COTA boat party

COTA boat party
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

After the folkfest we went to a boat party on Leah's boat with members of COTA and other friends of Leah's from work. ( Leah is moving out into a shared community house with other members of the church so it was a sort of "house-cooling" party). I had some very interesting conversations and some amusing ones too. In one conversation we were comparing british and american sign languages. They challenged me to sign something (I signed "I like chocolate"). They said
it was something like "me happy itchy nose" in ASL ??? :-)

Hula Dancers

Hula Dancers
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

On Sunday we went back to the folkfest. They had lots of dancing and music from different countries there.
Including morris dancing (which always makes me laugh!). They had some wonderful Bengali dancing and also Hula dancing which was really interesting. I love the fact that they dont seem bothered about photography in the indoor venues, so I could get some shots.

COTA

COTA
Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Sorry its a bit blurry! I didn't have time (or room)
to set up a tripod) . These are some of the peopl at the Church of the Apostles (COTA) service in the Living Room in Seattle. (they are joint Episcopalian/Lutheran), but like my group, Visions, they are into creative worship stuff. As you can see the cafe is pretty much the same, just more chairs have been squeezed in and some icons have been placed around the building. Tons of people came. I helped with the service planning, and played some of the music too. There was something really wonderful about having a communion service in the same cafe that we have been in all week. Something fantastic about the transformation of the ordinary. Afterwards lots of us went off for a Thai meal, and I got to chat more with some of the church members. I was also introduced to Thai Tea, which is a very good thing indeed!

Folklife Festival

I went to the Folklife festival last night.It was just near the Space needle. It was pretty amazing! A huge colourful eclectic mix of different music and arts stuff. Bagpipes with live drummer playing breakbeats. Greek dancing for everyone. Drumming circles. Children playing in an enourmous globe shaped fountain. Breakdancing teenagers (they were incredible!) and lots of market stalls. I also got some good pictures of Seattle by night, and then accidentally deleted them from my camera (arrrgh!)
Never mind. I'll go back and get some more another night.

Band in "The Living Room"

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Spent my first evening in "The Living Room" cafe yesterday. It was a swelteringly hot evening. (The hottest day of the year so they tell me). A jazz band was booked to play (sorry I've forgotten their name)
but they were pretty good musicians. Karen, who is
the Rev here, was telling me that they have no problems finding bands to play. The bands find them, as there is a bit of a shortage of venues around here, and lots of talented musicians in the neighbourhood.
Karen was telling me of their plans to move across the road in the next month or so. They have bought an old Lutheran church building which has lots of different rooms, which they are going to do up and turn into a cybercafe which will be larger than the present one, and they are going to start having services there too. So they'll be converting a church into a cafe into a church. Fantastic!

Mac's everywhere

We had a service-planning meeting today. It amused me when we got started as everyone unzipped their bags and....snap! They all had silver mac powerbook computers. 5 of them sat round a table! My little mac felt quite at home really. Its nice having planning meetings in a cafe, with people wandering in and ordering tea and stuff. There's something really nice about the lack of barriers between sacred and secular. Everyone can see what we're doing. But we're not forcing it on anyone. We're just a bunch of people sat on sofas, planning, but nothing is hidden, everything is transparent and open....

Outside the Living Room

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

The Living Room Cafe, my home for the next 3 weeks.

Surrounding Streets

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

More mountains and roads just round the corner from where Im staying.

Huge Mountains!

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

I think that might be mount Rainier poking up from behind the town. Its huuuuuge!

Wooden Houses

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Wooden houses seem popular here. Even some of the flats are made of wood.

Around and About

I went for a walk this morning, taking some shots of the area and getting my bearings. There are some amazing views around here. We seem to be surrounded by mountains, and the area is much more suburb-y than I imagined it would be. Quite arty too. I discovered some strange sculptures on my travels, including a giant concrete troll who lives under the tall bridge, a space rocket that is just stuck onto the roof of one of the shops, and a sign which procalims that it is the centre of the universe and shows the directions of an awful lot of strange places, including Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle! Its baking hot here. (phew!)

Flying over America

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Originally uploaded by Suevisions.

Here is one of the views from the plane from Philadelphia to Seattle.

A Long Flight

Well I've arrived in Seattle safe and well. It was a very looooooooooooong flight but we had some great views from the plane on the way. By the time the time changes had come into operation it ended up being 18 hours, but we took off at 12.30 UK time and touched down at 9.30 pacific time. So now I'm 8 hours behind the rest of you. (I feel like Dr Who) but thankfully the sunshine is helping me adjust fairly quickly. I've suddenly become a morning person! The weather here is gorgeous and I'm really appreciating it, as I kept an eye on the forecast before I went and it rained solid for 3 weeks before I arrived. I'm staying above the cybercafe/tea bar in my own little flat, which is small and sweet, but it means I get continuous internet access. Last night some folks from the church took me out to dinner followed by Ben and Jerry's.mmmmmm. I'd better be careful or I wont; fit in the seat on the way home :-)