A lot of locals here tend to be cliquish / cold / poor customer service (Seattle: crime, university)

[Ruth4Truth]

OP, if you want to try hiking, join the Mountaineers hiking club. They have singles events, including wintertime non-outdoor social events. The Mountaineers is one way people make friends in and around Seattle.

Where do you live, that going downtown is too far away? And where are you from? I can relate to being outgoing and friendly, trying to strike up conversations with people, and being ignored. I wish I'd known someone like you when I was living in Seattle and running into the same issues as you are.

[margaretBartle]

Join the Mountaineers. They have a LOT of different kinds of events - hiking, canoing, lobbying Olympia, movie nights, dances, etc. Very interesting group of people, and they have chapters in some of the southland towns, although I can't remember now. I know they have a chapter in Tacoma.

[SunAndRain808]

Originally Posted by Bolo99

If you're in Puyallup and such, yeah it will seem like a whole different world than Seattle core and will be more similar to Alabama or Oklahoma. Lots of good 'ol boys with lifted pickup trucks and their pastime is having some beer at Uncle Willy's pub. Look for a new job in Seattle. That is where all the action is at.

Yeah, quite strange that Puyallup / Pierce County is a complete contrast to downtown Seattle area. Seattle reminds me of San Francisco with all the yuppie-like folks, technology, etc. I wasn't expecting Puyallup/Tacoma to be different from Seattle. Nevertheless, I see some positives living here rather than fighting the horrendous traffic on the freeway in places like Bellevue.

[SunAndRain808]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

OP, if you want to try hiking, join the Mountaineers hiking club. They have singles events, including wintertime non-outdoor social events. The Mountaineers is one way people make friends in and around Seattle.

Where do you live, that going downtown is too far away? And where are you from? I can relate to being outgoing and friendly, trying to strike up conversations with people, and being ignored. I wish I'd known someone like you when I was living in Seattle and running into the same issues as you are.

^^ I guess I will try that club, but kind of feel reluctant.

I'm from Hawaii, so it's a different vibe living here. I feel that I get different kinds of treatment, and people think that I don't speak English, thinking I'm from Japan or China. Hence, I have a lot of folks at work who tend to ignore me, cut in front of me when clocking in for work (yup, not lying), talk to me in a condescending manner, etc.

However, I have lived in the midwest, outer Chicago suburbs and Indy, so I shouldn't be complaining much about Pierce county. But still, the kind of demeanor I get from the locals here gives me flashbacks of living in Illinois and Indy.

Join the Mountaineers. They have a LOT of different kinds of events - hiking, canoing, lobbying Olympia, movie nights, dances, etc. Very interesting group of people, and they have chapters in some of the southland towns, although I can't remember now. I know they have a chapter in Tacoma.

Yeah, I guess I will try mountaineers. I am signing up for meetup.com. I hope some of the groups I join will be good and have decent events to attend. =)

[SunAndRain808]

Originally Posted by misscross

IMHO problem is a Korean (presumably from your posts) transplant moving to a place like Puyallup. I've worked in Puyallup and while I got along with my co-workers I agree with the other posters it is rather redneck-ish.

You would have a much different and better experience living in anywhere on the stretch of King - Snohomish Counties between Bellevue and Lynnwood. Can you move?

^^ Yup, I'm a Korean guy. I didn't expect Puyallup / Pierce County to be different from the King County/Seattle area. To me, Seattle seems more yupppy-technology-artsy type of city like San Francisco, NYC, Boston.

Here in Puyallup, dang, I thought I was back in Indiana! I don't care much for big trucks, but I saw a lot of those when I first moved out here. some of the drivers speeding and weaving in and out of traffic along Meridian Street.


Tacoma, on the other hand, although it has a bad reputation for being a ghetto town of Puget Sound, seemed better than Puyallup. I liked the glass museum, and the Ruston Way water front where I sometimes go to do my afternoon jogging.

Can I move to another part of Puget Sound? No, because as I have a job contract that keeps me here for the next 22 months or so.

