If you enjoy looking at beautiful Art, then you need to attend “First Thursday“!  On the first Thursday of each month, many downtown Portland art galleries open their doors and invite you to join them for an evening of art and music. Walk from gallery to gallery to view new exhibits and shows–many galleries serve free wine & food…not a bad way to spend a Thursday evening!

In addition to the open art galleries, First Thursday also hosts a Street Art Fair on NW 13th Avenue, just a 10-minute walk from PELA.  At the Street Art Fair, many up-and-coming local artists show and sell their art–it is like a giant, open-air art show!

Generally, First Thursday hours are Thursday evening, 6pm to 9pm.  Most galleries are in NW Portland, between NW Everett & Hoyt Streets, and between 6th & 13th Avenue. See a map of First Thursday Galleries here.

On Saturday, February 13th, Portland celebrated Mardi Gras, a day filled with mask making, bike decorating, face painting, a puppet show, balloon artists and a parade! Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, and refers to the practice of eating rich, fatty foods before a Catholic religious fast, which starts on Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras is held in North Portland on Mississippi Avenue, a street filled with many new shops and restaurants–it is a favorite neighborhood for young Portlanders to live in.

See more photos (and a video) from Portland’s Mardi Gras here.

Money raised at the Mardi Gras event will support continuing relief work in Haiti.

Each February, several of our Volunteer Program students sign up to work at the Portland International Film Festival. This festival brings movies and short films from dozens of countries to Portland, and is just one of the ways Portland celebrates the diversity of cultures and art throughout the world.

In addition to the Portland International Film Festival, Portland enjoys a variety of movie theaters, both big and small.  Here’s a list of just some of the more unusual movie theaters in Portland–all within walking distance of PELA!

• Mission Theater & Pub One of the first theaters in Portland to offer alcohol (their own hand-crafted beers) with a movie.
• Living Room Theaters Watch old and new movies in small, living room-sized rooms while enjoying gourmet food and local beer & wine.
• Cinema 21 This theater often shows independent, international movies not normally shown in bigger theaters
• OMSI Omnimax Theater One of the large movie screens in the U.S.–and its round!

On Thursday, February 25, PELA will be meeting students at one of our favorite local restaurants, the Queen of Sheba, in North Portland.  The amazing Queen of Sheba serves delicious Ethiopian food in a traditionaly style: people sit at a round table with huge plate filled with a dozen different kinds of dishes in the middle of the table.  You eat the dishes NOT with utensils, but by using pieces of Ethiopian bread–called “injera”–to scoop up the various vegetarian and meat dishes.

Also, last weekend we took PELA students up to Mt. Hood to enjoy a day of skiing and snowboarding…come and check out photos from our snow-fun day!

If you’re new to Portland or just visiting, you’ll notice that there’s something missing from the Oregon shopping experience: Sales Tax.

That means when you’re out shopping, dining, even buying groceries, you’ll pay the price of what you’re buying with NOTHING (except for tips at restaurants) added. It’s wonderful!

Oregon is one of only 4 state with no Sales Tax.  If you were to travel to other states like California, Florida or New York, you will pay from 3% to 7% for almost anything you buy. 

The no-sales-tax rule in Oregon also applies to shopping online , as long as you ship to an Oregon address. 

Our students tell us that the cheaper prices in Oregon was one reason they enjoy living here so much.  Combine that with the many Outlet Malls around Portland, and you when you live here you are living in a a “Shopping Paradise”!

This Saturday, PELA is taking over 20 students up to Mt. Hood to hit the slopes for a day of fun in the snow!  Each February , we introduce many students to their first “snow”; often students from the Middle East or South East Asia have never seen snow before coming to Portland.

Mt. Hood is one of the biggest mountains in the U.S., and has snow all year; thus, Portlanders can enjoy snow-sports any time of the year! There are around around 6 different places to ski on or around Mt. Hood, with people from all over Oregon coming to snowboard, cross-country ski, and downhill ski.  And during the summer when much of the snow has melted, there are over 100 miles of hiking trails to enjoy the scenic beauty of Mt. Hood, one of our national treasures.

This weekend is a great time to be in Portland, because of the annual ChocolateFest at the World Forestry Center, next to the Oregon Zoo. At ChocolateFest, you’ll be able to eat samples of amazing chocolate deserts created by some of the best chefs in the Pacific Northwest.

Last week, PELA students, teachers and staff headed to NW Portland to enjoy Happy Hour at Voicebox, a local Karaoke Bar.  Afterwards, we headed to the Blue Moon to play some pool.  You can see pictures of our night at Voicebox here!

This Thursday, PELA is taking students down to Voicebox Karaoke Lounge for Happy Hour!  Voicebox is an Asian-style Karaoke bar, where you can rent a private room for you and your friends.  Karaoke is a popular pastime in Portland, with over 60 bars throughout the city which host karaoke nights either every night or just weekends.  In addition to Voicebox (2112 NW Hoyt Street), here’s some of the more famous Portland Karaoke spots:

Alibi Restaurant & Lounge (4024 N Interstate Avenue) - It looks like a Tiki Lounge from Hawaii, and has a great song selection

Ambassador Restaurant & Lounge (4744 NE Sandy Blvd) - With 2 separate areas for singing and dancing!

Galaxy Restaurant & Lounge (909 East Burnside Street) - Decorated with blacklight and a 12-foot long fish tank, this is one of the oldest Karaoke bars in town!

Boiler Room (228 NW Davis Street) - In the heart of Chinatown, on the weekends this place is full of people dancing to the songs you sing!

If you are looking for a way to help the Haitian people, click on the link below for a list of relief organizations you can donate to.

Relief Organizations to help Haiti (courtesy of MSNBC.com)

Many of them, such as the Red Cross, you can donate to just by sending them a text on your mobile phone–the donation amount will appear on your next phone bill.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Haitian people in this time of desperate need.

Last week several groups of students took advantage of the free admission to the Portland Lan Shu Chinese Garden, celebrating the 10-anniversary of its founding.  Volunteers at the garden took students on a tour, talking about various symbols represented by the plants, rocks and man-made structures throughout the garden.  See some photos here!

This coming weekend thousands of Portlanders will be going to the Rivercity Music Festival, held in North Portland.  This 3-day festival highlights local and regional bluegrass and folk musicians.  If you play an instrument, you are welcome to bring it to the festival–there are public “jamming” opportunities every day!

“Jamming” is where musicians play together without a set song or plan–they just make up the music together as they play.  This is a very popular activity here in Portland.

Throughout the year, many musicians from around the United States come to Portland, because the city is known for its live music.  The Rivercity Music Festival is but one of the dozens of music festivals Portlander can enjoy each year.