Outsiders

I think it is pretty safe to say that if you are not from Portland or if you haven't spent a good amount of time in Portland then you may be in for a culture shock.  Portland is a "different" place. When I describe Portland to people I always say "You can be whoever you want to be here and you will be accepted." The atmosphere here is different.  As my mum always says, "Portland is filled with granola tree hugger people." Whatever that means...but seriously, Portland is green, in EVERY way they can be.

photo by me

I met up with some "outsiders" as you would call it and asked for their opinions of Portland. These outsiders were from Malibu and play baseball for Pepperdine.  They were here to play our baseball team this weekend and my friend Ellen Parker knew some of the players.  Ryan is a junior at Pepperdine and is originally from Arizona so his first comment was that it is "f***ing cold here!" It was funny because today just happened to be a "nice" day in Portland. Brian, also from a warm city (San Diego) could not understand why people would live here..."it rains all the time, I don't get why people like this." When they went down to 23rd they were really in for a treat.  Brian was very intrigued by all of the Portlanders walking around.  He saw someone stripping on the street, someone doing a weird dance, and a man walking around with an oar in his hand. Needless to say, Portland is entertaining. Ryan kept on saying "I could honestly just sit here and watch people for hours." I explained to him how I sometimes take time out of my day to go downtown just to people watch. I don't see it as a waste of time, but as being productive. Do you know how interesting people are? It's crazy! After being on 23rd for quite some time Ryan and Brian finally began to understand Portland a little more. We laughed about how their baseball games will potentially, most likely be canceled due the rain.

google images

Portland is WEIRD, so much so that it is written on the side of a building in downtown Portland..so much so that there are bumper stickers that read "Keep Portland Weird" everyone knows it and that is why they love it here; I mean, that's why I love it here. If Portland wasn't weird then I don't know what it would be....