This may not be my final New York blog (I still have one weekend left to write about) but it is going to be my 'Goodbye New York' blog.
It has always been my dream to come and live in New York, and the feeling of a dream coming true...is unbelievable. This year has superceeded all my expectations and will not be a year I forget quickly. The memories, the experiences and the changes have been wonderful and it is so very hard to say goodbye.
New York City. Everything that's ever been written, said or sung about it seems to be true. It's a world of its own - an amazing city with so much to see, do and experience that even a lifetime wouldn't be long enough. I have been to almost every neighbourhood and experienced its uniqueness.
I've been lucky enough to feel the flavour of Harlem at the theatrical heart - the 'Apollo Theatre'.
I've walked up the upperclass streets of the Upper East Side and seen the most beautiful brownstones straight out of a movie. I've slept on the Upper West Side and explored its Museum of Natural History half a dozen times.
In between these two neighbourhoods is Central Park, without a doubt one of my favourite places in the city (and no I will not spell favourite without the 'u'). It's hard to describe the feeling, but let me try. Being in such a busy, bustling, crazy, non-stop city one moment, then as soon as you step into the park it's the complete opposite. Even in the middle of summer, in the most packed part of the park, you feel all of a sudden calmer, more serene and alone. Even with all those people you still feel like the park is just yours and no-one else should really be there. The carousel, Woolman skating rink, Alice in Wonderland statue, Belvedere Castle, the great lawn, the mall, Bethesda Fountain - the list goes on and on and every inch of the park is beautiful and different and amazing. Something that was completely man designed feels completely natural. Each season is uniquely different and beautiful - bright flowers in the spring, hot beaming sun of the summer, yellow leaves engulfing you during fall and a blanket of white snow during winter. I love this park and it will be one of the things I miss most about the city.
Midtown (or tourist central) has been my destination more times then I can count. Times Square, 5th Avenue, Bryant Park, Hell's Kitchen. I have walked these places dozens of times - or when it comes to Times Square I should say I've been cattle proded through! I've felt rich and glamourous walking past Prada, Tiffany & Co and Saks 5th Avenue. I've felt epileptic viewing the lights, people and energy of Times Square.
My other favourite place in the city, after the park, is the village (Greenwich Village) where I've lunched, shopped, wandered and watched the parade from. It is a wonderful little neighbourhood and my choice of where to live if I ever moved to New York. The people and flavour of the neighbourhood is edgy, artsy, bohemian, intelligant. Its a great example of how different each neighbourhood of Manhattan is - like they are each their own seperate little cities within the big city.
Chinatown where you can't walk a step without someone asking you to buy their product or someone whispering in your ear 'Prada, Gucci, Chanel'.
Little Italy, this alive, boistrious little neighbourhood full of restaurant after restaurant of delicious smelling food.
Battery Park - the furtherest point south on the island. It's also home to ferries to both Staten and Liberty island, both of which I've ridden on. They give the most amazing views of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty who looks over all the hustle and bustle. The city's skyline takes my breath away whether by daylight or under the stars.
It's not just the neighbourhoods themselves I'll miss but also the memories I've made in them on numerous trips with my dear friends. Riding around town in the big Sex & the City bus drinking Carrie's cosmos and eating Magnolia cupcakes. Seeing 'The Lion King' with Sarah and 'Chicago' with Laura; and of course my favourite 'Wicked'. Exploring the Times Square shops for the first time with Casey and eating at Planet Hollywood with AJ. Playing in the snow at Central Park with the girls after lunch at 'Serendipitys'. Watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade or picnicing in Central Park.
This city feels like a living thing, always moving, always changing, always growing, always alive - and I always feel alive when I'm in it. Definitly going to miss old New York.
New York is not the only place I am saying goodbye to. Westchester County has been my home for almost 12 months and even though its more the memories I'll miss then actual places, its definitly going to be sad to eat my last dinner at 'The Cheesecake Factory' or drink my last frappe at 'Starbucks'. I'll have to get use to saying Amcal again instead of CVS and won't be able to eat anymore crazy Westchester yoghurt. I will say goodbye to my favourite spot at the River (but never goodbye to my bench buddies) and even the aqueduct (LOL). CPK, the cinemas & target, the strip/central ave.
The last, hardest, saddest goodbyes will be to my beautiful friends. Alice, Alissa, Frannie, Lou, Sarah, Steph, Matt, Emily, Jade, Christina, Dani, Olivia, Becky. All have been apart of my year for at least a few months, and all have a place in my heart. When I first got here Alice, Alissa, Frannie and Lou welcomed me with open arms especially Alice and Alissa. Sarah and Steph soon followed and quickly became my lifesavers. Matt was with us for a few months and then summer hit and Emily, Jade, Christina and Dani added their own awesome flavours to the group. Lastly, Olivia and Becky have arrived in the last month and have become great friends so quickly.
Alice and Alissa, you girls are a package and a package I could not do without! Alice, your kindness and selflessness is so beautiful! Your always there for everyone and so considerate and just a great friend. Alissa you are such a strong woman and so funny and confident. You girls have only been gone a short while and I already miss you! You were here basically my whole year, and it wouldn't have been what it was without you. Thankgod we live close back home, and will see each other soon!
Frannie how I loved it when you were here and oh how I've missed you since you've gone :( You are a crazy, fun, loyal friend who I have shared so many fun times with by the river, in the city and shared so many secrets and memories and jokes. I have definitly made a friend for life with you, and I can't wait for the next time we can travel together!
Becki and Olivia, I have barely spent a month with you girls, but I have loved every minute! Olivia you are so smily and cheerful and Becki you are so funny and such a lovely person. I wish we had more time together, but I know we can always keep in touch.
Lou, scrapbooking queen, so funny and stylish. Glad we got a chance to know each other before you moved to Boston, and am sure we will catch up back in Oz.
Jade you funny sexy pants gal! Will miss you lots but I am sure we will still skype a plenty (clothes optional)!
Matt even though you were only in Westchester a couple months, you are still a great friend, and I miss you dearly.
Dani I am going to miss having fun with you! You are so funny and crazy and just bring the party to life! You always swim through the nile, and make your way across the plains of Africa to hang out with us, and I'm so glad you do!
Emily, Emily, Emily you crazy awesome girl! I love everything about you and am so glad to call you my friend =) Words can't describe you, and I can't wait to see you back in Australia!
Christina, you sexy sexy bitch! Love that we share the same sense of humour, love that you are also so very good to talk to, a great listener with great advice. Can't wait to see you in Brisvegas and the GC, party on when you get home!
Steph my fellow hag, haha gonna miss you soooo much! The laughter, the hulk, the memories. I can't wait to see you back on both coasts, and I hope you live it up during the rest of your stay here. My year wouldn't be the same without you!
Sarah my bench buddy, cant describe how much I will miss you. Don't be surprised to come home and find me knitting with Elphie, all my bags unpacked ready to live on your coast haha. So glad you have been here almost all my year and I got to spend so much time, and so many memories, and such a beautiful friendship with you.
I love all my New York (and CT) Aussie girls and can't wait to see them again.
Saying goodbye to this era of my life, this city, and these friends is going to be impossibly hard but I will never forget this year, and have so many memories to choose from. I know I'll be back in New York one day, and I know I will see my friends again soon.
Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today New York, New York... If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
We wish you a merry mixed party...
Saturday was Boxing Day which silly Americans don't celebrate but Emma had a mixed party at her place. It was a Christmas, Boxing Day, Dani's b'day, Sarah's b'day, Emma's Farewell party. Each of the girls (Sarah, Steph, Christina, Dani, Emily, Becky, Olivia) bought something to eat and we had organised Secret Santa a few weeks earlier so we placed the presents around a mini tree. I had Emily and made her a box of oracle cards and Christina had me and bought me an absolutely gorgeous cocktail ring. We all had some drinks, danced to some songs (Steps, Spice girls, Macarena, Nutbush...) and watched some funny clips online. It was a really fun night, as all the nights with the girls are =)
Sunday, Sarah's birthday, we headed straight to Little Italy for a delicious lunch. It was such a quaint pretty little restaurant on Mulberry St, the girl's had woodfire pizza and I had lobster ravioli. It's a lovely neighbourhood with hundreds of Italian restaurants, bakeries and compliments. We ate some delicious gelato before heading downtown to Century 21 a discount department store. Things were a little wild in there, but we picked up a few bargains. Then we walked up Broadway, stopping in every shoe and clothing store that caught Sarah's eye! Over to Greenwich village for dinner at Jekyl and Hyde a horror themed restaurant. It was more family orientated with characters walking around and crazy scary talking audio animatronics on the walls. It was so much fun though, especially when one of the character's talked to us about Sarah's birthday!!
Sunday, Sarah's birthday, we headed straight to Little Italy for a delicious lunch. It was such a quaint pretty little restaurant on Mulberry St, the girl's had woodfire pizza and I had lobster ravioli. It's a lovely neighbourhood with hundreds of Italian restaurants, bakeries and compliments. We ate some delicious gelato before heading downtown to Century 21 a discount department store. Things were a little wild in there, but we picked up a few bargains. Then we walked up Broadway, stopping in every shoe and clothing store that caught Sarah's eye! Over to Greenwich village for dinner at Jekyl and Hyde a horror themed restaurant. It was more family orientated with characters walking around and crazy scary talking audio animatronics on the walls. It was so much fun though, especially when one of the character's talked to us about Sarah's birthday!!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...
Wednesday night Sarah, Steph and I got together to go look at the Christmas lights. We didn't really find any but it was fun driving around listening to carols anyway. Before we did this though, we parked at the River and gave each other our Christmas gifts. Each of us recieved a shutterfly scrapbook created by the other two. They were also our going away presents to each other so it was very lovely and I love mine!
Thursday, Christmas Eve in New York, I worked during the day until about 5pm when my family left to church. I used this time to call Kristy and Brock for some Christmas wishes (Krystle & Renee, no answer, how rude) before having a skype date with my family (where it was already Christmas morning) at 7pm my time. By this time my host family was downstairs running around and screaming as they were preparing for a Christmas Eve party.I talked to Mum, Dad, Jas and Jessica for a bit and opened my lovely presents from them - bracelets, underwear and a 2010 diary. Then I went downstairs to join the party. It was lovely with all my host mom's friends there who I have known throughout the year from summer lake houses, playdates or dinners. We drunk alot, and ate a buffet style Christmas dinner with ham, hot vegies, pasta and the works. Then we had a sea of desserts to see us into midnight, sitting by the roaring fire, with the snow on the ground outside. Very lovely, very Christmassy (but not the same without my family there).
Friday, Christmas morning, my host family and I sat around the Christmas tree and opened Santa's presents. The kids loved the gifts I got them, and Eileen especially loved the scrapbook that I made the family. I was very lucky and recieved one of my host dad's photographs of New York and from my host mom I recieved a beautiful picture book about New York, a lovely hand painted Christmas ornament, a mini travel book about Disneyworld, some 2009 mint coins and some stocking goodies. Then spent the morning playing with the kids and them with their toys before we had a lovely breakfast together at around 11. Then at 2 the family headed off to Long Island to see their family. So I stayed chilling around the house with the place to myself!! It was lovely I just watched some movies and lay in bed. Then at around 7pm Sarah and Steph came over and we chilled out till 11pm. Overall it was a good Christmas, but I definitly missed by family so much on this day! Not long till I see them though!
Thursday, Christmas Eve in New York, I worked during the day until about 5pm when my family left to church. I used this time to call Kristy and Brock for some Christmas wishes (Krystle & Renee, no answer, how rude) before having a skype date with my family (where it was already Christmas morning) at 7pm my time. By this time my host family was downstairs running around and screaming as they were preparing for a Christmas Eve party.I talked to Mum, Dad, Jas and Jessica for a bit and opened my lovely presents from them - bracelets, underwear and a 2010 diary. Then I went downstairs to join the party. It was lovely with all my host mom's friends there who I have known throughout the year from summer lake houses, playdates or dinners. We drunk alot, and ate a buffet style Christmas dinner with ham, hot vegies, pasta and the works. Then we had a sea of desserts to see us into midnight, sitting by the roaring fire, with the snow on the ground outside. Very lovely, very Christmassy (but not the same without my family there).
Friday, Christmas morning, my host family and I sat around the Christmas tree and opened Santa's presents. The kids loved the gifts I got them, and Eileen especially loved the scrapbook that I made the family. I was very lucky and recieved one of my host dad's photographs of New York and from my host mom I recieved a beautiful picture book about New York, a lovely hand painted Christmas ornament, a mini travel book about Disneyworld, some 2009 mint coins and some stocking goodies. Then spent the morning playing with the kids and them with their toys before we had a lovely breakfast together at around 11. Then at 2 the family headed off to Long Island to see their family. So I stayed chilling around the house with the place to myself!! It was lovely I just watched some movies and lay in bed. Then at around 7pm Sarah and Steph came over and we chilled out till 11pm. Overall it was a good Christmas, but I definitly missed by family so much on this day! Not long till I see them though!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Friday night was a huge aupair Christmas party with 7 LCC groups from Westchester County attending. We didn't get there until late because I had been with my host family picking out a Christmas tree (a real one!!!). When we arrived however it was a big hall with no music and a few doritoes and cookies to eat. It was pretty pathetic, and though it was good to see all the aussie girls, it was a bit of a waste of time. Apparently last year's xmasparty had been good so we were hoping this one would be but oh well. Us girls are having our own Chrissie party on Boxing day so it didn't matter so much.
