Ben and I have been officially living in the Portland area now for just over three and a half months and I realized a few days ago that we are still merely transplants into this city. What I mean by this is that Ben and I really don’t know that much about this town outside of what is near our home and the popular touristy spots. This was okay for the two months pre-wedding when we really had no time to do anything outside of planning for the big day, but now that we’re settling in to a routine it would be nice, I think, to know more about this town than a tourist with a good guide book. However, that might be a decent place to start.
One way for this to happen is for us to actually listen to suggestions from our friends that have been living in the area longer than us. Our good friend Kam convinced us not too long ago that we should go out dancing with him. This wasn’t your typical night club dancing! This was a place to learn what I like to call real dancing. The evening started out with an hour long tango lesson followed by an hour long blues dance lesson. The evening was capped by four hours of free dancing to tango and blues music. Joy! With our basic knowledge we could move around the floor comfortably, but it was just as much fun to watch the other couples who really knew what they were doing take full command of the floor.
On Saturday morning Ben and I were standing in the check out line at the Safeway near our house to purchase milk and, as one does while waiting in the grocery store checkout line, I glanced over the magazine rack past the tabloids and much to my joy I discovered Portland Monthly magazine. After thumbing through the pages I thought it might be a good place to start in our quest to know Portland. It is nice to have in hand a magazine that feels like it’s written for natives and newbies alike. I already have plotted out a few places and things for us to check out from this month’s issue.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print. Until next time,
Emilie
