So, at the beginning of this week I noticed something. No, it wasn't the lack of comments people have left me (thanks guys, no really, thanks), it was the decorations popping up on people's houses: flags (though most of them were already there), little cloth banners in red, white and blue among other things.
On Tuesday I woke up to find red, white and blue wreaths on the front and back doors, the cloth banner things and little flags stuck in the lawn. We also put up r,w&b fairy lights! They actually make these!!
At the park down the street they've basically got this huge carnival starting tonight that goes until the 4th when there's a parade and stuff.
I don't know what to think. I mean, it's great that people love their country and all, but they just go all out!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Chicago...
So yesterday I went into Chicago with Patty, the Brazillian au pair (see previous post for her pic). It was good. Very pretty.
Things to consider next time:
1) Wear SNEAKERS: my feet are covered in blisters from my Hush Puppies. You'd think flat shoes would just be COMFY!
2) If a sign has a picture of a person going down a flight of stairs, it means that to get to whatever is indicated on the sign you need to walk down the stairs next to the sign, not wait for 15 minutes wondering where the free trolley is.
3) Read the TRAIN TIMETABLE. Missing the train by mere minutes and then having to wait for an hour and a half when you're tired and your feet are in pain and all you want to do is go home and soak your feet isn't very much fun.
4) Don't get distracted on the train ride home and miss your stop.
So yesterday I got to see a few things, which was nice. Very painful too.
But yeah. Heaps of mishaps yesterday. It would have been tolerable if it weren't for the state of my feet, which are still tender.
Something that's really good is there's a free trolley car (like a tram, but not on tracks) that goes around the city. If we had managed to catch the right ones, we may have had less blisters. :)
But onto the photos!
But I, am a MOOSE!!!!!
I dunno. There were these random metal statues around the city. First one was a bull, then I saw a moose... Odd...
This is me at Navy Pier. There was a big Ferris Wheel that I wanted to go on, but the line was heaps long and I couldn't be bothered waiting.
Guess where this one was taken. Go on, GUESS!
Did you guess Navy Pier?? Wow! You're totally smart.
Some photos of "the beach":
It's weird to think that this is a lake, when it looks exactly the same as a beach, only without any waves.
Some pretty photos of the skyline:
And me drinking Jamba Juice, which is the US version of Boost Juice:
We really didn't do much sight seeing. I think it'd be best if I go in on my own, armed with a travel guide and a map and saw everything I wanted to see. At least I'll know what NOT to do. ;)
I think the highlight of my trip was the aforementioned train ride home (where we missed our stop) and we met this South African girl who was also an au pair. It was funny. She was sitting near us and overheard me talking to Patty and was all, "Excuse me, are you Australian?" and I'm all, "Yeah, are you South African?" and then we had a really good conversation. It was such a coincidence!! It was good meeting her, and we exchanged contact info and everything.
That conversation was what made Patty and I miss our stop. Luckily, the stop after the one where Patty left her car (she was going to drive me home) was the station about 5 blocks from my house! So we just walked here (cursing with each painful step) and I drove her back to her place.
Today I met up with Josefine, the Swedish girl I met at the training school. She only lives about half an hour away so it was really good to see her. We went shopping at the place near where she lives, and had lunch/dinner at 3pm there at (Lesia's fave place), The Cheesecake Factory. Guys, this is quite possibly the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH! I ordered the chicken with steamed veggies, mashed potato, biscuits and gravy and it was HUGE. I at about a quarter, and even though I was starving before that I was full. Doggy bag! Lol. And Josefine and I ordered a slice of cheesecake each. She got the choc-chip cookie dough cheese cake and I ordered the chocolate peanut butter cookiedough cheesecake. We only managed to get through half before we had to say NO MORE!!! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good, but so rich, and we felt that satisfied-sick feeling you get when you eat too much of a really good meal.
That's Jose eating her cheesecake. She doesn't look very good there, but she's so pretty! Bloody Swedes!
So back to work tomorrow. Love you all long time!
Things to consider next time:
1) Wear SNEAKERS: my feet are covered in blisters from my Hush Puppies. You'd think flat shoes would just be COMFY!
2) If a sign has a picture of a person going down a flight of stairs, it means that to get to whatever is indicated on the sign you need to walk down the stairs next to the sign, not wait for 15 minutes wondering where the free trolley is.
3) Read the TRAIN TIMETABLE. Missing the train by mere minutes and then having to wait for an hour and a half when you're tired and your feet are in pain and all you want to do is go home and soak your feet isn't very much fun.
4) Don't get distracted on the train ride home and miss your stop.
So yesterday I got to see a few things, which was nice. Very painful too.
But yeah. Heaps of mishaps yesterday. It would have been tolerable if it weren't for the state of my feet, which are still tender.
