Day 2 and a little sun…

The next morning I woke up to find out that Dilys (my aunt) was on route to come get me, as she had got my message that morning and had already called to make plans to get me. She showed up and after hellos, hugs and forgiveness was equally distributed...my real Bahamian adventure began with a walk to the beach right in front of their house. Merle has recently started a new job so Dilys and I drove her to work, ran some errands and then went back to have lunch with Merle at a cute place close to her work. That night we had a nice family dinner outside, it was so beautiful!

On the beach

Oh, by the way the best thing about driving around today is that I realized in the Bahamas they drive on the lef side of the road. It’s crazy to see after 2 years! Although some of the people there drive like taxi drivers so there was no way I was going anywhere near a steering wheel!

Ah, South Africa :)

Sometimes there are angels around…

Arriving at the airport much later than expected, I rushed to fill out the various visitors forms, (from the help of Patrick, since he knew more about Merle than I did) hoping that my family hadn't waited too long for me to arrive. I got my luggage and headed out.

Welcome to the Bahamas

Waiting around for family members that I was a little worried I might not recognize after 10 years, in a foreign country, with no cell phone reception…not something I’d like to repeat again! After a while I realized I should probably try to call them, so I managed to connect my laptop to the internet, and facebook stalk them…only to see no one’s number on FB, the company my uncle works for, but not much else. So I sent a few emails and FB messages with the hopes of reaching them. I then tried to google their phone number, which I never found.

I saw a few taxi cabs, but realized I didn’t know their address. Yes, let this be a warning to you to always have the phone number and address of the place you are staying at printed and kept with you when you are travelling (also your return ticket if you are travelling abroad) I wandered around for a while before coming to the conclusion that I had been *sob* forgotten.

This is where your survival instinct kicks in and you begin to access the situation and decide what the best option would be. There was an elderly man, who I had seen walking up and down looking for someone and we eventually got talking, he was waiting for his wife to come in from Miami. He helped me to look for Mike and Dilys’ number on another internet site. After a while he decided it might be best if he went home to see if his wife had called to say what time she was getting in. He offer to give me a lift to where ever I needed to go, and also offered me the flat on his property as a “home away from home” for the night if I needed it.

At this point I decided that would rather take my chance with one elderly man than the groups that were now congregating around the airport (past midnight.) We drove back to his house, where he had a voicemail from his wife about her cancelled flight. He let me use the internet to send another email to my family with his street address, name and phone number in the hopes of meeting up with them the next day.

He showed me to “my own” flat, which had an amazing sea view! It was a really cute place, but by this stage I was just ready to hit the sack…zzzz on my first night in the Bahamas…Thank you Mike Parnell

Flight delays and making new friends…

My flight from Fort Lauderdale, FL -> Bahamas was delayed, and I’m not talking about a few minutes or even an hour, I’m talking hours! I had to get back in the ticketing line because I had switched airlines (to BahamaAir) The line in front of me could only be described as ridiculous! After finding out that there were two flights headed towards the Bahamas (mine and one going to Freeport) leaving within 30mins of each other. Somehow I don’t think this is very good planning on the airlines part.

I just kept thinking of images like this...

I probably managed to chat to almost everyone in line while waiting around. I even met a group of guys who are part of the Bahamian rugby team! They were all really nice guys. Finally at the front of the line, I was super excited! I kept telling everyone “We are going to the Bahamas” Most people in the line told me they didn’t know how I could stay so positive after waiting in a queue for 4hours. I just told them “we are going to the Bahamas! :D”

This is where I wanted to be!

Once in front of the ticketing lady I handed in all in important information hoping this would be a relatively quick process…Famous last words I guess. She started to process everything and then stopped to ask for my return flight. I gave for the time, date and airline information (not printed out though) which apparently is not good enough and you need to show them the ticket.

