No more an Au Pair

My days of being an au pair is over, to be exact, it was over about 4 months ago. I'm now back in my sunny island, back to a place I belong.

Things were kinda funny at first, having been away for a year. But soon things began to fall into place. This time, the feeling of being back is different from the time I came back from the UK. Having living in someone else's roof for a year, I now understand what it is like being a maid.

Being an au pair is not an easy job, but I would say it's really a very good chance to develop one's character. Of course, I feel that I've learnt a lot during this one year stay in the states. Priceless lessons and ofcos, the opportunity to tour around states.

Coming back, finding job, it was a process to start all over again. Seeing friends having a career, having the lives they want make me envy them and made me ponder if I've made a right choice....it has been so many years, me not having a "real" job. Reality began to set in, and I was upset for a while, deciding what to do with my job.

But all's well now. I'm starting work next month and I'll take one step at a time.

July 2006

It's july already. This is my last month of being an au pair. One year is almost up and it's time for me to go back to sg and continue my life. Who knows what will be in stall for me? I'm excited about what God is going to give me. This whole year has been unbelievable. Until now, I still cant imgaine I've been here almost a year. It really seems only like yesterday when I first came.

Anyway, I'm going to enjoy myself this last month, going to do a lot of shopping..haha..buy buy buy....I really like shopping here, but guess when I go back, I really need to budget a little and stop spending and spending... :P

I hope I'll be able to get a job soon and start earning $$. I'm so behind everyone...wait up everybody! haha...but I'm happy and I'm glad that I've chose to come here. It's definitely worth it.

Well, nothing much to update also...see you guys soon!

Six Flags


went six flags last sunday, the weather was warm, thank goodness. So went for one roller coaster ride and decided I shall not go anymore :P heehee..think i'm a scary cat. Anyway, but we went to the pool and did one water slide. Then the rest of the girls wanted to go into the pool becos it was very hot, so off we went. Spent the whole time in the pool and it was time to go. Oh well...took pictures with the characters like tweety, slyvester, etc etc.

It was a nice day out actually. Well, it's coming nearer and nearer to the end of the program. I'm already starting to miss this place. But, everyone has to move on somehow. So, i guess that applies for me too :P heehee..

I'll be going for one last vacation at the beginning of aug before i head home. Will be going upstate New York, to Uncle Harold's place and to Niagara Falls. Think it will be great to see him after so long.

Nothing special these 2 weeks. Hopefully i'll make full use of the few weekends left to explore a bit more of whatever is near virginia...was hoping to go Florida but maybe wouldnt be able to. Anyway, we'll see. The girls are talking to go Sea World in Florida so if they go before aug, i might go with them.

Places that i still wanna go in virginia are Williamsburg, Shenandoah National Park and lastly to D.C to see the musuems and to get some souvenirs for myself..heehee..But there's a canoe trip coming up in July. I'm gonna go!! haha...it's by Shenandoah River State Park. So i think thru there, i might be able to get a view of the Blue Ridge mountains too...so maybe that would be enough. Actually also want to go fruit picking, but maybe nobody wants to go..so will have to give it up.

Now that summer is here, it's the fruits and vegetables harvest time. Farmer's market are now starting and that is where they have fruits and vegetables from the farms. I've been to one and will be going becos my host mum really like fresh fruits and vegetables. I think it really makes a difference though, they are fresher and fruits are sweeter too...yummy..heehee..

okie dokie, that's all for now....byebye everyone

California

hey everyone...it has been a long time since i updated my blog, as you can see :P I'm really getting very lazy to do this...haha..well...i went for a trip to california from 29 Apr till 6 May. So have been back for 2 wks now. Have to complete a portfolio to get my credits and then i'll be done with all the credits stuff.

I'm left with about 2.5 mths for my au pair year and time is really passing so fast now...it's crazy. Well..maybe something about the california trip. I booked a tour with suntrek...if anyone is interested, the website is www.suntrek.com. It was the Western Sun that i went. Good tour i would say. It's a van concept tour, the guide has a minivan which takes 11 of us and all our stuffs are loaded up on top of the van. This tour has 4 camping days!! haha..yeah...i actually went camping. It was quite an experience, given that the last time i camped was when i was in sec sch! So i forgot how it was like.

So this is the trip itinerary


So mine starts from San Francisco and it ends at Los Angeles. Went to all of those listed here except for Yosemite National Park. The roads were closed and we went to Lake Tahoe instead.

Saw a lot of things during the tour. And it was an all girls' tour. Everyone is an au pair except for one lady who came from Germany.

Anyway, i had a good time and took a lot a lot of pictures...over 400!! hahaha...wanted to take more but ran out of space on my memory card! heehee :P Thank God that pple in my grp are all very nice...

Spent a lot of $$ too..heehee...ohwell...i guess if i dont spend now, i dunno when will be the next time i come back to states again...so...i guess i can always earn back my $$.

And next sun, i'm going to Six Flags...it's a theme park, like Universal Studios..so i think it's going to be fun...will update again...bye everyone and see you guys soon... ^_^

Finally...