Something that's really good is there's a free trolley car (like a tram, but not on tracks) that goes around the city. If we had managed to catch the right ones, we may have had less blisters. :)
But onto the photos!
But I, am a MOOSE!!!!!
I dunno. There were these random metal statues around the city. First one was a bull, then I saw a moose... Odd...
This is me at Navy Pier. There was a big Ferris Wheel that I wanted to go on, but the line was heaps long and I couldn't be bothered waiting.
Guess where this one was taken. Go on, GUESS!
Did you guess Navy Pier?? Wow! You're totally smart.
Some photos of "the beach":
It's weird to think that this is a lake, when it looks exactly the same as a beach, only without any waves.
Some pretty photos of the skyline:
And me drinking Jamba Juice, which is the US version of Boost Juice:
We really didn't do much sight seeing. I think it'd be best if I go in on my own, armed with a travel guide and a map and saw everything I wanted to see. At least I'll know what NOT to do. ;)
I think the highlight of my trip was the aforementioned train ride home (where we missed our stop) and we met this South African girl who was also an au pair. It was funny. She was sitting near us and overheard me talking to Patty and was all, "Excuse me, are you Australian?" and I'm all, "Yeah, are you South African?" and then we had a really good conversation. It was such a coincidence!! It was good meeting her, and we exchanged contact info and everything.
That conversation was what made Patty and I miss our stop. Luckily, the stop after the one where Patty left her car (she was going to drive me home) was the station about 5 blocks from my house! So we just walked here (cursing with each painful step) and I drove her back to her place.
Today I met up with Josefine, the Swedish girl I met at the training school. She only lives about half an hour away so it was really good to see her. We went shopping at the place near where she lives, and had lunch/dinner at 3pm there at (Lesia's fave place), The Cheesecake Factory. Guys, this is quite possibly the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH! I ordered the chicken with steamed veggies, mashed potato, biscuits and gravy and it was HUGE. I at about a quarter, and even though I was starving before that I was full. Doggy bag! Lol. And Josefine and I ordered a slice of cheesecake each. She got the choc-chip cookie dough cheese cake and I ordered the chocolate peanut butter cookiedough cheesecake. We only managed to get through half before we had to say NO MORE!!! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good, but so rich, and we felt that satisfied-sick feeling you get when you eat too much of a really good meal.
That's Jose eating her cheesecake. She doesn't look very good there, but she's so pretty! Bloody Swedes!
So back to work tomorrow. Love you all long time!
Here come the PHOTOS!!!!!!
Lol. This may be a very LOOOOOOONG post, or it may be split up, depending on my mood. There aren't any pics of the kids, as per F's request. If you want to see pics of the kids email me and I shall sendy send!
So it starts off at the airport:
Awww, aren't you kids cute?!!! *Sob!*
Then there's the limo. I decided to not include a pic of Mel, seeing as I would prefer to NOT desecrate the sanctity that is my blog by defacing it with images of her.
And here are the Hilton-esque rooms of St. John's University, Au Pair Training School.
Why is it "Hilton-esque" you ask? Because it's white trash.
This is a photo taken on our first actual day at the school when we followed the Germans on our five hour walk. I thought it was a fitting first impression in the daylight:
Indeed. Also:
I think that pretty much sums up the world's view of the US in those two photos.
Did I mention that one night at the training school we had to get up and sing a song from Australia? This is us at the part where you say "...among the gumtrees". Yes, the stage has a ginormous US flag behind it.
Crap. I forgot Mel's in that photo.
Did I mention the graduation ceremony at the school? That's me with my teacher Carol. I really didn't like her that much. I thought she was a bit fake. And had a face lift. Lol! I thought the grad ceremony was hillarious, hence the red face from trying not to laugh out loud too much for the people who took it seriously.
So here's some photos from my crappy New York trip. This is a view from the bus of a horse and carriage ride through Central Park:
Here is Rockefeller Centre. It was so funny. While we were there, this guy with a big box was oh-so-subtley saying, "Rolex. Genuine Rolex." It was like something out of a movie. All that would have completed it was if he wasn't holding the box and instead wearing a big trench coat and opening it at regular intervals. :-)
The following are of Time Square:
While we were there they were filming for Spiderman 3. I thought that was pretty cool.
An NYPD police car:
That's when it started raining and didn't stop. :'(
Here's us three Aussies (NO Mel). L-R: Jen, Amy, and some random who just jumped in the photo.
The Staten Island Ferry. Lots of yawns all round. Hey, it's free!
Who dat??
I tried to take photos of the Empire State Building. It was pouring rain though so all I got was a bunch of CLOUD. Instead, I stood under the canopy at the bottom and was shielded from the rain. I compensated the lack of building by posing with the little sign that says Empire State Building.