Still thinking about the beach :)

At a lost I turned to my new “friends” and asked if anyone had a itouch, blackberry or iphone (since I am not part of the smart phone generation, and rather part of the I’m an au pair and my host family pay for my phone…so I have a text message machine that answers calls, and not much else generation.) Thank goodness for the guy behind me who pulled out  an ipad and asked if it would help. Dude, you totally rock! After pulling up my ticket and showing ms ticket lady she smiled and handed me my ticket. YAH!

And images like this...

I ran to the boarding gate, to discover they were holding the plane til all the remaining passengers were ready to board, So I sat around and spoke to the rugby guys again. Then I found out that one of them had gone to school with my cousin (Merle) who I was on my way to visit, what are the chances?

An actual drive in the Bahamas

The first two of three…

My first flight was Nashville, TN -> Charlotte, NC, which would have gone smoothly if the “easy” self-check in computer had found my county. Unfortunately this was not the case. It would not scan my passport, so I was supposed to manually enter my information in and choose my country from a list…which never had my country. Um, it’s not like I live in Timbuktu oh wait that’s place really does exist.  After finally getting the front desk to print my tickets for my first two flights, I made my way through airport security and “the body scanner” which to be honest with you, doesn’t phrase me. If it’s going to stop me having to take off jewelry, belts and under wire bars (that actually happened to my mom) then I’m all for it.

Charlotte, NC (Google image)

My next flight was Charlotte, NC -> Fort Lauderdale, FL. The flight was delayed, but not by much. The flight was relativity uneventful, which is good as it leaves time for me to blog about my final flight…dum dum dum…

Fort Lauderdale, FL (Google image)

A little place called Nashville…

Back in December when I was in Boston,  I met some of Sue and Alric’s friends. One of their friends had a nephew from Nashville, we spoke a lot and I told him I was planning to go Nashville at some part in my American adventure. He offered to show me around if we ever did manage to meet up in Nashville.

Downtown Nashville

My host parents gave me what was left of my vacation at the end of February, early March. I contacted Philip and made plans to visit Taylor Swift’s home town. I flew into Nashville early on Saturday morning, meeting Philip at the airport. He drove me downtown and we parked the car so we could walk around and see all the cute shops and pretty buildings in Nashville. We went for lunch at a quiet spot called Bosco, and later headed out to Percy Warner Park, where it was a beautiful day.  It was crazy to see some of the buildings there, some are so cute and quaint…and some are definitely not!

The Parthenon (in Nashville)

That night we attended a farewell for two of the guys that worked as interns at Ernst & Young. One of the guys was a South African, so I was pretty excited about going out and meeting someone from back home J We went for drinks at Sambuca and then moved onto Mai for a little dancing. Fun times in Nashville!

At Percy Warner Park

Sunday morning was a lazy day as I didn’t have much to do, before making my way to the airport, where I would soon be heading for the Bahamas, and my next adventure…

So long Nashville...

Good morning Baltimore…you can’t stop the beat…

If you read the posts heading and started singing a little, you have probably watched some form of “Hairsrpray.” I have previously watched the movie, and love it! Anything with a mixture of singing, dancing and acting can’t be too bad, usually! So when Julia told me that the local high school in the area was staging the musical I jumped at the opportunity. We decided to make it a group event and managed to get about 10 people together for it.

Hairspray (google imagine)

The show was amazing, the talent of these high school students, was pretty unbelievable. There role of Tracy Turnblad’s mother was played by a boy, who just happened to be the brother of the girl playing Tracy Turnblad…I have no idea how she managed to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing watching her brother dressed as a 60’s mother jamming to “welcome to the 60’s”. As I said they were really good!

Google Image

Clowning around…

It’s been a while since I visited the circus, but I figured why not. Plus it’s the American circus, so I wanted to see what if anything made their circus different from ours. Well the list I’m afraid is pretty short…there were elephants, tigers, dogs, clowns, a strongman, acrobats and all the usual circus fare, just like ours. However the few things that really stood out to me were the “fairies” hanging from long sheets of fabric suspended from the roof dancing in time to “fireflies” by owl city as well as the human cannonball, yip I saw a man with enough courage to get into a cannon that shot him from one end of the arena to the other side, there was a huge net that caught him once his dangerous fete was complete. Crazy I tell ya!

