The last few hours of Disney...for now...

The last full day was spent visiting Hollywood Studios, a ride to mention here ‘Tower of Terror’ which is basically a whole bunch of people strapped into seats in a make-shift elevator … which falls 13 stories, again and again and again! But wow, what a thrill!

The Tower of Terror

We managed to catch the 'Beauty and the Beast' show too, which for any girl that has dreamed of being a princess is a real treat. Belle was beautiful and sang like an angel. And of course she ended the finale wearing the iconic yellow dress inspired by the fairytale.

Belle and her prince

I got to catch the Idols finale too, which was pretty fun to see. I'm not totally sure how it works but I guess everyday the have a mini version of the popular tv show and choose a new winner each day. It was fun to sit in the seats and imagine what the atmosphere of an actual Idols finale would feel like.

The 'Idols' set

That night there was a firework and water show titled Fantasmic, it was a really pretty show! Unfortunately Florida had decided to not stick to its nickname of “the Sunshine State” and it has actually been pretty cold at night, so I ran around trying on various kitschy Disney inspired jerseys until I settled on a bomber jacket that managed to keep me warm enough for the show.

A small part of the Fantasmic show

Being our last night Karolin and I decided to do what we had been threatening to do the whole trip...swim in the hotel pool. Never mind the fact that, as previously mentioned, it was pretty cold in wonderful place called Florida. We did a pretty quick swim I must say, but at least we have pictures to prove we did it...plus we never died of hypothermia which is definitely a bonus!

Midnight swim

Monday was our last day at Disney but as we only had a half day some of the girls and I headed to Disney Quest which is an interact theme park. My favourite ride was one where you create your own rollercoaster on a computer …then ride your own rollercoaster! Kind of scary, but really fun!

Disney Time… with roller coaster rides

The Friday morning was the first full day of our Disney trip which started at Animal Kingdom; I’m not going to go through each ride we went on…so all you need to know is we had an amazing time! I also discovered that apparently I pull really funny faces while on roller coasters.

Yip, thats me in the yellow and green shirt

We watched the Lion King show which was really good. We were seated in the Elephant section which really doesn't mean anything, but I thought I should add that. We also watched a Finding Nemo show, and since it's one of my favourite kids movie I was really excited to see the show. I thought it was well done and took the opportunity to take as many pictures as possible.

Finding Nemo, Nemo's tank

Next we headed to Epcot, which was totally awesome! One ride that I have to mention is ‘Soaring’ where you are sitting in the ride that ‘flies’ you over California, you feel like you are in a hand glider…it was so much fun! Later that night we headed to the countries of Epcot, where we watched a laser/firework show that was done over the water, in front of Asia, spectacular! After that we headed towards ‘Norway’ where we took a scenic tour on a little boat…it was very cute! We also went shopping at the different "countries" I brought a super cute top from 'America'. It was really lovely to see what each different country has to offer. I was a little disappointed that there was nothing that remotely resembled South African cuisine.

Shopping at Epcot

On Saturday we went to Magic Kingdom and all things fairytale inspired. There were lots of fun rides, a street parade and of course a show titled ‘dreams come true’ and in true Disney style it had us all believing in the magical power of dreams!

Ah, Disney magic

One of the rides we went on was a "Safari" type of ride, there were 4 other South Africans in the 'jeep' with me. We spent probably about 50% of the tour debating weather the animals we saw were real or not. I'm still not convinced. In fact I know the elephants were NOT real, the other animals...I'm not so sure.

The fake Disney elephants

We later watched the electrical parade, which was a festival of lights that had me thinking about the load shedding in SA…and how this would truly mess with the magic of Disney…but of course no load shedding here! Although some of the carts did run out of battery power near the end and had to be towed!

Cinderella and her Prince

*Hi-lighted words are explained in the glossary page

Feeling like a kid...and acting like one too...

Okay, so the next part of my adventure is VERY exciting and will make you feel either like a kid…or a very old adult! Monique and I joined 50 other au pairs in the quest for eternal youth and made our way to Never land a.k.a Disney World!

Monique, Karolin and I having fun in downtown Disney

The day we arrived we had no access to any of the parks but we were able to explore downtown Disney. We meet up with one of our roommates (Karolin from Germany, working in NYC) and all made our way downtown. It is very retail orientated, and I cannot imagine trying to steer a kid through there without ending up with at least a T-shirt, a tiara and overstuffed Mickey Mouse ears! Thank goodness we are adults and we able to restrain ourselves…hmmm. I also have to tell you that I won the "happily ever after hula hoop champion' apparently I can actually do this pretty well, maybe it's the belly dance training?

About to hit the "dance floor"

We ate at a restaurant called T-Rex, the food there was amazing, but the atmosphere is definitely the reason to go there, it has different sections, like ice age, under the sea and the jungle and every 20 minutes they have a meteor shower! Which is basically just them dimming and flashing the lights and loud noises…but added that you are seated in “the jungle” and have moving dinosaurs in the surrounding scenery, it makes for a very exciting meal! Being that my birthday had pasted a few days before Monique thought it would be funny to get the T-rex staff to sing “happy birthday” to me while bringing me a volcano looking dessert. Okay, yes I enjoyed it! Haha.