Yeah, somehow the whole "compensation" idea didn't really pan out.
So this was in my kitchen on the day of the Australia party:
Unfortch, I can't show you all the photos I'd like to cos they all have kids in them, but F went ALL OUT.
This is the fountain in the park where they had the picnic.
It's such a nice park.
This is the putt putt place where I had my first au pair meeting:
Even though I'm not a putt putt fan, it was a pretty cool place.
Bad hair day = headband.
Patty, another au pair from Brazil, and I:
The next few are from Martha's Vineyard. Not that many- sorry guys.
This is the CHANDELIER in BATHROOM in my room!!!
This is Chappaquidick. It has some history about Robert Kennedy or another Kennedy crashing his car into the water with his girlfriend/mistress in it and abandoning her and running all the way from the part on the left where you can see sand to directly in front of where the photo was taken, then swimming from there to Martha's Vineyard, all in a matter of minutes. Yet another Kennedy cover-up. The sad thing is that the girl could have survived if he'd gotten help, or TRIED TO HELP HER.
This is the Bank of Martha's Vineyard. It's covered in cobblestones. Crazy.
I'll post the rest of the photos in the next post because they deserve their own post.
So it starts off at the airport:
Awww, aren't you kids cute?!!! *Sob!*
Then there's the limo. I decided to not include a pic of Mel, seeing as I would prefer to NOT desecrate the sanctity that is my blog by defacing it with images of her.
And here are the Hilton-esque rooms of St. John's University, Au Pair Training School.
Why is it "Hilton-esque" you ask? Because it's white trash.
This is a photo taken on our first actual day at the school when we followed the Germans on our five hour walk. I thought it was a fitting first impression in the daylight:
Indeed. Also:
I think that pretty much sums up the world's view of the US in those two photos.
Did I mention that one night at the training school we had to get up and sing a song from Australia? This is us at the part where you say "...among the gumtrees". Yes, the stage has a ginormous US flag behind it.
Crap. I forgot Mel's in that photo.
Did I mention the graduation ceremony at the school? That's me with my teacher Carol. I really didn't like her that much. I thought she was a bit fake. And had a face lift. Lol! I thought the grad ceremony was hillarious, hence the red face from trying not to laugh out loud too much for the people who took it seriously.
So here's some photos from my crappy New York trip. This is a view from the bus of a horse and carriage ride through Central Park:
Here is Rockefeller Centre. It was so funny. While we were there, this guy with a big box was oh-so-subtley saying, "Rolex. Genuine Rolex." It was like something out of a movie. All that would have completed it was if he wasn't holding the box and instead wearing a big trench coat and opening it at regular intervals. :-)
The following are of Time Square:
While we were there they were filming for Spiderman 3. I thought that was pretty cool.
An NYPD police car:
That's when it started raining and didn't stop. :'(
Here's us three Aussies (NO Mel). L-R: Jen, Amy, and some random who just jumped in the photo.
The Staten Island Ferry. Lots of yawns all round. Hey, it's free!
Who dat??
I tried to take photos of the Empire State Building. It was pouring rain though so all I got was a bunch of CLOUD. Instead, I stood under the canopy at the bottom and was shielded from the rain. I compensated the lack of building by posing with the little sign that says Empire State Building.
Yeah, somehow the whole "compensation" idea didn't really pan out.
So this was in my kitchen on the day of the Australia party:
Unfortch, I can't show you all the photos I'd like to cos they all have kids in them, but F went ALL OUT.
This is the fountain in the park where they had the picnic.
It's such a nice park.
This is the putt putt place where I had my first au pair meeting:
Even though I'm not a putt putt fan, it was a pretty cool place.
Bad hair day = headband.
Patty, another au pair from Brazil, and I:
The next few are from Martha's Vineyard. Not that many- sorry guys.
This is the CHANDELIER in BATHROOM in my room!!!
This is Chappaquidick. It has some history about Robert Kennedy or another Kennedy crashing his car into the water with his girlfriend/mistress in it and abandoning her and running all the way from the part on the left where you can see sand to directly in front of where the photo was taken, then swimming from there to Martha's Vineyard, all in a matter of minutes. Yet another Kennedy cover-up. The sad thing is that the girl could have survived if he'd gotten help, or TRIED TO HELP HER.
This is the Bank of Martha's Vineyard. It's covered in cobblestones. Crazy.
I'll post the rest of the photos in the next post because they deserve their own post.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Farewell to my GHD
Well, it looks like I'll be having no more Good Hair Days for the next year. I've finally found some info on voltage transformers (damn you people of Best Buy! You were no help to me!) off the net, and looks like my GHD is 2500 watts, meaning I'd need a 3000 watt transformer, which costs they lovely amount of.... US$120. I mean, really! I could buy half my straightener with that type of money!!
