Untitled.

Since the hurricane there has been nothing major really happen in my time here. I introduced myself to a new au pair who arrived a few weeks ago and took her out on her first tour of white plains, I have started embroidery and have been just doing what I can to enjoy my time here.

I met a lovely girl from South africa who invited me to her home last thursday, in harlem. It was so nice to get away from white plains and to go somewhere so different which was so rich in culture. We didn't do too much except walk around a lot and talked a lot about this and that, but it is so nice to have another friend here. I also was able to meet the kids she looked after who were simply adorable!

Today I went with my other South African friend to a really lovely state park in Tarrytown/ Pleasentville. It was so nice to be out in the fresh air and get some oxygen in our muscles. At the end of the day just as we were leaving we saw many people dressed in white and many japanese people wandering about, after talking to a guy, who looked like a preist what was going on, he informed us that they were holding a memorial to mark 10 years since the 9/11 attacks and 6 months since the Japan Earthquakes. He told us to write names on lanterns of people who we knew who had died during our lifetime so we could have our own memorial for them as they put them out onto the lake. It was such a sweet idea and we each made one. We stayed around for the ceremony, and for them to put the first lot of lanterns out but after a while the drumming and the bad smell of the lake mixed with incense made us feel so ill we went home. It was so nice to be able to do something to mark the 10 years since the tragic day, its surprising how even after so long, I can tell you exactly what I was doing and where I was standing when I found out.

Hurricane Irene

As a Malmesbury born girl, when I moved to America I was glad that my job took me to Westchester County in New York as it is far away from anywhere where natural disasters is expected. Then on August 23rd my housekeeper informed me that New York city, which is only a 40 minute drive away, had just been hit by a small earthquake, I joked with friends that it was almost disappointing that we didn’t feel anything. The next day my Boss told me her friends would most likely have to come home early from their holiday as a hurricane had hit the Bahama’s where this family were staying. This was horrible news, but the Bahama’s seemed a million miles away and I did not expect that this weather would somehow effect us in any other way. By Thursday morning you could feel a definite change, we had strong winds, grey skies, thunder, and heavy rain, so heavy in fact, my windscreen wipers, even on top speed, failed to keep up with the amount of water falling from the sky, and I struggled to see through it well enough to drive. The rain continued on and off through the night, Friday morning it seemed everything had cleared up apart from this sickly humidity outside which is always warning something is coming.

Friday brought with it a hectic morning of running to the shop to stock up on supplies as Westchester County was on hurricane watch. We had been told we may run out of water, and loose our electricity by Sunday. My normal Friday morning grocery shop had turned into something of a nightmare, the fruit and veg isles were all but empty, people were running around with trollys filled to the top and running outside to get another. I managed to pick up the last gallon bottle of water and picked up a few large containers of 24 water bottles. Within 20 mins the entire 5m by 1m shelf, which was full when I collected my bottles, was emptied, it was hard even getting to the shelves as so many people wanted to get to the water. By Friday night, White Plains had been declared in a state of emergency.

Luckily despite the state of emergency Friday night was like another other, warm and dry. My friend and I ventured into New York city where we spent the evening on a roof top, which had a clear view of the empire state building. Between the hours of 1am and 5am on Saturday morning we watched the whole top portion get engulfed by a large cloud.

All public transport on Saturday was cancelled past 12pm to ensure maximum public safety, forcing all local visitors to leave the city. I was on the first train of the day into White Plains at 5.40am which was filled with people trying to get a room in the already sold out hotels.

By 6 o’clock all the shops in White Plains were closing down, shouting “Irene is coming, everyone out”, police officers were walking the streets asking people to move their cars off the roads and instead move them to covered parking towers which were offering free parking in preparation.

Even if you had no connection to the outside world, and hadn’t heard about the hurricane it was obvious something was coming humidity was at 98% making it hard to breathe and the pressure change could be felt. The main road into White Plains was extremely busy with everyone from Mamaroneck, which is situated on the Long Island sound, the road out of of White Plains was all but empty, a very unusual sight for Saturday evening.

Later on Mamaroneck, New Rochelle and other coastal towns were evacuated, as well as many people in New York city. Many buildings have been opened up as rescue centers, including schools and fire stations. Families have been able to bring pets with them, provided they have proof of up to date rabies vaccinations.

Most of the coastal towns have experienced bad flooding, and further inland have had heavy winds and rain which has broken branches and made windows rattle, however hurricane Irene lost a lot of it’s power and force before it got to New York. We have been hit by a bad storm, but it that was the worst of it.

appologies.

Its been a long time since i have written this blog, there are many reasons for this and i have lots and lots to say i promise i will do an update very very soon and people havent completely lost interest keep reading and watch this space.

Boredom.

I have been here for nearly 4 months now and feel like the novelty has completely worn off. I still love my job and the girls I look after are amazing. I get on well with the host parents so I do have it pretty lucky, except I totally under estimated the limits set on a 20 year old.

I have been in the UK being allowed to buy and sell alcohol for two years, being able to going into a pub for longer. Now I can't even walk into a bar without being ID the highlight of my weekend is going to the cinema or Starbucks at 11.00 at night. Of course I could go to the city and see a live band, but the cost of actually getting there, entry and the usual minimum drink orders just make it unjustifiable when you are trying to save your hard earned cash.
I am sure this country has many wonderful things to offer and most 20 year olds are not as bored here as I am. It is just hard that we have to use up our precious weekends, which we only get 12 of in the entire year, to do college courses, courses I could really care less about doing as all the affordable ones are aimed towards non english speakers, and all the fun ones are not acceptable.

