It has been a long, long time since my last blog post, therefore a late but very warm:
Happy New Year and Welcome 2015!!!
By now I already hit the time where I can say: HALF TIME. 6 months down, 6 more to go. It is crazy thinking about it. I do feel like I am already here since a very long time because I have settled and it just feels so normal living here, but then again: I am already half way through the whole stay?!?! Winter is almost gone and spring is just around the corner. It’s a new year, with new adventures and many surprises. There are not even 5 more months here in Oregon, then a month traveling through the US and then it’s already time to go back to Germany and who knows what happens from then on…
But STOP!
It’s not July yet! Let’s live the moment and make the very most out of the next months in the USA. And because it has been such a long time for me to write on here, I want to give a quick overview of what I have been doing since the last time I wrote.
Back in 2014 I talked about how excited I was about December because Christmas is one of my favorite seasons of the whole year. Though this year it was extra special since it was the month my parents came to visit all the way from Germany! I don’t need to tell you how excited I was! Catching up, spending time with them and showing them around the place I am living now. I always felt different about contact and visits from home while being abroad. Of course it should be an experience for yourself but against all the recommendations of organizations, I always enjoyed sharing the new impressions with my loved ones. Also that way re-socializing is a lot easier when coming back home after the stay. People can actually imagine the places and persons you are talking about and you don’t feel as lost because they can understand and relate to what you are talking about.
My parent’s visit was a huge success again this time! Just like me, they have been to the US many times before but never to the west coast which made a totally new experience. I showed them around Portland, the Oregon Coast, West Linn (a place no one should ever miss…), my university campus, my new work place, the food pantry I was volunteering at, the mall I spend all my money in and just the places I have been around.
Here they are – Selfie with Mom and Dad!
Looking back on their stay though, this was only a short stop before we did some amazing west coast traveling together. From Vancouver, Canada all the way down to Tijuana, Mexico and everything in between! Well obviously not everything – there is just so, so much to see on the west coast of the USA but I think for the amount of time we had, we covered it pretty good! What we have seen was mind blowing, unique and something I will never forget. I totally loved that journey and still can’t believe that I have seen all the places I have been dreaming of for a long time.
After coming home I was quite overwhelmed, I have to admit. Although – as everyone knows – I love traveling so much, it was crazy what we have seen in quite a short time. Even though it all happened over a month ago, I am still digesting all the exciting impressions. This is probably also one of the reasons why it took me such a long time to get back to my blog. I simply didn’t know where to start… So many cities and places I have seen, stories I would like to share and experiences I‘d love to write about. Furthermore there are several thousand pictures (for once not exaggerating here!) I need to go through.
So I don’t want this post to be forever long. I won’t get into detail about what I saw along the journey, this would simply be too much. Still I want to write about it and capture it for the future – so I will try (TRY!) to write about the different cities throughout the next months. So if you see a post about a city of the west coast this is most likely from the journey in December. I think it will be easier to go through the cities themselves. I will try to keep myself motivated to write and sharie this bit by bit. Fingers crossed I will do it!
Just for now to keep my blog kind of in chronological order, my Christmas and New Year’s Eve have been wonderful! I spent it in amazing cities and experienced great things those days. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we stayed in San Francisco. A city I totally fell in love with. My expectations weren’t too high – but it was awesome! While most people were sitting around the Christmas tree, unwrapping gifts and having lots of food, I sat on a little boat in the Bay of San Francisco, doing a cruise to the Golden Gate Bridge, along the skyline of San Francisco and of course a little turn around Alcatraz.
Golden Gate Bridge on Christmas Eve 2014
New Year’s Eve we left Los Angeles and made our way further south, down to San Diego. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon we soaked up the beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean from a pier in Newport Beach, California with bright sunshine when we called my grandma and brother back in Germany. There the clock just hit midnight and the new year started for them. This whole situation was so surreal!
In the evening we arrived in San Diego and planed on watching the firework at midnight from the waterfront, next to the huge battleship USS Midway.