I'll have to borrow S's and see how her's is.....
I'll have to borrow S's and see how her's is.....
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
No, I'm not dead
Sorry guys! Been out at Martha's Vineyard. We got back one hour ago and I'll post about it all maybe tomorrow when my head isn't pounding like crazy.
Also, I gots me some mail today, and in it? MY CAMERA CORDS!!! YAY! So there may even be photos. NO! SHUT UP!! I kid you not.
Also, I gots me some mail today, and in it? MY CAMERA CORDS!!! YAY! So there may even be photos. NO! SHUT UP!! I kid you not.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
I'm so over SWEET BREAD
Ok. Last night, I was tired and cranky, and just wanted a nice, mortadella sandwich. Nothing fancy- just a piece of bread with a slice of mortadella inside. I take a bite and....... I TASTE SUGAR INSTEAD OF SALT. I can't even describe how angry I was. I've been here two weeks and the bread is annoying the crap outta me. Everyone's like, "Oh, you'll get used to it." I'm sorry, but I don't think I want to get used to something as awful as sweet bread. BREAD SHOULD BE FLAVOURLESS. Or taste like BREAD, not a confectionary.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Day off
Man, I'm so cranky at myself for not having packed my camera cord. I'm going to call nan tonight to get her to send it over with all my mail.
So today's my first full Saturday here, marking my first week on the job. I'll talk about yesterday first though.
Around the block from us is this park (literally a two minute walk) with gorgeous fountains and a play area. The Parks Council organised something called "Picnic in the Park" to celebrate Summer and it was for parents and children. Well, it was fantastic. It was all free and we just brought a rug and a mini esky with some sandwhiches and drinks. They had a singer, jumping castles, blow-up slides, face painting and balloon animals for the kids, and IT WAS ALL FREE. Why don't they do that sort of thing here? I mean, they do do it here. I mean at home. :S I'm so confused.
So that's pretty much all I did yesterday, that and take J to his karate lesson.
The kids have to complete these Summer Bridging workbooks. Basically it's so they don't just blank out everything they've learnt this last year for the next two and a half months. I'm loving it because it takes up about 45 mins of the day and it's fun helping J out. By the time S stops whinging about having to do hers though or trying to get out of doing it, she would be finished! It was so funny watching her argue with her mom (<-on purpose) that she should have to do it. It was just like, erm, sweetie, you're not going to win this one!! Besides, she's going to get $20 when she completes it! Kids these days. ;) Today's Saturday so it's my free day. I didn't have anywhere to go though. I was thinking of walking to the library, but it was yuck and overcast so I couldn't be bothered. And I don't know anyone here, so I can just go meet someone for coffee. That's Ok though, cos F's parents came down for lunch. They originally came to see J's baseball game, but it was cancelled due to the weather (it was raining this morning). They were gorgeous F's mom is from the south and her accent was so cute! And she's totally crazy cos she loved the Vegemite and kept on eating crackers smeared with it. You know what I tried today for the first time? A BISCUIT. Mmm hmm. That's right. Our "biscuits" at home are cookies here (I kind of knew that), but biscuits here are like bread! It's so weird. F got this can out of the fridge and these dough-like things came out and she popped them on the frying pan and they became this weird bread things. I'm still so confused.
So today's my first full Saturday here, marking my first week on the job. I'll talk about yesterday first though.
Around the block from us is this park (literally a two minute walk) with gorgeous fountains and a play area. The Parks Council organised something called "Picnic in the Park" to celebrate Summer and it was for parents and children. Well, it was fantastic. It was all free and we just brought a rug and a mini esky with some sandwhiches and drinks. They had a singer, jumping castles, blow-up slides, face painting and balloon animals for the kids, and IT WAS ALL FREE. Why don't they do that sort of thing here? I mean, they do do it here. I mean at home. :S I'm so confused.
So that's pretty much all I did yesterday, that and take J to his karate lesson.
The kids have to complete these Summer Bridging workbooks. Basically it's so they don't just blank out everything they've learnt this last year for the next two and a half months. I'm loving it because it takes up about 45 mins of the day and it's fun helping J out. By the time S stops whinging about having to do hers though or trying to get out of doing it, she would be finished! It was so funny watching her argue with her mom (<-on purpose) that she should have to do it. It was just like, erm, sweetie, you're not going to win this one!! Besides, she's going to get $20 when she completes it! Kids these days. ;) Today's Saturday so it's my free day. I didn't have anywhere to go though. I was thinking of walking to the library, but it was yuck and overcast so I couldn't be bothered. And I don't know anyone here, so I can just go meet someone for coffee. That's Ok though, cos F's parents came down for lunch. They originally came to see J's baseball game, but it was cancelled due to the weather (it was raining this morning). They were gorgeous F's mom is from the south and her accent was so cute! And she's totally crazy cos she loved the Vegemite and kept on eating crackers smeared with it. You know what I tried today for the first time? A BISCUIT. Mmm hmm. That's right. Our "biscuits" at home are cookies here (I kind of knew that), but biscuits here are like bread! It's so weird. F got this can out of the fridge and these dough-like things came out and she popped them on the frying pan and they became this weird bread things. I'm still so confused.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Summer Lovin'
So all is going well.
