[Clemenza]

Ok, Publius, since you are so knowledgeable about the area, why are there so many Eritreans here in Seattle? I always found it interesting that they chose to settle here, of all places.

[Publius]

In the Nineties, we had a wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. At about the same time, we had a wave of immigrants from Ethiopia and other parts of the Horn of Africa. I could see this firsthand because they were moving to the neighborhood I lived in (in those days) in the northern edge of Seattle just before it becomes Shoreline.

As to why people picked a place so different from their homeland, I'm not sure. I suspect it was the booming economy, once we recovered from the prolonged recession of the early Nineties.

I put myself in the position of a Russian immigrant, used to snow and icy cold, settling in a place where winter is tolerable without vodka. Likewise, I imagined people from Africa, used to dust and drought, coming to a place where the summer is a joy to behold, and it rarely gets over 80 degrees.

I doubt it had anything to do with cultural similarities.