Saturday afternoon a big blizzard was predicted. It snowed a little bit but the bulk of the snow came overnight. So a few of us gathered at Sarah's (her hosties were out of town) for the night. Christina, Dani, Steph, Becky, Sarah & I spent the night drinking, dancing and for a few minutes making snow angels in the now pure white blanketed front yard. We danced in the snow and it was such a fun magical evening. The snow was falling fast and there was alot of it (12 inches) and when we woke up everything was pure white. No footprints, everything covered, it was a beautiful magical winter wonderland =) After we all got ready we drove down to the train station, rode into Grand Central and then hauled up at a Mc Donald's for some hangover breakfast. We waited there for Olivia and then caught a cab up to Serendipity's on the Upper East Side. Its a famous cafe with notoriously long lines, so we decided to get there when they opened hoping for a better shot at getting in. They told us we'd have to wait 45 minutes, so we went around the corner to Dylan's Candy Bar and Bloomingdales to bide our time. Serendipity's was such a lovely cafe, beautiful decorations, and a really old New York feel, as it has been around for decades. We all ordered their famous frozen hot chocolate which was delicious abeit expensive. We had some lunch (not the best) and the waiter sung happy birthday to becky, embarrasing her in front of the whole cafe, and getting them to sing along. It wasn't her birthday but it was...a long story! As we were leaving we saw the actor Breckin Meyer (josie & pusscats, road trip, 54). We then walked to Central Park to see the Woolman Skating Rink, the nearby bridge and all the people playing in the snow. It was so truley beautiful and magical and Christmassy. Just like every New York Christmas movie you've ever seen or song you've ever heard! It was breathtaking and oh so fun. All us girls had a big snowball fight and as we were leaving some British boys started throwing snowballs at us and followed us the rest of the time we were in the park throwing snowballs at us!!
As we left the park, we went searching for the LOVE sign, and took some group photos near there. My foot came out of my boot and I stepped in a pile of dirty, freezing cold sleet and started getting the shivers and shakes. So we split up, and Dani, Christina, Becky went home while me, Sarah, Steph, Olivia went and bought me new socks and put my boots under a dryer at Mc Donalds! Then us four went and looked at the big beautiful Rockerfella Christmas tree before cabbing down to Madison Square Garden. Steph's host mom gave her 4 free tickets to see the New York Knicks vs Charlotte Bobcats in basketball. It was really fun to watch and the Knicks won yay!
Was a very long day but a very amazing weekend one of the best this year. Nothing more exciting then being in New York City, walking in a winter wonderland.
Saturday afternoon a big blizzard was predicted. It snowed a little bit but the bulk of the snow came overnight. So a few of us gathered at Sarah's (her hosties were out of town) for the night. Christina, Dani, Steph, Becky, Sarah & I spent the night drinking, dancing and for a few minutes making snow angels in the now pure white blanketed front yard. We danced in the snow and it was such a fun magical evening. The snow was falling fast and there was alot of it (12 inches) and when we woke up everything was pure white. No footprints, everything covered, it was a beautiful magical winter wonderland =) After we all got ready we drove down to the train station, rode into Grand Central and then hauled up at a Mc Donald's for some hangover breakfast. We waited there for Olivia and then caught a cab up to Serendipity's on the Upper East Side. Its a famous cafe with notoriously long lines, so we decided to get there when they opened hoping for a better shot at getting in. They told us we'd have to wait 45 minutes, so we went around the corner to Dylan's Candy Bar and Bloomingdales to bide our time. Serendipity's was such a lovely cafe, beautiful decorations, and a really old New York feel, as it has been around for decades. We all ordered their famous frozen hot chocolate which was delicious abeit expensive. We had some lunch (not the best) and the waiter sung happy birthday to becky, embarrasing her in front of the whole cafe, and getting them to sing along. It wasn't her birthday but it was...a long story! As we were leaving we saw the actor Breckin Meyer (josie & pusscats, road trip, 54). We then walked to Central Park to see the Woolman Skating Rink, the nearby bridge and all the people playing in the snow. It was so truley beautiful and magical and Christmassy. Just like every New York Christmas movie you've ever seen or song you've ever heard! It was breathtaking and oh so fun. All us girls had a big snowball fight and as we were leaving some British boys started throwing snowballs at us and followed us the rest of the time we were in the park throwing snowballs at us!!
As we left the park, we went searching for the LOVE sign, and took some group photos near there. My foot came out of my boot and I stepped in a pile of dirty, freezing cold sleet and started getting the shivers and shakes. So we split up, and Dani, Christina, Becky went home while me, Sarah, Steph, Olivia went and bought me new socks and put my boots under a dryer at Mc Donalds! Then us four went and looked at the big beautiful Rockerfella Christmas tree before cabbing down to Madison Square Garden. Steph's host mom gave her 4 free tickets to see the New York Knicks vs Charlotte Bobcats in basketball. It was really fun to watch and the Knicks won yay!
Was a very long day but a very amazing weekend one of the best this year. Nothing more exciting then being in New York City, walking in a winter wonderland.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Birthday in New York =)
Friday night me, Sarah, Steph, Emily & Dani went over to Alice and Olivia's place just to chill out for Ali's last night in Westchester. The previous night me & Em were up to 1am with her cutting my hair (love it!) and while we were at Alice's she dyed it (chocolate brown, love it!). It was really nice to just relax and chat all night (another 1am night) with the girls. We all wrote message's in Alice's travel journal and it's crazy that she is gone. She has been here since I first arrived, along with Alissa, and our group isn't the same without them.
Saturday morning I met Em, Dani, Alice, Olivia, Christina, Becki & Alissa for breakfast as the absolute final farewell to the girls. We all shared pancakes and hugs - I definitly had some tears rolling! Afterwards I went back to Em's and Christina waxed her, mine & Dani's eyebrows - turning her bedroom into a beauty salon again lol! Emily & I just chilled for the afternoon, doing some arts & crafts projects of hers and barely keeping our eyes open. I was then suppose to work from about 7 till late, but I ended up only really feeding my youngest then my host dad came home early and took over. Which was nice as Saturday night was kind of like a 2nd birthday (but 1st haha). Uncle John called, and because he doesn't have internet, this was the first I'd talked to him all year. I also had a skype date with Mum which I was so happy about, and even though skype kept messing up (grrrrr) we had a good long chat and I opened the pressies she had sent me. A really cute winter dress, a necklace & some yummy (& quickly eaten) chocolate! I chatted online with Renee, and had a phone call with Brock that night as well; and opened cards from Frannie (who had sent me an early present of german choccies & a german tshirt) and Kristy. I also got lots of messages from my aussie friends as it was my bday in Australia at that time. It was a little sad being away this month, because so much goes on in December. There is my bday and Krystle's (missed her 21st :( ) as well as our annual Christmas bus lights tour with Toni & Matt; plus all the other festivites but at the same time I have wonderful traditions to see here and good friends keeping me sane and happy!
Sunday morning I skyped with Frannie while I got ready and met up with Sarah & Steph at Grand Central. Sarah almost bowled me over when she saw me, screaming happy birthday and running across the terminal! It was a miserable day weather wise - raining all day long was not fun at all, but better then ice pellets that were originally predicted! The first thing we did was go to Macy's which is a Christmas Wonderland! It's the biggest department store in the world (for those living under a rock) and its decked all its halls in bounds of holly and more! We took their famous, old, wooden escalators up to Santaland and the line was ridiculously long but luckily very quick moving. The first part of the line is just in the store but then you go through a giant train and it transports you into Santaland which is the most beautifully decorated Santaland I've ever seen! They had bears everywhere and some audioanimatronics and train sets and backdrops and fake snow and trees everywhere. A minitaure village and Christmas carols playing, a nutcracker and snowman! It was truely magical! Then we got to see Santa! He was a very good Santa and we all asked for Tiffany gifts lol and we took a photo with him. After we purchased the photo we went to look at all the decorations and Christmas items for sale. There were some carolers singing in the Christmas section and lovely decorated trees. It was very nice but of course very expensive and the one thing I could afford & desperatly wanted they didn't have (hopefully next time so I won't say what it is now!) but I did get a Macy's Holiday Mickey Mouse plush =)
After Macy's we got some lunch and then met up with Christina, Olivia & Becki in Times Square so we could see the Princess & the Frog. This is the first Disney hand drawn animation they have done in 5 years and the first princess movie since 1992 and it's also their first black princess. It's set in New Orleans and has a great Jazzy touch to the songs. It was a beautiful story and very well done, great songs, but I definitly don't think it;s up there anywhere close to the last 3 princess movies (Little Mermaid, Beauty&Beast, Aladdin).
After the movie the plan was suppose to be to see the Christmas window displays and the Rockerfella tree but the train was disgusting so we decided to stop by 'The Australian' bar for a drink before heading for dinner. We got a free Tim tam each because it was my birthday, and I had a cosmo before we headed to Hamachi Japanese restaurant for dinner. A couple of my other friends were suppose to join us but couldn't make it. Dani & Emily got snowed/iced into their houses and Jade slipped in all the rain & hurt herself. I was so glad I got to talk to them on the phone though! At the restaurant Steph & I tried a Japanese alcoholic drink called sake and got a bit drunk but not too bad! It was so much fun and such yummy food! Sarah and I shared katsudon & a sushi platter. The restaurant bought out their version of a cake - icecream, deep fried banana & mint leaves, mango - it was really delicious with a little candle on top!
Depsite the hideous rain ti was such a beautiful birthday and I had so much fun. It was so great to share it with some of my closest friends in such an amazing city!
Saturday morning I met Em, Dani, Alice, Olivia, Christina, Becki & Alissa for breakfast as the absolute final farewell to the girls. We all shared pancakes and hugs - I definitly had some tears rolling! Afterwards I went back to Em's and Christina waxed her, mine & Dani's eyebrows - turning her bedroom into a beauty salon again lol! Emily & I just chilled for the afternoon, doing some arts & crafts projects of hers and barely keeping our eyes open. I was then suppose to work from about 7 till late, but I ended up only really feeding my youngest then my host dad came home early and took over. Which was nice as Saturday night was kind of like a 2nd birthday (but 1st haha). Uncle John called, and because he doesn't have internet, this was the first I'd talked to him all year. I also had a skype date with Mum which I was so happy about, and even though skype kept messing up (grrrrr) we had a good long chat and I opened the pressies she had sent me. A really cute winter dress, a necklace & some yummy (& quickly eaten) chocolate! I chatted online with Renee, and had a phone call with Brock that night as well; and opened cards from Frannie (who had sent me an early present of german choccies & a german tshirt) and Kristy. I also got lots of messages from my aussie friends as it was my bday in Australia at that time. It was a little sad being away this month, because so much goes on in December. There is my bday and Krystle's (missed her 21st :( ) as well as our annual Christmas bus lights tour with Toni & Matt; plus all the other festivites but at the same time I have wonderful traditions to see here and good friends keeping me sane and happy!
Sunday morning I skyped with Frannie while I got ready and met up with Sarah & Steph at Grand Central. Sarah almost bowled me over when she saw me, screaming happy birthday and running across the terminal! It was a miserable day weather wise - raining all day long was not fun at all, but better then ice pellets that were originally predicted! The first thing we did was go to Macy's which is a Christmas Wonderland! It's the biggest department store in the world (for those living under a rock) and its decked all its halls in bounds of holly and more! We took their famous, old, wooden escalators up to Santaland and the line was ridiculously long but luckily very quick moving. The first part of the line is just in the store but then you go through a giant train and it transports you into Santaland which is the most beautifully decorated Santaland I've ever seen! They had bears everywhere and some audioanimatronics and train sets and backdrops and fake snow and trees everywhere. A minitaure village and Christmas carols playing, a nutcracker and snowman! It was truely magical! Then we got to see Santa! He was a very good Santa and we all asked for Tiffany gifts lol and we took a photo with him. After we purchased the photo we went to look at all the decorations and Christmas items for sale. There were some carolers singing in the Christmas section and lovely decorated trees. It was very nice but of course very expensive and the one thing I could afford & desperatly wanted they didn't have (hopefully next time so I won't say what it is now!) but I did get a Macy's Holiday Mickey Mouse plush =)
After Macy's we got some lunch and then met up with Christina, Olivia & Becki in Times Square so we could see the Princess & the Frog. This is the first Disney hand drawn animation they have done in 5 years and the first princess movie since 1992 and it's also their first black princess. It's set in New Orleans and has a great Jazzy touch to the songs. It was a beautiful story and very well done, great songs, but I definitly don't think it;s up there anywhere close to the last 3 princess movies (Little Mermaid, Beauty&Beast, Aladdin).
After the movie the plan was suppose to be to see the Christmas window displays and the Rockerfella tree but the train was disgusting so we decided to stop by 'The Australian' bar for a drink before heading for dinner. We got a free Tim tam each because it was my birthday, and I had a cosmo before we headed to Hamachi Japanese restaurant for dinner. A couple of my other friends were suppose to join us but couldn't make it. Dani & Emily got snowed/iced into their houses and Jade slipped in all the rain & hurt herself. I was so glad I got to talk to them on the phone though! At the restaurant Steph & I tried a Japanese alcoholic drink called sake and got a bit drunk but not too bad! It was so much fun and such yummy food! Sarah and I shared katsudon & a sushi platter. The restaurant bought out their version of a cake - icecream, deep fried banana & mint leaves, mango - it was really delicious with a little candle on top!
Depsite the hideous rain ti was such a beautiful birthday and I had so much fun. It was so great to share it with some of my closest friends in such an amazing city!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Asante sana squashed banana
Saturday evening was Alice and Alissa's farewell party. These two girls were the first ones to befriend me here in New York and we have been good friends ever since. They have been here for 2 years,and I have known them for most of my year here, so them leaving was very sad for me, them, and all of us Aussie girls.
When I woke up Saturday morning it was the first snow of this season, such a beautiful treat. We drove over to Alice's host home in the snow, everything coloured in a blanket of snow. At the party there was finger food, a beautiful fire roaring and all our friends were there (except unfortunately Jade who couldn't make it). We started the night off with lots of photo taking and chatting, then we had a celebration of Alice and Alissa. Emily and I wrote a poem for the girls, we gave them a calender as a gift, and then we watched a slideshow I had made for them. The girls were strong and didn't cry; until the night progressed and we had tears of laughter. We all got pretty drunk and played a game of 'I've never' which was a funny introduction to our two new aussies - Olivia and Becky who have replaced Alice and Alissa.
A wonderful night with a sad purpose - the girls will leave this Saturday (a week after the party).
Sunday, Sarah and I ventured into the city on a very cold day. We got takeaway brunch from a place called 'Alice's tea party' and I had the yummiest scone I've ever had (raspberry and lime) which we ate next to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Then we caught a cab to Bloomingdales and had alook at their famous Christmas windows and the Christmas department inside. Afterwards we walked to 'Dylan's Candy Bar' a famous store owned by the daughter of designer Ralph Lauren. We picked out a few yummy treats before trying to get a seat at a famous cafe 'Serendipity's' but the wait was 2 and a half hours long which didn't exactly appeal to us. So instead we had lunch at boring old subways haha then walked over to 5th avenue to do some shopping at H&M. We dawdled around 5th ave and Times SQ until 6.30pm when we rocked up to see 'The Lion King' on Broadway. It was fantastic! Not as good as Wicked, but next in line after that!! The opening scene of 'Circle of Life' had a sun rising in the background, masks, costumes, people on stilts as giraffees...it was breathtaking. Another great scene was the stampede - also Mufasa's ghost which had the stage black and fairy lights lighting up Mufasa's face. It was so fantastic and omg I just loved it! It went for about 3 hours and by the we were both exhausted and headed home to bed!
