Engagement

As of today, I have been engaged for almost 2 months. While my fiancee and I had a great time seeing Seattle, eating its food, and experiencing The International, nothing from our short time in America will prove to be more impactful on our lives than my proposal to Kris. For some men, an engagement is something they meticulously plan down to the minute to give the biggest wow-factor possible. For others, it is a spur-of-the-moment action, forever immortalizing the pure feeling of a moment. For me, it was somewhere in the middle.

Our engagement was, as they say, a long time coming. We had been talking about it casually for years before, and I had a good idea of what I thought Kris would like to have for her engagement story. We had even discussed with her mother, who had offered her ring for me to use in my proposal.

My planning for the engagement began in earnest in April of 2016, a few months before our trip to Seattle. My aunt visited us from South Africa, bearing with her a number of treats that we had missed from home. Unbeknownst to Kristen, she also bore a crucial part of my proposal – her mother’s ring. Whilst she was showering or at work or otherwise indisposed, my aunt gave me the ring, and I hid it away from Kris, hoping to keep it a secret until the time was perfect.

I first hid the ring in a pocket of my laptop bag that I take to work every day. Keeping it on me for most of the time meant that there was no risk that Kris would stumble upon it whilst cleaning or just wandering the house while I wasn’t there. After a few weeks, I began to feel like Frodo, the weight of the ring bearing me down with anxiety. I also thought that I risked losing it myself, so I decided to rather hide it amongst some of the mess in our spare room, buried deep under clothes and bags. And there it lay, biding its time, for months.

Its time would come for certain when, shortly before our holiday, my mother informed me that my brother would be visiting us in Seattle for a weekend. I thought that his presence sealed the deal on an already impressive proposal package: a trip to a new city with many beautiful scenic places to propose, on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, now with a family member present to take photos? I knew that it was a moment the likes of which I would not have again for a long time.

So, I colluded with my brother, telling him of my intentions. His duties were to take photos of the occasion and be his generally charming and bubbly self. He also provided me an excuse for Kris to have to wear a nice dress – my brother is known to suit up on occasion, and I told Kris to bring something fancyish to wear in case he wanted to go somewhere that warranted nicer clothes.

As for the venue, I was not one hundred percent set on the location of the proposal before we arrived in Seattle – I had narrowed it down to a couple of the more accessible and scenic parks, but I hadn’t made up my mind. Luckily for me, this was sorted when Kris was told about a local wine farm at which a friend’s mother worked, and expressed a keen interest to go. I smiled more than I probably should have, and suggested that it be somewhere we take my brother Jamie on his weekend. It was all set.

When the day came, I was perfectly calm. The schedule for the day was simple – we would go on an Underground tour in the morning, and then head to the wine farm in the afternoon. Kris, Jamie and I met up for breakfast at the local corner cafe, ate heartily, and left for the day. As we began the Underground tour, we stopped to take a photo at its start. It was here that we discovered that the memory card for the camera was….not in the camera. A proposal without pictures? That would certainly not go down well. Oh well, the fix was simple – we would head back to the apartment, get the memory card out of the computer (where I had left it after transferring photos from the TI6 press day), and then continue our journeys. Easy.

This was made distinctly less easy when we discovered that we (read: I) had somehow managed to lock the door with the keys still inside, and our host had left to visit his parents for the day. To say that I was freaking out would be akin to saying that sugar might in some way be linked to weight gain. Despite the level of tension within, I couldn’t seem too worried, because at this point, the proposal was still a surprise for Kris. If I completely had a meltdown over not being able to take photos at a seemingly innocuous wine farm, she would think something was up. So, I put on a brave, slightly crazed face, and quickly found a nearby store that sold memory cards. Crisis averted. No need to push the big red button. We got in an Uber and headed to the wine farm.

When we got there, I covertly told my brother to buy some champagne whist we were doing a wine tasting. He had had a rather big night the night before, and wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with alcohol quite yet. So, whilst we were listening to the nice wine hostess tell us about each wine before I nervously gulped it down with little pretense of appreciating it, he did. We finished our tasting, and left the main building. I suggested we take a walk around the grounds – it seemed quite pretty, and I wanted to enjoy greenery before we headed back to the cement forests of Korea. Kris obliged. My hands began to shake noticeably.

