expected 'personal bubble' of space is for the community: some places have personal bubbles measured in feet while others have mere inches (if you're lucky!).  (Imagine yourself sweatily sitting on public transportation with a breast-feeding baby--not your own--sitting on your left thigh and a goat perched beneath your ankle on your right...)  Know whether personal lodgings will be limited to a few hundred feet or an entire hacienda.  Even if the city or town is the best in the world, if you are living in a shoebox you might begin to feel (er-hum) a touch claustrophobic.  


Whether you are working, retired, child-rearing, or just absorbing the local community flavor, what type of activities could you see yourself (and your accompaniments) engaging in?  If the country has safety issues, how will this affect your freedom of movement and engagement with the local populace?  If women's rights or freedom of speech is different than US standards, how will this affect your relationships, travels to the market, and social expectations generally?  Will you have to change your style of dress or speech to fit in, and if so, are you willing to adapt accordingly?  In your country of choice, will you be able to eat at the locally available restaurants?  Are you only willing to eat at high-end restaurants, or do you hope to tap into street food vendors, local markets, and cheaper dive pit stops?  Even if a country is comparatively affordable to US standards, if you are planning to live the high life, assume it will come at a cost and prepare your budgeting accordingly.


7. The Daily Grind
The tourism photos online will most likely not reflect what is happening on the ground day-in, day-out.  Check out statistics on crime, poverty, residing persons per capita, and cost of basic foodstuffs.  Look up local holidays, celebrations, religious practices, and community preferences for music, national dishes, and movies.  Check out recent news articles on reputable sites and see if elections or other potentially chaotic events are occurring anytime soon.  Check up on local laws.  Some countries have reciprocity agreements for working if you are a foreign national.  Other countries, unfortunately, make it almost impossible to secure a job on the local market that can support your new life.  If the perfect place with the perfect house and the perfect market and the perfect view are perfectly out of jobs for people like you, then maybe it's not so perfect after all.

Take into consideration the difference in lifestyle between being a tourist and being a resident.  When you are living in a place, what do you really need (items, relationships, activities, and otherwise) to make you feel comfortable, at home, and loved?   

Once you've picked a city, neighborhood or particular residence, see how far away the local market will be.  If you will be walking from place to place, check out the streets you will have to go by on a daily basis to pick up milk, bread, meat, and the like.  Can you see yourself there?  Would you be happy?  If the answer is yes, my friend, then I think you will do just fine.

The world awaits!

Things to Consider When Moving Abroad: Part 2

PART 2 of Considerations for a Life Abroad

Part 1 of this article looked at issues to consider before setting up shop across the ocean yonder.  We hashed out questions addressing personal preferences and concerns regarding 1. weather (palm trees or pashminas), 2. health (the ick factor), and 3. travel companions (pets, partners and spouses).  Now let's look at some of the financial, food, and language stuff to consider when you are deciding on your new country of temporary, semi-permanent or permanent residence.  Part 3 (forthcoming) will look at cultural activities (festivals and the like) and the daily grind (We're not in Kansas anymore...).

The end goal of these articles is to help you pick a country and community that you can see yourself living, shopping, playing, and perhaps working in-- a place that with time and a little patience you will be able to call 'home' or, at the very least, 'a home away from home.'  And a home must obligingly have lots of belly laughs, general hilarity, tasty treats, lasting friends, marvelous mementos and an all out rockin' (or quietly relaxing) air of enjoyment.  Simple things, you know?

If you can answer this then you know what you want:
Consider the following question: How do you see your upcoming experience abroad?  For example, do you see yourself engaging with the local community, learning community slang and language cues, and eating the local grub, or are you more of an isolationist ex-pat who wants to engage primarily with English speaking ex-pats with similar social backgrounds?  The answer to this question is important: your view of how and who you want to relate to and with will not only affect what country you can move to but what activities you can do, where you can travel, what you can eat, and whom and what experiences you will hold as memorable.

If you put in the effort to think about all of the nitty gritty details--along with what you actually want in your life abroad BEFORE you personally invest in moving half way across the globe--I can assure you that it will save you money, time, and frustrating scenarios.  Below are a few questions that will hopefully get your thinking cap buzzing and mind's eye generating ideas about what you seek/yearn/crave for within a life abroad and, more importantly, who you ultimately see yourself becoming through global exploration.

4. Budgeting & Finance
What is the differential between what you can ultimately afford and what you see as the ideal living scenario?  Would you rather live in affordable, less than magnificent housing but eat out and dine-it-up, or would you rather have a beautiful sky rise apartment and rely on affordable street food and the more reasonably priced lunch time restaurants?  Perhaps you would like to live in the countryside.  If it is cheaper and you won't be bored to death (or lost in translation), this is sometimes a good option to become immersed in cultural community life.  If you have a local 'in' with people who can show you the ropes, all the better.  Two or three connections before you go can make all the difference in the world upon your first days post-arrival.

To get a good idea of your financial options, check up on rental prices in safe neighborhoods and compare your own finances with listing prices.  Maybe your first city of preference costs 5x the amount as the sister-city thirty miles over.  Maybe the difference in transportation costs (one city requires a car, the other you can rely on metros/taxis/trains) will affect your overall experience.  Write down the elements that are important to your contentedness and then seek out locales that fulfill your primary needs.  Find a happy medium between the best of scenarios in an ideal world and the realistic expectations of being on a tight budget or having limited travel orders.