I can't remember if I wrote about us having an Australian themed party or not.......
Well, so we had an Australian themed party! Lol. It was just a lunch and we invited J's friends and their moms (<- note the spelling. It's even the way I think of these people, cos they're seriously not mums, they're moms). We had an Australian quiz and vegemite tasting (so funny to watch) and the kids got aussie pens and pencils. F went all out. Seriously. She was up heaps late making a cheese cake and all this other stuff. She went out and bought red, white and blue table cloths and stuff, and bought a flag pole to put up the flag that Dan bought me. Unfortunately the flag pole holder she has was too small, so we just taped it to the front door.
Here's the Australia quiz questions:
Name two Australian animals that start with the letter K.
Name the capital of Australia.
Which continent is Australia on?
How many of the world’s 10 most poisonous snakes are from Australia?
What are the native people of Australia called?
Is Australia in the Northern or Southern hemisphere?
Name two famous people from Australia.
Which of these is native to Australia: crocodiles or alligators?
What colours are in the Australian flag?
What side of the street do Australians drive on?
What language do people in Australia speak?
What’s J’s new au pair’s name?
Some of the answers were funny. Our native people are Indians, by the way. ;) I helped most of them though.
So I've been driving heaps now. It's getting much easier. What hard is to orientate myself with the roads and stuff, but I'm getting the hang of it now.
I opened up a bank account today and have applied for my social security number. That will take 6-8 weeks to come through cos apparently immigration put my visa details in wrong and put me in as an F (student) visa instead of a J (au pair) visa. Morons!
The weather has been awesome. And cos I'm with the kids, I've been in the sun more in the past 6 days than I think I have in the past 10 years. Jonas, you happy now? I may even develop a tan (doubt it though).
I went to this place called Panera which is this chain that's a cross between Baker's Delight, cos you can buy bread and pastries, but you can also get sandwiches and rolls and soup and it's soooooooooo good!!! You'd all love it. And it's pretty cheap. There's this deal where you can get soup and half a sandwhich/roll/salad for $5.99. I couldn't eat it all, but it was yummo.
I went to Walmart this evening! I was looking forward to it cos you always hear about it. It's just Kmart though, but bigger. Oh, and has it's own Subway eatery inside. Go figure.
You're all going to say I'm the biggest nerd (if you don't already say that), but I went to the library yesterday to get some books for J, and OH MY GOD!!! It's HUGE!!! It's like the newly renovated Castle Hill, only HUGE and FULL of books, and it has a Sanity sized CD selection, and so many DVDs, and about 50 computers that you can use for free for an hour. And it also has all these programmes and reading groups and EVERYTHING you can imagine and more. This library is like my mecca. It's calling to me. Lol. Ok, maybe not, but it's just awesome. Even non-readers would go in there and be impressed.
I can't remember if I wrote about us having an Australian themed party or not.......
Well, so we had an Australian themed party! Lol. It was just a lunch and we invited J's friends and their moms (<- note the spelling. It's even the way I think of these people, cos they're seriously not mums, they're moms). We had an Australian quiz and vegemite tasting (so funny to watch) and the kids got aussie pens and pencils. F went all out. Seriously. She was up heaps late making a cheese cake and all this other stuff. She went out and bought red, white and blue table cloths and stuff, and bought a flag pole to put up the flag that Dan bought me. Unfortunately the flag pole holder she has was too small, so we just taped it to the front door.
Here's the Australia quiz questions:
Name two Australian animals that start with the letter K.
Name the capital of Australia.
Which continent is Australia on?
How many of the world’s 10 most poisonous snakes are from Australia?
What are the native people of Australia called?
Is Australia in the Northern or Southern hemisphere?
Name two famous people from Australia.
Which of these is native to Australia: crocodiles or alligators?
What colours are in the Australian flag?
What side of the street do Australians drive on?
What language do people in Australia speak?
What’s J’s new au pair’s name?
Some of the answers were funny. Our native people are Indians, by the way. ;) I helped most of them though.
So I've been driving heaps now. It's getting much easier. What hard is to orientate myself with the roads and stuff, but I'm getting the hang of it now.
