Nov. 10, 2011: Some Cold Hard Truths

I am sorry to report that I have found a bad cup of coffee in Seattle.  I know, I know, it's blasphemy!  Say it isn't so!  But it's true.  The worst is yet to come, though.  It's at... (shhh, keep in down)...my work.  [commence screaming and running amok]


I'm quite serious; it's enough to make one want to jump off the Fremont Bridge (the most popular site in Seattle for, you know, taking one's life).  The coffee is that bad.  The good news is, there is a Starbucks right around the corner.  Of course there is! This is Seattle!  They don't call it the Emerald City for nothing!

I decided to take a picture of me and post it.  I'm smiling because this is the day I found the Starbucks.  No more crying over bad coffee!  Perhaps the worst thing about the coffee is that they have non-dairy powder creamer for it.  That's it.  If I took it black, that would be fine, but I don't.  I'm more of a "coffee regular", NYC style, kinda girl.  Also, you need to put something in that jet fuel they call coffee to kill the taste.  That's what will survive the next apocalypse:  cockroaches, mcd's french fries, and my work coffee.


I look really laid back and happy here, right? Yeah, that's what a good cup will do for me.


Otherwise, the Shraders have been touring some of Seattle's underbelly of ugliness.  By that, I mean we have all been sick.  Lorelei with the flu, followed by a nasty cold, Shawn with the flu and a cold at the same time, and me, well, if the gods are kind I will be over it in a day or two.  I have gotten off the easiest, but that's because I subsist on wine and good coffee and here I'm surrounded by both.


We have a lot of reasons to think it wasn't a good idea to move here.  We've all been sick and you know how bleak things look when you are sick.  Plus, we are still carrying a house and mortgage in Ohio with just about zero prospects.  And I think, though none of us have really voiced it, we are starting to get a little homesick.  But every time it starts to feel really bad, I start noticing some things.  

Like how Gretel and Lorelei love the dog park close to our house.  Also, how well-behaved my dog is at the dog park - especially compared with the other dogs.  She's a dream.  


We love the school system out here, too.  It's not just that Lorelei gets homework, and most of it's math homework, it's also that she is seriously engaged.  She's had her trials and tribulations with being the new kid, but she likes what she's doing, and I like that.




Tonight was a diversity celebration at Lorelei's school.  It was awesome.  The first-grade classes are each paired up with a kindergarten class and they do some group learning.  For this presentation, each set of classes sang a song about diversity.  Lorelei's class had "This Land is Your Land" by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.  You can hear it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wKW6l_VnR0

It's an awesome rendition of Woody Guthrie's classic, and the kids were amazing.  They sang, they danced, they wore sunglasses.  Check it out:

Lorelei is the 3rd from the left.

All the kids turning around at the beginning to put on their shades.

Here they are, all those kids too cool for school.  Listen to the song and imagine them dancing and singing.  It was fun.






I think we are adapting okay.  I think it's all going to get much better as we go forward, and it will be a lovely Thanksgiving here in Seattle.  


And if not, well, I'll always have the coffee, the wine, and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings to keep me company.  Not bad, not bad at all.