5. Language
If a former colony has English (or for that matter French, German, Portuguese, or Spanish) as a primary or national language, find out how many local residents actually speak it.  What languages are available on the most-listened to radio stations, television programs, and newspapers?  For example, Ghana's national language is English, among others, but when I was living in villages adjacent to Togo in the Volta region, less than 10% of the population could speak or understand English conversationally and fewer could read and write in English.  Regionally, Ewe was the lingua franca, but outside of the Volta region very few Ghanaians understood when Ewe was spoken.  The capital city of Accra had more English speakers and the languages of Twi (Fante) and Ga were more widely understood (and expected) than the regionally-specific Ewe.  The point being, know what the particular city's spoken languages are and not just the country's official national languages.  If you are in a country where women have less access to education, be prepared to learn local dialogue in order to buy even basic items from the market vendors or to make local female friends.  With a little research beforehand, you will get a better idea of what you will be in for and how you can prepare accordingly.

More on Culture, Community, and the Daily Grind in Part 3 coming soon! 
   

Things to Consider When Moving Abroad: Part 1

Joining the foreign service or deciding to move abroad both involve an upheaval of life as you currently know it.  Living abroad entails making new local friends and contacts, adjusting to differing cultural norms, weather patterns, languages, and multiple other social factors.  That being said, I have compiled a brief list of factors to consider before moving to a foreign country.  The more comfortable you are with your options, the more likely you will be ready to face and achieve success in your new life abroad.

So you've got the travel bug.  When considering foreign ex-pat life, if you don't know exactly what type of experience you'd like to have on a daily basis, ask yourself the following questions for a bit of clarity and assurance.  If you sit and take a few moments to ask yourself what you really want, you will save yourself money, anxiety, and droves of time later.  Don't be caught saying "Why didn't I consider this before I left for a life of travel?"

A girl's dream or way too warm for ya?

1. Weather:
What type of weather am I looking for?  Am I a tropical weather, beach fanatic or do I prefer the changing seasons?  If snow is considered pleasurable, how low (temp wise) are you willing to go and for how long of a duration?  Some winters are brief, but others encompass 7-8 months of the year.  Likewise, are you ready to face potential wind storms, hurricane seasons, or monsoon seasons?  Can you manage in 90+ Fahrenheit degree weather without access to air conditioning?  Think about holidays and special times of the year: would you be okay with a summer-style barbeque at Christmastime?  Could you face a 4th of July with ice storms?  Don't just check out a country's rainfall level, but the times and amounts of rain that falls.  For example, Seattle has a lower rainfall than most tropical weather islands, but the trickle effect of daily overcast drizzle makes it feel as though it is raining all the time.  If you will only be happy with palm trees in your vicinity, or, conversely, fall leaves and snowmen, narrow your world options in half by assuming your weather preference.

Willing to deal with mosquito nets?

2. Bugs, Germs, Disease--the good stuff:
Some countries require no vaccines; others require multiple.  Are you limited to countries that are for the most part immune to the likes of malaria, dengue fever, and tuberculosis?  Are you willing to face flying cockroaches in the shower, scorpions in your shoes, or other such lovely adventures?  If not, this knocks out another half of your options.  Generally, the warmer and wetter the weather, the more types of bugs and 'fun' inoculations will be required.  That said, the original reasoning behind gin and tonics harks back to colonials living in countries requiring antimalarial prophylactics: the quinine-infused tonic protecting against those pesky mosquitoes was considered so noxious tasting that it had to be covered up with gin to be potable.  Now people in malaria-free countries order a G+T because of the taste.  Moral of the story: bugs and lizards and creatures (oh my!) are scary to think about, but often easier to adjust to with a little patience and time.  I don't love cockroaches, rodents, or crawly creepies myself, but if I see one now, no big deal as long as they aren't poisonous.  Lizards, tree frogs and geckos I find endearing, and am intrigued by lizard culture head bobbles, faux push ups, and knightly battles for the best spot in the house.  My motto is that if it can kill me or eat me, I respect it from a distance.  'Nuff said--no Steve Irwin inquisitiveness here.

How would your spouse/friend/pup feel about sporadic access to electricity?

3. Children, Pets & Partners:
Another consideration is who will be accompanying you on your journey abroad: kidlets, fido, and family.

Kids & Spouses: If you have school-aged children, the level and types of education offered in-country are of course going to stand as primary consideration in your mind.  If there is no quality education available in-country, would you be willing to send your children to boarding school, home school, or another viable alternative?  Try to imagine how the people accompanying you will adjust to language, social interactions, cultural expectations, food availability, weather patterns, and their new daily routines.  If your kids, aging parent, dependent, or your spouse has special needs or interests that they can't live without, their needs being met will be primary to group satisfaction and a happy abroad life.  If one person is completely miserable, it will affect the whole family.

Traveling with a partner, spouse, best friend, or sibling means that you have to take their considerations into account.  If you will be the primary earner and have already landed a job, for example, assess whether your partner/spouse/friend wants to work as well.  If so, what type of jobs are available that match their individual backgrounds?  Some countries have work reciprocity agreements with the States and others only allow for traveling/vacation visas.  Would volunteer work be an option, as a way to engage with community?

Pets: Likewise, if Muffy the cat or Mr. Pickles the dog are your furry best friends that can't be left behind, be sure to check the import/export laws for bringing pets abroad to your host country.  Some places with more precious ecosystems, like New Zealand, have pet quarantines that can last up to six months.  Other countries in Latin America or Africa may easily allow a vaccinated dog in country but the US (or other home country) may not allow a pet to return stateside after living in an area with a high prevalence of rabies or disease.  Some countries may not have vet access or may only have pet care available in the lingua franca.  Can you speak (or be willing to learn) basic phrases for pet care in Swahili, Urdu, Portuguese, or Dagara? 

More on moving abroad coming up soon!