Monthly Archives: November 2017

This is the forth in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

N (female-25) was from Helsinki, Finland. She only stayed for one night in Seattle. She was just traveling through going from Vancouver to Los Angeles. She got to my place by bus. We talked and got to know each other while we walked my dog around the neighborhood and then stopped off at a grocery store where she picked up ingredients for dinner and dessert, which she prepared as a thank you for hosting her. She’d been in Vancouver for the last 4 months on an exchange program and prior to that lived in Australia for 6 months and South Africa for 2 months. Her plan was to meet her boyfriend from Germany at Seatac the next day, rent a car and go on a road trip down the West Coast, then Utah where her boyfriend would go back to Germany. She will stay in Utah with some Mormon friends she met while they were on a mission in Helsinki. She had previously couchsurfed in London, Cape Town and Israel. 

 N’s Questions/Observations about the US:  

• She asked what she should do in Utah. Told her to check out Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park 
• She asked about NYC. I told her Highline, Central Park, a free ferry ride on Long island Ferry and the names of some speakeasy bars. My personal opinion was to pass on Empire State Building and Times Square. 
• Asked for a typical “American” breakfast the next morning so I made eggs, bacon, hash browns and OJ.  

N’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:  

• A nice Seattle story: I instructed her to reach my place via bus from downtown, a $2.75 ride. She only had a $20 and asked the bus driver for change like back home in Finland and the driver said, “Are you serious?” A passenger overheard the conversation and tried to pay the fare for N with her Orca card, but it wasn’t working, so another passenger stepped up and paid with her card and then talked to her while on the bus. When she got off at her stop another rider who also got off walked her to my place to make sure she got there safely, knowing she was a visitor. N said the people here are so nice. I told her I was glad she met some nice people. Way to step up Seattlites! 
• She was surprised by all the homeless people in Seattle since there are no homeless in Finland. 

 My Learnings/Observations from N:  

• I told her how my philosophy has always been that strangers had to “earn” my friendship, but I had just recently changed my philosophy to “you are automatically my friend until you prove otherwise”, which is one of the reasons I started hosting couchsurfers. She said, “I like that! I’m using it too!” 
• I told her a previous couchsurfer told a story of being in Finland and going to a sauna where you beat other people in the sauna with a branch. This couchsurfer told me that a local stranger sharing the sauna space asked him to beat him with the branch and got mad when the couchsurfer didn’t hit him hard enough. I thought he was exaggerating, but N replied, “That sounds so Finnish”, so I guess he wasn’t lying.  
• Apparently, it’s normal to get undressed in front of roommates/ acquaintances since nudity in Finland is not a big deal. So when she started undressing in front of her roommates in Vancouver for the first time, they said, “What are you doing?” and thought she was crazy. 
• University is paid for as long as you pass the entry exam in Finland. N was shocked and curious how college students in the US handle all their student loan debts. 
• All people are proud of their country, but N was especially proud of Finland and considered herself an ambassador. She made a Finnish dinner and dessert(she left me the recipe) and played Finnish music on her computer as she cooked and we ate.  
• Although we spent less than 24 hours together, N was really easy to get along with. We talked about the book, The Alchemist, which is one of my favorites and she pointed out how easy it is to bond when you’re relying on the kindness of a stranger to provide a place to stay on pure faith. She surmised that she probably knows me better in our short time together than the coworker next to me at work, which is probably true.  

• Favorite movies:Notebook. Music:Jack Johnson, Keane, Miles Davis, Damien Rice. Hobbies: cycling 

Related Articles:

• See what a 33 year old from Slovenia thought
• See what a 24 year old from Taiwan thought
• See what a 36 year old from Japan thought
• See what a 30 year old from Spain thought

This is the third in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

B (male-35) was from France.  He had only one day in Seattle and was looking for a place to stay and was willing to put up a tent in somebody’s backyard. Since we had a room available, he stayed with us. He’d been in Seattle for a few days staying in a hostel before he came to stay with us for the one night. I told him to meet me after work around 5:00pm in downtown at the corner of 6th and Pine, but found him one block over. He was born in Belgium, grew up in France near Paris, but his family was originally from Italy and his grandparents still live there. He said they make their own olive oil and use about a liter a week. Whoa. That’s a lot of olive oil! He was backpacking through North America for about a year without a real plan. He’s also backpacked in India, Vietnam, Russia and South Africa. One of his hobbies was Karate and his sensei studied in Japan for 15 years. We took a bus back to my place and I had to walk my dog. I gave him the option to relax at my place, but he wanted to accompany us on our walk around Green Lake Park. We went to grab dinner and a drink and that was about it. The next day he was catching a ferry to Bremerton and then a bus to Aberdeen to try to get a job on a sailboat, one of his passions. His goal was to get a job working on a sailboat up and down the West Coast.  

What he did while in Seattle:  

Day 1-Met in downtown after I got off work at 5:00. Prior to meeting me he went to Sculpture Park, Pike Place and Seattle Art Museum(SAM).   Had dinner at Pho 65(no longer in business) and went to a bar, so he could watch the last portion of FC Barcelona vs Munich Bayern.  