We were counting down ‘10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 – HAPPY NEW YEAR’ and stared into the sky……… but nothing happened! We read in the internet that there would be a public firework, but for whatever reason: nothing happened! It was dead silent and the sky was dark. No smell of burned fireworks, nothing. At least we had a glass of sparkling wine and a lovely couple from Hamburg next to us with whom we could share the disappointment. At home it would have been different, probably better – hahaha!
New Year’s Eve in San Diego (It was bloody freezing that night!!!)
This is just a quick note on the two last special days of 2014. But now let’s live in the presence.
Bring on 2015!
My college semester ended back in the beginning of December and the next challenge of this program was to work! As I mentioned in my last blog post, it was not very easy to find a job but after working on it intensively, I found a job!!! I started working at this small local travel agency in Lake Oswego on January 13th 2015.
Already 6 weeks passed since my first day and I can only say one thing: I absolutely love it! Although I learned and studied the things you need to know for working at a travel agency, I was still quite nervous. I never actually worked in this particular job plus the difficulties one is facing when working in another country. I was worrying – as always – but looking back there was absolutely no reason for it. All of my co-workers are so friendly, helpful and fun to be around. I could go on raving about them but I am just so thankful that they made the first weeks, which are always the most difficult ones, as easy as possible. They showed me around and whenever I didn’t know what I was supposed to do or had a question, they answered everything patiently.
I am working Mondays through Thursdays from 8:30 to 5:30. It surely was a challenge for me to stay in an office for such a long time straight. Last semester was really relaxed at the university and the year before when I was working as an Au-Pair in the Netherlands, my daily routine was also very flexible. By now I assimilated really well, got used to it and came to a point where I actually really enjoy having this typical 9 to 5 job – feeling really grown-up these days. Haha!
The job itself brings a lot of joy to me. Right now I am basically doing everything there is to do as a receptionist: answering the phone, organizing e-mails and incoming mail, talking to walk-in clients, mailing out documents and checking if everything is right… Whenever an agent needs a helping hand, I am right there. The program they are using to book all the journeys is ‘Amadeus’, a program I also studied in Germany. It is all abbreviations and international commands which makes it easier for me to work with it. I did forgot some of the commands, but luckily they set me up for an online course where I can refresh my knowledge. Besides that I also took some other online courses, to learn more and broaden my mind about the tourism industry in the USA.
After only a few weeks on the surface I can already see differences to what I learned back in Germany. The destinations are obviously so different. Booking a vacation to Hawaii is something we do several times a day, just like in Germany a trip to the Canary Islands. Cruises to the South Pacific islands are not too exotic either: Fiji, Tahiti, Cook Islands – especially here from the west coast it’s easy to get down there. Europe on the contrary is the exciting, far away destination. I really enjoy being in touch again with tourism daily by checking flights, looking through brochures and hearing people talk about all the different destinations. This makes really want to travel right now, but at the same time I am just very glad I have this job where I get the opportunity to work in a field that I absolutely love.
One thing that is also very new to me and that I really enjoy is the so called ‘Wine Wednesday’. Almost every Wednesday after work we all stay a bit longer, get together, drink a glass of wine and eat some snacks in the office. We only have one rule: We talk about everything but work. I think this is such a lovely idea and contributes to the great atmosphere in the office among all the co-workers. This is always something to look forward to in the middle of the week.
In front of my new work place, the travel agency
My computer, my phone, my pens, my calendar, my note book – MY DESK!
The (empty) travel agency
We also sell travel equipment like suitcases
Did some organizing here… So German of me, haha!
More organizing and labeling with the brochures
Lake Oswego – that’s where I spend my lunch breaks, right in the sun!
Besides the new exciting time at work, I also had some free time and got to experience the following fun:
One of the biggest events in the beginning of every new year is the Super Bowl. 2015 was the 49th edition. This year it was literally East Coast vs. West Coast. The New England Patriots facing last year’s champion the Seattle Seahawks in the Stadium of the University of Phoenix in Arizona.
I am not a huge fan of American football and even after watching several games, I never managed to understand any of the rules. so on February 1st I went to see it more because of the social event and the American tradition than for the actual game. Many people gather at houses and are having Super Bowl parties and luckily I was also able to attend one.
