diary entry-week 5...

So last week was an amazing but long long week. It was long because I worked a lot, the kids were off school on Monday and my girl was off Tuesday, but it was a good week nonetheless. I am definitely getting used to life over here and loving it more and more. The more I do it, the better I get at it, the whole schedule and driving and currency difference. Here are many random thoughts about life right now:

The whole of last week I kept thinking to myself, I cannot actually believe this is my life right now! If I think back to 6 months ago, I was stressed about my future not sure about whether I should even follow my dream of going to America to au pair, and thinking even if I wanted to how on earth would I afford it?! How could I manage to get here? It amazes me! My own story inspires me to always follow my dream. I remember day when going to America was as hopeful as a Cinderella story, and now look at me!! If you have followed this blog right through you will know what I mean.

So I feel like somehow I should keep telling people to always follow their dreams! I have so much faith in God to make things happen, and in myself to make things happen. Someone once said, if your dreams don’t intimidate you, they insult God, and that is so true! My dream was big, and for a less than fortunate girl like me, it was a dream too big. But look, it came true and now I look outside the kitchen window at the beautiful pine trees outside, or sometimes I sit on the porch and breathe in the icy morning air and think to myself, this is all I ever wished for and more! I am living my dream come true!

And while I’m on my little tangent, I just want to thank anyone who has contributed in any way to this travel adventure of mine, THANK YOU! I appreciate it more than words can say.

Ok second random blurb thought: people have been asking me lately, like what’s the biggest thing that is different for you or that shocks you the most? The culture, the driving, New York… So I thought you reading my blog might be interested :)

I think among the biggest difference for me is definitely the driving. Driving on the right hand side of the road, jug handles, and lack of circles, not to mention the obnoxious drivers!

Then the food is crazy! Its yummy, and the candy is soooooo good! And the portions are so big I always share with a friend, or order the starters! My favorite thing in America so far is a chicken wrap. Simple I know, but really good. AND THEY HAVE UNLIMITED FRIES!!!

The other thing is the houses and the areas I have seen so far. The houses are extravagantly big and they rarely have fences around them! Seeing a house without like 10 meter high walls around it is crazy to me, just crazy. And people have like garden furniture outside! Isn’t that weird? In S.A. that would never happen.

The other big difference is the food- like my stomach took for ever to get used to the food here! Its just totally different and many things are convenience orientated, and calorie conscious! All the menus have the calorie count of the item before they even have the price of the item.

The biggest thing that shocks me is the amount of stuff people have and have access to here. A simple ting like the park is crazy different. At home the parks have over grown grass, and maybe one jungle gym on it, and barely any children use it. Here, the parks have like games at them, multiple jungle gyms, and they are crowded with kids all the time.  And the variety of clothes in clothes stores, and the different types of clothes and just everything is like home upgraded… but it’s pretty cool to experience all this I must say.

So there you have it, a crazy blurb about my thoughts about my life… hehe :)

Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question :)

xxx

diary entry-week 4...

Diary entries are like random blurbs and feelings about my week…

Ok so because I haven’t written in a while, cause the past two weeks have been pretty busy, this diary entry is about week four of my stay in America, as in the week before last.

Ok last week was a little crazy because it was valentines day on Tuesday and I decided to throw a little girls tea party for Jillian and her friends…. So I had lots to plan and get in order and all that…so Tuesday after ballet Jill and I went home after ballet and got everything ready, it looked so cool and she had like 5 girls over, and I baked pink cupcakes that they could all decorate themselves, how cute!! :) :) After they played for the whole afternoon in the playroom…it was mad but I really enjoyed it cuz I know I would’ve loved that kind of thing as a child…

 Here some pics :) 

 

Then Wednesday and Thursday were pretty normal, but Friday the kids were off school fro presidents weekend…how crazy is that? Presidents weekend?! In South Africa we would never take a Friday and Monday off long weekend to celebrate our president, its just weird to me, but none the less we did…So I dropped the kids at their friends house in the morning and I went to the mall to go shopping! oh my word it was so dangerous, everywhere I look I just see things to buy for people! It’s insane! Nonetheless I felt the need to first spend some money on clothes for myself so I can look pretty for work…. FOREVER XXI!!!!! This is South Africa’s Mr. Price, except better!!! Its insane and huge and inexpensive, so I bought some shoes, tops, skirt, and socks! yay…

Anyways, back to the kids, so they had their play date and I picked them up and then we went home and chilled and then Jessica’s sister came over and they hung out and I kind of got off a bit early. 

Ok so my weekend was amazingly cool and so chilled… I woke up on Saturday morning at like 12, so Saturday afternoon: P yay! And I skyped Calvin and the family went out and I skyped Calvin some more, and then when I had finished skyping Calvin, It was nighttime and I went to bed: P so it was a pretty cool day! Awful I know, but I think I deserved it.

Sunday was so awesome! I woke up early, went to breakfast with some cool au pairs at a friends house, went to church, and then went for an au pair get together at the movies with some different au pairs and we watched the vow. Ok to anybody reading this, if you are fairly similar to me, DO NOT WATCH THE VOW, unless you want to cry like an injured baby! It was just so sad, and I cried like a baby! The whole movie I cried the whole way through, it was mad! I have never cried so much for a movie before!

