06 Jun 2012
The Tikiman Hunts for Dungenous Crabs in Seattle
It is hard for me to imagine a more drastic climate transition from dry, hot, sunny Las Vegas weather to the damp, cool, rainy weather of Seattle. Needless to say I had no idea what to pack for this week-long trip, but I found layers came in handy. Seattle is beautiful, lush, and actually reminded me a bit of Hawaii because of its vividly colored rhododendron flowers. At the Seattle airport, I was greeted by Pastor Nelson Mira, the LLM pastor of that city, and after being brought back to my home for the weekend (the incredible Windermere mansion) I set a goal to eat as much seafood as possible while in the area. I was particularly on a hunt for some dungenous crab, which is native to the Seattle waters. I learned about those crabs one week prior while enjoying all you can eat blue crabs in Virginia, and from then could not stop thinking about them. I may be a little obsessed, but I’m ok with that. We kicked off the weekend of seafood at Ivar’s together with a great bunch: Pastor Nelson, Kayeon Amaral, Lisa Ohno, and Teddy Sylte.
Crabs!
The following day was filled with fun times, as it combined some of my personal favorite activities in life: sitting in a cafe, enjoying well-made caffeinated beverages, and stimulating the mind with interesting conversations. The tikiman and I sat at the Suzzalo Cafe at the University of Washington, Seattle all day, waiting for any CARPie to stop so we could buy them something from the cafe. We had some great visitors, including Julia Granstrom, Ariella Fish, Lisa Ohno, Kayeon Amaral, Judilee King, and Priscilla Nichols. The lucky few who stuck around until the end of our time at the cafe ended up going on a hunt with the tikiman and I to find some dungenous crabs and eat them. We stumbled upon the crab pot, which was beautifully located by the piers in downtown Seattle and really enjoyed a little bit about what I imagine the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is all about. This evening will go down in history as one of the greatest moments of our lives, as the incredible dinner which filled our stomachs with crab meat was followed by a perfect sunset, homemade ice cream, and tears of joy.
Kai reppin UNLV colors!
Friday included a delicious indian buffet lunch with Tae sun, Tada and Masa, and then loads of Kai-Victoria time, on the great lawn at UW. We talked about many different things, but the most interesting was definitely related to relationships, especially since Kai compiled valuable information from her UC Marriage survey regarding attitudes towards arranged marriages. This discussion was followed by more on the topic of relationships and the Blessing at the UW CARP meeting later that day. We thought how appropriate, then, that we will have plenty of meaningful discussion related to relationships at the upcoming CARP retreat as well!
The more I travel around, the more I am impressed with the different communities that the Unification Church has around the country- each one is distinct and beautiful in its own right. Thank you Seattle for the great times. You have an amazing bunch of college students and young adults. I really look forward to seeing ya soon 
