Letter #124 from Washington

Letter #124 comes from  Vela in Washington.Vela starts off her letter with facts from the time before she was born.Both of her parents are from Europe,but from different countries.It was not until they both came to the U.S. that they met,in Los Angeles,to be exact.They met,fell in love,got married and had lovely Vela.They left L.A. when Vela was just a child,only 5 years old because they wanted a better life for their family.The crime was just too much and life was too fast paced and more of a competition to be ahead of others than relaxing and enjoying your family life.

Their search for the right place to raise a family landed them in a small,quiet town in Northern Idaho,called Coeur d'Alene....doesn't it sound like a place in another country?Vela lived there until she had to go away to college.She recalls her fond childhood memories of exploring the woods,with her cat named Flower.The town has many mountains,forests and two lakes- Lake Coeur d'Alene and Fernan Lake.She recalls the quiteness of the town,which is no longer the town it used to be.It has now become much bigger and more noisier now.

Vela finished college and earned a degree in Special Education and Spanish.Finding a teaching position proved impossible.She then came across a job as a caregiver to the mentally and physically disabled.Whileshe loved this job and helping people,she felt the need to do more so she quit her job and started nursing school.She says that if you really love helping people,you should think about becoming a nurse, so you can help people every day.

Some of Vela's interests include reading,writing,drawing,calligraphy, and making cards.She also enjoys listening to music,playing the piano and bellydancing.She also loves learning about other people,languages and cultures.She also says that she does not easily get bored since there are many things to keep her happy and busy.

Now Vela lives in a unique region of the U.S.,named after the Native American tribe that settled there.The area is called The Palouse,which is located in Washington state.The topography of the area is described as gently rolling hills,not tall,pointy mountains,but peaceful,gentle mountains.The terrain was created during the last Ice Age that carved out the land as the glaciers moved south.They left behind a unique landscape filled with lots of twists,turns and hidden pockets,which is a feast for the eyes to enjoy.The area is also known for growing such wholesome foods,such as wheat and other grains.The town is filled with such lovely people and the town is quite small,with a fifteen minute drive between towns.

Thanks Vela for your lovely letter that is written with such beautiful penmanship.You can see her letter below:

Letter #29 from Washington

This letter comes from Katie in Washington state (not to be confused with Washington,DC as she says many people do).She lives in the state capital with her husband and works in transportation.Olympia is a slow paced city of about 130,00o inhabitants and a "cute little downtown".She says there are many stores and retaurants to visit but it isn't such a busy city that you can't find parking,it's just right.She also said that Puget Sound dips into her town and that it's a great place to go sea kayaking with beautiful views of Mt. Ranier and the Cascades,which are also called Olympic Pennisula Mountains.On one side she has the mountains and ocean and on the other side is the high desert.

Her city is 1 hour south of Seattle (it's one of my must visit cities) and 2 hours north of Portland.So she seems to live in an excellent location.Her and her husband like to visit the city for shopping and to try new restuarants.She mentions her list of fave food is Indian (my fave,too),Thai,Japanese and all kinds of pizza. :)

Katie hasn't always lived in Washington,as a child her father moved around due to his job so she has lived in quite a few states.One of the things she mentioned which we thought was so cool,was that her memories of their vacations were not vacations at all,they were just moves to new locations.For example,they passed the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore on their way to their new house.She talks about how her parents made scary moves for a kid so much fun and I thought that was just fantastic!Can you imagine a move feeling like a vacation?I wish our moves felt like that!She has never lived in any place more than 3.5 years and she loves that because she loves exploring new places and meeting new people.Oh,she also mentioned that she drove a semi and lived in it for one year....talk about an exciting life!

One of the most interesting places she has lived in was Japan (one of our fave countries),where she taught English for 2 years.She had a Japanese boyfriend so she was able to do more things since that was his home.She got to go to a sumo wrestling event,which she thought was really exciting.She also mentioned an awkward event when an older woman invited her to dinner and the meal arrived....whole fish on sticks (cooked), but as she said,not many people here in the U.S. eat heads of animals so she didn't know what to do.Should she eat the entire head...eyes,teeth,etc?She decided to bite off the head so as not to offend her host and it turned out to be the best fish she ever ate!I think we all would consider Katie to be quite brave here. :)

Katie's hobbies include making art dolls with paperclay (I really need to see what this is,it sounds interesting) and is part of a quilt club.She also enjoys reading and has given us these book recommendations:"Dr. Zhivago", "West with the Night",and "Weep Not for Me,Dear Mother".

Below is Katie's lovely letter.We forgot to include the cute Japanese stickers she included that we loved!Thanks Katie so much for the letter and stickers!

Letter #24 from Washington

This letter comes from Kristina from the west coast.She lives in Washington state with her Navy husband.I'm sure that must be difficult in these times,but I'm sure she focuses on the positive and not the negative.We all hope they they are all safe.She lives on a miltary base with their three pets.

She loves to collect postcards but has us beat...she has almost 400 postcards.I thought having just over 100 was something to write home about,but 400 is really amazing!She is a member of postcrossing,which is where she gets most of her postcards from.We joined postcrossing a few months ago and it's really addicting when you join the forums.My oldest daughter has made some great penpals from there.It's a great place to get to learn about other people and countries.

Kristina has been to England and is planning to visit Germany this fall with her husband for the honeymoon they never had. ( I'm also a member of that group.)I hope if Kristina has a blog,she shares some photos as we'd love to see some pictures of your trip.My youngest daughter loves Germany.I even bought some dvd's of the German cartoon Krtek for us to watch. ;) I wish you a fun and safe trip.

Sorry for the delay with the picture.Please enjoy Kristina's lovely letter and postcards (some funny) below: