My road skills test

I dont know if it's just me. How come i always have to take theory tests so many times? It's the same when i was in sg and now it's the same here. I went to take the theory test for the 3rd time yesterday. i read through the book, was very confident and one stupid mistake; i have to go back again. Sigh....i was so mad becos i though the same question came out twice and i just push the button assuming that it's the same question and as a result, i failed the test.

This is how it works, there are 2 parts to the test. First part is the road signs test, 10 questions and you have to get it all right, then you can proceed to the 2nd part. The 2nd part is general knowledge, 25 questions and you have to get 80% right. so my stupid mistake was in the 1st part, so i failed the test right away...i was so mad...anyway, it's all past and i would have to go back again.

Then i went to shop shop...wanted to buy gifts for Natalie and Isabelle. Saw some suitable ones...and maybe i'll get it next wk. Then i went to have my baby-G watch checked...and guess wat? Hahaha...it's just the battery. The battery is kinda flat..the lady changed the battery and it works fine now!! ^_^

The lady is asian...and she was like "are you chinese?" i said yes and she started to speak to me in mandarin...haha...and she's from china but we sgreans cant really speak everything in mandarin...heehee...i was trying to explain to her my LCD is not working and she didnt understand what LCD means...so i have to bring the watch to her...anyway, the watch is working fine now, and i'm happy...

I'm going to NY on the 27th...and staying there throughout the first day of 2006. :) so, i think it would be fine...

Thanksgiving...

It was thanksgiving on thursday. Actually I don't really know what that day is celebrating for, but it's a holiday here in America and the kids are out of school for 2 days.....so thurs, fri, then sat, sun...it's a super long weekend...

and here in america, the day after thanksgiving is like a sales day..big sales...and pple who wants cheap cheap things will rush to the stores early early to queue for the sales...haha...a bit like singaporeans hor? :P

Anyway...on thurs, I helped my host mum to prepare for the dinner. We started at 10am in the morning...and just kinda worked all thru the morning and afternoon...it really is time consuming to prepare everything ourselves...but it was fun...then we had a big dinner then dessert...pecan pie...this is the first time i'm having it...very nice... :)

then i was practically off for the 4 days...thurs n fri i didnt hv to wake up early...then today and tmr is my off day so...it was nice, but im feeling restless liao....want to start the week faster...haha....

can you guys imagine? It has been 4 mths....going into the 5th mth liao...how time flies...8 more mths and it will be time to go home...im feeling a bit sad too..missing home a little...then i went shopping..sigh...spend more $$ again...i bought a hat, long john and some slippers socks....i wonder why they are called slippers socks...but they are very cute and it's 2 for USD5 so i bought it..hehee...then bought another long sleeve shirt and 2 bags of twistie like snack (but they are in the car) haha...havent decide where i can put them...cannot let the kids see... :P

ohwell...i guess that's it for now..im going to change into my pajamas...bye...

My favourite watch

My Baby-G watch is broken....i'm so sad now... :( I really don't know what happened. It was still working on fri and sat and suddenly this morning when i wanted to wear it, i found that the LCD is broken and it's not working totally...

Now, i would have to wait until i go back sg to fix it...sob sob...

Friday at the movies...

It was friday yesterday and i was happy to be able to go to Sophie's house for the movie. Sophie's host parents and the kids were out for a vacation and there we go...yippe...i didnt know what to expect, but i was really looking forward to it. I finish work about 8pm and off i go...i was driving in the dark, looking at the streets name, hoping that i wouldnt miss the turn, and there we go, i missed it becos i was driving a little too fast to make the turn. heehee...it's ok, it happens a lot here, i've learnt to turn back as quickly as i can, so that i dont go on the wrong way, i make a turn and got to her plc finally.

There were 7 of us altogether, one singaporean(me), one turkish(betul), one korean(silvia), one german(isabell), one austrian(sophie), one canadian(erith) and one south african(salom). Nice...it's a good mix of pple...heehee..so then they started to make nachos and pizza....very interesting night i would say...and then we talked a little bit. Then it was movie time...heehee

the first show we watched was "Kicking and Screaming"...quite a funny show...then we had a break and the girls ate ice-cream...i was very tempted to but i'm having such a bad cough that i dont want to eat anything to make it worse...so i resisted and...ate chocolate instead! haha.. :P

after that, i left...the other girls spent the night there....silvia and me went back home...it's nice to be able to have a bed to sleep in...i think i'm too old to "dawn" all night liao...haha...they were saying to plan on going D.C tomorrow (which is actually today)....

so today (Saturday), i went to the planetarium with my host family.....it was in D.C, at the musuem of national history...it's 3D...quite nice, but isabelle was scared and Kelly had to stay outside with her, missing the whole show...i felt bad... :( anyhow, we finished the show and then i stayed on in D.C to wait for the girls....

i was waiting alone at this part of D.C where they have a lot of homeless pple...i must admit i was a bit scare...so i went into Starbucks, hoping to find a plc to sit n wait...just when i finished ordering, some pple took the seat i was eyeing....damn...so i have to go out into the streets again...oh....btw, Starbucks is everywhere here...literally everywhere....especially in the cities...you walk a bit, Starbucks, walk more, Starbucks....aiyo...it's really everywhere...anyway...
then they came, but only 3 of them..oh well...then we shopped and walked ard a little bit and went home becos i need to work tonight...so right now, the girls are sleeping and i'm waiting for my host parents to come back so that i can go to sleep too...heehee...tmr is the cultural fair...haha...seems like a lot of us are not too enthusiastic abt it!! :P

More updates

ok, the previous one was for Boston, then this one is just a little more..heehee...well, i just came back from a movie. Watched "In her shoes". Quite a nice movie, i like it, and it's nice to go to the movies after 3 months..heehee...

i met a few more au pairs today, they are really nice to hang out with, but sad to say, i'm the oldest among them....:P oh well...but i looked like their age though, so it's good... :)

well, maybe next fri, there will be a movie night at one of the girls' plc. I hope i'll be able to go. It's nice to be with other pple sometimes. For 3 months, i've only had this one friend becos i dont take classes, so i'm determined to make my life here more colourful :P heehee

Anyway, thanksgiving is coming soon. Think i'll just stay here with the family. And i discovered that Alexandria, another part of Virginia actually have scottish heritage. How nice. I went to Alexandria yesterday. It was a nice town. I like it and they are going to have a really big scottish parade in dec...guess i wouldn't miss it. It would be like in scotland again... :) nice...

Next sunday there will be a cultural fair and I'm going to represent singapore!! haha...i got the embassy to send me some brochures but dunno if it will be good enough. Maybe i'll just think of something more...anyone has any suggestions for me??!!! HELP!!

Boston

i was writing this blog last monday and somehow there was a server problem and then it wasnt posted and i lost the post ...arghh...i was too lazy to write everything again then, so i'm writing it now :P

well...i went boston on the 28th Oct to 30th Oct. It was such a long ride to boston....i actually only spent one full day there. I boarded the bus on Fri at 10:30am, then it was like almost 10pm when we reach Boston. We started out from Washington D.C, then went on to Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York to pick up more pple along the way. To be exact, to pick up au pairs. Apparently, all those in this trip are au pairs....oh well...

i think i really have enough of all girls outing...it was scary to be with so many girls all the time actually. I think I'm not balanced :P hahahaha...

oh well...then sat morning, we had an included half day tour, then it started to get really cold and started snowing. And it was snowing really heavy and i didnt really go around much. So much for the one whole day. Then on sunday, we had a very good day. It was sunny and not too cold! If only sat was this good too...anyway, we left about 12pm, heading home. We went through the same places and finally, Washington D.C.

From there, i had to take a Metro back to the station near my plc and then this freaky guy sat in front of me, almost facing me! And i totally freak out!! he was like crazy or something....i was so scared...my heart was pumping so hard i feel like im going to explode anytime!!

But, thank God, i got to the station safely and my host dad came to pick me up. So much for the Boston trip...