But my day got better cuz after the movie my friend and I went walking around the mall with her boyfriend and other friend, and we randomly got our ears pierced at the top.  We walked past this piercing place and my friend was like ahh I wana get one and I was like ok, not like I’ve ever wanted to get that, but spontaneity got the best of me and I was like ok cool lets do it! So I got it, and my friend got one, and it looks cool…

This is Wurushkah, my friend that i met here, and she's from Durban :) SA power! 

 This is her friend, shoot i forgot her name, awkward...

we went to bobby's burger palace for fries after our ear piercings

Then I went home and relaxed and went to bed earlyish…

It was a crazy week though, like emotionally and mentally, just trying to figure life out, and figure out things on my own, like its so many firsts here. First time in a new country, first time with a full time job, first time all alone, first time to make ALL my own decisions, first time living with a family I work for, first time having to pay for absolutely anything I want with my own money and getting no extra money from parents, first time having to wake myself up every day, first time choosing which things in life I think are ok and which are not, first time doing long distance friendships and relationships, first time experiencing a drastic season change (spiritually and literally), and I’m sure I could think of a ton more…

So trying to learn how to manage my life with regard to all of these, and just learning to handle life by myself.  It’s been crazy and stressful and trying to also manage maintaining contact with people at home and make time for skype dates and family time here and me-time and everything. It’s been bizarre! But you know what? This past week has been really cool and much better and the more time goes by the more I learn and the more I see things in a different light. And I’ve also got amazing people in my life that help me every step of the way and I know I am never alone.

Wow, so what a trip it must be reading this, haha how about living it :P it’s been an incredible adventure so far though. 

Oh i forgot to mention, Calvin totally spoiled me for valentines day :) He sent me a like devotional book, roses, chocolates, a 48 piece make up set, a pamper like bath kit with like bath gel and lotion and hand cream and a rose shape loofah, and a silver diamond heart shaped necklace...he's the best and it definitely made me feel so special :) just thought I'd put that in there...

Yay :) ok bye, miss and love all my South African fans, :) , and love all my American newbies :)

xxx

Lets go team America :)

So I know I haven’t written in a while, and I’m sorry, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, it’s just been super crazy settling in here in the USA!

So lets start with the fact that I’ve been sick, which sucks, cu the weather here is freezing, literally.  So because of the sever climate change, I’ve had a running nose for two weeks- blagh!

Settling in with my family’s schedule has been tough because I’m over tired, and there’s a lot to remember, but the more I do it the easier it gets, so I’m not complaining…

My daily schedule is something like this: everyday except Tuesday I get the kids ready for school, take them to school, do random chores, chill until they finish school (in this chill time I like to skype cape town.), fetch them from school, do homework with them, take them to their extra mural activities or play dates, fetch them from their activities or play dates, and then give them supper, get them clean and in their p.j.’s, and then by that time their mom is home and I’m off (I usually pack their lunches and get things ready for the next day before I actually go to my room or go out). Then once I’m off I either can go out, have a friend over, or just chill alone…whatever I feel like.

So in the past two, almost three weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve met so many new people. Lots of girls, some guys, and lots of names to remember… but of all the people I’ve met, I think Ines and Benita are my good friends. They’re both German, and 19, like me J (The 19 part, not the German part obviously J) hehe. So with my friends I go to the mall, which is AWESOME!!! It’s huge, and we go for coffee and stuff, but lately I’ve been trying to save, and not go out as much, and also just to rest so I can get better and be hundreds!

So highlights of things I’ve done so far:

 

I went to New York with Tracy- my awsome friend that I met in Cape Town, probably my best friend in America... we're pretty tight. 

 And we had T.G.I. Fridays in Times square 

Then I slept at her house in Queens, awesome times, and went on the train :D

Then come sunday, the biggest T.V. watching day of the year for American, it was the Superbowl....some football something or other :P. So I went with Benita to another au pairs house and we watched the Superbowl (by watched I mean glanced at it a few times in between our never ending conversations ), and had pizza. it was a cool vibe, and I met another South African girl, that was cool, made me feel at home.

 This is Benita...

I also went to Carlo's pizza with the kids, and to Mc Donald's...which looks so different to South Africa Mc Donald's, and the chips aren't as good... and I went to Duncan Donuts again... :)  

And then of course it SNOWED!!!!! holy moly it was amazing!!! the poor kids must have thought I was a crazy lady!

At first it fell kind of fast and small, then later on heavier and bigger and fluffier J. It really was the highlight of my life… So obviously, as soon as I got off work I played in it, and made a snow angel dedicated to Cape Town, the place I’ll always come back to!

I went to Johnny Rockets again, with Ines, which is like this super cute vintage/ retro restaurant which makes the best milkshakes ever! its amazing, and relatively cheap...

 This is Ines...

OK well that's all for now, be sure to leave a comment if you wanna know more... and to check out my Facebook profile (Naomi Antonette Groenewald) for more pictures... and sorry they're bad quality, I'm using my iPod touch at the moment.

Love to everyone at home, missing you all so much! and love to my friends in America, you are making my stay here more pleasant every day!

BIG HUGS!!!

xx

Adventures so far and to come....

These are my adventures thus far :)

And my bucket list thus far:

DC

Hollywood

California

Los Angelis

Broadway

Disney world

Liberty stairs

Chicago

Philadelphia

Ohio

Missouri

Virginia

Yay for adventure :) :) :)