When I woke up Saturday morning it was the first snow of this season, such a beautiful treat. We drove over to Alice's host home in the snow, everything coloured in a blanket of snow. At the party there was finger food, a beautiful fire roaring and all our friends were there (except unfortunately Jade who couldn't make it). We started the night off with lots of photo taking and chatting, then we had a celebration of Alice and Alissa. Emily and I wrote a poem for the girls, we gave them a calender as a gift, and then we watched a slideshow I had made for them. The girls were strong and didn't cry; until the night progressed and we had tears of laughter. We all got pretty drunk and played a game of 'I've never' which was a funny introduction to our two new aussies - Olivia and Becky who have replaced Alice and Alissa.
A wonderful night with a sad purpose - the girls will leave this Saturday (a week after the party).
Sunday, Sarah and I ventured into the city on a very cold day. We got takeaway brunch from a place called 'Alice's tea party' and I had the yummiest scone I've ever had (raspberry and lime) which we ate next to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Then we caught a cab to Bloomingdales and had alook at their famous Christmas windows and the Christmas department inside. Afterwards we walked to 'Dylan's Candy Bar' a famous store owned by the daughter of designer Ralph Lauren. We picked out a few yummy treats before trying to get a seat at a famous cafe 'Serendipity's' but the wait was 2 and a half hours long which didn't exactly appeal to us. So instead we had lunch at boring old subways haha then walked over to 5th avenue to do some shopping at H&M. We dawdled around 5th ave and Times SQ until 6.30pm when we rocked up to see 'The Lion King' on Broadway. It was fantastic! Not as good as Wicked, but next in line after that!! The opening scene of 'Circle of Life' had a sun rising in the background, masks, costumes, people on stilts as giraffees...it was breathtaking. Another great scene was the stampede - also Mufasa's ghost which had the stage black and fairy lights lighting up Mufasa's face. It was so fantastic and omg I just loved it! It went for about 3 hours and by the we were both exhausted and headed home to bed!
My SECOND Lovely Little Holiday
So from 26th Nov to 1st Dec I was on holidays. As an aupair we get 2 paid hols a year, my first was when I went to Niagara etc and this holiday I decided to stay in New York. Monday and Tuesday I stayed in the house, Monday was my cleaning/sorting/practice packing day and Tuesday I blissfully stayed in bed allllll day!
Wednesday I spent the day in the city by myself. I decided to start at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) which normally costs $20 to get in, but my host dad knows someone who works there so I got in for free. They had a Tim Burton exhibit so I checked that out as well as some other paintings, sculptures and photos. The Tim Burtone exhibit was awesome, I loved seeing all his work together and all the characters & ideas he had created but have not yet come to the screen. After the morning at MoMA, I walked around the area and had some lunch.
Then at 2pm I had tickets to see the 'Radio City Hall Rockettes Christmas Spectacular' which is a famous New York Christmas show thats been playing for years and is a big tradition. It was a huge theatre with the biggest chandelier I've ever seen in the lobby, and 3 mezzazines (balconies) inside, with a great big stage. The Rockettes are dancers and they performed '12 days of Christmas' purely by tapping it out and not singing until the last line! It was amazing they did movements to go with each number and tapped it so beautifully. They also told different Christmas songs, did different Christmas songs and Christmas dances. Another great dance was they all dressed up as toy soldiers and fell over in a huge line - it was fantasic!
It was cold and rainy when I came out of the theatre but I headed up to the Upper West Side to watch them blow up the balloons for the Thanksgiving parade the next day. I arrived an hour and a half after they started but they were unfortunately already all blown up and it was a bit of a waste of time!
That night I didn't go to sleep at all because I had to take a 5.20am train back into the city! I met the other girls at the station at about 6am and we headed back over to the Upper West Side about 76th street just a few blocks after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade would start. By the time we had arrived (detouring to get breakfast & coffee, coffee, coffee) it was around 7am and we got a fantastic spot right on the corner, about 3 people in from the sidewalk. WHen the parade FINALLY started at 9am, it was well worth the wait =) It was amazing they had dancers, marching bands, cheerleaders, jumpropers and random walkers...plus lots of floats. Castles, M&M theatre world, central park, sesame street...with different celebs on them Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Gaynor, Boys like Girls, Miss America. Plus of course the giant balloons! Dora, Horton, Buzz, Santa, Spongebob oh they were so huge and so awesome! They finished with Santa and it was definitly one of my top 5 New York moments and everything I'd hoped =).
I got home around 1pm and had a little nap before Thanksgiving dinner which we had at about 5pm. It was all my host family, one of their cousins & uncle plus a family from around the corner. We had a huge giant turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, corn and all the cliche televised Thanksgiving food! It was delicious and we barely had room for the pumpkin pie, chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. It was a beautiful meal and we had some great conversations and it was a really lovely holiday.
The next day (Friday if you lost count) I had a very early birthday present! My host mom took me and my host girl to Harlem's famous Apollo theatre where a special performance of 'Dreamgirls' was playing. We saw the matinee and it was spectacular - especially Effie's 'I'm not going' which gave me goosebumps!Then we went to a soul food restaurant 'Sylvia's' and I had the most delicious meal - catfish, yams and garlic potatoes mmmmmmm.
Saturday was a big day in the city for sarah, Steph and I we took some tour buses around the city. One downtown then one night tour, which was great to see all the lights of the city (we viewed it from Brooklyn). In between these two tours we had lunch at a quite little tavern, and had a few drinks. It was a really nice day but very long and tiring.
Sunday was my last day of holidays - rest day until dinner that night at our fav restaurant the Cheesecake Factory for Christina's birthday. It was such a fun celebration with alot of the girls there - me, Sarah, Steph, Christina, Emily, Dani, Emma, Alice and Olivia.
HOlidays over, and back to work (blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah) bright and earlyish Monday morning =)
Wednesday I spent the day in the city by myself. I decided to start at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) which normally costs $20 to get in, but my host dad knows someone who works there so I got in for free. They had a Tim Burton exhibit so I checked that out as well as some other paintings, sculptures and photos. The Tim Burtone exhibit was awesome, I loved seeing all his work together and all the characters & ideas he had created but have not yet come to the screen. After the morning at MoMA, I walked around the area and had some lunch.
Then at 2pm I had tickets to see the 'Radio City Hall Rockettes Christmas Spectacular' which is a famous New York Christmas show thats been playing for years and is a big tradition. It was a huge theatre with the biggest chandelier I've ever seen in the lobby, and 3 mezzazines (balconies) inside, with a great big stage. The Rockettes are dancers and they performed '12 days of Christmas' purely by tapping it out and not singing until the last line! It was amazing they did movements to go with each number and tapped it so beautifully. They also told different Christmas songs, did different Christmas songs and Christmas dances. Another great dance was they all dressed up as toy soldiers and fell over in a huge line - it was fantasic!
It was cold and rainy when I came out of the theatre but I headed up to the Upper West Side to watch them blow up the balloons for the Thanksgiving parade the next day. I arrived an hour and a half after they started but they were unfortunately already all blown up and it was a bit of a waste of time!
That night I didn't go to sleep at all because I had to take a 5.20am train back into the city! I met the other girls at the station at about 6am and we headed back over to the Upper West Side about 76th street just a few blocks after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade would start. By the time we had arrived (detouring to get breakfast & coffee, coffee, coffee) it was around 7am and we got a fantastic spot right on the corner, about 3 people in from the sidewalk. WHen the parade FINALLY started at 9am, it was well worth the wait =) It was amazing they had dancers, marching bands, cheerleaders, jumpropers and random walkers...plus lots of floats. Castles, M&M theatre world, central park, sesame street...with different celebs on them Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Gaynor, Boys like Girls, Miss America. Plus of course the giant balloons! Dora, Horton, Buzz, Santa, Spongebob oh they were so huge and so awesome! They finished with Santa and it was definitly one of my top 5 New York moments and everything I'd hoped =).
I got home around 1pm and had a little nap before Thanksgiving dinner which we had at about 5pm. It was all my host family, one of their cousins & uncle plus a family from around the corner. We had a huge giant turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, corn and all the cliche televised Thanksgiving food! It was delicious and we barely had room for the pumpkin pie, chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. It was a beautiful meal and we had some great conversations and it was a really lovely holiday.
The next day (Friday if you lost count) I had a very early birthday present! My host mom took me and my host girl to Harlem's famous Apollo theatre where a special performance of 'Dreamgirls' was playing. We saw the matinee and it was spectacular - especially Effie's 'I'm not going' which gave me goosebumps!Then we went to a soul food restaurant 'Sylvia's' and I had the most delicious meal - catfish, yams and garlic potatoes mmmmmmm.
Saturday was a big day in the city for sarah, Steph and I we took some tour buses around the city. One downtown then one night tour, which was great to see all the lights of the city (we viewed it from Brooklyn). In between these two tours we had lunch at a quite little tavern, and had a few drinks. It was a really nice day but very long and tiring.
Sunday was my last day of holidays - rest day until dinner that night at our fav restaurant the Cheesecake Factory for Christina's birthday. It was such a fun celebration with alot of the girls there - me, Sarah, Steph, Christina, Emily, Dani, Emma, Alice and Olivia.
HOlidays over, and back to work (blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah) bright and earlyish Monday morning =)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Our "Nothing" Weekend
In order to be able to afford a big weekend for Thanksgiving (this upcoming weekend), Sarah, Steph and I decided that the weekend just come we would have a "nothing" weekend where we tried to do/spend as little as possible. Friday night after I finished work, I was officially on holidays =) We had no plans for that night, but Saturday Kate and Christina came over to watch some movies at my place, as my hosties were out of town. Kate and I got pizza for dinner and then Sarah, Steph and I went to see the new Twilight movie. It was quite good but not the huge hype that everyone goes on about!
Sunday afternoon Sarah Steph and I had lunch at my place, then went shopping for a bit before we met all t he other girls (Alissa, Alice, Jade, Christina, Emily, Dani, Emma nad the new girl Olivia) for dinner at Applebees. After dinner those girls went to see Twilight, we continued shopping and then had a nice and easy night!
19 days till my birthday
31 days till Christmas
40 days till my big holiday
YAY
Sunday afternoon Sarah Steph and I had lunch at my place, then went shopping for a bit before we met all t he other girls (Alissa, Alice, Jade, Christina, Emily, Dani, Emma nad the new girl Olivia) for dinner at Applebees. After dinner those girls went to see Twilight, we continued shopping and then had a nice and easy night!
19 days till my birthday
31 days till Christmas
40 days till my big holiday
YAY
We went everywhere man...
So after the kind of low key/hurt back weekend (lol), Sarah, Steph & I had another big Sunday in my favourite city =) We started off in the village with Magnolia Cupcakes and a walk around the neighbourhood. The girls wanted gumboots from Marc Jacobs but there were none left so we walked over to Washington Square Park stopping at the famous Grey's Papaya Hotdogs on the way for lunch. After we took a few photos in the park, listening to some music and saw a few NYU buildings; we caught a cab over to Chinatown. We elbowed our way thru the crazy crowds looking for bargains - perfumes, scarves, jewellery, last minute souvinears. When we grew tired of Chinatown we took another cab back uptown to 5th avenue. All 3 of us had seen Tiffany & Co but today we took the chance to walk in Audrey Hepburn shoe's and explored the inside. It is 5 floors of jewellery and lovely pretty things! I would love to get a charm from their before I go, and while $100ish per charm isn't too much for jewellery, esp Tiffany but being on an aupoor wage isn't so easy hehe! But if I don't get one now, I can always buy it later.
We also went to a few other stores - the NBA store for the girls to get jerseys and the Disney store for me to get a sweatshirt =) Instead of I heart NY, its I mickey ears NY hehe. its so cute! I love it!
Then we named them and got little bear birth certificates! Mine bear is Gotham, Steph's is Chocolate and Sarah's is Winston! Definitly a special afternoon =)
Our last stop was dinner in Little India - mmm butterchicken yum yum.
We also went to a few other stores - the NBA store for the girls to get jerseys and the Disney store for me to get a sweatshirt =) Instead of I heart NY, its I mickey ears NY hehe. its so cute! I love it!
Then we named them and got little bear birth certificates! Mine bear is Gotham, Steph's is Chocolate and Sarah's is Winston! Definitly a special afternoon =)
Our last stop was dinner in Little India - mmm butterchicken yum yum.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
She'll be coming round 5th ave when she comes...yeehaw
The day after Halloween, Sarah, Steph and I went for a horse and carriage ride in the city. The park was closed because of the Marathon, so we went down 5th instead, but it was still lots of fun and definitly one of those 'NEw York moments' you have to do!
Then we had lunch at the Australian, shopped on 5th, then went back to White Plains for lunch at OUtback Steakhouse. Definitly an aussie new york day!
The following weekend I hurt my back, so didn't do much, just went shoppin on Saturday in Conneticut with Christina, Dani, Em and Alice.
Then we had lunch at the Australian, shopped on 5th, then went back to White Plains for lunch at OUtback Steakhouse. Definitly an aussie new york day!
The following weekend I hurt my back, so didn't do much, just went shoppin on Saturday in Conneticut with Christina, Dani, Em and Alice.
Double double toil and trouble
Halloween was fantastic! I was so excited in the lead up to experience my first Halloween, and all the kids were in disbelief that we didn't celebrate this back home!
The day before Halloween, I went with my host mom to watch the kids at their school parade. Each grade marched out in costume, and I would say about 50% had store bought and 50% home made. There were a dozen 'Dorothys' and what seemed like an infinity of superheros and starwars characters; but also some really unique costumes like an i-pod, a cupcake, dice. My favourite though was a girl dressed in purple, with a painted purple face, who was carrying a clear umbrella with purple streamers hanging from it. She was a jellyfish and she looked amazing! My kids kept changing their minds right up until the night before. My youngest boy, 5, went as a ninja. My oldest boy, 9 went as a gangster and my girl, 9, went as a crazed jungle woman. She looked the best! I leant her my leopard print dress and then we painted her face brown and green so it looked dirty and then teased her hair to the maximum and put leaves and twigs in it. After the parade, each class hads a party and I went between the twin's classrooms looking at their projects, meeting their teachers and friends. It was really interesting and lots of fun.
