August 15 – 18 Whistler School Trip

We made our annual 4-day, 3-night school trip to Whistler Resort in British Columbia, Canada. All of our long-term students at Edmonds and Shoreline, our four staff, seven of the students from Kanagawa University, and 3 of the Edmonds conversation partners made the trip. Other than the dinner party on the first night and the cooking contest on the second night, all activities were optional, but most students joined one of the activities led by one of our staff, such as jogging, golf, tennis, cycling, alpine hiking. About 20 students went out for river rafting or zip-lining (sliding along a cable between trees in the forest). For the past few years, Mr. Nojima’s transformation at the dinner party has been one of the main spectacles of the trip, and continuing last year’s sexy theme of “Noji Gaga” (Lady Gaga), this year’s Marilyn Monroe was just as hilarious.

Neal Colodner

August 7 Blue Angels

The climax of the Seafair festival season comes in the first weekend of August, with the hydroplane races and the Blue Angels Navy jets air show over Lake Washington. Some of the residents around Lake Washington complain of the super-sonic speed and jet-roar of the Blue Angels, but many people come from far and wide – even from other states – to watch the show. Their aerial acrobatics and precise coordination are fascinating, but on the other hand, when I watch them I can’t help thinking that I wouldn’t want to be under attack by these fighters in a real war.

Neal Colodner

Trajal Internships from Kanagawa University

Eight students from Kanagawa University came to Seattle through the Trajal Internship program, to work for six weeks at four locations ( one or two students per location): the Mariners Team Stores at Safeco Field and Westlake Center (customer service, merchandising), the YMCA in Shoreline (child care, summer camp, customer assistance), the Executive Hotel Pacific (bell assistant), and Tillicum Village (customer assistance, meal service). Aside from their internship work, they had 20 hours of English instruction from the Trajal Seattle staff, four field trips to famous places around Seattle, and they joined our long-term students on our 4-day school trip to Whistler in Canada. Coming at the best time of year weather-wise, I am sure they can enjoy their jobs and brief time living in Seattle.

Neal Colodner

July 30 Torchlight Run & Parade

Every year, the last Saturday of July is one of the big Seafair events – the Torchlight Parade. Various businesses, organizations, schools and sports teams from around Seattle and Washington State send marching teams and floats to parade down Fourth Avenue from Seattle Center to the International District. The ethnic costumes and dances of various cultural groups, the brass bands and cheerleader squads of sports teams, and the pirates riding a float resembling a pirate ship are particularly impressive. Over one hundred thousand people line Fourth Avenue to watch this annual spectacle.
Just before the parade, there is a race held on the parade route – the Torchlight Run. About ten thousand runners participate, choosing either the 8 km or 5 km course. They run down Fourth Avenue, spurred on by the cheers of all the parade spectators, and then head back north to Seattle Center along the waterfront viaduct, just as the sun sets beyond Elliot Bay – what luxury! This year five girls from Shoreline joined me in the race.

Neal Colodner

July 28 Shoreline trip to Mount Rainier

Compared to the Edmonds trip just one week ago, the snow had melted quite a bit and more of the trail was visible, but there was still plenty of snow for some mid-summer “winter fun”. The teachers repeatedly warned the students to stay on the trail, but they were easily lured by the beauty of the vast fields of virgin snow. Sure enough, some students fell through hidden snow bridges to land ankle-deep in rivulets of icy water running under the snow fields, and they would get scolded by park rangers as well, but thankfully no one got injured. We lucked out with another perfectly clear day, and the contrast of the white mountain against the blue sky was striking.

Neal Colodner

July 23 Lake Party

Many of our Shoreline students attend the “Rock Talk” conversation hour at the Rock of Ages Church. The parents of Dave – the Rock Talk leader – have a big house on Lake Washington, where they held a barbecue party for our students and the other church members. After a big lunch, the students enjoyed all sorts of water sports in the lake – jet-skiing, motorboat rides, swimming, and just floating on inflatable rafts in the warm sunshine.

Neal Colodner

July 22 Edmonds trip to Mount Rainier

In recent years, with talk of global warming and climate change, there was much concern that the glaciers of Washington State’s mountains were in danger of disappearing, but for the past two years we have had cool temperatures and lots of precipitation in winter and spring, so even in mid-summer there is still a record-breaking amount of snow in the mountains. The normally dusty hiking trails are still buried in snow, making it difficult to even find the trail. We even considered changing the destination for our full-day outdoor adventure, but the rangers at Mount Rainier assured us that at least part of the trail was hikable, so we stuck with Mount Rainier and chose an abbreviated version of our regular hike. We avoided treacherous, slippery slopes, but still many students were slipping and landing butt-first in the snow. Actually, that was kind of fun. Here and there we could see some mountain animals like deer, marmots, and squirrels.

Neal Colodner