I opened up a bank account today and have applied for my social security number. That will take 6-8 weeks to come through cos apparently immigration put my visa details in wrong and put me in as an F (student) visa instead of a J (au pair) visa. Morons!
The weather has been awesome. And cos I'm with the kids, I've been in the sun more in the past 6 days than I think I have in the past 10 years. Jonas, you happy now? I may even develop a tan (doubt it though).
I went to this place called Panera which is this chain that's a cross between Baker's Delight, cos you can buy bread and pastries, but you can also get sandwiches and rolls and soup and it's soooooooooo good!!! You'd all love it. And it's pretty cheap. There's this deal where you can get soup and half a sandwhich/roll/salad for $5.99. I couldn't eat it all, but it was yummo.
I went to Walmart this evening! I was looking forward to it cos you always hear about it. It's just Kmart though, but bigger. Oh, and has it's own Subway eatery inside. Go figure.
You're all going to say I'm the biggest nerd (if you don't already say that), but I went to the library yesterday to get some books for J, and OH MY GOD!!! It's HUGE!!! It's like the newly renovated Castle Hill, only HUGE and FULL of books, and it has a Sanity sized CD selection, and so many DVDs, and about 50 computers that you can use for free for an hour. And it also has all these programmes and reading groups and EVERYTHING you can imagine and more. This library is like my mecca. It's calling to me. Lol. Ok, maybe not, but it's just awesome. Even non-readers would go in there and be impressed.
Monday, June 05, 2006
I've nearly been run over three times... MUST LOOK LEFT!
OK. So I'll kind of fill in what happened before everything in the last post took place, then fill in things since then.
The plane trip was just terrible. United Airlines sucks, but that says since my host mum works for them I think I'll prolly be flying a lot more of them :(. For the first flight I was sitting next to this scary man. He was scary cos he seemed so cranky and I was scared to disturb him everytime I needed to go to the bathroom ( I was in the middle, he was aisle). On the window side of me though was Jennifer, one of the normal aussie chicks. Also on our flight was Mel, the crazy annoying one.
So after much drama in SFO running from one side of the airport to the other and then being delayed at the Xray place cos I had too much hand luggage. I had my Puma bag, a plastic bag with the aboriginal print I'd brought and some shoes, and my hand bag. Personally, I can't count the hand bag as a third piece of baggage, but apparently it is. WTF. The woman kept going, "Ma'am, I won't let you on until you consolidate." So I put my handbag (crammed my handbag!) into my Puma bag. Then she's like, "You need to consolidate." And I'm like, "But I consolidated!!! I consolidated!!!!" and then she made me put my plasic bag into a big santa sack of a plastic bag, which was bigger and more awkward to carry, thus making her "consolidation" requests obsolete. Consolidate this.
The flight from SFO to JFK was uneventful, except that I was sitting next to Jen again and we had a nice lady sitting next to us on the aisle. Also, when I went to the bathroom to wash the gross off me, one of the flight attendants (male, and that's all I'll say: No Judgement!!!) and I started joking around and he was all, "I want your bag" (the pink Puma one) and I was joking he could have it if the offer was good enough. Then later in the flight he came up and gave my friend and I hot nuts ("Would you like some hot nuts?" Well, put it that way....) and no one else on the flight was offered any. We felt very priveledged.
You know what else made us feel priveledged??? LIMOSINE TRANSFERS FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE TRAINING SCHOOL!!!! So much fun. Mel, the other aussie on our flight, was touching all the buttons and playing with everything. Then she laughed. Can you tell which was the annoying girl for the rest of the trip. I think she put most of it on. Like, she'd start singing to herself. My theory is that she was doing it to get a reaction, so I ignored her. I'm such a bitch, but I really just didn't have the patience to deal with her. By the second day there (first day of training) I casually mentioned to one of the other girls (hey, for all I knew they loved her and thought she was endearing!) that I'm kind of over Mel and thankfully they all agreed.
I've told you about the school and all that. But did you guyd know we had a graduation ceremony! Lol. And an international singalong. You had to sing a song from your country that was for kids and had hand actions. Only one we could think of was Home Among the Gumtrees. It's much harder to get up and sing with only four people than it is for say, the Germans who had 60.
New York was such a disappointment. It was pouring. :'( We didn't really do much there, and really only had an hour to look around (in the rain wearing loser garbage bag ponchos) so we went to HM and that's it. Bought some really ugly post cards. Sorry guys, but they were only cheap- 20 for $1!! My aussie chicks and I are hoping to be able to go back in a few months and spend the weekend. Then we'll do it properly.
Oh, and I GOT SICK. I think it was a combo of the rain, the aircon on the coach to and from NY, and the lack of sleep, but now I'm really sick. Goddamn!!
