From 'sleepless to settled' in Seattle

First weekend coming up, time for a status:
Boeing:just finished my first week’s ENOVIA course with straight marks and got my permanent Boeing badge : first mission is accomplished
Weather: weather sucks big time: cold and rainy (it never stops) but this should lead to snowstorms so snowboarding might be on the menu in a nearby future
Home: I’m moving soon to arty Ballard (northern part of Seattle near Lake Union), sharing a cosy house with 4 fun housemates, 4 chicken (1 egg/day), a garden full of garlic, wireless internet and a rowing boat ;o).
Sports: I want to make it an active stay: wintersports, fitness (I managed to get a free 15-day trial in one of those posh fitness clubs on the 14th floor of a skyscraper ;o)) and hopefully some tennis later
This weekend: moving to my new place, and related to this buying some stuff (definitely need an electric plug convertor; haven’t shaved since a week)
Regards to you all, remember that you can react to this message by adding a comment
Stijn

Arrival in Seattle

Hi there,
Once I read about a writer, living in a foreign country: "After a week I could have written a book about all the differences, the bizarre customs, the funny people. After a month a chapter. After a year a page. And now I don't even remember what once was so new and strange to me." After a couple of days in Seattle, my eyes are still "European", so it's a good time to narrate my first experiences.
One of the movies I saw during the 10-hour flight was "War of the world", starring Tom Cruise trying to run and hide for these huge alien machines coming to earth to suck out all life and destroy civilisation. When his 16-year old kid sees the machines for the first time and wonders who or what they are, following dialogue gave me a wonderful introduction to the country I will be living in for a firm period: America. Robby: "What the hell are those, dad ?" "Dad ?" Tom Cruise: "I don't know, but I've got the feeling that they come from a different place" Robby: "From a different place ? Like what ? Europe ?" Tom Cruise: " No Robby, not from Europe, from a really different place !". Prepared to the similar-but-different attitude, the first cliché was confirmed straight after leaving the aircraft: a huge (huge but really huge !) lady was the first to great me welcome on American soil. But lucky me, Toon was there to pick me up, and after all the paper work I got to my super Hyundai rental car - first time to drive an automatic. Although I wasn't keen on the "boring" gear switching, it proved to be very handy when driving and phoning, drinking coffee and overtaking at the same time ;o). Arriving to Seattle was spectacular because of the skyscrapers rising up after a curved hill. The picture shows that view (remark highway 5). More stories to tell tomorrow, gotta run to be escorted out of Boeing (I'm still on a 'visitor' badge), and that jetlag still needs some extra rest. Stijn.