the final post!

Hello everybody! It was a terrific experience in my life as well as in my spiritual learning.I have loved every single moment in Seattle and I would like to be more time to hang out but fortunately I did a good schedule for take advantage of visiting several places such as The Pike Publuc Market in downtown, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue,Ballard,Capitol Hill,Wallingford, Freemont, and many others fantastic places. I don't want to leave this beautiful city but the life goes on but if I had the chance I would do it again! Thanks everybody!!!!

The Locks

The Locks

It was the first time that I experienced how the vessels entered through big gates and these allowed their entrance. Then I saw a lot of water that was flowing in and out of the lock through tunnels.

It filled so quickly and it was amazing that it covered 7.5 million gallons of freshwater and I also learnt that there were salmons which swam against the current and of course they put 5 million of eggs so I couldn’t imagine that but there was a little space that explained that and I took some snapshots in a room called The fish ladder.

My classmates and I walked around and we saw many squirrels and it was funny because these approached to us and we didn´t scare.

After being that place we entered to a restaurant in front of the locks and we tried its specialty which was "fish and fries". It was delicious and I highly recommend you to eat there because I ordered a salad with shrimps and it took me to another planet for an instant.

I enjoyed a lot and maybe I will go again. 

Burke Museum

Burke Museum

Today my classmates and I went to Burke Museum.

This place focuses on environmental issues and it has three wonderful sections and some of them are interactive. Personally, I liked the animals’ life, for example there was a crab that was found in Hoko River, Washington and its age 40 million years ago. It was amazing when I read about the effects on these animals and all those organisms that would survive to salt water and ash from volcanoes because those animals and organisms were buried.

Burke Museum has many things to share with. I realized about their traditions, for instance first voices were brought from the Pacific and sounds appeared so Lushootseed is a kind of tribe or community that was rescued and they were the first native speakers with songs.

There are many things to enjoy and of course, my task was “ Iceberg”. It was really interesting because I could see that when glaciers melt they became in channels of  Puget sounds and they created lakes. The material deposited by them is called glacial drift. Much of Seattle is built a top loose glacial drift and then developed the civilization.

Finally, these glaciers advanced and retrated for nearly 2 million years and of course this changed the landscape but it has been beautiful too with the buildings and the sightseeing in its surroundings.

A drugstore in the Ave.

Drugstore in the Ave, Seattle, WA

Today was a wonderful day because my classmates and I did a lot of things. Personally  I was tired because we walked too much in Burke Museum and later we went to Bainbridge which is a beautiful, charming and greenish island plenty of boats, but I will tell you later about this. When I came back to my hotel I was looking for a drugstore where I might buy laundry bags but I didn’t find them. Finally I arrived at the place to buy them. So I`m going to tell you the following:

My experience was in a drugstore where I was looking for laundry bags and then the seller of the drugstore that is in The Ave helped me but it was funny because he showed me many bags and examples of these. For instance, he brought many bags for specific things; he explained that it would be fantastic if I would buy a laundry bag for $2.99 whinch in reality it contained two of these so I bought it. He was very kindly besides I could understand perfectly a piece of advice that he gave me and of course I bought some chocolates with pictures of Seattle and key rings for souvenirs. So my recommendation for you is pay less and take souvenir in a drugstore where sellers are polite and of course, the things in that place are inexpensive.

Native speakers

Native speakers

Today in my class I had a marvelous speaking with Seattleites who very kindly gave me their own perspective about different themes. I asked for information for my final project mainly, but other things came to my mind. For instance, lifestyle, majors in University of Washington, food, night life, food and so on.

These people were very friendly and I liked a lot to do this activity. Nancy, Alex, David, James and Lora spoke with me for a couple of minutes and I would have liked speaking much more or it would be better to repeat the activity with other topics. But the most interesting thing that I found out was to know about their experiences as Americans. For example, James told me about his experience in Vietnam which was amazing and romantic to spend time there with his wife and later they lived in Seattle and he told me about his lifestyle.

I consider being fortunate because it is different when people pay attention to you and they listening to you and give you different opinions. I would say that it helped me a lot with my project and my team and I got notes to do our task.