This week has been a crazy week. Natalie was out of school the whole week becos of her spring break. So she was home all week. Luckily, she had some play dates, if not she would be so bored at home with me...haha...but at least now, she treats me differently. It was so strange. That day we had a really big argument and it was only then i realised that she is the one who need more love than Isabelle.

She feels that I love Isabelle more than her and now i finally understand all the things that she did was to get attention. I've read this somewhere, kids love getting attention...even the bad ones...if that's the only way to get it. So i think that was what she was trying to do.

Well, at least now, the air is cleared and she can be a really sweet girl. :)

It's been such a long time since i updated the blog...just gettin lazy :P heehee...

BTW, one of my best pals just had a boy on Apr 10!! Yeah!! I'm so happy for them...baby Nicholas..so cute..cant wait to see him. I think he's going to get soooo much attention from us....first kid to be born to the grp.

3 more months and it's time to go home...how exciting...really wonder how it would be when i go back...i'm already starting to miss this place....sigh...but everyone has to move on somehow...i think it's time i settle down and not keep running abt!! hahahha..ohwell...

hope everyone is doing well wherever they are!!

and next weekend, i'm off to california for a one week tour!! yippeee...really looking fw to it...will get to visit San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles...

Back from Philly
















Philly is nice. I'm glad I went. Philly has got very nice structure.

The buildings are huge and looks very ancient. I left house about 7:30am on sat. Alex drove Betul, Marjon and me to get the car. Nice...that was my first time driving a mini van. ^_^

So off we went to pick up the rest. Then we drove for about 3 hours before we reached our hotel. Thank God we got there and back safe and sound.

Betul was my navigator. The stress was on her to get us there!! haha...it was not an easy job being a navigator, but she did good... :)

After we checked in, we went for lunch. It was COLD....the wind was so strong...after lunch, we went walking around the central philly. We walked and walked and walked....















Does anyone recognise this? I was told that "Rocky" ran up on these steps!! haha..i've nv seen the movie "Rocky" though, so i didnt know. This is the Musuem of Art and we were told by the bus driver that Rocky was there 2 wks ago filming "Rocky VI". Heehee...

So much for the 1st day. Then on the 2nd day, we woke up early and went to the visitor centre to get tickets to go into the Independence Hall. That's the place where US becomes independent, i think :P We drove the car into central philly. And i was just 5 mins late to put more $$ in the meter and i got a ticket :( for USD20. What a great way to start the day...sigh....ohwell..

So we went to the independence hall and then i went back with salome to check out of the hotel. Then we went back to go to the Liberty Bell..a really big bell of significance....although i cant remmeber what :P heehee...short memory...


After the bell, we walked to South Street. It's supposed to be a famous street with makan plcs and shops...We were looking for plcs to eat and thought we should try philly cheesesteak since we are here. That's like the philly must have...kinda :P

There was this place called Jim's cheesesteak or something...the line was really really long and we were hungry and didnt want to wait that long, so we found another plc less crowded. It was good.. :) Nothing special but at least we tried it...heehee

Everyone was tired and we decided to go home...so we left Philly abt 4pm. A long drive back. I was tired, and didnt sleep well the night before...i can feel myself not concentrating as hard...but i tried to talk and keep myself awake...

So, it was back home to VA and nice bed... ^_^

Philadelphia

I'm going to Philadelphia tomorrow!! ^_^ Yippy....Philly is about 3 hours drive from here and 7 of us are going in a car...with me driving..haha...but i'm excited.. :) And i'll drive carefully and get everyone there safe and sound.. :P

More updates when i come back from there...ciao...

Baltimore - Maryland

Baltimore is another city in Maryland. And this time, Betul was driving and Salome went with us. We left about 1pm and reached there about 2:15pm. We were hungry. Salome and me didnt have lunch, so we went someplace to eat. We were at this foodcourt, and what a coincidence, the boss of this chinese eatery is a singaporean! Haha...first encounter with singaporeans since i came here.. :) I had curry chicken with rice and broccoli. It was nice...

I think i like Baltimore more than Annapolis. It's another waterfront city and they have this big aquarium there...it's like 5 storeys high, and the queue was really long. I think i might want to go back and try to get into the aquarium. :)

We went to tour around the ships and submarine. Cool stuffs.

This is the inside of the submarine....

After the ships and submarine tour, we went for desserts and then it was back home. :)

Betul, me, Salome. This is taken inside one of the ships we went to.

Annapolis - Maryland

Went to Annapolis on Sat-2/18/06. Annapolis is a city in Maryland. I was driving and Betul went with me. Sophie, Isabell and Marjon was going there later, so i thought we would just go ahead of them and meet them there. There is a naval academy at Annapolis, which is where the Navy ball will be! :P I'm going...heehee...

