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Seattle Recap

I finally have a little time to write about my trip to Seattle for the TESOL conference. I got back on Sunday at about 8pm and had class the next day so things have been a little hectic. In fact, blogging is my break from grading compositions (the ones I got right before I went to Seattle).

I traveled out there by myself and it was really nice because it's been a long time since I've traveled completely solo, something I enjoy from time to time. My first impression of the Pacific NW was that it reminded me of Duluth with all its hills and pine trees. Then I got into the city and of course it was far too urban to be anything like "up north."

I stayed at a hotel downtown so I spent my first day walking around, taking in the sights, and of course checking out Pike Place Market. I was quite tired because I hadn't slept well and flew out early that morning.







The next day, a number of my colleagues arrived so a group of us took a tour of the bay which provided some great views of the city. I also surprised myself by becoming very interested to learn about the shipping industry and see all the boats and cranes that make it happen. Our guide on the tour gave a great commentary and lacked the usual corniness so that was quite helpful.



After the boat tour, we headed to the aquarium. I absolutely loved the otters (one of Austin's favorite animals) and loved seeing all of the brightly colored fish. I even got to touch some starfish though it wasn't as fun as petting the sharks and stingrays in Las Vegas.



Some of the memorable meals included going out for Brazilian barbecue and for African food. The Brazilian restaurant had a nice buffet of side dishes and then servers came around with huge skewers of meat and fish that they sliced right onto your plate. They were actually Brazilian too so I used some of my pathetically rusty Portuguese. The African food was great, right in the market with a cozy ambiance and it reminded me of the Blue Nile in Minneapolis. That is, I ordered some lentil dishes and scooped them up with the injera bread. Really lovely to have that again since it's been about a year since I've had Ethiopian-style food.

Besides the touristy stuff, there was work going on too. At check in, I received a huge catalog of the various seminars, workshops, presentations, etc and so I was able to choose from a large number of options. I chose anything that involved Spanish bilingualism and particularly liked a presentation on using videos to teach pragmatics. Some sessions were just not impressive so I quickly learned to have back-ups selected in order to ditch out and not waste my time.

On Saturday, the last day, I presented with a colleague on using rubrics. We were at the very top of the Sheraton and I could look out at Puget Sound while presenting. We received really positive feedback so it was a good experience overall. The mix of tourism and professional development made for a great spring break.





Highlights:

-Pike Place Market
-Art Galleries/Blown Glass
-Restaurants
-Boat Tour


Need to do next time:

-Space Needle
-Museum of Glass (Tacoma)
-More galleries
-Sculpture Park
-Bring Austin :-)

Etiquetes de comentaris: seattle, travel

posted by Kelly @ 4:12 p. m.