International District Field Trip

Today I got to chaperone Nathan's International District field trip! I haven't been down there since I was a kid, so I really enjoyed it. I hardly ever go over to Seattle, and when I do, the International District is not my destination. But now that I've been to Uwajimaya, I'll have to make a better effort to get over there more often. What an amazing place! I could have spent all of the time there, but with five teenage boys to guide, I didn't get a chance to browse as much as I wanted to. We did get to sample some octopus, which was seasoned with something very tasty. I don't think I can say what octopus actually tastes like since the seasoning was so strong, but I liked it!

We were given a list of different places to visit and a little historical background on each. Our first stop was the Danny Woo Community Gardens, a terraced P-Patch at the north end of the ID. It was almost surreal walking along the paths, seeing the small garden plots carefully organized to take advantange of as much space as they could and then looking up to see Safeco and Qwest Fields, Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound, tall office buildings surrounding me!




Our next stop was at Kobe Park. This cement lantern was a gift to the Japanese Americans in 1976 from the citizens of Kobe.



Then we stopped at the Fortune Cookie factory where they sell these huge 5 lb. bags of "unfortunate cookies". We opted for a smaller 2 lb. bag since we didn't want to lug the big one around! The boys also bought bags of flavored fortune cookies...chocolate, pina colada, strawberry, apple, I never knew they came in all these flavors. One of the boys, after eating almost a whole bag of fortune cookies said, "I'd better stop before I overdose on fate!"

This arch was dedicated earlier this year as the offical gateway into the ID. Beautiful!

Along the streets are these amazing dragons hanging from the light poles. We counted 8, but I heard there are 11 scattered throughout the ID. Each one is different.

This grand pavilion is at Hing Hay Park. It was constructed in Taipei in 1975. The mural below was designed by Seattle native John Woo and depicts the struggle of the Aisan pioneers in America.

I didn't take any pictures at Uwajimaya, but we enjoyed looking at all the interesting things there. We ate lunch in the food court...lots of yummy Asian restaurants to choose from. I had some wonderful green curry chicken. What a fun day! Although, when I got home, I have to admit I was very glad that I'm not usually away from home all day. Everything I left behind was there waiting for me...laundry, cleaning, cooking...oh well, it was worth it to spend the day with Nathan and his friends!