The night before, my host parents went to a halloween party so I told the kids we would have our own party, just the four of us. We carved pumpkins (well they just drew the faces, I carved them out) which was messy and fun and tiring all at once. Then we got some of the halloween candy they recieved in class and made halloween cupcakes. We danced to spooky music, ate party food and scared each other. It was a long night and we had so much fun.
The afternoon of Halloween I helped the kids get dressed. My oldest boy was now being a zombie soccor player and the youngest a zombie astronaught (?!?!) and my girl was still a jungle woman. We put fake cobwebs all over the already set up Halloween directions on the porch; then lit up our pumpkins. We started by going to a haunted house on our street, set up by one of my kid's friends. Then we all went trick or treating together, knocking on each house and seeing if the people inside were dressed up, and what kind of pumpkins they had carved. There wasn't just faces I saw other things carved like words or objects. I had a blast and it was really special to spend it with my host family.
After trick or treating, me, Emily, Christina and Danyale went into the city. We were suppose to watch the parade in the village but it was raining so instead we went to 'The Australian' bar and had a drink, danced for a bit, then came home.
It was a great night but I'm glad we don't have this holiday back home!
The day before Halloween, I went with my host mom to watch the kids at their school parade. Each grade marched out in costume, and I would say about 50% had store bought and 50% home made. There were a dozen 'Dorothys' and what seemed like an infinity of superheros and starwars characters; but also some really unique costumes like an i-pod, a cupcake, dice. My favourite though was a girl dressed in purple, with a painted purple face, who was carrying a clear umbrella with purple streamers hanging from it. She was a jellyfish and she looked amazing! My kids kept changing their minds right up until the night before. My youngest boy, 5, went as a ninja. My oldest boy, 9 went as a gangster and my girl, 9, went as a crazed jungle woman. She looked the best! I leant her my leopard print dress and then we painted her face brown and green so it looked dirty and then teased her hair to the maximum and put leaves and twigs in it. After the parade, each class hads a party and I went between the twin's classrooms looking at their projects, meeting their teachers and friends. It was really interesting and lots of fun.
The night before, my host parents went to a halloween party so I told the kids we would have our own party, just the four of us. We carved pumpkins (well they just drew the faces, I carved them out) which was messy and fun and tiring all at once. Then we got some of the halloween candy they recieved in class and made halloween cupcakes. We danced to spooky music, ate party food and scared each other. It was a long night and we had so much fun.
The afternoon of Halloween I helped the kids get dressed. My oldest boy was now being a zombie soccor player and the youngest a zombie astronaught (?!?!) and my girl was still a jungle woman. We put fake cobwebs all over the already set up Halloween directions on the porch; then lit up our pumpkins. We started by going to a haunted house on our street, set up by one of my kid's friends. Then we all went trick or treating together, knocking on each house and seeing if the people inside were dressed up, and what kind of pumpkins they had carved. There wasn't just faces I saw other things carved like words or objects. I had a blast and it was really special to spend it with my host family.
After trick or treating, me, Emily, Christina and Danyale went into the city. We were suppose to watch the parade in the village but it was raining so instead we went to 'The Australian' bar and had a drink, danced for a bit, then came home.
It was a great night but I'm glad we don't have this holiday back home!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Silverbay (again)
Friday afternoon at about 1pm, Sarah picked me up and we headed to Steph's house where our rental car was waiting for us. Kate (from New Zealand, who I met at the training school in Jan) joined us and the 4 of us headed off on a 4-5ish hour drive to the Adirondacks in upstate New York. We packed plenty of snacks and had a dozen C.Ds to keep us perky and dancing. We left Westchester at about 3pm and arrived at Silverbay at about 8.30, after having a few stops and hitting a bit of traffic. We signed ourselves in, picked our classes, and met up with the other group of Aussies (Alissa, Alice, Emma and Christina) who had picked up Nicolette on their way. Nicolette was a girl I flew over with who I haven't seen since the training school. Another girl I haven't seen since flying over with, was Georgie from Maine. Allysha from Boston was there too but I have seen her a couple of times since Jan.
Sarah & Steph shared a room with an adjoining door to Kate & my room. We were in a different building to everyone else, further away from the main classroom/dining area but with a slightly higher and nicer view of Lake George. After we unpacked our bags, Kate went to bed and the rest of us had a few drinks and played a couple of games. We had a late night, about 1 or 2am I think, and then of course, an early morning - breakfast at 8am.
First class of the day was Creative Story Telling where we got up and did a skit about Obama's extra long toenails (random...) followed by Unique Mind Games. I took that one last Silverbay but that was the only class left when I signed up. After lunch we had a 3 hour class and Sarah, Steph & I chose scrapbooking. It was so much fun we did lots of halloween and fall themed pages and I may or may not have snuck out a few blank scrapbooking pages for later use =) After class we had some free time so us 3 migrated back to our room and played starburst poker and had more then a few giggling fits!
Dinner followed free time then the famous Silverbay pantomime. They do the same pantomime everytime and get aupairs from the audience to play every part from the berry bushes to the table to the cat to the hero and villain. All the aussies got a part - Sarah was the cat, Christina dog, Alissa horse, Kate & Alice door, Allysha chair, Georgie table, Steph collected cards, me music director and Nicolette a bird. The same staff member, Schyler, reads the script everytime but this time the other staff members had changed it on him and put dirty scenarios and swear words and innuendo thru the script. It was really funny to see his reaction and hilarious seeing the aussies in the play. When that finished, aupairs took turns going to see a haunted house the staff had set up. While the aussies waited for there turn, we had some giggle sessions, taking crazy photos and running around like crazy as always!
When it was our turn to go through the haunted house we all picked "scared buddies" (mine was Christina) and boy, did the staff do an awesome job of scaring us!! They had doors banging, lights going on and off, pitch black corridors, people grabbing you and screaming and scaring you. I was laughing, crying and screaming the whole way through!
The halloween disco was right after the haunted house and about half of the aupairs dressed up the other half didn't. Alissa & Alice dressed as bees, Sarah was a witch, Steph pink evil fairy, Christina a pirate and I went as Strawberry Shortcake =) It was lots of fun dancing around in costume and interesting to see what everyone else dressed as.
We had an early night prepared for another early morning. I did an optical illusion and music class before lunch, then we packed up and hit the road again. We took our time heading back, taking a few stops and eventually arrived in Westchester around 6pm in time for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
It was such an awesome weekend, I loved seeing the fall foliage. I never could imagine a leaf could be so vibrantly yellow or that there were so many shades of red and orange. I had so much fun with Sarah and Steph and its sinking in that I will be leaving them and New York in 10 weeks and its a very sad thought.
Sarah & Steph shared a room with an adjoining door to Kate & my room. We were in a different building to everyone else, further away from the main classroom/dining area but with a slightly higher and nicer view of Lake George. After we unpacked our bags, Kate went to bed and the rest of us had a few drinks and played a couple of games. We had a late night, about 1 or 2am I think, and then of course, an early morning - breakfast at 8am.
First class of the day was Creative Story Telling where we got up and did a skit about Obama's extra long toenails (random...) followed by Unique Mind Games. I took that one last Silverbay but that was the only class left when I signed up. After lunch we had a 3 hour class and Sarah, Steph & I chose scrapbooking. It was so much fun we did lots of halloween and fall themed pages and I may or may not have snuck out a few blank scrapbooking pages for later use =) After class we had some free time so us 3 migrated back to our room and played starburst poker and had more then a few giggling fits!
Dinner followed free time then the famous Silverbay pantomime. They do the same pantomime everytime and get aupairs from the audience to play every part from the berry bushes to the table to the cat to the hero and villain. All the aussies got a part - Sarah was the cat, Christina dog, Alissa horse, Kate & Alice door, Allysha chair, Georgie table, Steph collected cards, me music director and Nicolette a bird. The same staff member, Schyler, reads the script everytime but this time the other staff members had changed it on him and put dirty scenarios and swear words and innuendo thru the script. It was really funny to see his reaction and hilarious seeing the aussies in the play. When that finished, aupairs took turns going to see a haunted house the staff had set up. While the aussies waited for there turn, we had some giggle sessions, taking crazy photos and running around like crazy as always!
When it was our turn to go through the haunted house we all picked "scared buddies" (mine was Christina) and boy, did the staff do an awesome job of scaring us!! They had doors banging, lights going on and off, pitch black corridors, people grabbing you and screaming and scaring you. I was laughing, crying and screaming the whole way through!
The halloween disco was right after the haunted house and about half of the aupairs dressed up the other half didn't. Alissa & Alice dressed as bees, Sarah was a witch, Steph pink evil fairy, Christina a pirate and I went as Strawberry Shortcake =) It was lots of fun dancing around in costume and interesting to see what everyone else dressed as.
We had an early night prepared for another early morning. I did an optical illusion and music class before lunch, then we packed up and hit the road again. We took our time heading back, taking a few stops and eventually arrived in Westchester around 6pm in time for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
It was such an awesome weekend, I loved seeing the fall foliage. I never could imagine a leaf could be so vibrantly yellow or that there were so many shades of red and orange. I had so much fun with Sarah and Steph and its sinking in that I will be leaving them and New York in 10 weeks and its a very sad thought.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
(Aussie) Girls just wanna have fun
For the first time in a few months, all of the Aussie girls got together last Friday night. Alice and Alissa (from Lismore, who are leaving in Dec), Sarah & Steph (from central coast, steph is extending, Sarah leaves the country when I do), Emily, Jade, Christina (who all arrived together about 3 months ago) and Emma (who I flew over with).
We met at Alissa's and ate a naughty amount of junk food, played a few games, and chatted. Then Christina, Emily, Emma, Alice & I stayed the night, hitting our pillows at about 3.30am!
The next day we lounged around in our PJs having a relaxing day making friendship bracelets, watching youtube and gossiping.
Sunday we all (minus Sarah + Steph) went to the Palisades which is the 2nd biggest mall in America and about 20/30 minutes from my place. We went from shop to shop and I managed not to spend anything! Then we met Sarah & Steph at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
Was such a fun weekend, spending it with the girls. Silverbay this weekend, can't wait!
We met at Alissa's and ate a naughty amount of junk food, played a few games, and chatted. Then Christina, Emily, Emma, Alice & I stayed the night, hitting our pillows at about 3.30am!
The next day we lounged around in our PJs having a relaxing day making friendship bracelets, watching youtube and gossiping.
Sunday we all (minus Sarah + Steph) went to the Palisades which is the 2nd biggest mall in America and about 20/30 minutes from my place. We went from shop to shop and I managed not to spend anything! Then we met Sarah & Steph at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
Was such a fun weekend, spending it with the girls. Silverbay this weekend, can't wait!
Monday, October 12, 2009
I like to Oot oot oot Apples...
Friday night Sarah, Steph and I attemped to go to movies but our movie wasn't on so we just hung around. On late Saturday afternoon Sarah and Steph picked me up, we did a bit of shopping then went to Sarah's place and ordered Chinese food and played some games.
Sunday was so awesomely fun!! Emily and her host family picked me up so we could go apple picking for the LCC Meeting. My host fam couldn't take me so I went with them. It was a great big farm and lots of aupairs and families were there, because all of Westchester aupairs/fams had been invited. We got some bags and these tall poles with bags on top of them to pick the apples. But in the end we didn't need them because there were alot of apples down low. It was so weird picking and eating an apple right from the tree! But they were so tasty! You were suppose to pay $20/bag but I just put a few in my handbag hehe. I bought hot apple cider and doughnuts from the bakery - so yum. They had lots of pies - apple, pumpkin, rhubarb, cherry, so many! I wanted to get one but they are so expensive and you could only buy the whole thing and not just one slice. Then I bought a pumpkin so I could make soup yum yum plus some yummy peanut brittle! Then after we got home, Emily and I took her car to go get Sarah & Steph. We went Halloween shopping and joking around. Then we picked up some Thai takeaway, took Sarah & Steph home and Em and I met Alice, Alissa & Christina at the river for a takeaway picnic. It was really beautiful we could see the views of the city and the Tappan Zee bridge. We then went back to watch some T.V at Alice's place and raided her closet because she is going home soon and has sooo much to get rid of!
It was an awesome weekend I had so much fun Apple Picking and its exciting getting into fall :)
Sunday was so awesomely fun!! Emily and her host family picked me up so we could go apple picking for the LCC Meeting. My host fam couldn't take me so I went with them. It was a great big farm and lots of aupairs and families were there, because all of Westchester aupairs/fams had been invited. We got some bags and these tall poles with bags on top of them to pick the apples. But in the end we didn't need them because there were alot of apples down low. It was so weird picking and eating an apple right from the tree! But they were so tasty! You were suppose to pay $20/bag but I just put a few in my handbag hehe. I bought hot apple cider and doughnuts from the bakery - so yum. They had lots of pies - apple, pumpkin, rhubarb, cherry, so many! I wanted to get one but they are so expensive and you could only buy the whole thing and not just one slice. Then I bought a pumpkin so I could make soup yum yum plus some yummy peanut brittle! Then after we got home, Emily and I took her car to go get Sarah & Steph. We went Halloween shopping and joking around. Then we picked up some Thai takeaway, took Sarah & Steph home and Em and I met Alice, Alissa & Christina at the river for a takeaway picnic. It was really beautiful we could see the views of the city and the Tappan Zee bridge. We then went back to watch some T.V at Alice's place and raided her closet because she is going home soon and has sooo much to get rid of!
It was an awesome weekend I had so much fun Apple Picking and its exciting getting into fall :)
2 Slow Weekends
The 2 weeks after Frannie left weren't filled with too much exciting news!
The first weekend was very rainy so we just lazed about town and didn't go into the city, going out for dinner, to the river and the likes.