Halloween

It's going to be halloween soon...and does anyone of you watch cartoons where kids goes from door to door, dressed up during halloween and ask for candys? It really is what they do here... Natalie is going to dress up as a fairy and Isabelle wants to be Ariel, the little mermaid. I think it would be interesting.. :)

Last week was one of the their friends' birthday and it was at a pumpkin farm. My first time to go to a pumpkin farm in 26 years! haha...but it was nice..then we went on a hayride, which kinda like a small tour around the farm, nothing much, but i guess it's fun for the kids.

I havent got time(lazy) to load the photos :P heehee...so when i've load it up then i'll put it online...

This month has been crazy. The kids are not going to school at lot. I think at most 12 days. There are so many jewish holidays this month n the kids just keep gettin holidays.

Glad that Nov is coming, and then dec and then yeah, someone is coming to visit her bf :P and i'll be able to get stuffs from her...haha..trouble her to bring me stuffs from singapore...

anyway...that's it for now...

Oh my!!...

Oh my oh my...it's already Oct. This marks the 3rd month of me being in America. How time flies, things are starting to feel comfortable, but I'm actually looking forward to the day when I'll go on the plane and go back to where I belong.

Everything is great here and while I'm writing this, Natalie just came into my room and try to scare me. She's funny sometimes. Oh well...anyway, nothing much this week. It's the same usual thing, but I nearly overslept on Fri.!! haha...well, I think i did overslept. I thought i've set the alarm but apparently, I didnt and when i woke up, i was like, why is it light, and it was already 7am!! I quickly jumped outta bed and went upstairs...

Luckily it wasnt too late. I still have time to make the girls lunches and get everything ready. But before this, i was thinking what will happen if i overslept, and it really happened!! haha..it was scary...

Hope everyone is doing fine for this week too. Sigh..i miss going to movies, nobody goes to movies with me here....so sad.... :( Maybe i'll go alone...heehee...

Finally...

Phew...I've have finally got this blog set up a bit nicely..heehee...it wasn't align properly,
i tried to fix it a few times and got fed up with it. So today, i decided i'll delete everything
and paste back again. And there, I got the alignment all in place.. :) Good good..

Anyway, times seems to have just fly by. It's been 10 days since i last updated what's
happening in my life here in America..haha, but actually there's nothing much to update
too.

Last sunday, went to D.C Zoo for a Hispanic heritage event. Saw some dancing by the
hispanics, then saw this booth to volunteer in the Smithsonian here in D.C. Smithsonian
is a big place with a lot of museums and they are looking for volunteers. Sounds interesting,
but I've haven't decided if I would be able to commit :P oh well..

Today i went to a church in Maryland. It's called Washington International Church. They
have a lot more asians there, so it was good, and i feel more at home. So, probably i'll be
going to this church more.

And yesterday, i went to this factory outlet place (Potomac Mills) which is selling clothes
and stuffs less than what they are selling in the stores. Bought 2 GAP long sleeves t-shirts
for fall. The weather is changing already and it's gettin kinda cool.

I'll be signing up for a weekend tour to Boston...don't know if it's any good, but thought I
should just go around, visit as many places as my pocket would allow me..heehee..this trip is
a 3 days 2 nights tour and it cost me 200USD. If everything is confirmed, I'll be going on 28th
Oct to 30th Oct.

Time is passing too quickly....Slow down, time!!!....tomorrow is Monday again...Have a good
week everyone! ^_^

Back to school

This week passes really fast. It's back to school for Natalie andit's the start of Isabelle's schooling days. Natalie is a grader now, as the Americans call it. It's when they get promoted from kindergarten to first grade. It is a big thing for the kids to be a grader.

It's a big deal for Isabelle too, for her to start preschool. But, she got diaherrea the day before and had to stay at home on her very first day of school.

oh well, I met up with another au pair from Malaysia yesterday.It was good to find someone who can speak Mandarin with me!I feel so deprived! Haha, to not be able to speak Mandarin. We went to a mall and had dinner. Guess what? Chinese food is soexpensive here! I had sesame chicken with fried rice and a drink,that cost me 6.77USD which is about S$12!!! OH MAN!! and that's the normal pricing for food here. It's really expensive to eat out! So i try my best not to..heehee...

