The Seattle summer festival season – “Seafair” – climaxed with 2 big events over the past two weekends. On Saturday July 25 there was the “Torchlight Parade” in which representatives of various cultural, sports, municipal, and business organizations of Seattle march through downtown Seattle with various costumes and floats and huge balloons. The parade takes place in the evening/night, hence the name “torchlight”. Preceding the parade was an 8 km race along the parade route. Eight HTC students and I participated in the race. Hironori Igarashi from JHS was the fastest from our group, finishing in 30:25. All of the HTC participants finished within 50 minutes. Before the race, we got to take a picture with the Seattle Seahawks (football) cheerleaders.
During the past week Seattle achieved new record-high temperatures – 110°F (about 43℃) in some areas. Seattle usually does not get nearly that hot, so many homes – and classrooms – do not have air conditioning, and many of our students were feeling uncomfortable. But on the bright side, the humidity was not so bad, and the extreme heat lasted only 4 days, after which it cooled down a bit. Fortunately, by the time most students took the TOEIC exam last Friday (July 31), the temperature was more bearable. The warm sunshine, however, is continuing. The only rain we have had since June was a brief, light shower just after the Torchlight Run last Saturday.
The final Seafair event is the hydroplane races, and the Blue Angels Air Show over Lake Washington. The Blue Angels are a fleet of seven US Navy fighter jets that perform aerial stunts, flying very close together at super-high speed. Many HTC students will go to the shores of Lake Washington to watch the thrilling show under sunny blue skies. The Edmonds students had a field trip to the Boeing Museum of Flight last Thursday, where they able to watch the Blue Angels taking off and landing as they practiced their routines. Some students even took photos with the Blue Angel pilots.
Neal Colodner
August 2, 2009
(Seattle)
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