The next weekend, on Saturday I went to the city with Christina and Emily and went to a flea market. It was so much fun! They are alot more expensive then Aussie second hand stuff, but I got a cute, cheap, mickey mouse headband and some vintage postcards. We had an awful lunch and headed back into Westchester late afternoon. That night I went to Steph's place so she could cook me and Sarah a delicious dinner! We hung out all night, and then on Sunday we milled around town shopping, out for dinner, at the river. Its been getting really cold and rainy lately too!
The first weekend was very rainy so we just lazed about town and didn't go into the city, going out for dinner, to the river and the likes.
The next weekend, on Saturday I went to the city with Christina and Emily and went to a flea market. It was so much fun! They are alot more expensive then Aussie second hand stuff, but I got a cute, cheap, mickey mouse headband and some vintage postcards. We had an awful lunch and headed back into Westchester late afternoon. That night I went to Steph's place so she could cook me and Sarah a delicious dinner! We hung out all night, and then on Sunday we milled around town shopping, out for dinner, at the river. Its been getting really cold and rainy lately too!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wicked
In the early hours of Saturday morning, I finished 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire. It was a book I could hardly put down during my last two weeks I've been reading it. It was utterly amazing, one of my favourite books I've ever read. I can't stop talking about it to anyone that wants to listen! It has alot of religious and political themes as well as the main one, "what makes a person evil". It tells the life of Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) and was such a powerful book.
Saturday morning, was bright and sunny and Frannie, Steph, Sarah and I met at the Bronx Zoo! It was an okay zoo, good animals but not so good inclosures. We finished there at like 4 or 5 ish, and sat out the front for 30minutes talking to a cop who worked at the zoo. He was really nice and told us all what it was like working in the bronx, being on the force, and more.
Then I headed into the city alone. I walked up 5th to check out the disney store, then headed over to Magnolia's Bakery to get one of the best cupcakes on earth. I then had dinner and walked to the Gershwin theatre where 'Wicked' is performed. It was so exciting even walking in, it was a much bigger theatre then where Chicago was. There was Wicked staging in the hall, like a map and stuff from the book. I bought a program and then got shown my seat. I was in the FRONT ROW!!! I was furtherest to the left and my view was slightly obstructed, but it was still really cool to see it up front. The backdrops and props and costumes were so vibrant and bright! The songs - omg the songs are literally addictive. It is now Tuesday night, and I have listening to nothing but the Wicked Soundtrack, after I returned home from the musical on sat night.
It was interesting, because the musical and the book were very different. Do you know when you read a book, then see the movie, and they've changed alot of the characters, or plots, and combined things, and scrapped things and you sit there thinking, "NOOOO you're ruining it, what are you doing, stop stop!"
Well it was like that in regards to changing and scrapping alot, but I didn't sit their thinking no, i thought wow! It made so much sense in the musical to change what they did; and it didn't take away from the book, it just made it a new more interesting level of Oz. I can't stop talking about the musical or the book, and I am on such a WIcked high haha. I want to see it again, but it is so expensive :( $75 for the ticket plus the tax etc made it $90.
Sunday night was Frannie's farewell. All the aussie girls (sarah, steph, me, fran, emily, emma, jade, alissa, alice) met at our fav restaurant The Cheesecake Factory for our last meal together, then the four muskateers Fran, Steph, Sarah & me had our last night all together at our spot, the river. Very sad. I will miss her so much :(
Saturday morning, was bright and sunny and Frannie, Steph, Sarah and I met at the Bronx Zoo! It was an okay zoo, good animals but not so good inclosures. We finished there at like 4 or 5 ish, and sat out the front for 30minutes talking to a cop who worked at the zoo. He was really nice and told us all what it was like working in the bronx, being on the force, and more.
Then I headed into the city alone. I walked up 5th to check out the disney store, then headed over to Magnolia's Bakery to get one of the best cupcakes on earth. I then had dinner and walked to the Gershwin theatre where 'Wicked' is performed. It was so exciting even walking in, it was a much bigger theatre then where Chicago was. There was Wicked staging in the hall, like a map and stuff from the book. I bought a program and then got shown my seat. I was in the FRONT ROW!!! I was furtherest to the left and my view was slightly obstructed, but it was still really cool to see it up front. The backdrops and props and costumes were so vibrant and bright! The songs - omg the songs are literally addictive. It is now Tuesday night, and I have listening to nothing but the Wicked Soundtrack, after I returned home from the musical on sat night.
It was interesting, because the musical and the book were very different. Do you know when you read a book, then see the movie, and they've changed alot of the characters, or plots, and combined things, and scrapped things and you sit there thinking, "NOOOO you're ruining it, what are you doing, stop stop!"
Well it was like that in regards to changing and scrapping alot, but I didn't sit their thinking no, i thought wow! It made so much sense in the musical to change what they did; and it didn't take away from the book, it just made it a new more interesting level of Oz. I can't stop talking about the musical or the book, and I am on such a WIcked high haha. I want to see it again, but it is so expensive :( $75 for the ticket plus the tax etc made it $90.
Sunday night was Frannie's farewell. All the aussie girls (sarah, steph, me, fran, emily, emma, jade, alissa, alice) met at our fav restaurant The Cheesecake Factory for our last meal together, then the four muskateers Fran, Steph, Sarah & me had our last night all together at our spot, the river. Very sad. I will miss her so much :(
Friday, September 18, 2009
you know you're aussie when
just in case u were all getting worried from the last one...
1. You know the meaning of the word 'girt'.
2. You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.
3. You think it's normal to have a leader called Kevin.
4. You waddle when you walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in your wallet or purse.
5. You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden.
6. You believe it is appropriate to put a rubber in your son's pencil case when he first attends school.
7. When you hear that an American 'roots for his team' you wonder how often and with whom.
8. You understand that the phrase 'a group of women wearing black thongs' refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds.
9. You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'.
10. You pronounce Penrith as 'Pen-riff'.
11. You believe the 'l' in the word 'Australia' is optional.
12. You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.'
13. You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.
14. You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'.
15. You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
16. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
17. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.
18. You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'.
19. You believe that cooked-down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread.
20. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.
21. Hamburger. Beetroot. Of course.
22. You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again'.
23. You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
24. You still don't get why the 'Labor' in 'Australian Labor Party' is not spelt with a 'u'.
25. You wear ugh boots outside the house.
26. You believe, as an article of faith, that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off to the Yanks for a pittance.
27. You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.
28. Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.
29. You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is always polite.
30. You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.
31. You understand that 'you' has a plural and that it's 'youse'.
32. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle.
33. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.
34. You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies'.
35. You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'.
36. When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you're trying to sneak in fruit.
37. You believe the phrase 'smart casual' refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered.
38. You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction.
39. When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.
40. You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second.
41. You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government's new test for migrants.
42. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says 'cobber'.
43. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.
(22 outta 43 ...more then half wooh aussie aussie aussie)
1. You know the meaning of the word 'girt'.
2. You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.
3. You think it's normal to have a leader called Kevin.
4. You waddle when you walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in your wallet or purse.
5. You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden.
6. You believe it is appropriate to put a rubber in your son's pencil case when he first attends school.
7. When you hear that an American 'roots for his team' you wonder how often and with whom.
8. You understand that the phrase 'a group of women wearing black thongs' refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds.
9. You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'.
10. You pronounce Penrith as 'Pen-riff'.
11. You believe the 'l' in the word 'Australia' is optional.
12. You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.'
13. You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.
14. You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'.
15. You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
16. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
17. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.
18. You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'.
19. You believe that cooked-down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread.
20. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.
21. Hamburger. Beetroot. Of course.
22. You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again'.
23. You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
24. You still don't get why the 'Labor' in 'Australian Labor Party' is not spelt with a 'u'.
25. You wear ugh boots outside the house.
26. You believe, as an article of faith, that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off to the Yanks for a pittance.
27. You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.
28. Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.
29. You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is always polite.
30. You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.
31. You understand that 'you' has a plural and that it's 'youse'.
32. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle.
33. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.
34. You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies'.
35. You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'.
36. When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you're trying to sneak in fruit.
37. You believe the phrase 'smart casual' refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered.
38. You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction.
39. When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.
40. You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second.
41. You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government's new test for migrants.
42. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says 'cobber'.
43. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.
(22 outta 43 ...more then half wooh aussie aussie aussie)
You know you're a New Yorker when...
Welll I wouldn't call myself one yet, but I'm getting there haha. Pretty sure you have to live in actual Manhattan for more then a year but hey, I can relate to some in the meantime...
1.You say "the city" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan
2.You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building
3.You're always looking out for cool free things to do in the Village Voice
4.When you're standing in a packed subway car with 200 hundred other people and everyone manages to avoid looking at each other
5.$50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag
6.You live in a building with a larger population than most American towns
7.Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean, your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watchseller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.
8.You get pissed at people who say they're from NY and they tell you they're from upstate
9.You can pick out the tourists when they turn their heads to the "ladies and gentlemen this is an important announcement from the MTA" message
10.You know what a bodega is.
11.You're on the train and you see two kids walk in and one says "EXCUSE ME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..."
12.When you're in the background of a tourists' photo.
13.You use the rats in the subway tracks to tell you when the train's approaching the station
14.When you say "mad" and "son"
15.You don't buy newspapers in the morning, because you know somebody will leave theirs on the train
16.Your door has more than three locks.
17.You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
18.You ride in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there are seats available.
19.You don't buy a copy of the Sunday Times without checking if it has all the sections.
20.You've gotten jaywalking down to an art form
21.When you're away from home, you miss "real" pizza and "real" bagels.
22.You hate it when your out of town and you ask people where they're from and they say the city, so you say what part? and they say one the following: New Jersey, Long Island or Westchester. That's not the city!
23.You know that Staten Island, although a borough of New York City, isn't really part of the city at all
24.There are 3 bodegas in a 1 block radius.
25.When you are surprised that other places actually have school sports and cheerleaders
26.You're not in the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.
27.You wonder what the fuck "pop" is
28.You hate it when people that sit opposite you on the train stare at you.
29.You can ignore homeless people without feeling too bad
30.You know the differences between all the different Ray's Pizzas.
31.The only reason you don't like HS is because NY is the only state with the Regent
32.There's a Kennedy's Fried Chicken close to where you live
33.Your local news is national news.
34.More than half of the people you know have names that take 3+ tries to pronounce correctly
35.There is no North and South ... it's uptown or downtown
36.When you see at least one person you know no matter where u are or when
37.You hate it when ppl who live upstate call themselves "new yorkers?'
38.When you see those big red tourist buses and want to throw shit at them...
39.You can walk through "The City" for hours and not get tired but once your out of NYC and walk for 10 minutes you feel exhausted. (every single time without fail!!)
40.You don't own a "I LOVE NEW YORK" shirt
41.You're so tired of hearing "If you see something say something", or the Spanish version: Si ves algo, di algo, in either the subway or LIRR
42.You watch movies and TV shows "filmed" in NYC and say "wtf..that shit does NOT exist anywhere in the city
43.You have trained yourself to hold your breath upon entering a subway elevator
44.You move up one block to steal the cab from the person waiting for it below you
45.When you've held the trains doors open so you and 50 of your friends can get in.
46.You refuse to eat pizza anywhere other than NYC because the pizza everywhere else is just horrible in comparison
47.You can tell a bum from a crackhead-bum and you disperse your money accordingly
48.You know how to fold the New York Times in half, vertically, so that you can read it on the subway or bus without knocking off other passenger's hats.
49.Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet
50.When you refuse to pay for a newspaper ever since the am and metro came out
51.People from other states can't tell a polar bear from a peanut, but they know you're from NY the second you open your mouth.
52.Rather than waiting safely on the sidewalk to cross the street, you wait inches away from speeding traffic waiting to cut through it.
53.You never take the first newspaper in the stack at a news stand.
54.You consider Westchester "upstate"
55.You walk a mile in 13 minutes and think that everything should be open 24/7.
56.Yellow light means speed up. Red light means speed up because you know have that 1 second pause until the other light turns green.
57.Communicating with people on the road only takes one finger.
58.You order your dinner and have it delivered from the place across the street.
59.Rats are your new subway friends.
60.You know exactly which subway car & door is closest to the stairs at the stop ur getting off
61.You have jaywalked in front of a cop. More than once. And they didn't care.
62.You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual
63.You've considered stabbing someone just for saying "The Big Apple"
64.You can't find an umbrella anywhere when its nice out but the second it rains 5 people are fighting to sell them on the same block
65.You haven't seen more than twelve stars in the night sky since you went away to camp as a kid
66.You get lost whenever you drive in long island b/c you're used to all the street being numbered
(25 outta 66, thats like a third. wooh. haha)
1.You say "the city" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan
2.You have never been to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building
3.You're always looking out for cool free things to do in the Village Voice
4.When you're standing in a packed subway car with 200 hundred other people and everyone manages to avoid looking at each other
5.$50 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag
6.You live in a building with a larger population than most American towns
7.Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean, your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watchseller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.
8.You get pissed at people who say they're from NY and they tell you they're from upstate
9.You can pick out the tourists when they turn their heads to the "ladies and gentlemen this is an important announcement from the MTA" message
10.You know what a bodega is.
11.You're on the train and you see two kids walk in and one says "EXCUSE ME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..."
12.When you're in the background of a tourists' photo.
13.You use the rats in the subway tracks to tell you when the train's approaching the station
14.When you say "mad" and "son"
15.You don't buy newspapers in the morning, because you know somebody will leave theirs on the train
16.Your door has more than three locks.
17.You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
18.You ride in a subway car with no air conditioning just because there are seats available.
19.You don't buy a copy of the Sunday Times without checking if it has all the sections.
20.You've gotten jaywalking down to an art form
21.When you're away from home, you miss "real" pizza and "real" bagels.
22.You hate it when your out of town and you ask people where they're from and they say the city, so you say what part? and they say one the following: New Jersey, Long Island or Westchester. That's not the city!
23.You know that Staten Island, although a borough of New York City, isn't really part of the city at all
24.There are 3 bodegas in a 1 block radius.
25.When you are surprised that other places actually have school sports and cheerleaders
26.You're not in the least bit interested in going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.
27.You wonder what the fuck "pop" is
28.You hate it when people that sit opposite you on the train stare at you.
29.You can ignore homeless people without feeling too bad
30.You know the differences between all the different Ray's Pizzas.
31.The only reason you don't like HS is because NY is the only state with the Regent
32.There's a Kennedy's Fried Chicken close to where you live
33.Your local news is national news.
