I don’t like fall, but I’ll survive

Flu has landed everywhere and I’m a victim of it as well. It isn’t the weather, I swear. This week I had like 4 persons texting and calling me how cold they where and how it was 5 degrees celcius outside. The question; “is it cold there as well?” Could be answered with a solid no. It has been between 17 and 24 degrees celcius outside the last week and it will stay that way for a little longer. There is rain (which I hate!) and an occasional sweater day but so far fall is pretty easy to endure. I can understand why some people like it here (something with mild weather, halloween and their Pumpkin Spice Lattes).

The workweek
It has been a pretty easy and sometimes boring week. Starting at Wednesday it was back to school for the kids. Noa and Ben had two last minute playdates on Wednesday and Thursday with their friends (the ones that went to the zoo with us as well)which was fine by me because I could hang out with their Au Pair Pauline. On Friday we were already there as well when Pauline got a call from my hostmum (I don’t have a phone plan yet). My hostmum had forgetten the kids had a playdate already so we rushed home for the other kids (who were luckily not there yet).

On Thursday morning I had to go to a class for my license which was 4 hours long. It was pretty easy and there were only two other girls. The system is pretty weird and while it’s smart to take some driving lessons most people don’t do it before their roadtest. As I mentioned before; driving here is so different and no one cars about other people while driving. You need to be so assertive and just squeeze yourself between other cars if you want to be able to drive here. Coming back in the Netherlands will actually be so funny…

Weekend
Friday I went shopping on my own, spend half an hour calling my family because the shops were not open yet, walked out of Nordstrom because the thing I wanted was such a ripp off (160 dollars for a pair or rainboots is too much), found some cool clothes at Hollister like always and went home to relax a little before I started working.

This weekend I had an extra day off because of Columbus day. Zoe doesn’t need to get on the train on Sunday because off that. Julia messaged me if I had plans yet and because I didn’t we decided to do a budgetproof trip to NYC. I borrowed my hostdad’s railpass, we went on the free Staten Island ferry and saw the statue of liberty, skyline of New York and went to the impressive 9/11 memorial which I had wanted to see for years already. So almost everything I did, except for the subway, was free. Pretty good idea 😉 But the frappucino at Starbucks? It was so gross!
Sunday I went out for breakfast with Pauline and Nuara at Ihop. No judging but any person who can eat their portions and still feel hungry are kinda weird… They were so big!

I took a bite out because I was so hungry

I’m just relaxing for now and trying to make some plans for the week. Like I really need to go shopping for cheap rainboots and slippers (pantoffels), meet up with friends and discover new cool places in the area. Like I said; so far fall is pretty much okay but lets hope I can survive winter…

The first month flew by!

Okay, seriously, what did just happen? Tomorrow a month will have passed since I arrived on JFK Airport and that means a month in the USA, a month without my family, a month without extremely Dutch food! It’s so weird. A lot has been going on in my life, good and bad but right now a lot of good things are happening. But that’s something for next week.

Let’s say that there was good deal of homesickness (but no tears) and heaps of times where I said to myself: well that’s it! I’m going home! Now, of course I wasn’t serious. I want to do this! Some of the people I spoke to knew that I was stressed and exhausted. There were constant headaches and my back was very tensed up. My first week in the states was already full of homesickness and I knew it would come back. But there is just so much to get used to and the idea of not being able to see my family until atleast January and so on just seems weird. I’m still asking myself how I am going to be able to do that for a year; but one month down and about eleven more to go. If you didn’t hear of those things well don’t feel angry or left out. Being here, even with Skype and Whatsapp still means it’s not always easy to share everything 24/7. My hostfamily and I are certainly getting used to each other and small talk is easier now. While some Au Pairs have an instant connection with their family the reality is that it’s not always that way.

When no one can spell your name…

My last blog was 1,5 week ago and during that time I did some fun stuff including riding those Scooter steps (everyone had one as a kid) on Monday. We did this because there was only one bike, we couldn’t use the car and walking would have taken ages. So what we did was go down the hill to the city of Mamaroneck and then take a taxi up the hill later that day. We must have looked so funny!
On Tuesday I met up with Kristel at Starbucks (where else?) who I met during the introduction days in NYC. She lives about thirty minutes away so we can’t meet up every week but it was fun! I was surprised to see my hostmum at Starbucks as well (the town is smaller than I thought).
Wednesday was Social Security office day for me. In total I waited about 1,5 hour for a 15 minute thing and I learned that efficiency isn’t in everyone’s dictionary here. I was just glad I was done with it after that.

It was “Walk to school week” at the kids’ school and I’m pretty proud we managed to walk to school every day of the week. Even though Noa has little legs we were always on time. It was also a good solution for the no car thingie and not to forget: very healthy! But I really don’t mind that I can drive again now… I still have to get my U.S. Drivers license but meanwhile I can still drive the kids to school and occasionaly use the car for my own errands and shopping trips.

During the weekend Esmee and I went to New York City as well as a Yankee match at the stadium. This is the first real touristy thing I did since I arrived and we were sure to take lots of photos. I finally started using my heavy camera. I’m glad because it would have been a lot of useless weight to carry in my suitcase if I didn’t!

Sunday was pretty weird with a man harrasing my hostkid and I at the station. Luckily my hostdad noticed the man and waited in the parking lot to see how it would escalate before he went back home after dropping us off. The man was cursing at the three of us and people already had phones in their hands to call 911. He even sat down next to us in the train! Creeper… We both got out and my hostdad drove us to NYC (I certainly don’t recommend that even though the traffic was okay). At the moment it was so scary but looking back it’s an interesting story to tell to people.

The kids had Monday and Tuesday off so on Monday we went to the Bronx Zoo with their friends and their new Au Pair. Gosh it was such a big zoo…
And because Tuesday was the 4th of October was World Animal day (which is certainly a bigger deal in the Netherlands) Noa, Ben and I went to Petco to buy some toys for the cat and dog before we went to the playground and the Chiropractor (or Tickle Doctor as their mom likes to call it).

So that’s it! It’s now Wednesday and even though I have not much planned for the upcoming few days except for a trip to the mall (Telling you something new… ahum) and a 5 hour course for my license (not looking forward to that) I’m just gonna see what that brings. More Starbucks perhaps?