Human cannonball man

Shoot for the stars…or the basket…

Watching basketball is not a usual past time of mine, but I’ll try almost anything new. I enjoyed the NBA game I attended last year so I jumped at Tyler’s offer to watch a college (Marquette) game with him. They were playing against St. Johns, a pretty good team. I can’t remember if they won or lost but I do remember the atmosphere and the spirit that seemed to take over the whole arena as Marquette fans clad in yellow and blue chanted “We are Marquette”. There were a few other traditions that I got to observe such as when the name of each of the starting line is announced the Marquette fans, who are facing the back each call out “Sucks” (this was one I felt bad about being part of so I kinda whispered) and the other is tearing up your ticket and throwing them in the air when the first hoop is shot. There is a skill to this, it’s tear up your ticket, wait for the shot, throw your ticket in the air…then cover your drink!

Marquette game

A friend of mine, Leann had spare tickets to a Bucks game, she asked Karabo (an au pair from South Africa), Tim and I to come to the game with her. The game itself was not all that interesting however…we did see a guy from the Denver Nuggets get in the…nuggets…which although I did feel pretty bad for him, it was a little funny. Then we witnessed a guy run across the basketball court and get stopped by the security men after they ran across the court to get him. And lastly Leann and I were caught dancing on the jumbotron (the big giant screens the show the game and fans) it was pretty fun!

Bucks vs Nuggets

A day for love…or for losers…

My least favourite holiday has arrived, Valentine’s Day! The commercial day where couples feel the need to show non-couples or single people that they are blissfully happy and that you are in fact alone. With this in mind I decided rather than me go out on a date, I would offer to babysit and let my host parents crank up the romance. Although I did receive a beautiful bunch of flowers, I guess the magic of the day is lost on me… (I have spent the previous two in anything but romantic settings ie: an airplane with the twins and looking after a drunk friend) In fact Valentine’s Day to me is a very special little boy's birthday. (Happy Birthday Roic J)

Making Valentines cards with the kids

The gateway to the west…St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is about a 6.5 hours away from Milwaukee, so Tyler and I left I finished work. He is a great road trip buddy as he drives and I get to sleep, we stopped in Illinois to eat some dinner before continuing on our journey. We arrived in St. Louis ready to sleep and recharge before our exciting adventure starts.

Beautiful St.Louis by night

The morning started with a stroll through the sculpture garden in front of the hotel. It was really interested to see some amazing works of art contained in a semi small space in the middle of a city.

My favourite sculpture in the Sculpture Garden

Beer is a mid-west tradition, so beer tasting makes you pretty mid-western! Tyler being a born mid-western has tasted a few beers in his days...me on the other hand. Well, it's not my preferred drink of choice, so when I found out there was Budweiser brewery tour, I was excited to check it out.I have now come to the conclusion brewery tour all have the same thing in common, you walk around learning facts about beer that you could never possibly remember, until you eventually are so parched that ANYTHING would taste amazing after that...and then they give you a beer to drink. 

On the Budweiser tour, MO

That night we went to Laclede’s Landing for dinner at a cute steak house called Jakes. Laclede’s Landing is located on the banks of the Mississippi River and pretty close to the Gateway Arch. Basically it’s a nine blocks of dining and entertainment, so at night it is hopping!

Jake's Steak House

After dinner we headed to City Museum, which is a kinda like a giant jungle gym for adults. The whole building has secret passageways and slide, hidden staircases and even caves. The museum is also outdoors where they have suspended tunnels linking different areas for the museum together. It also has a giant ball pit and a bonfire area. I loved this museum; it was so interactive and fun that I felt like a kid!

The City Museum

The last morning in St. Louis was a beautiful day, sunny skies and not too cold. Tyler decided that to really see St. Louis we needed to go into and up the Arch. The arch is visible from so many places in the city and is often the background you see when you look around the city, so to experience it from the top was really remarkable! The viewing windows are 192 meters or 630 feet above the ground, so you really feel like you are amongst the clouds.