34.More than half of the people you know have names that take 3+ tries to pronounce correctly
35.There is no North and South ... it's uptown or downtown
36.When you see at least one person you know no matter where u are or when
37.You hate it when ppl who live upstate call themselves "new yorkers?'
38.When you see those big red tourist buses and want to throw shit at them...
39.You can walk through "The City" for hours and not get tired but once your out of NYC and walk for 10 minutes you feel exhausted. (every single time without fail!!)
40.You don't own a "I LOVE NEW YORK" shirt
41.You're so tired of hearing "If you see something say something", or the Spanish version: Si ves algo, di algo, in either the subway or LIRR
42.You watch movies and TV shows "filmed" in NYC and say "wtf..that shit does NOT exist anywhere in the city
43.You have trained yourself to hold your breath upon entering a subway elevator
44.You move up one block to steal the cab from the person waiting for it below you
45.When you've held the trains doors open so you and 50 of your friends can get in.
46.You refuse to eat pizza anywhere other than NYC because the pizza everywhere else is just horrible in comparison
47.You can tell a bum from a crackhead-bum and you disperse your money accordingly
48.You know how to fold the New York Times in half, vertically, so that you can read it on the subway or bus without knocking off other passenger's hats.
49.Someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet
50.When you refuse to pay for a newspaper ever since the am and metro came out
51.People from other states can't tell a polar bear from a peanut, but they know you're from NY the second you open your mouth.
52.Rather than waiting safely on the sidewalk to cross the street, you wait inches away from speeding traffic waiting to cut through it.
53.You never take the first newspaper in the stack at a news stand.
54.You consider Westchester "upstate"
55.You walk a mile in 13 minutes and think that everything should be open 24/7.
56.Yellow light means speed up. Red light means speed up because you know have that 1 second pause until the other light turns green.
57.Communicating with people on the road only takes one finger.
58.You order your dinner and have it delivered from the place across the street.
59.Rats are your new subway friends.
60.You know exactly which subway car & door is closest to the stairs at the stop ur getting off
61.You have jaywalked in front of a cop. More than once. And they didn't care.
62.You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual
63.You've considered stabbing someone just for saying "The Big Apple"
64.You can't find an umbrella anywhere when its nice out but the second it rains 5 people are fighting to sell them on the same block
65.You haven't seen more than twelve stars in the night sky since you went away to camp as a kid
66.You get lost whenever you drive in long island b/c you're used to all the street being numbered
(25 outta 66, thats like a third. wooh. haha)
You know you're an aupair when...
You know you’re an Au Pair in the USA when…(blue i find true, purple is my comment)
…you always introduce yourself with : ‘Hi! my name is (your name), I’m from (country) and I have (amount of children you are taking care of) children!!’
…everybody is greeting you with a ‘Hi.How are you!’
and you can’t respond fast enough, so you say it first!
…the worst thing is, when the dad is working from home (or mom!!!)
…you know what a S’MORE is (they are soooo good)
…you spent all your money at the MALL and you still have nothing to wear
…you hate Dora, The Wiggles and Thomas
…you say silly instead of stupid
…you go to PLAYDATES
…you’ve seen more movies in one month than in your whole life at home
…you drive ove 30 minutes to a friend and you think it’s not far
…you only have other Au Pairs as your friends (besides one girl but shes a nanny, and she use to be an aupair so i guess it doesnt really count haha)
…you can make bacon (pretty sure i knew how to do this before!)
…you say ‘like’ and ‘totally’ every three words
…someone has asked you stupid questions like:
- ‘do you have cars in your country?’ – ‘You don’t have Valentine’s day?’ – ‘Where is your country?’ (yes! the other day someone asked what language we speak in australia and i had to do everything in my power not to SLAP THEM DOWN! other ones that take the cake are 'do u have traffic lights there' and 'are your native people civilized')
…you don’t think it’s wrong to have cake AND ice cream
…you park as close to the store as possible so you don’t have to walk even one yard too far
…you cherish moments of silence more than ever before
…you notice yourself saying ‘GOOD JOB’ a hundred times a day
…you wonder why you slept the whole night long so uncomfortable and you notice the next morning, you slept on a barbie, a lollypop, sandtoys etc.
…you need to be creative to find new punishments because a time-out doesn’t work anymore
…you have to admit to mistakes you never did or put the blame on you day for day (this is so draining and true and frustrating)
…you’re sure you don’t want own kids within the next 100 years (haha oh god no)
…you know now exactly how difficult it was for your parents to have little kids and you feel like saying thanks for all you’ve done to your mum and dad every day (oops haha was i really this bad? haha)
…you’re ready to drink anytime of the day
…you start to love disney movies again and can copy every passage of them (pretty sure i have always and will always love disney movies)
…you’ve learned what it means to be patient
…you know what a LCC is
…you know that you should never SHAKE A BABY !!! (knew this before)
…you take a nap, after you dropped of the kids at school(after being up for just 2h )
…you are DRIVING to the busstop to pick up your kids, which is only 200 meters from your house.
…the kids call you mum cause you spend too much time with them… (happened for the first time this week haha)
…you think $200 every weekend just for shopping and coffee are not that much
…one cup of coffee doesn`t make you awake anymore, it just makes you alive
…you or your friends are KELLERKINDER!!!! (shoits, froielin!!!)
…you miss the good ol’ days when you were able to go to the bakery and get real bread w/ real butter (not that American shit called bread..haha) (omg its ridiculous, bread here is like candy. not ok)
…you don’t walk into the bank, you use the drive inn to get your money (well my friends drive us)
…you use Purell instead of washing your hands
…instead of singing song from the radio your singing childrens songs
…you always introduce yourself with : ‘Hi! my name is (your name), I’m from (country) and I have (amount of children you are taking care of) children!!’
…everybody is greeting you with a ‘Hi.How are you!’
and you can’t respond fast enough, so you say it first!
…the worst thing is, when the dad is working from home (or mom!!!)
…you know what a S’MORE is (they are soooo good)
…you spent all your money at the MALL and you still have nothing to wear
…you hate Dora, The Wiggles and Thomas
…you say silly instead of stupid
…you go to PLAYDATES
…you’ve seen more movies in one month than in your whole life at home
…you drive ove 30 minutes to a friend and you think it’s not far
…you only have other Au Pairs as your friends (besides one girl but shes a nanny, and she use to be an aupair so i guess it doesnt really count haha)
…you can make bacon (pretty sure i knew how to do this before!)
…you say ‘like’ and ‘totally’ every three words
…someone has asked you stupid questions like:
- ‘do you have cars in your country?’ – ‘You don’t have Valentine’s day?’ – ‘Where is your country?’ (yes! the other day someone asked what language we speak in australia and i had to do everything in my power not to SLAP THEM DOWN! other ones that take the cake are 'do u have traffic lights there' and 'are your native people civilized')
…you don’t think it’s wrong to have cake AND ice cream
…you park as close to the store as possible so you don’t have to walk even one yard too far
…you cherish moments of silence more than ever before
…you notice yourself saying ‘GOOD JOB’ a hundred times a day
…you wonder why you slept the whole night long so uncomfortable and you notice the next morning, you slept on a barbie, a lollypop, sandtoys etc.
…you need to be creative to find new punishments because a time-out doesn’t work anymore
…you have to admit to mistakes you never did or put the blame on you day for day (this is so draining and true and frustrating)
…you’re sure you don’t want own kids within the next 100 years (haha oh god no)
…you know now exactly how difficult it was for your parents to have little kids and you feel like saying thanks for all you’ve done to your mum and dad every day (oops haha was i really this bad? haha)
…you’re ready to drink anytime of the day
…you start to love disney movies again and can copy every passage of them (pretty sure i have always and will always love disney movies)
…you’ve learned what it means to be patient
…you know what a LCC is
…you know that you should never SHAKE A BABY !!! (knew this before)
…you take a nap, after you dropped of the kids at school(after being up for just 2h )
…you are DRIVING to the busstop to pick up your kids, which is only 200 meters from your house.
…the kids call you mum cause you spend too much time with them… (happened for the first time this week haha)
…you think $200 every weekend just for shopping and coffee are not that much
…one cup of coffee doesn`t make you awake anymore, it just makes you alive
…you or your friends are KELLERKINDER!!!! (shoits, froielin!!!)
…you miss the good ol’ days when you were able to go to the bakery and get real bread w/ real butter (not that American shit called bread..haha) (omg its ridiculous, bread here is like candy. not ok)
…you don’t walk into the bank, you use the drive inn to get your money (well my friends drive us)
…you use Purell instead of washing your hands
…instead of singing song from the radio your singing childrens songs
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
New York Scavenger Hunt
Saturday that just passed, I didn't do anything with the girls during the day, just a night at the river.
Sunday that just passsed, was the big aupair New York scavenger hunt. It was suppose to be 700 aupairs from new york, new jersey and conneticut but to me it looked like maybe a bit more then 300 turned up. Team aussie was me, Sarah, Steph & our honourary Frannie who had done the hunt last year. She told us about 5 or so things that she remembered from last year which were like subway cars, empty starbucks cards or bags - things that were pretty easy to get anyway. The other aussie team was Alice & Alissa who had done it last year plus Emily & Danyale. As well as the things they remembered from last year, they also found the list of scavenger items online the day before the hunt and so had bought most of the items from home. A few aussie friends didn't want to do the hunt so they stayed home for the day. I noticed a lot of aupairs came and signed in, then left without doing the hunt - how boring!
We started on the steps of the library and got handed the list at 10.30 and the race began! We had a list of questions to answer about ourselves, about new york and then a list of things to find around the city. It ranged from mundane things like napkins, fortune cookies, straws, chopsticks to more new york things like pretzels, something yankees, something empire state, times sq movie stub etc. I was really proud of myself because I answered about 75% of the new york questions by myself then we googled the rest and asked my host mom about 4.
It was so much fun running around midtown like crazy people trying to get impossible things like hotel recipets, broadway ticket stubs and airplane boarding passes (come on!) and we had so much fun being inventive like putting items together 'pencil' and 'something with big apple on it'....and then even more creative when it said things such as two dollar bill, and as its very hard to find an american one, we used a singapore one instead!!
The race finished at 1230 at Washington Square Park and we waited for about an hour to have the winners announced. Alice and ALissa's team won with 130 points. They got $25 off silverbay each and $25 prepaid visa card each. My team came second!!! With 106 points and got $15 giftcards. We were so so proud of ourselves and most of all had an absolute blast! We got such a high score, especially for our first time!
After we finished we were all tired and exhausted and headed to Whole foods (awesome organic supermarket with a lot of premade salads, hot meals, sandwiches, etc) for a delicious lunch before train home to make it in time for Frannie's host mom's BBQ for Fran's going away. We met her host parents and kids for the first time, and had a great time all the aussies together (me, sarah, steph, frannie, alice, alissa, jade, emily, emma) taking photos and telling stories about how we first met Frannie. It was really sad, but it will be worse this SUnday because that is when we are throwing her going away just from us aussie girls without her host parents, and then she leaves MOnday morning. After the BBQ, the four of us (sarah, steph, fran, me) headed to our fav hangout, the river, and were in the most active, giggly, crazy mood - we took lots of photos and had lots of laughs.
This was definitly one of the top ten days this year.
Sunday that just passsed, was the big aupair New York scavenger hunt. It was suppose to be 700 aupairs from new york, new jersey and conneticut but to me it looked like maybe a bit more then 300 turned up. Team aussie was me, Sarah, Steph & our honourary Frannie who had done the hunt last year. She told us about 5 or so things that she remembered from last year which were like subway cars, empty starbucks cards or bags - things that were pretty easy to get anyway. The other aussie team was Alice & Alissa who had done it last year plus Emily & Danyale. As well as the things they remembered from last year, they also found the list of scavenger items online the day before the hunt and so had bought most of the items from home. A few aussie friends didn't want to do the hunt so they stayed home for the day. I noticed a lot of aupairs came and signed in, then left without doing the hunt - how boring!
We started on the steps of the library and got handed the list at 10.30 and the race began! We had a list of questions to answer about ourselves, about new york and then a list of things to find around the city. It ranged from mundane things like napkins, fortune cookies, straws, chopsticks to more new york things like pretzels, something yankees, something empire state, times sq movie stub etc. I was really proud of myself because I answered about 75% of the new york questions by myself then we googled the rest and asked my host mom about 4.
It was so much fun running around midtown like crazy people trying to get impossible things like hotel recipets, broadway ticket stubs and airplane boarding passes (come on!) and we had so much fun being inventive like putting items together 'pencil' and 'something with big apple on it'....and then even more creative when it said things such as two dollar bill, and as its very hard to find an american one, we used a singapore one instead!!
The race finished at 1230 at Washington Square Park and we waited for about an hour to have the winners announced. Alice and ALissa's team won with 130 points. They got $25 off silverbay each and $25 prepaid visa card each. My team came second!!! With 106 points and got $15 giftcards. We were so so proud of ourselves and most of all had an absolute blast! We got such a high score, especially for our first time!
After we finished we were all tired and exhausted and headed to Whole foods (awesome organic supermarket with a lot of premade salads, hot meals, sandwiches, etc) for a delicious lunch before train home to make it in time for Frannie's host mom's BBQ for Fran's going away. We met her host parents and kids for the first time, and had a great time all the aussies together (me, sarah, steph, frannie, alice, alissa, jade, emily, emma) taking photos and telling stories about how we first met Frannie. It was really sad, but it will be worse this SUnday because that is when we are throwing her going away just from us aussie girls without her host parents, and then she leaves MOnday morning. After the BBQ, the four of us (sarah, steph, fran, me) headed to our fav hangout, the river, and were in the most active, giggly, crazy mood - we took lots of photos and had lots of laughs.
This was definitly one of the top ten days this year.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Coney Island and more
So when I last left you, I was coming off a few quiet weekends and hoping for a big weekend in the city. I've definitly had that now! The past two weekends have been awesome! Starting with first week of September (5/6)...
