In Seattle I couchsurfed with Miles. He wrote on his profile that he liked languages and restoring old cameras – but what finally made me decide to send my Seattle couch request to him was what he wrote about his taste in music: “I like what Sweden is doing with pop music these days”. Well, as a Swedish music fanatic, I just had to meet this American guy with the slightly surprising, but oh so admirable appreciation for the music of my home country.
Miles lives in a brick building in Capitol Hill, a neighbourhood east and uphill from downtown Seattle. Finding my way there on my first evening in Seattle wasn’t hard, but the walk turned out to be a real workout. The hills of Seattle might not be comparable to the hills of San Francisco, but with my green, monster backpack I felt like I was climbing Kebnekajse (the highest peak in Sweden) at the very least.
But it was worth the effort. Capitol Hill is a beautiful part of Seattle, with low apartment buildings and wooden one family houses. There is a lot of greenery, odd street art and cute small boutiques. This is where the young and/or gay live, and if I ever were to move to Seattle, I would probably want to live in Capitol Hill (or Fremont, but that’s another story).
And then Miles. At first, he reminded me so much of this guy I once knew that it almost scared me. They looked so similar, had the same way of carrying themselves. The beard and particularly the ears. The kindness and very humble way of being. The same taste in music, both musicians. They even whistled in the same, very melodic and accurate way. Considering that my feelings towards this once-upon-a-time-friend are still very mixed, it’s not hard to understand that I felt confused.
But that didn’t last long. Pretty soon, I started seeing the differences too, his generosity and helpfulness and how he just welcomed me into this city and made me feel at home at once. He told me where to go and what to see – and most importantly, which bus to take. He even took the time to show me a few places. Already on the first night, he and his girlfriend Whitney took me to Seattle International Film Festival, which was running during my Seattle visit. There, we saw “The House”, a Slovak movie about an overprotective father and a daughter who just wants to brake free. Cute movie, and interesting because I so rarely see movies from eastern Europe.
We talked about traveling and couchsurfing and music, and seriously, I think he knew more Swedish bands than I do. He even listens to music with Swedish lyrics. His CD collection is huge, I mean, it certainly rivals my dad’s (and my dad has serious collector’s issues), and there were so many great and interesting bands and artists among his albums that I easily could have spent days just listening to music in his awesome and supercool studio apartment. We bonded over our love for Annika Norlin and Elias and the Wizzkids, and I made him jealous when I told him that I’ve ridden the subway with Annika and run into Elias in the street several times in Stockholm.
On Saturday morning, Miles and Whitney took me to this old style bagel bakery down the street from his place. I had a bagel with fig cream cheese, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that that was the best bagel I’ve ever had. Delicious. A perfect way to start a Seattle Saturday morning, with a fresh bagel and the crossword puzzle that the bakery owner makes and puts up on the wall as a huge, wall sized piece of art.
Miles in Capitol Hill, the perfect Couchsurfing host. With some excellent help from his knowledgable girlfriend Whitney.
Katja Malmborg 