Living in Seattle(ish), Day three(ish): 10 things I’ve learned
Living in Seattle(ish), Day eight(ish): regret in a screenshot
Living in Seattle(ish), Day 18(ish): Time for the mortuary, and I’m a bad driver
Living in Seattle(ish), Day 193(ish): where do I begin?
Living in Seattle(ish), Day 270(ish): boba blues
Living in Seattle(ish), Day 365(ish): now what?
It has only been a short 99 days since my last installment of this “series,” so I figured I’d provide a quick update. For those of you that aren’t long time blog readers, I moved to Seattle Bellevue about 15 months ago for no intelligent reasons, which was a big step for me. I’ve been sharing random musings/updates ever since. Sadly Google seems to pick up on these posts, and I’m now the top result when Googling “Moving to Bellevue, Washington.” If I had a dollar for every email I’ve received from some random person on the internet asking for moving advice I’d buy myself 90,000 US Airways miles and fly to North Asia in business class (via Europe, of course)!
Anyway, here are some updates:
OMG DRIVE THRU BOBA IS OPENING SOON!
Lets start with the most exciting update first. Some of you may remember my obsession with Drive Thru Boba, which I first wrote about in my day 193 update. I don’t think I’ve ever been so irrationally obsessed with anything in my life (well, except One Direction maybe). Over time I started to really like the owners, Alex and Karen, and was downright devastated when they shut down their old location overnight.
I’ve been waiting for seven, boba and mochi deprived, months for them to re-open, and I’m not sure how much longer I can wait. Go figure they did a “test run” on Sunday for that one football game that was on TV (the only way I even found out about the football game was through Drive Thru Boba’s Facebook page, because they were delivering house blend milk tea and mochi). And today they’re even offering boba pickup. But they’re still not open, and go figure I was traveling on Sunday and am traveling today.
Anyway, I’m so excited about their grand re-opening, and the first day I’m in town where they’re open I’ll host a field trip with unlimited milk tea and mochi on me — stay tuned!
When you discover a Hello Kitty shrine and mochi kingdom just a few blocks from your apartment
Last week I was having a food conversation with someone local on Twitter, and she recommended a good sushi place. As it turns out it’s just a couple of blocks from my apartment, so I was kind of amazed I hadn’t heard of it all this time.
If nothing else I love Japanese restaurants because they remind me of this Curb Your Enthusiasm clip, which is possibly my favorite ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JLUCaHLqbU
In passing I asked the delightful Japanese guy working there whether he knew of any good places to get mochi. He asked if I knew of Uwajimaya. Umaji-say-what?! After he wrote down the name for me I put it in Google Maps and drove there, as it was literally across the street.
Holy crap, the place was huge. It was basically like an Asian Costco. I was in heaven. They had everything, including a Hello Kitty shrine. That’s how you know it’s authentic!
I quickly realized I was the only caucasian in the “market” and was getting awfully weird looks from the employees and other shoppers (though on second thought perhaps that had more to do with the fact that I was wearing airline pajamas and giddy as could be).
I mustered up the courage to ask one of the associates whether they had any mochi. Honestly I was expecting to be be told no, since I haven’t had any luck finding mochi anywhere else in the area other than Drive Thru Boba. I can’t even begin to describe my excitement when he said “yes of course, what kind of mochi?” What kind of mochi? Like, you not only have mochi, but you have different kinds?
“We have some in aisle five, aisle eleven, aisle twelve, the bakery, and the deli.” I nearly fainted out of excitement.
Suffice to say that Uwajimaya is my new Whole Foods. The only downside to shopping there is that half of the food is gone before I get home.
I’m starting to like the weather… I think?
Lets be perfectly clear (unlike Seattle weather) about something — summers in Seattle are inhumanely gorgeous. From July 4th through Labor Day I don’t think there’s a nicer climate anywhere else in the world.
The rest of the year, well, you’ve gotta be “high” to like the weather here. And for the first year I was here I found it hilarious how Seattleites love to justify how they actually like the weather the rest of the year. I’ve heard arguments like “well, it’s cozy,” or “it makes you appreciate when there’s a nice day more.” And both of those are BS arguments to me.
I hate to say this, but a year in I almost feel like I agree… almost… and I want to hate myself for it. Don’t get me wrong, I was in San Diego this past weekend and was absolutely delighted by 70 degree temperatures and clear blue skies.
But there’s something to be said for how “cozy” Seattle is for nine months of the year, at least if you’re on the road as much as I am. It’s a really soothing place to come home to. Surely spas are onto something given that they’re all designed after Seattle, with dimmed lighting and dripping water features, no?
I mean, I have about a dozen cups of tea a day, I sleep 10 hours a night (cause it’s always dark), and I go everywhere in my pajamas (okay, maybe I can’t blame that last part on Seattle). Like, what’s not to love?
Beyond that, I’ve kind of come to comparatively love Seattle weather. It only rarely gets cold in Seattle, and having spent some time this winter on the East Coast and in Europe I was looking forward to returning to warm Seattle.
Not sure I really want to leave Seattle…
As y’all know I’ll be leaving Seattle come April, something I wasn’t initially too sad about. I’m not leaving permanently, but rather just moving to hotels for a while to get a change of scenery for a variety of reasons. Initially I didn’t think I’d really miss Seattle, but now that my days here are numbered (for now), I’m realizing just how much I love the place, even though I haven’t taken advantage of all it has to offer.
The problem is that I can’t really put into words why I love Seattle so much. I remember the first time I visited over a decade ago and how magical I thought the city was. I don’t know why exactly, it might partly be that I’m drawn to it because it’s the city for aviation.
But there’s something about the skyline and landing at SeaTac that leaves me in awe every time, and I’m really starting to get sad about leaving… have I lost it completely?
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