On this Sunday afternoon I went with Philipp and his host mom Stepahnie to her friend’s house. I guess around 80 % of the people were cheering for the Seahwaks since Seattle is not too far away and you need to support the west coast, right? But there were also a few guys rooting for the Patriots. Before the match started we did some quizzes and betting on different questions like who will do the first touchdown and 10 other questions which I didn’t even understand but just for the fun: I participated.
This could be chinese – I don’t understand a word!
Quickly I noticed though that it was not all about the match. Especially the women came for the socializing and most important for the food. Everyone brought something and so the table and counter were filled with lots and lots of American comfort food. To add a bit of German flavor to this event, I helped Philipp preparing some traditional German food. He made ‘Sauerbraten’ (pot roast) which I never had before either and ‘Knödel’ (potato dumplings) with red cabbage. Both reminds me a lot of Christmas because that’s really the only time of the year I eat it. It was so good!
American Food
Some German food with more American…
Gathering around the food
Watching the game!
Another highlight was the halftime break where Katy Perry had her big performance and then all the advertisement in between. Companies pay millions of dollars to show their ads during the Super Bowl. To attract attention the ads are really outstanding, funny and special. The ones I liked best were Dodge, Dove Men, Jeep, BMW and Fiat.
After almost 5 hours of tension, the New England Patriots won 28-24!!! For Germany it was a slightly historical moment because German Sebastian Vollmer plays for the Patriots and therefore made it to be the first German ever to win the Super Bowl.
Luckily it was the guys who were cheering for the Patriots who brought some firework and lit 3 rockets in the backyard. To Germans this isn’t anything exciting – but remember we are in a country were firework is handled with more caution than guns. I did not see or hear one single firework on New Year’s Eve, that’s why I was even more excited about seeing those 3 rockets exactly one month later. What seems normal to us, for instance having fireworks after a soccer game, is very different here. I heard people saying ‘This cannot be legal!’ (lightning fireworks) Well, it’s not legal neither it is in Germany but I guess it’s accepted. It’s just very different.
Fireworks
Not the best picture but I was just so excited about the fireworks that I had to share it!
As a last note on the Super Bowl: Guess who won the quiz we took prior to the game and had most questions right??? Yep, right here: Anneke! 😀 Probably the person who had least an idea of what she was doing. Besides the honor I also won 16 Dollar. Not enough to break out and quit my job, but still nice!
The lucky winner!
On a beautiful Saturday, I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Oregon’s state capitol Salem. The city is, compared to Portland, fairly small with only 150,000 inhabitants. Still this makes Salem the third largest city in Oregon. Salem is located just an hour south of here. The city center is quite small and, for north-western American relations, also historic which gives Salem a special charm. Ther city was founded in 1842 and became the state capitol only 17 years later. The main streets have an old flair and in the midday sun everything looked very soft and gentle. The historic center assembles around the capitol building from where my host state is ruled. The day I visited there was a demonstration for more social benefits and more equality.
Right next to the political center, the Willamette University is located. It was founded in 1842 as well and is therefore the oldest university on the west coast of the USA. The campus looked gorgeous in the sun but had a somewhat elitist atmosphere to it. I had a lovely walked around the city center and soaked up the experience. It is a neat place to visit because it has historic buildings which is rather difficult to find in this part of the USA. But to be honest, there is nothing super special in Salem.
State Capitol of Oregon
Of course Oregon also has a independence bell… Not sure why though.
Some demonstration going on – the speech was by the way in both English and Spanish!
Willamette University
Fancy Campus
There were squirrels EVERYWHERE and they came so close – a little bit creepy!
That looks quite untypical for a north-western American street, I think
The First United Methodist Chruch from 1878 is the tallest building in Salem!
The Bush House, a building built in 1878
Just a very pretty fence
Deepwood Estate from 1894
The weekend of February 6th to 8th Lena, another CBYX participant, came up from California to visit Portland for a couple of days. It was great seeing her again after 6 months and catching up on everything that has happened. On Saturday Korbi, Philipp, Lena and myself made a real CBYX day trip to the coast. I love being at the sea, so I never refuse an opportunity of going.
