Northwest Folklife Festival 2014

One year ago I danced my way across the contra dance floor day after day and hour after hour.

It's been a year since I danced and I was so thrilled to be back in Seattle for another NWFLF (Northwest Folklife Festival).

I arrived early early in the morning after some delays on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, my luggage did not. That didn't stop me from spending some wonderful quality time with three very good friends that day. The weather was beautiful and time was spent wandering the streets of Fremont, laying on the grassy hillside at the Ballard locks, and walking through Ballard that evening.

I wish I'd had more time to devote to reconnecting and spending time with my friends. Life is so short and sometimes it feels like time is stolen from me more than just passing by.

Thursday my friend and I headed up Little Si Mountain. My lower back was hurting significantly from excessive exercise and stretching the prior week so I'm positive that it was the slowest ascent and descent I've ever done on a mountain, but I enjoyed being outside nonetheless. The critters were out too. Spotted lots of caterpillars, some deer, a chipmunk, and even a small snake crossing the path. The sun was out and the forest was alive with colors and sounds of summer.

The trail head.

A popular rock climbing wall in the woods.

View from the top. That's not Seattle in case you were wondering...

The trail through the trees. It's soooo green!

Yes, we stopped and stared at each other for a bit. He graciously posed for the camera :)

Friday started Folklife. Since my back was still weak I only danced for a cumulative of a few hours, and only contra dancing that day. It was a day of reuniting with old friends and reintroducing my body to the dance world again :)

Saturday I planned a more complex day. It started with some swing dancing and continued into an hour and a half of Gilbert and Sullivan sing-a-longs! By then it was early evening and I headed back to some contra dancing for the rest of the night.

Sunday started with some contra but soon turned into a fabulous and fun hour of zydeco dancing!! Sweaty and blissfully happy I left to find some food and a Bach sing-a-long choir. Dancing resumed again with a bunch of Scandinavian dances, more contra, outside swing in the rain on the grass and a conclusive night of waltzing. My feet were hurting by the end of Sunday, but my back was no longer. I was eager to rest for the last day of Folklife.

Monday was going to be the most unusual for me that I had planned. I spent some time dancing zydeco in the morning and then a lovely afternoon discussing blues improv for violin and contra dance writing with a good friend. When I went back to dancing it was to the swing stage for the afternoon. I did have one complete contra dance on Monday to complete my contra dancing weekend before heading out to latin ballroom dancing. I shimmied and swirled and swept my way across the latin floor for the rest of the night before it was time to say good bye to everyone I'd just met and all the friends I'd barely had time to share one dance with all weekend.

It was an amazing weekend. Not just for the fun of dancing and the friendships, but because this weekend I broke down some boundaries I'd created, pushed myself out of some comfort zones I had, set goals that I completed, and discovered a confidence that I had long ago lost. I knew this weekend would be magical but still was unprepared for how magical and life changing it would be. I'm so thankful for all the friends I have, all the friends I made, and all the friends I haven't lost while traveling so often and so far without constant contact. I'm still amazed at the generosity, humble kindness, and genuine love they show toward me and am so blessed to have a place in all of their lives, no matter how small it may be (cozy corners are often the best spots)!

Here's to Folklife, Friends, Fun, and many more of these times to come!



Next I'm off to Ohio to perform for the summer at the Ohio Light Opera Company. Come visit. Come see a show. I'll be performing, I'll be dancing (locally as often as possible, but not on stage lol), I'll be outside mountain biking and playing tennis, and best of all, I'll be enjoying life as I continue my pursuit of the cruise ship :)

Snippets from Seongsan

Sorry about the title, but I couldn't help myself against the consonance :-)

I'm going to write little entries of fun things with pictures for you. I often see something and wish to share, but it's not complete blog entry worthy so here is a survey of snippets.

The other morning I woke early and it was such a beautiful morning (no, I didn't sing the song, but I thought about it), that I got dressed and headed out for a couple hours of walking. On my way home I stopped by a bakery and purchased fresh chocolate chip cupcakes and some ball shaped item. The total was just 2,000 won and the nice lady threw in some chocolate chip cookies for free. I'll definitely be going back :)

After stopping at 7-11 for some aloe juice I headed home with my breakfast to go. I had no idea what was in the ball so I took a picture and started eating. Oh my, was it good. There was a filling of bed paste and some cream of sorts. I sure hope to go to the bakery again when these are fresh out of the oven. Yum Yum Yum!!

 



The fields have all been just dirt since I got to Jeju. Farmers have been planting them but nothing has really poked up through the ground yet until just recently. While out walking that morning I was struck by the beauty of all the little rows of crops that farmers had planted with very antiquated machinery and some by hand.




There is a town about a 45 minute walk away that I don't frequent often because most things either aren't open that early or they are already closed by the time I get there after work. But the other morning I decided to wander that way anyway looking for a 5 day market that I never found. On one of the streets I found a closed shop that made me laugh and I took a picture to share. I'll have to try some day to make it here when they are open.




When I was in Seogwipo a couple of days ago I was treated to a dinner at the event I performed at and I have to say, it's the first time in over three months that I've opened a napkin and put down a fork knife and spoon next to my plate. It felt really weird. I kept looking for the chopsticks. And what's funny, was that as I was eating, some of the food I thought would have been easier to eat with chopsticks...yikes, have I already been in an Asian country that long?!?!




I recently moved locations from one apartment to another. I moved at midnight. No questions need be asked please....

I was tired, I only took my bedding and purse and the next morning I realized I'd had company the whole night...notice the black looking dot on the wall...I'm sure you can imagine invisible spider threads inches from my face...  :(




I go walking at night sometimes just to enjoy the peace and quiet and the other night I was wandering through a new location and stopped at the restrooms where I thoroughly enjoyed the sign on the door...and no worries, I wasn't tempted.




That night I also wandered through a park and heard something scuttling, looked down and saw this little guy looking up menacingly at me. I just snapped a bright flash at him and continued on my way. He's lucky, most people here would have had him for dinner...




The aquarists sometimes through lunch parties and invite to partake of which I'm always thankful and excited. I never know exactly what I am eating but I usually ask and this particular lunch I had quite the treat. It was a soup of sorts with these really large bones that people were picking at. I received a heaping bowl of the soup with a large bone placed on top and I asked, what is it? After some debate in Korean and several attempts at English translation, it finally came out that I was eating beef spine. Surprisingly, it's really tasty.



There is also some kimchi and potatoe in this bowl of soup.




And finally, finally, I got the time and energy to head to Jeju city on a Friday night and go swing dancing. They also have dancing on Wednesday nights but once a week pulling an all nighter twice a week and working days isn't my thing. If I was working nights like my normal music schedule I'd be fine, but not with this day schedule. Can you believe it? I have to start work at 11:30 AM!!!

Here's a video of some of the dancing to be had at Swing Island on a Friday night in Jeju-si.

Well, that's about it for now. More stories and entries will follow of course. Until next time!