THE UGLY MUG

The Ugly Mug, 1309 NE 43^rd St.

I went to this lovely and comfortable place where I drank a delicious coffee called Pumpkin Spice Latte and its price was $3.85 for 12 oz. Besides being the most popular drink in all Seattle (well I guessed that) it is the most sold.

In winter, they sell mainly egg nog lattes which are also a certain specialty from its Coffee. But if you want to go there, it is only open from Monday to Saturday until 6 or 7 p.m. Sometimes, there are clients who don´t like coffee at all, instead of ordering coffee they ask for earl grey milk tea or green tea latte.

I want to tell that this place is small so if someone wants to go between 9 am or 10 am this place will be crowded. Maybe it could be an excuse to meet someone famous as Kevin Malone from TV series.

At last, baristas are very friendly and they could recommend you a single tall iced latte with caramel of course if it is not in winter but anyway their beverages are delicious in flavor.

MOHAI MUSEUM

MOHAI MUSEUM

This place is wonderful which is located in the South lake union neighborhood and if you want to know history of Seattle I highly recommend you to explore its galleries besides having special exhibitions.

For example, I learnt a bit of industry, technology, innovation, maritime life, naval reserve, planes and music. Also, I could see a collection of urban sketches by Gabriel Campanario a drawer from Spain but he has lived in Seattle since 8 years ago and he works in a local newspaper where you can see his sketches which are really interesting.

I went to 4 galleries, in the first one which I entered talked about Washington history and how people arrived at Seattle. Therefore, I think this city is multicultural since ever.

Seattle has had different periods of evolution and I could see in its buildings many structures, for example Space Needle is an icon, a landmark built since 1962. As well as famous people not only because of buildings with amazing architecture but musicians as Kurt Cobain who was very famous around the world.

I took many photos, of course one of these photos is very representative because there was a plane hanging on the middle of the roof, so it was a Boeing B-1 on display and you could see it better since first floor.

I liked the innovative machine of electroshocks and I think it has had an impact on the evolution of science due to the fact that it has helped to many people with heart arrests and it began at the end of the 60`s. It was amazing.

Finally, outside you can see a beautiful view since The lake Union is there with many ships or boats. 

Veteran's Day

Veterans Day

November 11th is a special day because people from Seattle remember service members in the armed forces and they are honored in an event that day.

I learnt that Memorial celebration is for service members who are dead because they gave their life in order to defend their country but it was amazing to have seen a grave with a picture of a soldier who died in 2008 at 25 years old. He was very young and I felt with a nude in my throat when I saw that man with a child in his arms. Maybe this child was his son or a simple child lost in the middle of a war, who knows…

Also, in the cemetery my friends and I found two women who told us about this day. Many stories were told but one of them was fantastic because they mentioned that a man (I couldn´t remember the name) had survived although he had been in coma many years and after that  he had had a life with his wife and children but finally he dead until he was an elderly person so it seemed to me as a love story with drama.

I think sometimes it could be the fate which says when people might die. The important thing is that people have to build faith besides being healthy in mind and physically.

I liked to spend my morning there. These two ladies were very friendly. At the end, they asked me what I would do in Thanksgiving Day. Maybe I may go with them and learn a lot more of culture of this city.

I would like to include the next photo that I took because not only in the cemetery I saw flags but in my school UW as well.

Space Needle!

This is Space Needle which is a landmark built in 1962 in Seattle and it has a wonderful view at day light and at night. It was amazing to know that it had had a futuristic arquitecture and it was designed by Edward Carlson. It´s like a UFO object...Anyway if you might stand up and contemplate all around you will feel wonderful but be aware of the cold weather there so dress warmth.

With two Seattleites !!!

This week I had a fun conversation with two ladies in their 40’s. We came across on Prospect Street and I asked for the cemetery to one of them called Annet who told us that she and her sister Dayanne would go there and then we all together spent all the morning there.

They were very friendly and warmth because they led us to the cemetery through the Volunteer park and explained that there were two special graves because Bruce Lee, the famous actor of martial arts and his son stayed in that place. We took some pictures and it was fun while we were chatting about offerings since we saw flowers, bottles of water, and fruits for instance, oranges. Dayanne and Annet explained that these offerings would be for culture while others graves didn´t have fruits.