The day we went was probably not the best one considering the weather. I think it was a day that locals would call a typical Oregonian winter day: rain, rain, rain, wind, rain, rain, rain, fog, rain, rain, rain. In other words, not the kind of day you take your towel to the beach and lay down.
We still hoped the weather would be different on the coast than it was in the city, but after passing the deep and dark forests of Oregon, still nothing changed. We arrived at Cannon Beach and only minutes after leaving the car, we were already soaking wet. The rain came basically horizontal due to the strong winds. Sand was everywhere and it was so difficult to even see a thing but we spotted the big ol’ famous haystack rock which was covered in a big cloud of mist. So that fun day at the beach was over before it even really started. Back in the car with soaked pants, coats and shoes, we decided just to drive around because there was really nothing else to do.
Cannon Beach
Haystack Rock
Here you can see a bit how the sand just rushed over the beach
We went up north the legendary highway 101. Well to be fair, it’s not as legendary up here as it is in California – but hey, let’s just pretend. Eventually we arrived in Astoria were the weather was exactly the same. The city is quite interesting though. The Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean at this point and therefore it is a very big and important harbor. Astoria is a small city where it felt like the clock stopped ticking 100 years ago: many small local business, restaurants and despite the weather people walked around and ran their daily errands. I really liked it a lot and would love to see it in the summer time with different weather.
Via a winding two lane road through millions of high rising trees we made the 100 miles from Astoria back to Portland. With that nice company it was a chilled nice day which ended with playing card games and having pointless but fun conversations.
Last weekend was Valentine’s Day. Americans love this holiday and the week before everyone got super excited about it. Even though you can discuss if this is a necessary ‘holiday’ or simply pushed for commercial purposes (also often called a ‘Hallmark Holiday’ – referring to the greeting card company Hallmark), one can’t deny the shared love. At work my co-workers spoiled me rotten. I got flowers, chocolate and cookies and also my host family shared warm words. It’s a nice reason and opportunity to address nice words to dear persons in your life.
Valentine’s Day at work
So on Saturday, February 14th, a Saturday I had a very romantic day at a brewery festival in downtown Portland – haha. I went with Korbi, Philipp and his host mom Stephanie, her best friend and another Korean exchange student to a beer festival, called ‘Zwickelmania’. Many breweries around Portland participated and had open houses. We walked into the different places, tried some samples and continued to the next brewery. There are so many and everyone is brewing their beer slightly different. We also did a brewery tour which was really interesting and a fun experience. I discovered some parts of the town I haven’t been before and realized how much I like Portland, as I mentioned before, for an American city it is just so easy-going and liberal. We finished the day up with a lovely dinner at the Portland City Grill which is a panoramic restaurant on the 30st floor. It might not seem very high, but Portland doesn’t have a lot of high-rising buildings which means that on a clear day you have a wonderful view over the whole area.
Valentine’s Day at a brewery
Beer samples. See already the different shades?? (Obviously I didn’t drink that all myself!)
One of the many breweries we visited – Fat Head’s
Dinner at the Portland City Grill with these guys
To finish up this post I would like to rave a bit about the weather which has been absolutely gorgeous!!!! (Besides that one weekend at the beach!) Locals keep telling me that it is never this dry and sunny as it is this year. Of course we had some rain, but I want to stress the word, some. In September everyone told me that it won’t stop raining from October to April and I was not very delighted about this forecast, but turns out it has been an exceptional winter. So I guess I am just very, very lucky and probably get a totally wrong picture of the pacific north-west. I don’t mind though! Last weekend for example it was blue sky, bright sun, and around 65°F (16°C) which is amazing for mid-February. I was soaking up the sun in the city and at the banks of beautiful Willamette River.
So this was a looong catch-up and from now on I will be back again more frequently!
Anneke
Sunday Sun at beautiful Willamette River
More of the river and the unique skyline of Portland 😉