I just came back from the Au Pair picnic. It was nice to see pplethat I havent see in a month. And we are planning to go D.C soon.Good good.. :) I would like to go D.C and look see look see.

Back from Bethany Beach in Delaware...

It was quite a week in Delaware. We went to a beach house in Delaware, about 4 hours drive from Virginia. We went through corn farms and bought some fresh fruits and vegetables on the way there and back.

The place is nice and thank God, the week we were there, the weather was very good despite the weather report which saysthat it's going to rain everyday. It didn't rain a single bit! ^_^
So we went to the beach everyday and my, the waves are quitebig. I've got a bit of burnt on my shoulders and it hurts! haha...it's been a while since I get sunburnt.

We ate ice-creams, sit at the beach, have dinner in restaurants, have dinner in the house, nothing much, but it was not relaxing for the parents. I think they are more busy than they are usually.It makes me realised that if anyone wants to have kids, they haveto be prepared to forgo their holidays. It's really hard for theparents to enjoy with small kids. So, pple, enjoy your"er ren si jie" as much as u can before u have kids.

I think I was so much more tired after the trip. We went on 27th Aug and we came back on the 3rd Sept. I was actually quite glad to be back home. I have to get away from the kids, so i just locked myself in my room to get away from everything. I need to recharge. It was good.. :)

Cinderella...

It was a very funny night. Natalie and Isabelle were supposed to wash their hair because they are going for a haircut tomorrow. Natalie really don't like to wash or brush her hair and her hair just get tanglesall the time. Well, then their daddy started to discuss about hair and the subject came to me, about how i maintain my hair.

Anyway, to cut the story short, after their daddy finished, Natalie just blurt out and said, "Terese's hair looks like cinderella!" Oh my!!I was a bit taken aback by her words. Haha, but i was touched too.

Then it was time for their bath. I was bathing Natalie and Isabelle was just outside the bathroom brushing her teeth and she said what Natalie said. I looked at Natalie and she said, "Isabelle heard us"..haha..and there i was, washing her hair, and Natalie went on to say, "You know, you really looked like Cinderella", and i was like,"you mean my hair?" and she goes "No, your whole person."

Hahaha...kids...they are just so innocent. Well, at least I'm happy tonight, with being called a Cinderella. It is my FIRST in my life!hahahaha

On Saturday, the whole family is going for a vacation at the beach,and that includes me too. Yippee!! And tomorrow, I'll be going downto DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) to book my test date for mydriving. Good luck to me, need to take theory test too....oh well....

English

Here in America, if you don't know English, i think it's quite hard for you to communicate. Just want to admire the courage of the other au pairs who are here to learn English. 3 Cheers for them. They know a little English and off they came, to America, alone, from their familiar home.
We singaporeans are just so lucky to have a government who sees the need for all of us to be learning, reading and writing English.

My First Week - 8 Aug 2005 - 13 Aug 2005

This week is my official start week as an au pair. I arrive here last Monday (1st Aug 2005) at the JFK airport, got into a bus, and went to the Holiday Inn Select in Stamford, Connecticut.

It was quite a orientation, having to fight jet lag, and trying hard to stay awake in class :P But it was good, got to know a lot of peoplefrom different places; Thailand, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Chile, etc etc. I have never been with such a big group of girls before, heehee, it was quite an experience.

I soon became friends with the Thai girls and all of them are really friendly. Pictures will be uploaded soon.
I'm in Virginia state, in the suburbs. It's a nice place. I like it, quiet and friendly. Goooood.. ^_^ Maybe a little bit on my host family, they are jewish, they have got 2 girls. Natalie is 6 yrs old and Isabelle just turned 3 on 11th Aug 2005. They are very nice and adorable.

Well, this week, i've been practising driving so that when school starts,i can drive the kids around. Driving on the other side of the road seems a bit daunting at first, but after a week, it seems kinda normal now, although i think i'll spend next week practising driving too. And i've learnt to read maps! Yeah! It was tough, but the map is a must have, it's like a life-saving tool for me :P haha

Anyway, tomorrow is Saturday and will be my off day, i'll probably hit the pool. Well, that's so much for my first week. Stay tuned...