A number of events in the past two days seemed to make "Celebrations" an appropriate theme for this blog post.
After waking up at 6 AM again yesterday, I spent nearly eight hours at a school, where I gave two presentations on "Ethnic Diversity in the U.S." and interviewed seven students for my Fulbright research project. By the time I left the school shortly after 3 PM, my voice was hoarse and starting to disappear.
The day at the school was entirely productive though, and it was fun switching back and forth between English and German (four of the interviews were in German). The presentations also went well, and it was refreshing to be speaking at schools again. Reminds me of my Scholarship Junkies visits.
These students have only one more week left in their secondary school careers, so they were celebrating "Motto Week," which is essentially like "Spirit Week" in the U.S. The theme for Friday: "White Trash." Lovely, no?
When I walked into the classroom, I thought it was 80's Day or something. As I left the school, many of them were dancing right outside the main entrance with Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" blasting from a giant boombox. I snuck a picture once I got far enough away for them to not notice me taking a picture of them.
Once I got home (an hour plus later), I ate some food and simply crashed. For the second time this week, I had to take a nap as I've had to wake up early all week and felt pretty tired. Brandon's birthday party was in the evening, so I had to head out again after my nap. I felt sluggish to say the least, but the cold shower I took right before I left helped wake me up a bit.
At Brandon's, we had another grill party and just hung out in his apartment. It was nice to meet some of his German colleagues, practice German as usual, and see some of our Fulbright friends again too. Definitely lots of fun.
Since I was pretty wiped out, I had told Brandon I would leave around 11:30 PM, so that I'd only stay for about two hours. However, as the night went on, I decided to stick around longer...until nearly 2:30 AM. A few of us decided to head home at that point, and we went to catch the S-Bahn.
The others lived in the opposite direction, so when they got off the S-Bahn, I stayed on since I needed to take a few more stops. Unfortunately, I fell asleep about 3 or 4 stops before my destination. I didn't wake up until 4:30 AM, and by then, there was only one other person on the S-Bahn.
At that point, I noticed that the S-Bahn's direction was now the opposite of where I needed to go. That means, I had slept through the S-Bahn reaching the far end of the line, turning around at the last station, and passing the outermost stops on the line again. Slightly disoriented, I decided to just get off and hail a cab. The problem with this idea is that, upon walking out of the S-Bahn station, I realized I was far out in the suburbs. I looked left and right, and all I saw were street lamps as far as I could see. No cars, no taxis. So I went back down to the station and waited 30 minutes for the next S-Bahn.
By the time, I got to my station and caught the bus from there to the stop closest to my house, it was 5:30 AM. Strangely, there were more folks heading out at that time in the morning than I had expected. And on a Saturday morning too. Needless to say, I slept in until 1 PM today.
Around 4 PM, I went to Mauerpark to meet up with many of the same people from last night. We had planned to play a version of kickball in the park, but everyone was feeling tired too. So we just sat on the grass and enjoyed the sun. It was quite breezy, so it was chilly. However, just seeing the sun is a nice reminder that it's now spring. I had brought my basketball as well, and I thought about joining the pick up games right next to us. Maybe next time.
For lunch today, I made myself kim-chi fried rice, and it's been months since I've had it. It was delicious. I feel like this year has really taught me much about cooking. Useful indeed.
Finally, one last note about celebrations. The Mariners played their home opener last night, and in memory of the late great broadcaster, Dave Niehaus, there were a number of remembrances. Part of First Avenue South has been renamed Dave Niehaus Way South, and yesterday was declared Dave Niehaus Day in the state of Washington.
This afternoon, I watched a short clip of yesterday's festivities though, and I couldn't help but tear up. I don't cry often—in fact, it's been well over a year since the last time I actually cried—but the videos of the Mariners' tribute to Dave Niehaus and Macklemore's performance got me pretty close. Ever since I started following the Mariners in middle school, I've always heard Dave Niehaus's voice on the radio (no cable tv, so only Mariners radio). Undoubtedly, the man has had an extraordinary impact on Seattle, and that itself is an understatement.
As for the Mariners themselves, I feel like I might've jinxed them since the last time I said they were the "first place Seattle Mariners." They haven't won since...and last night, they lost 12-3.
One part of last night's game was tremendously thrilling though, and it came courtesy of my awesome friends from UW, particularly Lily, who helped me "attend" the game with them too.
Do I have amazing friends or what? I miss them, and I miss going to Mariners' games with them. You can bet one of the first things I will do when I return in July is go to Safeco Field to catch a (hopefully good) game. To Lily and the rest of the gang for the very special gesture, a huge thank you. :)
Sam
After waking up at 6 AM again yesterday, I spent nearly eight hours at a school, where I gave two presentations on "Ethnic Diversity in the U.S." and interviewed seven students for my Fulbright research project. By the time I left the school shortly after 3 PM, my voice was hoarse and starting to disappear.