We wandered for a while before I spotted a small lake with some beautiful, leafy trees surrounding them. This was the place. There was no better spot on the wine farm. I told Jamie to get the camera out, and ask that Kris take off the bangle from the Underground tour – it wouldn’t look so good in photos, I said. She looked puzzled, but did so. We walked together to the edge of the lake. I breathed in. After a moment of complete and utter terror, I breathed out, looked Kris in the eye, and started a short, impromptu speech. I told her how much I loved her. I told her how happy she made me, in every possible way. I told her how she had helped me find and more readily express who I really am. I told her how she made me want to be a better person – to be more than just a person who forgets the memory card and house keys in the apartment. I may have sworn once out of nervousness. Then, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes. We drank champagne. We took photos. It was just as I had hoped.

In truth, I knew she would say yes. I knew I wanted to ask her from when I first got to know her, and she for some reason knew that she would say yes from the moment she got to know me. I was nervous because I wanted to give her a story that she would proudly tell whenever she would get asked ‘Well dear, how did he propose?’. And, in talks since then, she said I gave her a wonderful story. I could not have planned a better moment. That makes me proud. I could not have asked for a better person to spend my life with, and if I managed to give her what she dreamed of, there is no greater honour in the world.

Both Sides of Skid Road: Touring Seattle

When a tourist thinks of seeing the great sights of the United States, Seattle is not a name that comes up very often. A typical potential traveler to the US will have places like Orlando, New York, Las Vegas, or San Francisco on their itinerary before Seattle will even be considered. Nevertheless, my fiancée and I visited Washington’s largest city and took in some of the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations. Here are some of the highlights of our time in Seattle, in no particular order.

Space Needle

The most iconic piece of Seattle’s skyline was well worth the visit. The views of the city were rather nice, but I honestly preferred the historical tales of the construction of the Space Needle to the spectacle. The walk up to the lift was home to several large boards giving timelines for the project, with historical reference points such as the moon landing thrown in for context.

This is the first of the attractions that we went to using the City Pass – a worthy investment for any traveler to Seattle. The City Pass is essentially a book of coupons for access to set attractions around the city for a lower price than it would be to purchase them individually. I have used a similar Pass in Paris before, and the Seattle one certainly saved us some money and hassle.

Pike Place Market

While the Space Needle might be the most visually striking part of Seattle, Pike Place gives the hardest assault on the senses. The chaos of an exceedingly busy farmer’s market filled with shops trying to sell everything from ceramic piggy banks to glasswork to fresh fish, bulging with customers foaming to buy as much as their wallet allows them (and maybe a bit more on top of it) was overwhelming for me at times. I found the market fascinating, with so many different stores, but I also had to seek the quiet corners on a couple of occasions to re-ground myself.

One of the more famous stores at Pike Place is the first-ever Starbucks. The line to enter is reputedly long, but we simply walked in. This ease of access compared to the stories that I’d read makes me worry that my fiancée, my brother (who joined us on the trip briefly) and I didn’t actually end up going to the first Starbucks, but simply one close to it. Let’s just hope we caught Starbucks on a quiet day.

Gum Wall

Next to Pike Place market lies another Seattle icon – the gum wall. It is exactly what its name suggests – a wall where people have placed their gum. Not a few people, though. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people. It is disconcertingly interesting to consider both the sheer amount of gum on the wall and the creativeness of some of the more elaborate contributions. There are names spelled in gum, symbols, and even the American flag in gum. It is even more compelling to consider that the wall is cleaned on a not-too-irregular basis for hygiene purposes.

Gas Works Park

A park is a park is a park, right? All you need is some green grass and open space and you’re set, surely? Not at Gas Works Park. The site of a disused gas works (shock! horror!), this park boasts great views of the downtown Seattle skyline across the river, acres of space (so you never feel like you have to crowd next to another group), and a nice balance of sun and shade. All in all, a great place to spend a lazy couple of hours in the sun reading, throwing a disc, or simply people-watching.

Fremont Troll

A short walk from Gas Works Park is the Fremont Troll, a large figure mostly comprised of cement. The troll sits underneath one of the major bridges in Fremont, holding a car in its grasp and staring blankly at all those who would behold it. I feel like the concept is creative, but it was let down a little in its execution. While it is certainly impressive, the troll is not remarkably striking or visually appealing. It is dull and grey, except for its eyes and the car in its clutches. Perhaps a mixed media creation would have popped better, but the troll gets a bit lost in the grey cement surrounding it. The only historical background available at the site is a small plaque. If you visit Gas Works Park or the surrounding areas, you should go visit the troll, but it is a short visit.

EMP Museum

The EMP Museum is unlike any other museum that I have ever been to. The curators of the museum are clearly trying to widen the audience that is interested in museums in general. While most museums are filled with items of historical value from a broad spectrum of topics, the EMP museum chooses instead to focus on smaller collections in topics of great pop culture interest, with kooky side exhibits thrown in. For example, the exhibitions that were showing whilst my fiancée and I visited Seattle focused on science fiction, fantasy, horror Movies, a history of Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, indie video games, and wearable art. There was a section showing music videos on a film cinema-sized screen. There was an extra paid section exploring Star Trek (which we chose to skip because we’d never watched any).