So now I am sitting here trying to think of something to do on Friday night but all my plans involve being carded, and then showing them an ID that clearly states I am not old enough to be in this place. My only other option is to get a fake ID which is something I would really rather not do.

This is the first week where I have just felt BORED. I need to get out of this funk.

Weekend away.

This week I was so determined to get this blog in on time, but just as I started writing it, my computer broke down. After eating up a large chunk of my savings I have it working and am ready to write again!

Last week was a really good week I think, the girls are happy and loving camp and are sad that it will be over on Friday, but it made for an easy week where work was concerned. On Saturday morning -not so bright and- early I caught a taxi which took me to the city where I could then catch a coach up to Boston.
This journey taught me many things.
1. I don't like pretzel m&ms but yet I buy them and eat them every time I go to NYC, what's up with that?!
2. If you are going to get somewhere early, that doesn't mean you have loads of time to waste mucking about, just get to where you need to go first, then see if you can waste the time when you are already in the location.
3. 4 hours on a bus is a VERY long time.
4. American's don't seem to like talking to strangers.
5. Boston is lovely.
6. There is a very fine line between friends and family.

4.30am Saturday 13th
 Alarm goes off, after walking around like the living dead for a while I somehow managed to get dressed, packed, book a cab and be out of the house ready and waiting for Taxi by 5.25am, just to have the guy arrive 15 mins late.
6am
Still not quite awake I find myself in front of the vending machine dispensing my pretzel m&ms and sour skittles. I walk along the platform eating these almost frozen candies grimacing at the salty taste mixed with chocolate (the skittles are for the way home) wondering, why do I buy these? But I do, every time. Shortly after, I board the train and off I go.
6.45am
I start walking from grand central to 8th Av, along the way I see a shop I want to take a photo of, after 10 mins of assembling my camera, I find I have left my SD card at home.
7.30am
Why am I standing outside Pen station?
7.40am
"Cab please"...."Port authority bus terminal"
"$5"
*paid driver*
*3 mins later, including being stopped at 2 red lights*
"Here we are, I hope you catch your bus!"
>.<

8.10am
I sit down on these ridiculously short seats next to a guy, who seems pretty interesting, maybe he will talk to me? That is usually what happens when I end up sitting next to someone on the bus to London.

8.11am
Here begins the 4 hours of silence, and this is repeated on the journey home. 4 hours doing absolutely NOTHING.

12.15am
I find my friend, and suddenly the last 10 years wash away and it feels like it was no time at all since I last saw him.

The rest of the weekend was lovely, it is so nice spending time with people you are so familiar with, being able to talk about friends and family and for the most part, know who the other was talking about.
He took me to see many places in Boston which were beautiful, and the air was so clean! We went for a meal with his lovely partner and all went back to his place to relax. The next day we visited Salem and I was able to see all the things I saw 10 years prior to my visit and actually understand what went on, rather than just believe it was some fairy tale.

So all in all a pretty amazing week!

A guy accused of being a witch.

Cool tree in Salem

Stickers from the museum

Witch

World trade centre.

Home and away.

I am so bad at keeping up to date with this blog, I apologize. This has been one crazy week, as I was saying in my last blog America is becoming my home and the place I feel a sense of belonging just like England was my home and the country I loved, the USA is taking its place.
Sunday this week was my day off, as usual I rang home to check in to find they were not answering the phone, or getting my texts, I got a message later on in the day on twitter from my brother informing me they were in London. Which was fine, just meant I'd have to wait a few days to chat, no problem. I went out with some friends to the local lake which was beautiful by the time we got to it. I had read on google maps it was really close, but after 20 mins of driving I was sure we went the wrong way. We tried turning around, but still something seemed wrong, so my friends and I decided to go down a small side road to turn around, after making the turn, we realised this was no side road but rather the entry to the highway. The only time I had been on the highway previous to this had been highly traumatic with lorries cutting me up and cars not letting me get on. Luckily it was absolutely fine and I had friends who were able to guide me to the right exits, another highway later and going down the same original road again we had finally arrived, just to find out the google map directions were to the wrong side of the lake. However we were so hungry we decided we would just sit up on a very uneven patch of grass and have our picnic there.

Home.

Every week that I am here it feels more and more like home, its funny a few posts ago I remember saying I am completely settled, I didn't think you could feel more relaxed in another country but it is possible and this country is starting to feel like my country. I was watching a film last week which was set in London, I was surprised that I felt such a distance to it, it really felt like a foreign place, they were driving on the M4, a road I drove on weekly, the road seemed strange and unfamiliar. Watching England in this film no longer seemed like a film set at "home".

This week has been a pretty good week all in all, nothing overly eventful happened. Tabatha was home from camp with a stomach virus on Wednesday, and although I was sorry she was sick, I was also really grateful for the extra time we got to spend together. Elizabeth and I spend a lot of time together just the two of us, because she is so much younger and needs constant supervision, which I also love, she is a very sweet kid. However it was nice spending alone time with Tabatha as it was a rare treat, and it really felt more like hanging out with a friend rather than work.

This week was also amazing as I finally managed to save up enough money for everything I wanted to do so I booked tickets to go and see friends in CO and MA, I then had enough money left over to buy myself a very lovely Camera.

Yesterday my host mom came home in a very american looking car, she told me it was my new ride, I had seen photos of it online but didn't expect it to be so tall. It is very very nice however.

Only really bad thing that happened is I am now sick :/.