B’s Questions/Observations about the US:  

• He asked if Americans really do like Budweiser. He really liked Mac and Jacks. I told him I don’t know anybody who drinks it regularly other than poor college students, but they have over 43% of the market share in the US, so there are a lot of people who like it. Note: Miller/Coors has 25% of the market. 
• He asked what happens to drunk drivers in the US. Told him they lose their license, pay fines, and increased insurance rates. Guess it doesn’t happen much where he lives because of public transportation. 
• Tried to explain baseball while we had a beer and it was on TV, but his eyes just glazed over. 
• Was surprised I picked up my dog’s crap on our walk. If you’ve ever been to other parts of the world, especially in Europe and South America, they don’t do this. Reminds me of a comedian’s bit where he said if Martians came to Earth and saw a human and dog walking, the Martian would think that dogs ruled the world because there was an animal walking behind picking up their crap.  
• Asked if the Grand Canyon was worth going to. Of course I said, “yes!” 

 B’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:  

• Seattle story-he went to SAM(Seattle Art Museum) for the sole purposes of using the restroom. At first, the front desk said he had to pay, but once they found out he was traveling the world they let him in for free. I don’t think he was even aware it was a museum when he first walked in. 
• He really enjoyed Green Lake Park and observed how healthy people were in Seattle compared to the rest of the US 
• He thought the pho here compared very well with the pho in Vietnam, except the price of course.  

 My Learnings/Observations from B:  

• He owned a frozen yogurt shop back home and met a girl who was a customer. They hit it off. So he sold his house and shop and decided to “runaway” and travel together and go Wwoofing. They did it for a while, but she decided to move to Montreal so that was that.  
• He told me the story of a friend and his girlfriend who went around the world on bikes, but when they got to Cambodia, they had a fight and broke up. So she went back home to Paris and he went on to Thailand on his bike. He ended up meeting a Thai girl, got together and opened a restaurant there. Although the story is entertaining, what I remember most about it is that he started laughing and slapped my arm when finishing the story. 
• I told him I had just watched the movie, Intouchables(I definitely recommend it), and advised the main actor is a really famous comedian in France and not really an actor.  
• Like a lot of travelers he really liked the movie, Into the Wild. 
• B had a very easy-going way of traveling. He really had no plans and just went to wherever sounded interesting and stayed for as long as he felt comfortable.  

Related Articles

• See what a 28 year old from Ireland thought
• See what a 34 year old from Thailand thought
• See what a 25 year old from Finland thought
• See what a 35 year old from France thought

This is the second in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

“E” (a 33 year old female) was from Slovenia.  She was visiting from Vancouver, where she was working. She came to Seattle for only one night because her visa in Canada was only good for 6 months, so she made a quick trip to the US so that her visa could be renewed.

Like so many folks from Vancouver, she took the Bolt Bus to downtown Seattle. Back in Slovenia she was a freelance journalist who did photography on the side, but while in Vancouver she worked on Granville Island at a wine shop since wine was a passion of hers.

As a journalist in Slovenia, she mainly wrote environmental pieces and traveled all over the country to write stories of people who are doing things to help the environment. She left Slovenia due to a lack of journalism jobs and just a needed life change. When traveling she always uses couchsurfing and has never had a bad experience. She’d traveled all over Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.

What she did while in Seattle:  

Day 1-Met in downtown while I was working and told her to meet me back at 5:00 so we could take bus back to my place together. During this time she went to Capitol Hill, had empanadas, walked to Pioneer Square and then to Pike Place market. We then had dinner prepared by my other couchsurfer, M, and we all went to a karaoke bar.    

E’s Questions/Observations about the US:  

• Like many visitors, she had questions about the elections. 
• She noted that Americans and Canadians travel very differently. Most Americans travel within the US and most Canadians travel around the world.  
• She wanted to know the history of Cuba/US relation.   
• She said the impression of people in her country are that Americans are dumb since most Slovenians have never met an American and their only “interaction” is based off of TV and movies.    

E’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:  

• Since she is a wine enthusiast, I opened a bottle of Roosevelt Red from a local winery, Eight Bells Winery. She really enjoyed it and was surprised about the abundance and quality of wine in our area.  
• When we went to a karaoke bar, she initially got a Corona. I let her taste my Manny’s Pale Ale and she liked it and got a pint.  

My Learnings/Observations from E:  

• She had strong opinions on the way Slovenia handles taxes and college. Since college is funded by the government, you end up having students who try to take advantage of the system by going to college for 10 years.  

• Also because companies get subsidies for hiring students while they’re still in school, it’s also an incentive to stay in college as long as possible because students are likely to be let go by the company without the help of the government subsidy.  
• With a high tax rate there is no incentive to work when you can be a student and chill.  
• While watching TV, she about fell on the floor laughing at a Subway commercial where people are breaking chairs, splitting their pants, have buttons popping of their shirt because they are obese. She thought is was a strange portrayal of Americans.  

