Sports that make no sense to me ...

The good news for those who enjoy touring the States with me, via my pictures is… I brought a new camera. I saved up a little and got a Sony cyber shot, it’s not that fancy but the best part is that it is PINK!!!! Oh yeah, so it fits into my life perfectly! It takes really good pictures too, which of course is the real reason I got it, although my host dad (Dave) still thinks it’s just ‘cos it’s pink.

New camera :) So now I don't have to miss pictures like this (Milwaukee County Zoo)

I’m more of a cricket and rugby type of girl but since most American’s have never heard of cricket and they definitely don’t understand the appeal of rugby, I have had to convert. (But don’t worry I have my T.V recording South Africa rugby game so when my South African friends come over we can watch them)

Nadine, Monique, me *wearing our South African rugby jerseys* and Tamara

My conversion of South African to American sports started with Baseball. My State’s local team is called the Milwaukee Brewers (they are sponsored by Millers beer.) The game was on a Sunday starting at one (so I figured we’d be finished at 3 latest, ha ha!) For those of you that don’t know much about baseball, it is a very slow game, not the actually hitting or pitching, but the game that I went to took almost 4 hours! No jokes! This is largely due to the fact that you have 9 innings for each side. To end a team’s inning you need to get three of their players out. You get them out by either running them out or by pitching three balls that they fail to hit (strike.) Once you achieve this everyone on the fields switches, and in between this, they pitch a few practice balls, and the commentator has something going on so either it’s a competition, sports stats or random video that they show you.

Miller Park baseball stadium, WI

I know there are no rules involving foul balls and all that, but I not here solely to educate you on the rules and regulations of foreign sport, so I’ll leave it at that. During this time people get up and walk around doing pretty much whatever they want, which is strange for me I am used to rugby which is 40 minutes intense game play, an interval, and another 40 minutes intense game play…Then you go home to celebrate or try to forget the last 2 hours! Anyway, after all of that we went into extra time (or innings, not sure what you would call it) as The San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee Brewers were tied, after 3 more innings, we got a run and won the game! So my first game was really special, even if I did spend the first hour asking the one au pair, who knew about baseball, what was going on!

Au Pair group attending a baseball game at Miller Park, WI

Has anyone watched football before, and I’m not talking about your standard 5 min clip you see on most American stereotypical college movies. I mean like a whole game. If you answered yes, the next question may be a little trickier, and be truthful. Did you understand what was happening???

The isn't a pic of the Packers (however these are their colours) it's my friend Kevin's football team in CA

I went to watch a game with some of my American friends (at their house, not the stadium) and I tell you that is one complicated game, (mom) it may actually be more barrack than rugby! Plus you don’t even get to check out the cute guys as they are wearing tights and helmets, the former not the manliest attire while the latter totally hides their facial features. That aside, it is a really intense game. The rules are something like you get 4 plays to get a down (which is over the 10 foot mark or something like that), then you start all over again from the new mark and have 4 more plays to advance 10 feet more…and so on. Which sounds pretty boring and basic but believe me it’s quite fun to watch, although it is long game that involves a lot of strategy, but the nice thing is you can still watch and appreciate it regardless of how into the game you are. The Green Bay Packers (Wisconsin’s football team) won their game against the … um wait I can’t remember who they played … will get back to you on that. So Brody, Tyler and I were all hanging out before the game chatting and having fun, the game started and I kid you not Tyler turned into a monster…we were not allowed to look or talk to him cos “the PACKERS are PLAYING!” Wow dude…does he realize it’s only a game? Haha

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though...this is the Diary State, and the Packers are part "religion" here

A lot of firsts in a lovely country ...

I haven’t written in a while, so forgive me if I repeat anything! I am happily settled in the USA, and really enjoying the “All American Dream”. This place, Milwaukee is really the typical American city (like the cities you see in the movies) It is a super cute area where kids are safe and have freedom; they draw on the side walk, have lemonade stands and play out ‘til dark. It’s very American to say “out” as opposed to “outside”, so I keep asking “out where?”

The first of many chalk drawings

If I review the last month and a bit, I have seen a 4^th of July celebration, gone to two fantastic concerts and traveled through 5 States, visited Chicago and discovered the WONDERS of skype!

The 50 States of America

4^th of July was really fun, I wore an American flag Tee, jeans and Red, White and Blue shiny bead necklaces, I felt truly American...but when I heard the star-spangled banner (the American anthem for those that don’t know) that was the first time that I felt truly home sick…I just wanted to shout (yes, SHOUT) Nkosi Sikele Afrika! I youtubed it, just to hear the amazing voices of African harmony, then I made my host parents and their family listen to it. They all agreed we have an amazing diverse anthem, but knew that they would never be able to sing along.