Otherwise, I have spoke to some people at my K-church young adult group and they recommend me living in Lynnwood/Shoreline area, Renton, Issaquah or Bellevue (although it's a pricey neighborhood full of Cali transplants).

[SunAndRain808]

Originally Posted by pikabike

If you can stand to start hiking alone, eventually you will meet others who are more open-minded. Hikers and cyclists and other similar sports include a lot of good folks, and rednecks are a minority among them.

Hye Pikabike, yes, I want to start to hike on some of the "easier" trails here in Puget Sound area. So if you know of any good places you want to recommend to me, let me know (or shoot me the info via PM).

THe only thing I'm afraid of if I do hike around here, are snakes and bears. I hope I don't encounter any of those creatures!

[pikabike]

The only snakes I have seen in western WA are nonvenomous ones. No rattlers. Bears, I have not seen but have seen their scat. There is so much food for them I doubt they would bother you, unless you get between a sow and her cub.

The only WA hiking I've done is in the northern Olympic Peninsula, except for a trip to the North Cascades one time. A trip to the library will get you started in figuring out what you might like in your area. I like Craig Romano's Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula,but there may be others that focus on trails closer to you.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by SunAndRain808

^^ I guess I will try that club, but kind of feel reluctant.

I'm from Hawaii, so it's a different vibe living here. I feel that I get different kinds of treatment, and people think that I don't speak English, thinking I'm from Japan or China. Hence, I have a lot of folks at work who tend to ignore me, cut in front of me when clocking in for work (yup, not lying), talk to me in a condescending manner, etc.

OMG! That's unbelievable! I'm so sorry that's happening! Seattle used to have a long-established east Asian population that was simply part of the landscape, so to speak. It used to be "normal" to be Asian in Seattle. Maybe that awareness has been lost due to the inundation of transplants from around the country...? That doesn't explain the rudeness and condescension, though.

There was an African-American woman who posted here, saying that in the first days and weeks of her new job in Seattle, co-workers would compliment her on her good English, and ask her what her first language was, her birth language. As if Seattle doesn't have a Black population.

This isn't the Seattle I knew. So, what are you going to do when your contract is up? Renew? Move? Try the Bay Area?

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

OMG! That's unbelievable! I'm so sorry that's happening! Seattle used to have a long-established east Asian population that was simply part of the landscape, so to speak. It used to be "normal" to be Asian in Seattle. Maybe that awareness has been lost due to the inundation of transplants from around the country...? That doesn't explain the rudeness and condescension, though.

There was an African-American women who posted here, saying that in the first days and weeks of her new job in Seattle, co-workers would compliment her on her good English, and ask her what her first language was, her birth language. As if Seattle doesn't have a Black population.

This isn't the Seattle I knew. So, what are you going to do when your contract is up? Renew? Move? Try the Bay Area?

The comments about assumptions of native language amaze me. I have never had anybody tell me anything like that--ANYWHERE--even though I am full-blood Asian born in the US and, on the phone, nobody would have a clue as to racial background.

Maybe there is some small thing about dress that makes people assume the person just immigrated? Very strange.

[RustinginSeattle]

Puyallup is not Seattle. When I was growing up that was the country, not a suburb of Seattle.

Seattle small towns and suburbs didn't develop the same as other areas of the US. Often people lived in the country because they preferred being away from other people and city folk, so attitudes developed differently. Seattle was part of the wild west, not a place full of traditions. You stayed out of other people's business here.

I have nothing against Puyallup, but it's interesting the number of people who move here and just figure they can radiate out in any direction and still think it will be just like Seattle. Chicagoland is more like that, but we aren't. There is a reason people pay huge money to get into the neighborhood that suits them and their lifestyles. Trouble is it's so expensive that people are being forced to move to areas that they never would have chosen to live in before and they aren't feeling super welcomed.

This is all just part of our ongoing growing pains, but it's a good idea for others moving here to really consider. This isn't Dallas with cooler weather and different politics.