Immersion in to the New Community

Day 1

Our first day of the trip and everything went somewhat smoothly and according to plan. Everything was okay until we found out that the LINK was unable to reach our hostel and that we had to transfer to the LINK’s temporary replacement, the 97, which was as an enjoyable sight to see a different bus format whereas the bus had different seats which I still don’t understand much of. Especially about why some seats are more elevated than the rest.

Then we went to the Pike Place Market and saw scenes that were similar to SF’s Fishermen’s Wharf. The smell of fish everywhere and the familiar sight of tourist weren’t as unusual, maybe because we could had been considered as tourists ourselves. Probably scholastic tourists would had been a better word. Anyways, the Pike Place Market had of course many tourist attractions and tourist traps. Some included the sourdough bread and clam chowder and of course the first ever Starbucks that also came with an extremely long line.  

Our next stop was the Wing Luke Museum to attend a tour to learn about the history of the International District. In this tour we walked through buildings that were worn down and torn up but out of all these buildings the Yink Fung Import Store. This store interested me so much because it's just history. During the Gold Rush, many immigrants that had just arrived to the United States would usually end up on the 2nd floor of the Yink Fung Import Store surrounded by 29 other immigrants, 30 including the immigrant themself. They would be waiting for days, weeks, for the owner of the store, Uncle Jimmy’s dad, to help the immigrant find a job and to start them off in a foreign land. This sort history impacted me so much that when I heard of it, it brought me an imminent flashback to the Family Associations in Chinatown but more importantly a flashback to Donaldina Cameron. In all three cases, the immigrants were all helped to start their life In the United States. Of course, in Donaldina Cameron’s case, the women were forced to work already but she freed them from forced captivity and helped them find a new and better life. All 3 cases were all in a time of racial discrimination and showed how the will of a single person , or family , is able to impact a majority of people for the better. This really messes around with my feelings. This ends my first report of the trip. Thanks for reading!


-Aaron Dong

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