• She had a strong interest in my pictures of street food from my travels and Luke Chueh prints. 
• Although I offered her anything in my fridge for eating, she insisted on going to the grocery store. I literally had to tell her if she didn’t help me eat some of my food, it would go bad and I’d have to throw it away, before she hesitantly relented.  

Upon her return to Slovenia, E ended up establishing a business, a food and wine tasting walking tour in her home city.  

• See what a 28 year old from Ireland thought
• See what a 34 year old from Thailand thought
• See what a 25 year old from Finland thought
• See what a 35 year old from France thought

This is the first in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

“M”(a 24 year old female) was from Taiwan. She was on a work visa for four months and was visiting the US West Coast. She worked at a hostel in Santa Barbara, CA for 3 months, but had to pay rent of $480 to live at the hostel and because she could only get a limited number of hours to work per week, she wasn’t able to save as much money as she would have liked. She did however manage to visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Yosemite, San Diego during her time there.

She decided to spend her last few weeks in the US visiting Portland and then Seattle before heading on to Vancouver and then home to Taiwan. She actually went to Yosemite with another couchsurfer I hosted and when he found out M was going to Seattle he told her to look me up.

She told me she had no bad couchsurfing experiences throughout her travels in the US, but had a weird one. While in Santa Barbara she met in her words, “a hippie”. She said he got so wasted on weed he couldn’t comprehend anything she said, so she got scared and left.

Her friends in Taiwan don’t travel and think she’s crazy for couchsurfing.

What she did while in Seattle:

Day 1-We met at the ID Link Light rail station and just went back to our place and hung out.

Day 2-Ballard Farmers market, Fremont market, Troll, Theo Chocolates, Kerry Park, Pike Place Market, Gasworks Park, Bol Pho for dinner and beers at Atlantic Crossing.

Day 3-Monorail to EMP. M made dinner for me and another couchsurfer from Slovenia. She cooked a really simple and filling Brazilian meal that she learned from working in the hostel. Karaoke night at Atlantic Crossing.

Day 4-To ID to catch Bolt bus to Vancouver

M’s Questions/Observations about the US:

• She thought Halloween was such a cool holiday that you could wear a costume and “nobody says anything to you or think you’re crazy”.
• Was really interested in the Electoral process. Explained in general, WA/OR/CA/MA/NY are normally liberal and middle states are conservative. Explained the all or nothing process of Electoral voting. Some states can go either way unlike CA, which is always liberal. Explained some of the main differences are in philosophy-abortion, gun control, fiscal, taxes.
• Most Asians visitors are quiet in the US because their English isn’t good, but she likes Americans because “they don’t care”.
• She questioned why the US has a jury of peers to decide guilt and innocence during trials, because in Taiwan the judge decides the outcome since he/she is schooled and should be wiser in making such decisions than regular folks.
• She said that the Europeans she’s met in the US think she’s American because they can’t detect her accent, which is fascinating because she did have a pretty thick accent. I guess if I heard a German person and a non-German person speaking, I couldn’t discern the difference since I don’t speak German.
• I took her to karaoke for the first time and said it was the first time she’d seen strangers all singing together because in Taiwan they only sing amongst friends in a private room. Another quality of Americans she admires is they just don’t care, they’re here to have fun.

M’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:

• In Taiwan, friend circles are very closed off, but in Seattle you can bring anybody to a party and they will be accepted. If you brought a guest to a party uninvited in Taiwan, people would ask, “Who’s that and why are they here”? This was her observation after going to a party.
• The main things she wanted to see in Seattle were the gum wall, the first Starbucks, the Space Needle, EMP and Kerry Park. After visiting the gum wall, she admitted she thought it would stink, “but it smelled quite nice”.
• She thought Seattle was very European after having seen Pike Place Market, Ballard Farmer’s Market and the Fremont Sunday Market.
• Had pho for the first time and licked the bowl clean.

My observations of M:

• She referred to a Southern accent as “cowboy” accent.
• She was interested in taking lots of pictures of autumn leaves since they didn’t have this in Taiwan.
• She understood and spoke English well, but had a hard time getting jokes or what’s going on in some TV shows and movies due to the use of words having a double meaning. She had a hard time understanding the jokes on Friends, but could hear the audience laughing so she’d have to go to Google to figure out what was so funny.
• She asked the reason behind day light savings, which doesn’t exist in Taiwan.
• She asked about the expression, “leaving a bad taste in your mouth”.
• I explained what “hella” meant after she heard people using it.
• During karaoke, she saw the lyrics, “Why don’t you build me up, buttercup, baby”. She wanted me to explain what “build me up”, “buttercup” and the rest of the lyrics of the song meant.

Related articles:

• See what a 36 year old from Japan thought of Seattle
• See what a 30 year old from Spain thought of Seattle
• See what a 28 year old from Utah thought of Seattle
• See what a 36 year old from Korea thought of Seattle