European Visitor

Spent yesterday showing Deborah Quarles, the daughter of family friends, around Tacoma. She's Dutch, but her English is impeccable; she knows that she pays when she is "on the bus" rather than "in the bus" for example, which is such a small detail most learning English as a second language wouldn't catch.

Taking her around Tacoma reminded me how much I like Europe. My perception is that it is very cosmopolitan. How could it not be? If you live in the Netherlands and are surrounded by four countries that all speak different languages and have different cultures it would dramatically affect your outlook. My brief time in Europe showed me a taste of that difference and it has great appeal.

But our tour of Tacoma also reminded me how much I like this town and this place on the globe. Walking around downtown and going to museums and restaurants I could not help but run into people I knew or at least recognized. Stopping in at the Museum of Glass, for example, the ticket-seller said she loved seeing Hitchcock's "Notorious" with us the night before. Turns out she'd been in the same show as us. But we seemed to always be stopping to talk to people in coffee shops, at bus stops, and in museums. I forget sometimes that this is a pretty great town.

I want to travel and I want to live elsewhere for short periods of time. I could really do for a year in Italy or London or New York or five years in Minneapolis. But I think I'll be coming back to the Northwest eventually.