EMP Museum is well-aimed at young adults looking to explore the history and present of what interests them. As my fiancée and I fit very firmly into that demographic, we were enraptured by EMP, spending most of a day there. I was most surprised by the horror section. My fiance and I both have extremely low tolerance for being scared. I am not interested in most horror films. And yet, exploring the way horror is constructed, watching short blurbs on key films in the genre, and learning about some of the masters of the craft was incredibly informative, as it is not an area that I have explored much due to fear.

An explanation of some of the common monsters used in modern horror films

EMP Museum is one of the top reasons to go to Seattle. If you’re in the city and you have a day, go. It is also part of the City Pass, so you can save some money there.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Directly next to the Space Needle and EMP Museum lies the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. Chilhuly is a famed glassblower and artist from Seattle, known for pushing the limits of glass as a medium. The museum is relativey small and there is not much information to be found, but this is clearly an intended design, to avoid detracting from the pieces themselves. There are truly some beautiful pieces in the museum. However, as it is small, it takes less than an hour before you’ve admired everything, so don’t plan an entire afternoon around it.

The experience at Chihuly is short and beautiful. If you make the trip to visit either the Space Needle or EMP, be sure to check it out. It is a calming experience to walk through rooms filled with coloured, crafted glass. Another reason to ge the City Pass. The more I mention the City Pass, the more I feel compelled to say that I wasn’t paid by them to write this post.

Seattle Aquarium

OTTER!

 

The second-last mention of the City Pass in this post, the Seattle Aquarium is a cosy yet refreshing aquarium. Its layout is unusual, spread over multiple buildings on Seattle’s piers. It is home to hundreds of species of fish, a couple of octopi, birds, and, most importantly, otters. Cute, cuddly, fluffy otters, of both the river and sea variety. Kris, my fiancée, and I spent more time watching the otters than we spent at the rest of the aquarium combined. That includes the gift shop, where we spent dozens of minutes agonizingly choosing what otter-branded merchandise we would buy (we landed on a big fluffy otter plush and cups with otters on them). If you like otters, I mean, aquatic life, Seattle Aquarium is worth your time. It is also close to Pike Place Market, so you can combine the two and the next attraction for a good day out.

The otter’s name is Ollie.

 

Sprit of Seattle Ferry

The final milking of our City Pass came from a ferry ride around the coast of Seattle. While there were options to go on trips to see orcas, we went on a short, hour-long zip in the waters around Seattle. There was almost-constant narration from the crew, detailing the sights and dropping interesting historical tidbits about the city. Whilst we didn’t see any whales, we did get another angle on the city, some more information about it, and a couple of photos of seals. Not quite as cute as otters, but still quite cute in their own lazy way.

Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour

Seattle before the Great Fire

Our historical education of Seattle was further improved by Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour. In the 19th century, Seattle suffered a terrible fire which burned down a large portion of the city (luckily, no-one was killed). The city planners took the opportunity to rebuild the parts of the area close to the coast exactly one storey higher than they previously were, effectively raising large portions of the city by a floor.

This leaves these areas with underground tunnels, filled with history and dust. There are many tours through these tunnels, but the one that seemed the most well-reputed was Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour. We soon saw why. The tour guide was knowledgeable, funny, and effectively herded the mass of people behind him. Kris, my brother, and I all had a great time on the tour, and the stories he told added a touch of magic to the rest of our time in Seattle. Every time we looked down, we imagined what might be lying below us, left untouched from decades before.

Looking up at the street while people walk over you is an interesting experience

These are the more traditional sights of Seattle, that you’ll see on TripAdvisor and the like. However, we also visited some landmarks which are more obscure and suited to the unique tastes of Kris and I. Here they are:

Five Ultimate

Kris and I both love Ultimate. The game and community around it are major factors in our decision to stay in Korea for as long as we have. So, when we found out that Five Ultimate, one of the major Ultimate manufacturers have their headquarters in Seattle,  we had to pop in, say hi, and leave with a bunch of shiny Ultimate things. After struggling to find their offices (they aren’t allowed to have large signage on the outside of their building – we only successfully found them by going to their address and luckily spotting their WiFi), we were welcomed into the sprawling home of high-quality Ultimate merchandise. We were given a quick tour by Denny (who happened to also have played Ultimate in Korea for many years – small world) and then let loose to buy what we wanted, a privelege we may have abused a little. We kept on chatting with Denny, sharing tales of Korea and Ultimate and life. Whilst not necessary for most, Ultimate players visiting Seatte should try and pop in at Five Ultimate.