The day at the school was entirely productive though, and it was fun switching back and forth between English and German (four of the interviews were in German). The presentations also went well, and it was refreshing to be speaking at schools again. Reminds me of my Scholarship Junkies visits.
These students have only one more week left in their secondary school careers, so they were celebrating "Motto Week," which is essentially like "Spirit Week" in the U.S. The theme for Friday: "White Trash." Lovely, no?
When I walked into the classroom, I thought it was 80's Day or something. As I left the school, many of them were dancing right outside the main entrance with Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" blasting from a giant boombox. I snuck a picture once I got far enough away for them to not notice me taking a picture of them.
Once I got home (an hour plus later), I ate some food and simply crashed. For the second time this week, I had to take a nap as I've had to wake up early all week and felt pretty tired. Brandon's birthday party was in the evening, so I had to head out again after my nap. I felt sluggish to say the least, but the cold shower I took right before I left helped wake me up a bit.
At Brandon's, we had another grill party and just hung out in his apartment. It was nice to meet some of his German colleagues, practice German as usual, and see some of our Fulbright friends again too. Definitely lots of fun.
Since I was pretty wiped out, I had told Brandon I would leave around 11:30 PM, so that I'd only stay for about two hours. However, as the night went on, I decided to stick around longer...until nearly 2:30 AM. A few of us decided to head home at that point, and we went to catch the S-Bahn.
The others lived in the opposite direction, so when they got off the S-Bahn, I stayed on since I needed to take a few more stops. Unfortunately, I fell asleep about 3 or 4 stops before my destination. I didn't wake up until 4:30 AM, and by then, there was only one other person on the S-Bahn.
At that point, I noticed that the S-Bahn's direction was now the opposite of where I needed to go. That means, I had slept through the S-Bahn reaching the far end of the line, turning around at the last station, and passing the outermost stops on the line again. Slightly disoriented, I decided to just get off and hail a cab. The problem with this idea is that, upon walking out of the S-Bahn station, I realized I was far out in the suburbs. I looked left and right, and all I saw were street lamps as far as I could see. No cars, no taxis. So I went back down to the station and waited 30 minutes for the next S-Bahn.
By the time, I got to my station and caught the bus from there to the stop closest to my house, it was 5:30 AM. Strangely, there were more folks heading out at that time in the morning than I had expected. And on a Saturday morning too. Needless to say, I slept in until 1 PM today.
Around 4 PM, I went to Mauerpark to meet up with many of the same people from last night. We had planned to play a version of kickball in the park, but everyone was feeling tired too. So we just sat on the grass and enjoyed the sun. It was quite breezy, so it was chilly. However, just seeing the sun is a nice reminder that it's now spring. I had brought my basketball as well, and I thought about joining the pick up games right next to us. Maybe next time.
For lunch today, I made myself kim-chi fried rice, and it's been months since I've had it. It was delicious. I feel like this year has really taught me much about cooking. Useful indeed.
Finally, one last note about celebrations. The Mariners played their home opener last night, and in memory of the late great broadcaster, Dave Niehaus, there were a number of remembrances. Part of First Avenue South has been renamed Dave Niehaus Way South, and yesterday was declared Dave Niehaus Day in the state of Washington.
This afternoon, I watched a short clip of yesterday's festivities though, and I couldn't help but tear up. I don't cry often—in fact, it's been well over a year since the last time I actually cried—but the videos of the Mariners' tribute to Dave Niehaus and Macklemore's performance got me pretty close. Ever since I started following the Mariners in middle school, I've always heard Dave Niehaus's voice on the radio (no cable tv, so only Mariners radio). Undoubtedly, the man has had an extraordinary impact on Seattle, and that itself is an understatement.
As for the Mariners themselves, I feel like I might've jinxed them since the last time I said they were the "first place Seattle Mariners." They haven't won since...and last night, they lost 12-3.
One part of last night's game was tremendously thrilling though, and it came courtesy of my awesome friends from UW, particularly Lily, who helped me "attend" the game with them too.
Do I have amazing friends or what? I miss them, and I miss going to Mariners' games with them. You can bet one of the first things I will do when I return in July is go to Safeco Field to catch a (hopefully good) game. To Lily and the rest of the gang for the very special gesture, a huge thank you. :)
Sam
1 comment:
That is awesome that your friends did that :) I wonder if they got they sign on the big Screen? :D
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