So Saturday, got on another flight, this time to Chicago. I was so nervous, but then I got off the plane and F, S and J were there waiting for me and gave me hugs. They were so lovely. Haven't met Dad-J yet cos on Sat morning he had to head out for this annual family thing that he couldn't miss, but I spoke to him on the phone and he seems really nice.
It's so weird walking around the house and thinking that this will be my home for the next year, this will be my room, my bathroom etc. On Saturday evening I went to J's baseball game and it was soooo cute, all these little kids dressed up in their baseball outfits. Sarah's so friendly and outgoing, it's insane.
Last night I drove for the first time. SOOOOOO SCARY!!! I kept turning and finding myself in the wrong lane. And I kept turning the windscreen wipers on when I went to indicate. Lol!
So today I'm going to be doing a whole lot more driving. Should be fun.....
Oh, and Jackie, my email address is sarah_joan_lynch(at)hotmail.com Just replace the (at) with @.
Miss you all.
I'd call but the phone's not working here cos it's hooked to the internet and wireless, but that keeps playing up.
Mary, tell nan I'm fine.
The plane trip was just terrible. United Airlines sucks, but that says since my host mum works for them I think I'll prolly be flying a lot more of them :(. For the first flight I was sitting next to this scary man. He was scary cos he seemed so cranky and I was scared to disturb him everytime I needed to go to the bathroom ( I was in the middle, he was aisle). On the window side of me though was Jennifer, one of the normal aussie chicks. Also on our flight was Mel, the crazy annoying one.
So after much drama in SFO running from one side of the airport to the other and then being delayed at the Xray place cos I had too much hand luggage. I had my Puma bag, a plastic bag with the aboriginal print I'd brought and some shoes, and my hand bag. Personally, I can't count the hand bag as a third piece of baggage, but apparently it is. WTF. The woman kept going, "Ma'am, I won't let you on until you consolidate." So I put my handbag (crammed my handbag!) into my Puma bag. Then she's like, "You need to consolidate." And I'm like, "But I consolidated!!! I consolidated!!!!" and then she made me put my plasic bag into a big santa sack of a plastic bag, which was bigger and more awkward to carry, thus making her "consolidation" requests obsolete. Consolidate this.
The flight from SFO to JFK was uneventful, except that I was sitting next to Jen again and we had a nice lady sitting next to us on the aisle. Also, when I went to the bathroom to wash the gross off me, one of the flight attendants (male, and that's all I'll say: No Judgement!!!) and I started joking around and he was all, "I want your bag" (the pink Puma one) and I was joking he could have it if the offer was good enough. Then later in the flight he came up and gave my friend and I hot nuts ("Would you like some hot nuts?" Well, put it that way....) and no one else on the flight was offered any. We felt very priveledged.
You know what else made us feel priveledged??? LIMOSINE TRANSFERS FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE TRAINING SCHOOL!!!! So much fun. Mel, the other aussie on our flight, was touching all the buttons and playing with everything. Then she laughed. Can you tell which was the annoying girl for the rest of the trip. I think she put most of it on. Like, she'd start singing to herself. My theory is that she was doing it to get a reaction, so I ignored her. I'm such a bitch, but I really just didn't have the patience to deal with her. By the second day there (first day of training) I casually mentioned to one of the other girls (hey, for all I knew they loved her and thought she was endearing!) that I'm kind of over Mel and thankfully they all agreed.
I've told you about the school and all that. But did you guyd know we had a graduation ceremony! Lol. And an international singalong. You had to sing a song from your country that was for kids and had hand actions. Only one we could think of was Home Among the Gumtrees. It's much harder to get up and sing with only four people than it is for say, the Germans who had 60.
New York was such a disappointment. It was pouring. :'( We didn't really do much there, and really only had an hour to look around (in the rain wearing loser garbage bag ponchos) so we went to HM and that's it. Bought some really ugly post cards. Sorry guys, but they were only cheap- 20 for $1!! My aussie chicks and I are hoping to be able to go back in a few months and spend the weekend. Then we'll do it properly.
Oh, and I GOT SICK. I think it was a combo of the rain, the aircon on the coach to and from NY, and the lack of sleep, but now I'm really sick. Goddamn!!
So Saturday, got on another flight, this time to Chicago. I was so nervous, but then I got off the plane and F, S and J were there waiting for me and gave me hugs. They were so lovely. Haven't met Dad-J yet cos on Sat morning he had to head out for this annual family thing that he couldn't miss, but I spoke to him on the phone and he seems really nice.
It's so weird walking around the house and thinking that this will be my home for the next year, this will be my room, my bathroom etc. On Saturday evening I went to J's baseball game and it was soooo cute, all these little kids dressed up in their baseball outfits. Sarah's so friendly and outgoing, it's insane.