Also, we saw Denny´s graves and many others but what I draw my attention was a grave of a very young soldier who died in war at 25 years old young. 

Spend time in a Seattle Neighborhood

The last weekend my team and I went to Ballard so if you want to go there you have to take the 44 bus which passes for 45 st.
We went to a nice market called Farmer's Market which is opened on Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm.There are some expensive and exclusive stores but I think it is worthy.Overall because there are stand with many organic products to buy which have a high quality such as fruits,vegetables,desserts and others stuff.
What draw my attention was the Ballard has a sister city in Norway and another thing what I liked the most was that this place had musicians who were playing guitar and a kind of drums made of buckets! And let me tell you that they played very well.
Finally, Ballard is one of the best neighbourhood to spend time overall on sunday and it has a familiar atmosphere.

Two wonderful museums

Yesterday at the morning  I went to MOHAI Museum which is a interesting place where you can find the evolution of Seattle. It talks about history and industry. For instance, there was a room where it showed how people were civilized and they built a mill. Also, people wanted imported refined women which it was amazing for me because I supposed that they wanted not only refined women but beautiful women. The time period was 1859.
In the 1980´s John Fluke Sr. stated a little electronics company in the basement of his house and later he made a large amount of money since he made 150 million in annual sales and the interesting thing was that he studied at UW where  nowadays I go.
There are a lot to enjoy in the museum, for example I recommend you Maritime Gallery where you can see all those boats that made history.
Seattle Art Museum was another place that I visited the same day. I was tired but it didn´t matter me because when I entered, I saw pop art since there were some cars with a lot of lights which were hanging above us. I saw at the first room contemporary art from India, also there was egypcian art which I loved it and some modern pictures, strange masks, some beautiful object made of porcelain which were from Japan and China. Medieval time period was awesome because all those picture showed mysterious faces.
Finally, the last room there was a special display but I couldn`t take snapshots. It was about Andy Warhol. You´d better  go there and enjoy it.

The Ave.

Today my classmates and I had a great experience with native speakers because we developed an oral practice that my teacher assigned us, so my partner Luz and I went to The Ave which is a street where there were plenty of stores. 

There we went to an exclusive barbershop for men and started doing our task. A man called Kirk answered very kindly some questions but other sellers didn´t want to answer us because they were busy.

Kirk told us that he had this barbershop for adults because children were mischievous and of course he told us about prices and schedules. Later, we entered to the Sport Center where another friendly woman (Kisha) said that she had sold a lot of bottles for drinking water and the least sold were M&M candies.

Finally, we went to the bookstore and the first woman didn’t want to answer us but at the other side of the store a woman called Cari told us that she could help us with our queries. It was amazing that we found out the cost of a stuffed animal because it was 750 dls. So I supposed that nobody wanted that stuff; however, there had some face tattoos with a “W” and everybody seemed to buy them. 

Who I am

My name is Gabriela Guzmán Medina and I work at Universidad Tecnológica de Tecámac in the state of México. I have taught Marketing there since 2006 although I studied  Science Communication but I suppose that it was the fate which let me work in Marketing since I remember.

Before working at Universidad Tecnológica de Tecámac, I worked in Televisa which is a huge enterprise in Mexico, it is mainly famous for its soap operas programs but in fact I don´t like them. I had fun there in the area of Marketing too but later when I wanted to study for a master’s degree my plans had changed and I began to search another job, so I became a teacher in that University I mentioned before. My master degree was International Management and I liked it a lot.

Nowadays, I am very happy because I do what I like as being a teacher and it is very rewarding to learn from my students different ways of thinking. Also in the evenings  I have enough time to exercise, go out with friends and spend time with my parents.

I have learnt that having a job which let you enjoy your life is better than being underpressure because of an absorbed job. In that sense, I try to do many things like playing the guitar, doing yoga, visiting museums, reading some books, learning English, spending time with my friend and family, trying new courses and so on.

Finally, I am an active woman and I am willing to learn about a good philosophy of life.