No Doubt, wow that was awesome! To hear one of my favourite old school bands sing the words that made them famous, it was a spine tingling feeling. Unfortunately after indulging on a fantastic Mexican meal, I woke up with food poisoning! Luckily both my host parents are doctors so I spent the next day resting, drinking Gatorade and eating crackers.

No Doubt (google image)

Next was the Blink 182 concert, which I attended with a friend of mine, after staying away from the Mexican stand and on my way to concert bliss…I dropped my camera! But that was not going to get in my way of having a blast. There were 3 opening bands (one that we missed, but had never heard of anyway) Fall out Boy and Panic at the disco! WOW, WOW WOW! It took me back to the days of being a teenager (like last year…) where you truly feel like the band is singing to you, and about your problems, feelings and emotions.

Arati and I at the Blink 182 concert

The Windy City...

Summer is leaving us, which is pretty sad as I have really enjoyed summer time in Milwaukee. However the leaves are all starting to turn gorgeous red, and gold and slowly starting to fall. It is a wonderful season that we don’t see very often in South Africa…But it also means that winter is sneaking up on me! Since I have been here (4 months) clothing has doubled in thickness, to prepare for fall, I bet by the time winter is here I am going to be wearing my whole wardrobe just to leave the house (that’s if we not snowed in!)

Apple picking with AJ (one of the first really cold day)

A while back in Aug a fellow South African au pair – which I met during orientation, and who was with me for the 18 hour flight, of which she cried for 10 hours of it - and I decided to meet up in Chicago. She is staying in Boston, so this means she had a long journey, which she decided to do via bus (25 hours later…) I also went but bus a mere 3 hours in comparison. We had to run to catch the metro going to Glenview, where one of Ravashnie’s school friends (also an au pair) was fetching us. After arriving at Angie’s house, meeting the kids and her host mom, she was asked to baby-sit…I was like “are you kidding me???” I came to Chicago to baby-sit? My first night ever in Chicago was spent baby-sitting 4 over active kids, eventually the host dad came home so we decided to go out (just to drive around and see some night sights.) Another au pair (a Brazilian girl) met up with us, and we went for a drive, everything around us was closed except Walgreens (which is sort of like a Clicks) so we brought ice cream and ate it in the parking lot. After that we decided to rather go home and get an early night so we could be ready for sightseeing the next day. Unfortunately her host mom had arrived home and … locked the door! We arrived back home ready for sleep not quite dressed warmly enough for the chilly Chicago night only to discover that we were locked out! Angie had a key for the door, but not the screen door which was also locked! The Brazilian girl had dropped us off and left, so we were outside in the freezing our bums off! Ravash phoned Carla and told her to come back, so at least we could sit in a warm car while we plotted on how to break into the house. Nothing like 3 South African’s and a problem, you know what they say… ‘n boer maak a plan!

Ravashnie, Angie and I

After at least 3 hours of frantically phoning her host parents, breaking into the host dad’s car and garage, Carla’s car battery dying as well as the garage door battery …we were finally safe and sound, snuggly in bed J Needless to say we were super tired the next day, but did our fair share of sightseeing, when Ravashnie and I got on the bus Milwaukee-bound we were finished!

Me by Millenium Park Cloud Gate (aka The Bean)

*Hi-lighted words are explained in the glossary page

Feeling like a Ninja...

Some people reading this blog may have been to America, and a few may live in America…well this next post is for your entertainment, for those of you that have never been here (to the USA), don’t laugh-this is serious stuff! So America is a first world country with all the fancy bits and bobs…this includes automated, well, everything. When you go into a bathroom cubicle you are in actual fact facing a room that probably has just as much intelligence as you. The toilet has a sensor so it “knows” when you sit down, and once you stand up it “waits” like 5 seconds and then automatically flushes. I don’t know about you, but that kind of freaks me out, like what if I don’t move out the way fast enough? Then after wrestling with the toilet timing structure, you have the taps! This can be a tricky dance of its own. You wave your hand under the sensor of the hand soap, catch the soap, rub hands together, then hold them under the tap, but be careful not to move your hands away from the sensor otherwise the water stops. I have got the hang of this by now BUT, on one occasion I was helping Annabel (the girl I look after) to wash her hands. Picture this I’m holding her up and she has her hands under the tap – and it’s not working, so she waving at the tap, still no water, I start waving at the tap (one arm still around her) and no still no water…so we keep waving…only to discover that this is the ONE human operated tap left in Wisconsin.) Finally I find out how to activate it (push down hard) but this only renders a 5 second sprinkle, so it’s hold child, push tap, hold child again, push tap again…next dry hands. After looking for a button we realized that this was a standard “American” hand waving sensor paper towel dispenser!

Annabel and I (at a library fun day)