Banana for scale

Meeples Games

Photo credit to the West Seattle Blog

It is no secret to those who know us that Kris and I love board games. Naturally, we have to explore the board game options within any given city. Whilst there are a number of highly-rated board game stores in Seattle, Meeples Games was the most convenient for us. I walked in expecting a pokey store with a few shelves and a table to play, but was met with a bustling, expansive, multi-room haven for games. There were games of all shapes, sizes, difficulties, preferences, and tastes. There was even a Magic: the Gathering tournament going on whilst we visited. I found games that I had been searching for for months with no luck in Korea. I found games I didn’t know I wanted (but bought anyway). I found games I wanted, but couldn’t justify taking with because they would have taken up too much space of our bags (I’m looking at you, Marvel Legendary). The staff was friendly and wise in the ways of cardboard fun. The game spaces looked clean, and there were even couches within the store for you to sit and read the back of a box. I wish every board games store was like Meeples.

Mox Cafe

Photo credit to meetup.com

While we visited Meeples near the beginning of our time in Seattle, by the time we were almost ready to head home, our board game itch began to show itself again. So we decided to visit another Seattle board-gaming mecca – Mox Cafe. Whereas Meeples is primarily a store where you can also sit down and play a game or two, Mox Cafe is primarily a cafe where you can enjoy food and drink whilst sampling a new board game or pulling out an old favourite. Mox has a large sample of games that you can play at their tables. They are fully licensed, and have a good selection of drinks and food (although we didn’t eat there). Kris and I had a good few hours of fun playing Raptor (where Kris the mommy velociraptor was too cunning for me and my scientists) and Castle Panic (where we defended a castle against hordes of orcs, goblins, and trolls). Mox Cafe also has a library for sale that rivals Meeples. While it is a bit out of the way from Central Seattle, it was a great way for us to spend an evening.

From an exceptional museum, a feat of architecture, and a bustling market place to board game havens and a cement troll, Kris and I saw a great deal in our time in Seattle. In coming posts, I will explore The International (the event that brought us to Seattle in the first place), Seattle food, and, finally, our engagement story. There are many more tales to come from our time in Seattle, but if you ever decide to visit the city, keep these landmarks on your list of things to do and see while you are there!

 

Seattle Trip Day 1: Purgatory

After months of trying to coerce English into the minds of children and adults, Kris and I left for our two-week holiday to Seattle today. During the day, we time-traveled, watched far too many movies, completed the entirety of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and dreaded American immigration. All of this before we even landed in the US!

The different time zones that lay across our world are not something that we, as humans, often think about. Even in a family like mine where members are spread across three time zones and 14ish hours, we have just become used to only calling each other at specific times to make up for time differences. Yet today, when we left Seoul just before 4pm on Thursday afternoon, flew for about 10 hours (during which we watched 4 movies each), and landed in Canada at around 10am on Thursday morning, we felt rather like Phineas Fogg must have done. Time travelling was awesome!

What was significantly less awesome was the 8-hour layover that awaited us at Vancouver airport. After clearing US Customs (yes, in Canada, as bizarre as that sounds), we walked around the airport, checking out all of the shops. Once we had completed the shop rotation, we decided to buy Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and see how far we could get. As it is a play, we devoured it in its entirety within 3 hours. We tried to get Pokemon Go to work on the spotty WiFi at the airport. While we did catch some Pokemon, what we caught the most during our hunting was frustration at the lack of consistent Internet connection. Finally, Kris settled down for a well-earned nap while I re-read some of the graphic novel masterpiece that is Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba’s Daytripper.

By the time I was two-thirds into the story, it was finally time to board. We left Canadian soil and, 40 minutes later, touched down in Seattle. We knew that one hurdle lay ahead of us: immigration. Would they turn us away? Would they let us be? Would they force us to recite minute details about our life for no reason? As we made our way through the terminal, all of these possibilities weighed down on us. We needn’t have worried. There was no immigration. We simply picked up our bags and left the airport, finally loosed onto the American soil that is to be our home for the next two weeks.

We are now both quite content to take it easy tomorrow. We plan to find a suitable camera for the trip, visit a local board game store, and browse the wares of an Ultimate shop. Our short time with my brother and our TI6 experience both begin on Saturday. Tomorrow, however, we will take in the sights, sounds, and retail experiences of Seattle. We may get fat, but at least our wallet will be lighter!