Temporary family relocation from Russia to Seattle for my doctoral studies (Shoreline: fit in, apartments)

[ANTIDRASTIKOS]

Me, my wife and 2 children (ages 6 and 11) are moving to your city from the Russian Federation for my doctoral studies at the University of Washington. I would like a recommendation of a safe, clean community with lots of families where we can have 2 bedrooms for about $1600. My wife will be staying at home, and until a few months won't be able to drive a car so I would also prefer a place where she can get to quick errands easily without driving and have independence.

It would also be ideal if I had to drive less than 1 half hour to the university, and also to be in as close proximity as possible to a Russian Orthodox Church since that is something vital to our family life.


For schools, we are obviously not Catholics but we prefer to send our children to a Catholic affiliated school as opposed to affiliated with a Protestant church or a secular state run school on the US curriculum. Of course an Orthodox school would be ideal, but if that isn't available then a Catholic school for boys that is not run by the Jesuits will be totally acceptable. Can you a reccomend a school in any of the communities you reccomend?



We are going to be in Seattle for about 3 or 4 years altogether.

[mhays25]

Lake City? I mean the district within Seattle city limits on Lake City Way, not the separate city. Apartments are cheap, you can walk to stores, transit is ok, it's not that far to the UW...

[homesinseattle]

Hello and Welcome! St Nicholas Russian Orthodox is on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Here is the link: St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral

[ANTIDRASTIKOS]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Hello and Welcome! St Nicholas Russian Orthodox is on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Here is the link: St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Thank you oh so very much!

[ANTIDRASTIKOS]

Originally Posted by mhays25

Lake City? I mean the district within Seattle city limits on Lake City Way, not the separate city. Apartments are cheap, you can walk to stores, transit is ok, it's not that far to the UW...

What else can you tell me about this community?


Is it safe? What sorts live there? Families? Singles? Poor, middle class or rich? Would a woman that is quite small in stature feel safe to walk in the evening there?

[CrazyDonkey]

This is the only two-bedroom on Capitol Hill for $1,600 or less:

2016 Broadway E APT B, Seattle, WA 98102 | Zillow

Otherwise, you'll want to look in North Seattle:

Rental Listings in Seattle WA - 54 Rentals | Zillow

Here's a place with Russian and Eastern European groceries, deli, and restaurant:

Seattle's Eastern European Groceries, Russian Foods, Catering, Deli

Seattle's Eastern European Deli and Restaurant specializing in Russian Foods, Catering, Deli (Menu)

There are Russians living in that general area (Bitter Lake/Haller Lake).

Nearby Catholic Schools:

Christ the King School: Christ the King | Seattle, WA
St. Matthew School: St Luke School - Welcome
St. Luke School: St. Matthew School - Home

[CrazyDonkey]

This is slightly over your budget, but has a swimming pool and beach access (Bitter Lake), which would be great for the kids:

13215 Linden Ave N APT 207, Seattle, WA 98133 | Zillow

[flyingsaucermom]

I cannot stress the VALUE of student family housing... Promise me you will at least consider it!

[url]https://www.hfs.washington.edu/housing/Default.aspx?id=179#gsc.tab=0[/url]

We spent a total five years living in student family housing (University of Texas and University of Wisconsin) and when my husband became faculty at Michigan State I remained an active volunteer for its student family housing facilities.

I don't know about UW (my husband went into industry when we moved here), but in my experience university family housing complexes and communities are safe and reliably meet the unique needs of mature students with young families. The condition of the facilities were never grand, but they were always well managed and maintained and often located in some of the most highly sought after (read: expensive) locations. They were also very safe. Each of the campuses we lived on had well-lit safety phones spread out all over the grounds that connected you directly to campus police in an event of an emergency. Another advantage is the population.. you might all be from different cities and countries and you might all speak different languages, have different faiths and customs but you're (almost) all very intelligent, worldly... and dirt poor.

Which brings me to another point... the university usually does an excellent job of providing social and community programing for international and student families. It will vary according to the university, but all the universities we attended offered a Tuesday "Coffee Morning" (remarkably all three universities had it on Tuesday) program for international student spouses and their preschool-aged children. One also offered a lending center that helped outfit international students EVERYTHING they needed to set up a home. In addition to running that program I taught arts, crafts and story time program for preschoolers at one of the community centers.. and at another I organized a clothing donation center (that I used for my own family of course!). It was a very special time for me and my family. Many who make an effort will go away having life-long friendships... in fact one of my former neighbors actually got a tattoo of our building number when a tragedy struck another neighbor's family and they suddenly needed to return to their home country (there were six families in the building and we were all close). Can you imagine that... living in a place so wonderful and meaningful that you'd forever wear the number on your back? I'm not promising you'll experience the same, but nonetheless student family housing is a good option to consider.

The only issue is getting to church... the one aforementioned is actually pretty close all things considered, but it's not walkable.

[RustinginSeattle]

If you did live in student housing in the U District, not only is the area walkable, but they have buses to every other neighborhood that come frequently, so access to Capital Hill (church) would be very quick and easy from there.

Wallingford is a nice neighborhood that borders the U District, but I don't know if you could find a place to rent in your budget there.

Shoreline might work, but isn't super walkable. Depends on what part you're in.