Saturday morning we all got an early train, Sarah and Steph on one line, me and Frannie on the other, and met at Grand Central. We then got onto a 45 minute subway ride into Brooklyn so we could go to Coney Island. When you consider that Hastings where I live is only about 30 minutes from the city, thats one lonnnnnnnnng subway ride. But we had one of the nicer subways and it wasn't busy so we all got a seat. We were really worried as the subway passed Coney Island, because none of the rides were moving. We'd taken the 9am trains to assure us to get into the city realtively early and when we stepped off the subway it was about 11.30am and no rides were operating! We walked in the direction that the few crowds of people we going, and walked past the famous 'Nathans' a good hot dog place. We saw a really small flea market which basically just had cheap perfume and sunnies - oh and kebabs and dead pigs on the grill grossssss. Then at noon, all the rides started up - big collective sigh of relief!
We walked onto the boardwalk - which was really nice with a few sideshow games, souvinear shops and carnnie/beach food. The beach looked amazing and lots of people were there as it was a 3 days weekend cuz of Labour day. The mini amusement park/carnival is right on the boardwalk, so right next to the beach. There is two famous rides we all wanted to go on - the wonder wheel (ferris wheel) which offered amazing views of the beach, boardwalk and all of Coney Island. After that we got some awful booth photos and then all but Steph went on the infamous Cyclone wooden rollercoaster. It was crazy, so many dips and so fast and jolty.
We then had carnie food - I had corn on the cob and fries. By now it was about 2 or 3, and we decided to head back to Manhattan and go to the Museum of Sex. It was really interesting they had their permenant collection then two exhibitions one about animals and sex, the other about sex and the moving image. It wasn't at all dirty or seedy.
After the museum I was keen for dinner in the city, but the girls wanted to go back to westchester. We ended up getting stuck at Steph's place without a car, so we ended up having chinese delivered!
Next day same girls and I went to the Palisades, which is the 2nd largest shopping centre in all of America. Its about 30 minute drive from my place, over this big bridge over the Hudson. I didn't buy anything (except some aussie chocolates, wooh) and we met Alice & Alissa (lismore girls) for dinner at our favourite restaurant The Cheesecake Factory.
Monday was Labour Day so a few of us had work off. I didn't do much, just chilled at home for a while catching up on stuff, then met girls for starbucks for a bit, then home for a nap, then chilling at the river (best way to end the night!)
Saturday morning we all got an early train, Sarah and Steph on one line, me and Frannie on the other, and met at Grand Central. We then got onto a 45 minute subway ride into Brooklyn so we could go to Coney Island. When you consider that Hastings where I live is only about 30 minutes from the city, thats one lonnnnnnnnng subway ride. But we had one of the nicer subways and it wasn't busy so we all got a seat. We were really worried as the subway passed Coney Island, because none of the rides were moving. We'd taken the 9am trains to assure us to get into the city realtively early and when we stepped off the subway it was about 11.30am and no rides were operating! We walked in the direction that the few crowds of people we going, and walked past the famous 'Nathans' a good hot dog place. We saw a really small flea market which basically just had cheap perfume and sunnies - oh and kebabs and dead pigs on the grill grossssss. Then at noon, all the rides started up - big collective sigh of relief!
We walked onto the boardwalk - which was really nice with a few sideshow games, souvinear shops and carnnie/beach food. The beach looked amazing and lots of people were there as it was a 3 days weekend cuz of Labour day. The mini amusement park/carnival is right on the boardwalk, so right next to the beach. There is two famous rides we all wanted to go on - the wonder wheel (ferris wheel) which offered amazing views of the beach, boardwalk and all of Coney Island. After that we got some awful booth photos and then all but Steph went on the infamous Cyclone wooden rollercoaster. It was crazy, so many dips and so fast and jolty.
We then had carnie food - I had corn on the cob and fries. By now it was about 2 or 3, and we decided to head back to Manhattan and go to the Museum of Sex. It was really interesting they had their permenant collection then two exhibitions one about animals and sex, the other about sex and the moving image. It wasn't at all dirty or seedy.
After the museum I was keen for dinner in the city, but the girls wanted to go back to westchester. We ended up getting stuck at Steph's place without a car, so we ended up having chinese delivered!
Next day same girls and I went to the Palisades, which is the 2nd largest shopping centre in all of America. Its about 30 minute drive from my place, over this big bridge over the Hudson. I didn't buy anything (except some aussie chocolates, wooh) and we met Alice & Alissa (lismore girls) for dinner at our favourite restaurant The Cheesecake Factory.
Monday was Labour Day so a few of us had work off. I didn't do much, just chilled at home for a while catching up on stuff, then met girls for starbucks for a bit, then home for a nap, then chilling at the river (best way to end the night!)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Few quiet ones
So my last blog left you at the end of my holiday. I got back the Friday night, and then that Sunday, Sarah Steph and I all decided to stay in and have a movie marathon, seeing as they wanted to save and my holiday had wiped out my week's pay! We then went out to our fav restaurant The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
The following weekend, Sarah and Steph ventured to D.C for the weekend, and Frannie came home from her month long holiday. On the Sunday her and I went into the city to walk the streets of Chelsea and into a bit of Greenwich Village. We went into some vintage stores and the Barney's Coop where they send all the sale items from Barney's. It was so scary, because they lead you down a few alleys, into a huge room, make you sign your bag in, and then when you enter the female section, there is women EVERYWHERE! Getting undressed, trying things on, grabbing shamelessly at sale clothes and shoes! It was crazy and very claustrophobic so we got out of there quite quickly! Then we ate lunch at Papaya Grey's, which is a famous hot dog store that also sells Papaya (paw paw) drinks. It was the first good New York hot dog I've had - I don't like the ones they sell in the side vendors, but these ones were amazing.
That night we headed back to Frannie's place and Alissa came over so we could eat dinner and watch the Sex and the City movie.
Then the weekend that has just passed, Saturday Sarah, Steph and I went to see a movie, get a quick bite to eat, and chat at the river. It is now Sunday, 4pm, I'm waiting for the girls to pick me up so we can go out bowling maybe or for dinner. I've had a few good saving/low key weeks so hopefully next weekend I can plan something big in the city, maybe even go to see Wicked!!
The following weekend, Sarah and Steph ventured to D.C for the weekend, and Frannie came home from her month long holiday. On the Sunday her and I went into the city to walk the streets of Chelsea and into a bit of Greenwich Village. We went into some vintage stores and the Barney's Coop where they send all the sale items from Barney's. It was so scary, because they lead you down a few alleys, into a huge room, make you sign your bag in, and then when you enter the female section, there is women EVERYWHERE! Getting undressed, trying things on, grabbing shamelessly at sale clothes and shoes! It was crazy and very claustrophobic so we got out of there quite quickly! Then we ate lunch at Papaya Grey's, which is a famous hot dog store that also sells Papaya (paw paw) drinks. It was the first good New York hot dog I've had - I don't like the ones they sell in the side vendors, but these ones were amazing.
That night we headed back to Frannie's place and Alissa came over so we could eat dinner and watch the Sex and the City movie.
Then the weekend that has just passed, Saturday Sarah, Steph and I went to see a movie, get a quick bite to eat, and chat at the river. It is now Sunday, 4pm, I'm waiting for the girls to pick me up so we can go out bowling maybe or for dinner. I've had a few good saving/low key weeks so hopefully next weekend I can plan something big in the city, maybe even go to see Wicked!!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
My Lovely Little Holiday
My lovely little holiday started Friday 7th August, as soon as my family left for their vacation. Very like me for most things in life (except usually when I travel) I had left things to the last minute. So after the family left, I did a load of laundry, and packed my bag, ticking things off a check list I'd made a few days earlier, so I wasn't completely rushing around like a headless chook!.JPG)
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I then took in the Imax film, that used cute little cartoon characters to explain the creation of the falls. Then you move into a 4D viewing room, where you have to hold onto a handlebar. In 360 degree screen, they take you on a journey through the ice age, through nature, through the creation of the falls, then take you down them. YOu have to hold on because they spray you with water, shake you about, it snows, there is fake lightening. It was so awesome, and I got saturated with water!
Then I lined up for 'Journey through the falls'; which is a serious of tunnels underneath the Canadian falls. You can stand at the end of the tunnel and see the water flowing down in front of your eyes!.JPG)
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and people are so stupid, because they all had their cameras out (as did I) but as we got closer to the falls, they didn't put them away (I did cuz I have brains) and then started crying and complaining when their cameras got wet and wouldn't work!The boat goes first past the America falls, which are beautiful but don't seem as powerful, then you go right up to the Canadian falls and the boat is getting throw in this direction and that direction, and so is everybody on board, everyone is screaming and cheering because they are so close and they are getting so wet. All you can see is water, feel is water, and taste is water! Of course you can feel the wind and power too. It was one of the most amazing experiences of nature, and I Will never forget it.
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I had dinner, and went souvinear shopping (so expensive!) and got my little jar of maple syrup, my cute misty bear
and my usuals (postcards, patches, magnets). Then I waited to view the falls at night. It was really pretty as they shine all the different coloured lights on them, but much more breathtaking and worthwhile in the day. MY camera wouldn't capture the falls at night, but I will always remember them.After this, totally exhausted,I made my way to the bus station to wait until my 1am bus! The bus trip was an absolute disaster, and after I write this blog, I am writing a letter of complaint to greyhound buses. The 1am bus was late picking me up (and I had to pay twice as much for the trip, then stated on the website, for no apparent reason), and then we were alotted a small amount of time to make it through customs, however the American customs people are very thorough and quite frankly very rude, which meant that we took about three times the alotted amount. This factor, plus the initial 30 min late pick up, meant when we arrived at Buffalo, our first rest stop, we were obviously very late. What I didn't realise, was that I was suppose to get on a connecting bus at Buffalo, that would take me to Boston. This is course had left, meaning I had to wait from 3am till 6am at the empty and freezing cold bus terminal until another bus arrived. In the end, a 12 hour trip was suppose to have me into Boston by 130pm, instead the bus crawled in at 530pm. Needless to say that night I slept quite well, and finally in a bed!
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Tuesday, I took a 9am train down to Plymouth, which was about an hour trip. I then bought a pass for the Plymouth trolley and took that straight to Plimoth Plantation (It's spelt differently cuz some old guy back in the day, couldn't spell, so the plantation thought that would be clever name for them. wrong). Annnyway, so P.P is two different colonies the Wampanoag Native Americans and a 17th century pilgrim colony. Then Native Americans aren't roleplayers, but actually Native Americans, who work at the plantation, building things for the village and teaching visitors about their life and history. Some people I found very short and didn't really seem to want to answer any questions, but some people were very talkative and open to even silly questions.
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this lady was lovely! Then onto the pilgrim village, we roleplayers dressed and spoke as those back then did, and got all confused if you me mentioned things like nikes, the internet or obama. Youcould also ask them all kinds of questions about the time or their "history" or "beliefs" - it was a very fascinating museum overall. After this I took the trolley down to the beach, and got the 'world's best icecream' (voted 05) and bought my souvys and then had a gaze at plymouth rock.JPG)
where the pilgrims sailed in on the mayflower. wasn't that exciting, but what was kinda cool was the replica of the mayflower..JPG)
It's run by same people that do the plantation, so it had all roleplayers as the captain, crew and passengers. It was very interesting as well, and down by the beach and wharf was so pretty, it was a lovely end to my day.JPG)
Because I was going to Niagara I decided against taking my laptop, and decided to zip lock everything - camera, cords, passport, money! NOTHING was getting wet!!At 9pm that night, I set off, carrying a backpack and handbag. I walked down to the train station, took the train into Grand Central in the city then taxi to Port Authority where all the buses leave from. My bus was at 11.45pm, and you are suppose to arrive 1 hour before, so I arrived at 10, but the line had already formed, and I was lucky to get the last window seat! I ended up having a guy sit next to me, who used me as a pillow the whole trip! Everytime I tried to move, he would just fall more in my direction, it was so frustrating. The trip was 8 hours, I probably slept for 3 or 4, and arrived safetly in Canada (customs was a breeze) at 9am.
I decided to go for a pass that included transport, through the falls, maid of mist, imax and white rapids walk. I took the 5 minute bus from the bus station to the main strip of Niagara. They dropped me at the first lookout and the falls were utterly breathtaking!
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I decided to go for a pass that included transport, through the falls, maid of mist, imax and white rapids walk. I took the 5 minute bus from the bus station to the main strip of Niagara. They dropped me at the first lookout and the falls were utterly breathtaking!
On the Canadian side, you really get the best view, because you can see across to the American, and you can look across to or stand literally right next to the Canadian (or horseshoe falls). Its funny because on one side you have these amazing powerful forces of nature, and then on the land you have all these touristy gimmicks, and amusement parks and casinos. Its ridiculous. After I got my first glimpse, I wanted to get closer, so I went right over to the Canadian falls, and looked from right next to it. I could see the river that lead up to the falls and the water gushing over the top..JPG)
I then took in the Imax film, that used cute little cartoon characters to explain the creation of the falls. Then you move into a 4D viewing room, where you have to hold onto a handlebar. In 360 degree screen, they take you on a journey through the ice age, through nature, through the creation of the falls, then take you down them. YOu have to hold on because they spray you with water, shake you about, it snows, there is fake lightening. It was so awesome, and I got saturated with water!Then I lined up for 'Journey through the falls'; which is a serious of tunnels underneath the Canadian falls. You can stand at the end of the tunnel and see the water flowing down in front of your eyes!
Another tunnel takes you to a landing, thats half way down the falls, and literally right next to them..JPG)
This tied with the Maid of the Mist, as the best Niagara experience. You really got a sense of the power of the falls, even though you could hardly look at them from all the water sweeping down into you!
After lunch I took the 'White Water Rapid Walk' which is located a few ks (omg they use the metric system in Canada, horray!) down from the base of the falls. You walk along side the rapids, on a wooden boardwalk, and see classification 6 (highest classification) white water rapids, in fact the Niagara ones are said to be the world's most dangerous!
Finally, in the afternoon, I got to the 'Maid of the Mist'. I wanted to leave it to last, so I wasn't walking around wet. The sight of all these little blue people boarding a ferry is hilarious
This tied with the Maid of the Mist, as the best Niagara experience. You really got a sense of the power of the falls, even though you could hardly look at them from all the water sweeping down into you!After lunch I took the 'White Water Rapid Walk' which is located a few ks (omg they use the metric system in Canada, horray!) down from the base of the falls. You walk along side the rapids, on a wooden boardwalk, and see classification 6 (highest classification) white water rapids, in fact the Niagara ones are said to be the world's most dangerous!