Last night I drove for the first time. SOOOOOO SCARY!!! I kept turning and finding myself in the wrong lane. And I kept turning the windscreen wipers on when I went to indicate. Lol!
So today I'm going to be doing a whole lot more driving. Should be fun.....
Oh, and Jackie, my email address is sarah_joan_lynch(at)hotmail.com Just replace the (at) with @.
Miss you all.
I'd call but the phone's not working here cos it's hooked to the internet and wireless, but that keeps playing up.
Mary, tell nan I'm fine.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Au Pair Training School, NY
Can't type much... explain the flight later...
I'm having an OK time here so far. Not great, and I'll tell you why:
I'm TIRED AS. SO, SO TIRED. Remember that I missed an entire day's worth of sleep, and I haven't had a full night's sleep since then... well, apart from last night, but it still wasn't long enough seeing as I had to get up at 7 o'clock this morning... Not happy, Jan.
Also, there's only 4 of us ozzies..... AND WE CANNOT STAND ONE OF THE GIRLS. Honest to god, I cannot tell you how much she is annoying us (keeping it clean) all. And the fact that we are sleep deprived is not helping matters. She's from Toowoomba (first clue) and has the most ANNOYING laugh!!! It's embarrassing too, cos it's so loud. And she just says random things. Not cute random, but ANNNNNNNOYING random, which leaves us going WTF?? And she giggles at stupid things that aren't funny and is loud and obnoxious. And we're worried that she's making everyone think that all Australians are weird like her. And she is like that from the beginning of the day, when I'm tired and cranky. And I want to kill her.
We haven't really made any international friends because everyone here sits in groups talking whichever language they speak, which is fine, but it gets to the point where you'd feel rude walking up to people and forcing them to speak english with you. Apparently one of the rules here is that you have to speak english, but that flies out the door the moment you arrive. We speak english in the classrooms, but that's it.
AND OH, THE CLASSES!!!!!! Wow!!! These are so effing FANTASTIC. I'm so GLAD I'm here. So INFORMATIVE and NOT IN ANY WAY BORING. Did you know that it's not ok to shake a baby??? Hmm?? Yeah, that's right. Thank god they told me that!!! I'm so glad. SO GLAD. And the classes were totally designed for people that speak english as a second language. I'm bored outta my brain. There's this Swedish girl, Josefine, who sits with me, and god love her, she's exactly the same as me. Lol. She rolls her eyes at everything and shares those why-the-hell-are-we-here looks. Makes it a little more bareable.
ALSO, I learnt that SNOT is a BAD WORD!!! You can't say you have a snotty nose, you have to say you have a booger in your nose. Personally, I think booger sounds ridiculous!
So yeah.
I'm having an OK time here so far. Not great, and I'll tell you why:
I'm TIRED AS. SO, SO TIRED. Remember that I missed an entire day's worth of sleep, and I haven't had a full night's sleep since then... well, apart from last night, but it still wasn't long enough seeing as I had to get up at 7 o'clock this morning... Not happy, Jan.
Also, there's only 4 of us ozzies..... AND WE CANNOT STAND ONE OF THE GIRLS. Honest to god, I cannot tell you how much she is annoying us (keeping it clean) all. And the fact that we are sleep deprived is not helping matters. She's from Toowoomba (first clue) and has the most ANNOYING laugh!!! It's embarrassing too, cos it's so loud. And she just says random things. Not cute random, but ANNNNNNNOYING random, which leaves us going WTF?? And she giggles at stupid things that aren't funny and is loud and obnoxious. And we're worried that she's making everyone think that all Australians are weird like her. And she is like that from the beginning of the day, when I'm tired and cranky. And I want to kill her.
We haven't really made any international friends because everyone here sits in groups talking whichever language they speak, which is fine, but it gets to the point where you'd feel rude walking up to people and forcing them to speak english with you. Apparently one of the rules here is that you have to speak english, but that flies out the door the moment you arrive. We speak english in the classrooms, but that's it.
AND OH, THE CLASSES!!!!!! Wow!!! These are so effing FANTASTIC. I'm so GLAD I'm here. So INFORMATIVE and NOT IN ANY WAY BORING. Did you know that it's not ok to shake a baby??? Hmm?? Yeah, that's right. Thank god they told me that!!! I'm so glad. SO GLAD. And the classes were totally designed for people that speak english as a second language. I'm bored outta my brain. There's this Swedish girl, Josefine, who sits with me, and god love her, she's exactly the same as me. Lol. She rolls her eyes at everything and shares those why-the-hell-are-we-here looks. Makes it a little more bareable.
ALSO, I learnt that SNOT is a BAD WORD!!! You can't say you have a snotty nose, you have to say you have a booger in your nose. Personally, I think booger sounds ridiculous!
So yeah.
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