View from the Arch

View of the Arch

Later we ventured to Forest Park and the mini Zoo. It was really great to see a little greenery after the white winter I have become so accustomed to. After that we headed back towards Milwaukee...7 hours later.

Outside the Mini Zoo, MO

Names like ‘Becky the Butcher’ and ‘Carrie. A Hacksaw’…

Wouldn't you love a nickname that would literally strike fear into the average human being? Sure why not…or maybe not! Names like these are created for women of the Roller Derby (think scenes from the movie “whip it”.) What the derby is, is basically there are two teams that skate (on roller skates) around a marked oval course, sounds easy huh?

This kinda explains it

There are blockers, jammers and the pivot. The two jammers (one from each team) start the jam (which is a two minute period) by racing around the oval, the first one around becomes the ‘lead jammer’. The object is to past the lead jammer or to maintain status of lead jammer for as long as possible in the jam session, you score points by passing the members of the opposite team. Oh yes, did I forget to mention the rest of the team is also going around the oval rink with you trying to block you, 3 blockers and a pivot in all.

In a jam session

All this makes it an interesting sport to watch as well as a little confusing and maybe a little scary. All in all it was a fun day enjoyed by the group of us. In case I haven’t quiet explained the sport enough or you feel like a little more research, feel free to check out http://www.derbygirl.com/positions-strategy/ I’m sure this will do a far better job then what I can.

Yellow and Black wins! (Crazy 8's I think)

Childhood memories…brought to life…

For my birthday Julia had booked tickets for us to see ‘Disney on ice’ which is Peter Pan, Lilo and Stitch, The Little Mermaid and the Lion King all performed on ice. It was so magical to see the famous Disney characters skating around and enchanting us with their spell bounding tales…Ah, I love Disney and the magic it brings. We were the youngest people without children at the show, not that we really minded.

The Little Mermaid

Peter Pan

Lilo and Stitch

The Lion King

It’s like a world cup…only it’s American…

Yip, Super Bowl time is here at last and this year it’s really special cos the Packers have made it! They are playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers so there is no background music of Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Black and Yellow” being playing in Green Bay territory but rather the new version of “Green and Yellow” and now that song is stuck in your head, for that I apologize.

Green and Yellow and Green and Yellow...and Pink LOL

We decided to get together on the Saturday before the Super Bowl as most of us were planning on watching the game together on Sunday. We had a Packer themed party complete with wall decorations and Packer paper plates. (That could have turned out to be a tricky little tongue twister if I had carried on)

Pre Super Bowl Party

We even had a beer pong league going on, so we broke into teams of 2, choose Teams names and everything! Tyler and I joined to become "Team Spongebob" aka "Team Awesome" we did not win, however we did not completely suck, but that's just cos I had a skilled partner.

Yip, Spongebob sweatbands!

The morning after our pre-Super Bowl party a few of us went to movies, and later headed to T.G.I Fridays, where we were meeting up with about 10 other au pairs. The foreigners brought the team support by showing up in various shades of green and yellow, with various “G” imprinted items.

Au Pairs at the Super Bowl Party

I’m going to give you a pretty non-useful but descriptive play by play of the night as I saw it. Christina Aguilera flubbed part of the National Anthem…on National TV. There were a few other songs sung by other artists (EG: Lea Michelle from Glee.) They started the game a bunch of men ran after a little ball, and people got really excited, when the ball was turned over, they switched giving the other part of their team a turn (either the defense or offence.) We scored which means a jell-o shot. More game time…another jell-o shot.

Jell-O shot through a straw

The Black Eyed Peas did the half time show which is a really big deal. Also the adverts during the Super Bowl are meant to be the funniest/best ads, it is super expensive to purchase ad time then. You can check out this link to see some of the better ones…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sci-RiYuXXk

All the ladies :)

A few more jell-o shots (Rayson, this reminded me of the champagne jell mom made you one year) more game time…and finally an end result of 31 – 25, and the Green Bay Packers are Super Bowl XLV champions!

Super Bowl 2011 Baby!