Finally, in the afternoon, I got to the 'Maid of the Mist'. I wanted to leave it to last, so I wasn't walking around wet. The sight of all these little blue people boarding a ferry is hilarious and people are so stupid, because they all had their cameras out (as did I) but as we got closer to the falls, they didn't put them away (I did cuz I have brains) and then started crying and complaining when their cameras got wet and wouldn't work!The boat goes first past the America falls, which are beautiful but don't seem as powerful, then you go right up to the Canadian falls and the boat is getting throw in this direction and that direction, and so is everybody on board, everyone is screaming and cheering because they are so close and they are getting so wet. All you can see is water, feel is water, and taste is water! Of course you can feel the wind and power too. It was one of the most amazing experiences of nature, and I Will never forget it.I had dinner, and went souvinear shopping (so expensive!) and got my little jar of maple syrup, my cute misty bear and my usuals (postcards, patches, magnets). Then I waited to view the falls at night. It was really pretty as they shine all the different coloured lights on them, but much more breathtaking and worthwhile in the day. MY camera wouldn't capture the falls at night, but I will always remember them.After this, totally exhausted,I made my way to the bus station to wait until my 1am bus! The bus trip was an absolute disaster, and after I write this blog, I am writing a letter of complaint to greyhound buses. The 1am bus was late picking me up (and I had to pay twice as much for the trip, then stated on the website, for no apparent reason), and then we were alotted a small amount of time to make it through customs, however the American customs people are very thorough and quite frankly very rude, which meant that we took about three times the alotted amount. This factor, plus the initial 30 min late pick up, meant when we arrived at Buffalo, our first rest stop, we were obviously very late. What I didn't realise, was that I was suppose to get on a connecting bus at Buffalo, that would take me to Boston. This is course had left, meaning I had to wait from 3am till 6am at the empty and freezing cold bus terminal until another bus arrived. In the end, a 12 hour trip was suppose to have me into Boston by 130pm, instead the bus crawled in at 530pm. Needless to say that night I slept quite well, and finally in a bed!The next day (Monday, in case you lost track), I met up with Allysha, one of the girls I flew over with. We walked part of the Boston Freedom Trail (a walk through the town, stopping at historic places and buildings) and saw the Public Library, the Boston Gardens and the Boston Common. The Gardens have the swan boat rides, which are known to Boston, and looked so fun, but I didn't end up going on. The Common was okay, basically another name for a park haha. Then we had lunch at Quincy Markets, which like last time, I loved. Then a brief stroll (With some yummy icecream) down to the wharf, and lazyed around chatting till dinner time.
Tuesday, I took a 9am train down to Plymouth, which was about an hour trip. I then bought a pass for the Plymouth trolley and took that straight to Plimoth Plantation (It's spelt differently cuz some old guy back in the day, couldn't spell, so the plantation thought that would be clever name for them. wrong). Annnyway, so P.P is two different colonies the Wampanoag Native Americans and a 17th century pilgrim colony. Then Native Americans aren't roleplayers, but actually Native Americans, who work at the plantation, building things for the village and teaching visitors about their life and history. Some people I found very short and didn't really seem to want to answer any questions, but some people were very talkative and open to even silly questions.
this lady was lovely! Then onto the pilgrim village, we roleplayers dressed and spoke as those back then did, and got all confused if you me mentioned things like nikes, the internet or obama. Youcould also ask them all kinds of questions about the time or their "history" or "beliefs" - it was a very fascinating museum overall. After this I took the trolley down to the beach, and got the 'world's best icecream' (voted 05) and bought my souvys and then had a gaze at plymouth rockwhere the pilgrims sailed in on the mayflower. wasn't that exciting, but what was kinda cool was the replica of the mayflower.It's run by same people that do the plantation, so it had all roleplayers as the captain, crew and passengers. It was very interesting as well, and down by the beach and wharf was so pretty, it was a lovely end to my day Wednesday's plan was Salem, and I was most excited about visiting here. I wanted to catch the 8am bus, to be there by 9, to make sure I got everything in. So I ended up waking up way to early, and waited around for 30mins at the bus stop, took the 740 bus, and got there at 840, and found out nothing opened till 10! But at least I was first in line for the trolley and bright and ready :D
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I did one whole run on the trolley, to hear all the history of the town - the architecture, maritime history, witch trial history and literature history. It was really interesting and is such a beautiful town with lovely homes and buildings. The first museum I went to was the Witch History Museum.It had pretty poor audioanimatronics.JPG)
but it still told the story well. A priest and his daughter and niece moved to the town of salem, and bought with them their slave Tatunya from Barbados. She began to tell the girls stories of voodoo and witchcraft, and then the girls began to fall ill, sometimes going days without speaking, moving, blinking and being stiff as a board. They would hurl their bibles, acting crazy, speaking in tongues or worse. So they went to the doctor, and he said he could find nothing physically wrong with them so it must be spiritual. Then the word witch got brought up and its all down hill from there. The girls began accusing everyone under the sun, those people accused others - even a 4 year old girl accused her mother! In the end 19 people were hung and one person was crushed to death by rocks. In the end the girls revealed it was all bullshit, and now its all history. As dreadful as this time in American history was, it was rather a blip on the timeline when you compare it to the thousands of people persacuted for being witches in Europe.So back to my trip...after the witch history musem I went to the salem witch museum, .JPG)
where they pretty much did exactly the same thing - retold the story with audioanimatronics, pretty lights, and deep scary voices. Same thing again at the Witch Dungeon. I missed out on going to the pirate museum because it closed early, but the witch museums were my top priority. Each one was very good, but they were all so similar it would have been okay just to go to one. While I was in Salem, I also saw a psychic. I wasn't going to originally because I thought being Salem, they were probably all fake and gimmicky, however then I found a lady who had been dubbed the 'witch of massachusetts' by the govener, so made an appointment with her. Unfortunately she wasn't there, and I saw her assistant, and I didn't think he was very good at all, to say the least!I ended up leaving on the bus at about 730, home about 9, and crawled into bed very exhausted but happy!.JPG)
I did one whole run on the trolley, to hear all the history of the town - the architecture, maritime history, witch trial history and literature history. It was really interesting and is such a beautiful town with lovely homes and buildings. The first museum I went to was the Witch History Museum.It had pretty poor audioanimatronics but it still told the story well. A priest and his daughter and niece moved to the town of salem, and bought with them their slave Tatunya from Barbados. She began to tell the girls stories of voodoo and witchcraft, and then the girls began to fall ill, sometimes going days without speaking, moving, blinking and being stiff as a board. They would hurl their bibles, acting crazy, speaking in tongues or worse. So they went to the doctor, and he said he could find nothing physically wrong with them so it must be spiritual. Then the word witch got brought up and its all down hill from there. The girls began accusing everyone under the sun, those people accused others - even a 4 year old girl accused her mother! In the end 19 people were hung and one person was crushed to death by rocks. In the end the girls revealed it was all bullshit, and now its all history. As dreadful as this time in American history was, it was rather a blip on the timeline when you compare it to the thousands of people persacuted for being witches in Europe.So back to my trip...after the witch history musem I went to the salem witch museum, where they pretty much did exactly the same thing - retold the story with audioanimatronics, pretty lights, and deep scary voices. Same thing again at the Witch Dungeon. I missed out on going to the pirate museum because it closed early, but the witch museums were my top priority. Each one was very good, but they were all so similar it would have been okay just to go to one. While I was in Salem, I also saw a psychic. I wasn't going to originally because I thought being Salem, they were probably all fake and gimmicky, however then I found a lady who had been dubbed the 'witch of massachusetts' by the govener, so made an appointment with her. Unfortunately she wasn't there, and I saw her assistant, and I didn't think he was very good at all, to say the least!I ended up leaving on the bus at about 730, home about 9, and crawled into bed very exhausted but happy!The next day I had originally set aside as a spare day, to do whatever I missed out on or whatever I could find. So earlier that week I had decided to go whale watching. However, when I woke up on Thursday I was in so much pain from my blisters on my feet, I literally couldn't move. I ended up skipping the whale watching, and stayed in bed till I could walk, then took a bus to the movies.
Friday, my bus to new york left at 1230, and I got in at 6, and met up with the girls that night! Such an awesome holiday in the end, I loved it so much!
Friday, my bus to new york left at 1230, and I got in at 6, and met up with the girls that night! Such an awesome holiday in the end, I loved it so much!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Quick Catch Up....
So after the last post, I had two weekends with not two much going on. The first weekend, a good friend of mine here lost someone back home, so me and the girls put all plans on hold to be there for her. The following weekend, we had a farewell party for Matt on the Friday night. We knew we couldn't afford anything fancy, so decided to be as lame as possible with party hats, kids games, leis and of course some vodka in water bottles haha. Then Saturday morning Frannie left on her one month vacation, and on the Monday, Matt moved to a family in Minnesota. Frannie is having her vacation before the end of her work time. She went to Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles, she gets back this friday and then has 3 more weeks work before she finishes aupairing and moves back to Germany! So sad!
Monday, July 20, 2009
I'm in a New York state of mind...
Well I've definitly had New York on my mind this weekend! Not only was I in the city both Saturday and Sunday but I also finally made my mind up about whether or not I was staying for another 6 months, and have decided that yes I will! I am so excited about my decision and the prospect of spending another 6 months in this beautiful and amazing, everchanging city!
Saturday I went in by myself, to the International Centre for Photography, they were having an exhibition of a famous fashion photographer's work from the 40s through to the 2000s. It was amazing work, and although I was disappointed that the centre was only 2 floors, and there wasn't more, it was a lovely afternoon! I also wondered up to the Museum of Modern Art (or MoMA) but didn't go in as it was closing in an hour, and the entry is $20). I instead headed back to westchester, and spent the night (and the early hours of the morning) at the river with Sarah, Steph and Matt, giggling up a storm as usual.
The next morning, I took an early train into the city with Matt, and we met Frannie at grand central. We subwayed down to the World Trade Centre site because Matt wanted to get some official merchandise. There's a great big space in the middle of all these buildings, and even without knowing, you would have had a sense that something was missing from that space. They are slowly building the new, freedom tower, so we saw them working on that. They had a WTC tribute museum but we didn't have time to go in because we had to be back in midtown (WTC is lower manhattan) at central park for Matt's LCC meeting. So we subwayed up to Strawberry Fields, Central Park where we met up with Sarah and Steph and the LCC group. After lunch, photos and general lazying about we decided to head to 5th avenue (minus Frannie who had to work), as Sarah wanted to get a teddy bear from the famous toy store FAO Schwartz (where Tom Hanks plays the big keyboard in the movie Big). Since I had already been there, we split up and the girls explored FAO and Matt and I headed down 5th to Best Buy (pretty much like JBHIFI even has a similar logo lol) to get me a camera! We met back up for some naughty spending at clothing store H&M before heading back to westchester. We ate at Sarah's for the second night running (yummy and easy way to save, dinner at host homes!) and met up again with Frannie to see the latest installment of Harry Potter. I'm not a fan but it was pretty good. Home sweet home at about 130, with my head hitting the pillow at about 3am after staying up for a late night online chat!!
Saturday I went in by myself, to the International Centre for Photography, they were having an exhibition of a famous fashion photographer's work from the 40s through to the 2000s. It was amazing work, and although I was disappointed that the centre was only 2 floors, and there wasn't more, it was a lovely afternoon! I also wondered up to the Museum of Modern Art (or MoMA) but didn't go in as it was closing in an hour, and the entry is $20). I instead headed back to westchester, and spent the night (and the early hours of the morning) at the river with Sarah, Steph and Matt, giggling up a storm as usual.
The next morning, I took an early train into the city with Matt, and we met Frannie at grand central. We subwayed down to the World Trade Centre site because Matt wanted to get some official merchandise. There's a great big space in the middle of all these buildings, and even without knowing, you would have had a sense that something was missing from that space. They are slowly building the new, freedom tower, so we saw them working on that. They had a WTC tribute museum but we didn't have time to go in because we had to be back in midtown (WTC is lower manhattan) at central park for Matt's LCC meeting. So we subwayed up to Strawberry Fields, Central Park where we met up with Sarah and Steph and the LCC group. After lunch, photos and general lazying about we decided to head to 5th avenue (minus Frannie who had to work), as Sarah wanted to get a teddy bear from the famous toy store FAO Schwartz (where Tom Hanks plays the big keyboard in the movie Big). Since I had already been there, we split up and the girls explored FAO and Matt and I headed down 5th to Best Buy (pretty much like JBHIFI even has a similar logo lol) to get me a camera! We met back up for some naughty spending at clothing store H&M before heading back to westchester. We ate at Sarah's for the second night running (yummy and easy way to save, dinner at host homes!) and met up again with Frannie to see the latest installment of Harry Potter. I'm not a fan but it was pretty good. Home sweet home at about 130, with my head hitting the pillow at about 3am after staying up for a late night online chat!!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Red, White and Blue (not just american colours, but aussie too!)
During the day on saturday (4th july), me, sarah and stephanie decided to get a little pampered and got our hair cut and then went home to dye our hair. We lazed around most of the day until about 6 when Steph and I (sarah was working) headed over to Alissa's for a 4th of July weekend. I had really wanted to go into the city to see the fireworks, but the girls were keen on a quiter night, so I had no one to go with. I had lots of fun at the bbq, though! We played back yard cricket (which I've actually enever played before and was quite fun) and guitar hero (i'm not as good as when i left oz but still pretty ok!) and renamed it 'Australia Day 2'! We even wore our aussie hats for a bit and got out some aussie flags, haha. The next day Sarah, Steph, Frannie and I got the train into New York for a good old fashioned picnic in central park! We got some lovely fresh summer fruits and salads, and found a shade covered rock to eat on. Then we decided to explore the park - we rode the carousel, walked literary path, saw bethesda fountain, people riding canoes in the lake, kids playing with remote control sailboats in the pond, saw the alice in wonderland statue, climbed to belvedere castle, walked through shakespeares garden and past the swedish marionette cottage. It was all stuff I've done 3 times before, but was so much more fun with these girls, who hadn't seen any of it!! One thing we did stumble upon, which I had been searching for all 3 of the other times I had been here, was the Hans Christian Anderson statue! I was so excited when we turned a corner and it was there! After the park, we did a quick breeze through the museum of natural history, before heading back to westchester for dinner at one of our fav chain restaurants, the cheesecake factory.
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