Meeting new people in Seattle (Sammamish, Issaquah: neighborhoods, high schools, living)

[foe3643]

How do families meet new people in Seattle? I have one son who will be a Senior in High School and one who won't be moving with us. We aren't into the church scene which is the only way to meet people where we are now. We were from Chicago and not into the bar scene either.

Suggestions for the Seattle area?

Hate moving to a new town and not knowing anyone at all. Such a dreary thought.

[Hemlock140]

It's a lot easier when the kids are younger, and you meet other parents and kids with the various activities such as soccer and other sports.

Depending on where you live, some neighborhoods in suburban areas such as Issaquah and Sammamish have neighborhoods where they do things as a group, such as block parties and garage sales. There are also PTA meetings even at the high schools where you can become involved and meet people.
If you look into the local community activities and find something you might enjoy, go to a few and meet people. There are many papers and websites that list community events, some examples:

Calendar - Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter

Entertainment | Community calendar | Seattle Times Newspaper

Meetups near Seattle, Washington - Meetup

[Bill Loney]

Originally Posted by foe3643

How do families meet new people in Seattle? .

Volunteer work is a place to start. Join an exercise, sports or yoga group or any other type of group. Take a class at a local community center.

[foe3643]

Thanks Bill, you would be surprised how little of those things I have now where I live. When I lived in the burbs of Chicago years ago we had everything. Guess I've just forgotten what it is like to live in a Metro area and I'm getting nervous.

[Roloc]

My wife is partial to joining the Moms clubs and such. Even though you have older kids there are plenty of other Moms in there in the same boat. Then they have all sorts of get together and crap like that I get drug to then I find the guy looking like he is having the least amount of fun and sitting in the corner grab a beer and sit down and talk to him... that's the guy I am usually most like

[The Siobhan]

Meetup.com!

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by The Siobhan

Meetup.com!

I've found Meetup.com, especially for foreign language interests, to be such an odd assortment of people that you just see once a month and probably wouldn't hang out it. In those groups, you have those with native fluency that are here on a tech assignment that don't want to waste their time with less than fluent speakers. You also have the type whose language skills suck and they thought it was "so cool" to go to Europe for a semester and want to keep living it. I think we're talking friends, not acquaintances.

Maybe a parish, church, synagogue or temple, if you're religious?

[The Siobhan]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I've found Meetup.com, especially for foreign language interests, to be such an odd assortment of people that you just see once a month and probably wouldn't hang out it. In those groups, you have those with native fluency that are here on a tech assignment that don't want to waste their time with less than fluent speakers. You also have the type whose language skills suck and they thought it was "so cool" to go to Europe for a semester and want to keep living it. I think we're talking friends, not acquaintances.

Maybe a parish, church, synagogue or temple, if you're religious?

If you are only looking for specific interests such as language groups, then I think you are likely to have the experiences you have had. However, if you join groups based upon other people who are new to town then I think your experience will be different.

I organized three different meet-up groups. Out of them, I made solid friendships with individuals. Organizers are responsible for getting people together; if you want to make a friend, then you'll have to put in some work. And, I think that is a general problem with the Seattle set.