Downtown Disney, FL

We even saved some for our other roommate who we had yet to meet, imagine her surprise when we walked in at 12am singing “happy birthday”, her reply? “It’s not my birthday?!” my reply? “Nope, it’s mine, have some chocolate cake” Well I don’t think she was too amused, especially since the next night we sang “we wish you a merry Christmas” … not sure if it was the time of our ‘attack’ or our method, although I’m sure sounded pretty good!

Disney Princesses? Maybe...

Mad-Town

My first trip of 2o1o was a trip to Madison which is Wisconsin’s capital city. Madison is known as a college town as there are so many students there. I went for the whole weekend; I visited a friend that I met in Milwaukee. We went and saw the Capitol building, which is very beautiful. We also went to a farmers market where they had beef jerky that wasn’t smoked or oily so it ALMOST tasted like biltong! Yum! We also went out to a few of the local bars, where I met so many more students. Everything is really close together (as I said it’s a college town, so everything is geared towards them) We walked everywhere, which is totally fine…if there isn’t two feet of snow on the ground plus two frozen lakes close by! Needless to say we would “suit up” and ran to our destination! I had a great weekend with Kevin, who is actually the first ‘American’ friend that I made (on the 4^th of July)

The Capitol Building, Madison, WI

A friend of mine (Monique) who was in her 2^nd year when I arrived completed her au pair year in January. We decided as she had never been out with the girls we had to take her out and show her the town, she was about to leave! We did a surprise party on the Friday night (at Hooters) haha so we were stared at by all the male patrons there. 

Birthday girls and Monique at Hooters

The Saturday night was spent at one of our favourite places to go dancing…Buckheads Saloon! She had a great time as did we, of course! When we go out we always get people to guess where we are from…which can be extremely funny! (Since it’s usually Germans, South Africans, Swedes, Norwegians, Columbians, French, and Brazilians…etc) Nobody can ever guess where I’m from but they usually say Britain (followed by some very badly executed British statement) or Australia…so I have started let them guess the continent. That is just as funny! I have been asked if I’m from the continent of Russia??!! Really! Or when people guess “all” the continents (forgetting Africa) they say well that’s all of them so where ARE you from? Most people would believe me more if I said I was from Asia rather than Africa! (Although once they get Africa, South Africa is ALWAYS the next guess)

Monique, Miriam, Arati, Fernanda and I at Buckheads

Bring on 2010…

A new year, a new start and NO new year’s resolutions! Making resolutions on New Year Eve only leads to disappointment and failure. Instead I try change things as I see fit, although (and this will make my mommy proud) I did make a list of goals for the year ahead, after I have read the list from the previous year. It’s pretty amazing…you totally forget what your goals were but it gives a direction to your life (whether you are continually reminded of it or not, I write them down and don‘t look at it for the whole year until next NYE)

(Image by google)

 In previous years most of my goals were either met or exceeded…which always makes you feel that the year was totally worth it, and gives you hope for the year ahead. However when reading my letter I realized that I had met…ONE, yes one of my goals! This should have made me feel disappointed and despondent, right? I realized that I set goals that took my life in a certain direction, but I know that I made the right decision when I changed the direction…so the one that I achieved…to Travel :)

Atwater Park in the snow, WI

My 1st White Christmas…

Most people have asked me if I had a white Christmas…the answer is yes! (But technically we cheated) Dave (my host dad) was on call on Christmas day so we just moved everything up by one day, so we opened presents on the morning of the 24^th, while it was snowing outside, aww!

Making snow angels

Keeping with tradition Dave and Amanda said the kids could each open a present on Christmas eve, so Amanda found one for Annabel, then asked Dave where mine was, to which he replied “she’s not a kid, she’s an adult” and Amanda said “no she’s is like our 4^th child” It was really sweet! I told Dave that’s why they are my host-parents! So they let me open a present, a bright pink snuggli (not sure if they are big in SA? But basically it’s a blanket with sleeves) Now when I sit on my pink chair and watch tv I have a pink snuggli to keep me warm!

AJ and I snuggling on my new snuggli

The next day was lots of fun, I love Christmas! My host parents really made me feel very special! Later that morning we all went outside and played in the snow! We had an awesome fillet mignon for Christmas lunch, a far cry from a tradition SA style braai (BBQ/grill) but I can’t imagine trying that outside in the snow! Although I have to admit, I have seen people trying it!

Our beautiful Christmas tree

I’m going to stop there but will let you know I had an awesome New Years Eve with my Swedish and Colombian friends! We went out and just had a good time, I was DD (driver, not drinker) so I had a good sober time, but hey you can party without alcohol and have just as much fun (plus having no hangover the next morning, is an added bonus!)

New Years at the Safe House, WI

Big Decisions…

My next big thing is…a big decision, I have to decide in month’s time whether I want to extend with my same family or whether I would like to re-match with another family (two of my friends have already had their families offer to ‘take’ me.) I love my current family and really enjoy Wisconsin, I have a really awesome room, and I get along well with my host family and love the children… However I would also like to see more of the country, but I can do that from here. I’m a little worried if I re-match and get a family from hell and that will taint my whole au pair experience as I will spend the next weeks in re-match trying to find another new family. Plus I know my host family at present is going to New Jersey again next year and to Boston in July. I’m just not sure, and I can’t look at what families are out there until I have told my family I want a re-match. Well just anyone’s thoughts on this would really help, even though ultimately it’s my choice, I want to be able to blame someone else (ha ha) …so please tell me what you think…

Skyping with my family (this pic is just for you dad :)

Yip, that's my confused face...

Oh wait you are taking pics, okay I'll smile :)