Anyway, i thought i shld just go ard to as many plcs as i can while i'm here. So we went and walk around. Nothing much actually, but it's by the water and it's kinda nice. And then we went to the Naval academy. Walked around there and went for lunch. It was COLD......but luckily i went prepared. I had everything to keep me warm.. :) heehee

So, just a few photos here....
















Sophie, Isabell and Marjon came about 3:30pm. They were meeting Isabell's bf there and they are going to Baltimore on that day and spent a night there. We didnt go with them to stay overnight but we went to Baltimore on sunday to meet them.

It's SNOWING


it's snowing again. And this time, the snow is really a lot. It started snowing yesterday morning (11 Feb 2006) and it just snowed throughout the day and night. The power went off in the middle of the night and didnt come back on until like 10am in the morning...scary...i wonder what will happened if the power doesnt come on...everyone would be freezing in the house!! haha :P

The snow is like half-way my kneees....it was fun to walk in it, but i dont have the proper shoes and pants, so my feet were freezing after a while...haha..ohwell, but it was fun.

Here's a picture of me just outside the garage. My host dad was trying to shavel the snow away from the garage...My car is all covered with snow...luckily i dont have to drive anywhere today and hopefully by tmr the snow would have all melted. If not, the kids are going to be outta school again...!! haha

Happy Chinese New Year

This is the 2nd time in my life that I'm not around during this CNY period. Although I can imagine everyone getting ready for CNY; cooking, shopping, cleaning, it's just very quiet here. It's just like any other day, although the chinatown in washington D.C is having some kind of a celebration.

I dont really want to go and experience what it's like celebrating CNY here, partly becos I'm lazy and partly i guess it doesnt matter to miss just one or two celebration! :P hahahaa...

Well, Happy Chinese New Year to everyone back home and hope everyone has a prosperous new year. Gong Xi Fa Cai!!! ^_^

Parents

Being a parent is really not an easy task. This au pair experience made me realised that parents are the greatest beings in the universe. The amount of nonsense they have to put up, the incessant demands from the kids, the crying, screaming etc etc. But you come to realise that it's all worth it when the child is happy, is being silly and giving you kisses and hugs. "Mummy" and "Daddy", 2 simple words, but if being called by your child, in a very sweet way, just melts your heart. You forget about all your tiredness and troubles for a while.

It's really not easy being a parent, but at the same time, when you see your kids being good as a person, as a friend, as a student, it just shows that you have done a good job.

Salutes to all the parents out there!

Happy 27th Birthday to me!! ^_^

How time flies...i'm officially 27. Sigh..getting old is so scary. Well, i had a very nice birthday this year, being in a foreign land. On sat (21st), i went out for dinner with my friends and after dinner we went to watch "Brokeback Mountain". It was quite nice and everything got paid for becos it's my birthday..yeah..it was nice.

We were plannin to go to an Irish pub after the movie, but i guess everyone was tired and we went home.

On 22nd, i was meeting some friends and planning to go ice-skating but we met too late and the ice-skating rink was closing, so we went bowling instead. This is the 1st time i ever bowl in 27 years!! haha...nv really gave bowling a chance when i was in sg, but it was nice....Sophie was really good, she had a few strikes...but i guess i'm ok for a first timer..haha...

then i went home to have dinner with the family. It was nice. So that's so much for my birthday. And today, i got a card from my buddy and a card from Rochester, NY. I was surprised that Uncle Harold actually remembers my birthday!

BTW, this "uncle" is someone i visited 10 yrs ago. I have to plan a trip to go visit him while i'm still here. These past 10 years, i've been wanting to come visit him, but always nv have the $$ haha..as usual, so now i'm here, i shld really take the chance to.

I hope everyone is having a good time wherever you are.

Happy New Year

Hey everyone, happy 2006. It's the start of the new year again. And me, birthday being in this month, gets one year older faster...scary.. :P anyway, i was too lazy to update the blog..haha...but still, i'm making effort...heehee

New York was very nice...spend like 5 full days there, didnt really pack my time like crazy, just took it easy and went around. It was really nice.

Day one - 27th Dec
Took the bus at 11am and the traffic was good. Reached there about 3:00pm in the afternoon. Not too bad. Then after putting down my stuff, went for dinner with my friends. So much for day one :P heehee

Day two - 28th Dec
Had breakfast in mac and then walked around central park and did some shopping at Time warner center and Time sq.

Day three - 29th Dec (rainy)
It was raining but we still went ahead with our plans, which was to go to chinatown and little italy. The chinatown is really big and it just reminds me of home :( but it was nice...then went for dinner at time sq.

Day four - 30th Dec
Had breakfast, then went to a friend's plc. Sat ard for a while and went to South street seaport and Rockafella center.

Day five - 31st Dec
Went to buy some gifts and then went to friend's house to watch Time Sq count down on TV...haha...i think it's too crazy to stand there for 8 hrs just to watch the ball down. So, watch it on TV is just as good...haha...

Day six - 1st Jan 2006
Time to go home...bus was at 12pm. Reached home abt 5pm. Was so happy to see the girls after one week. They were in the car, smiling at me. It was really nice.