Mall of America...bridges and pretty lights

Despite that I decided to continue with my road trip to Minnesota plans, meaning a friend and I were going to (okay he was going to) drive 6 hours to the state West of us, that just so happens to colder than Wisconsin. Yes, apparently that is possible! And of course I have terrible timing and planned the trip in winter…

Filling up with gas in the freezing cold!

We arrived in MN in time for a drink at the bar and an early night, I had big plans for Saturday, that entailed…shopping! Not because I wanted to buy anything in particular but rather because we were going to The Mall of America, which is the third largest mall in North America. We had an amazing time at the mall, all 6 hours of being there, and I’m still not sure we saw it all.

Mall of America, MN

In the middle of the Mall is an amusement park. We went on this one “structure” that is basically 4 floors of various climbing it’s called the Flying Dutchman and is described as ‘the tallest sky trail rope course in the world (56 feet).’

The decision to try it out went something like this.

‘Tyler, do you want to try this?’

‘Um, not really unless you want to’

‘I really want to do it!’

‘Okay let’s go’

Flying Dutchman in Mall of America

After being harnessed, given instructions and once we were on approx the 3^rd level…I turned scared. Tyler told me I had better keep going as the whole thing was my idea in the first place. I soldiered on tightly hugging each pole as I reached and saying a silent prayer, but eventually I really started to enjoy the ascend to the final level and of course the descend on to solid ground!

Map of the amusement park in Mall of America, MN

The rest of the time in MN was spent taking pictures of bridges, sculptures and churches. Unfortunately like I said before, Minneapolis/St. Paul are both freezing, which made taking endless amount of pictures a little hard as I wasn’t quite prepared for the snow that was already covering the ground.

Pretty bridge...with pretty lights

We also visited a sculpture garden which was covered in snow but really pretty. That's where the cherry on a spoon sculpture is...if you're ever seen or heard of it.

Cherry on a spoon, MN

The drive back was…well…6 hours…I slept for a lot of those hours, leaving my road trip buddy alone to drive. I guess I’m not a very good road trip buddy! 

Hmmm, see what happens when I fall asleep?!

Thanksgiving *puke*

I attended a ‘Folk fair’ celebration which was advertised as “bringing the culture of peace together” which I thought sounded great, my host parents on the other hand were a little concerned and told me NOT to breathe the air there! So I had to explain that it was not a hippie fest, but rather a festival of bringing various cultures together. I had a really good time watching dancers from Poland, Germany, Hawaii and a few other places and it was really great to see all the different food from the different countries.

Dancer at the Folk Fair, WI

This year I celebrated Thanksgiving with my host family and a few of their friends. The boys were super cute and spend most of the time smiling and making everyone laugh. Annabel entertained us all with her talents singing “this land is your land”, “how much is that doggy?” and “welcome to music” I was really impressed that she was so confident and outgoing. Dinner was great…unfortunately throwing up for the remainder of the night was not! The day before I was playing with Braden, we were having a great time and 10 minutes before Dave got home, Braden ran up to me and I reached my arms out to him only to have our hug session end with him puking all over me! *sad face* Hence the fact that the next day it was me that was puking.

The boys sitting by the Thanksgiving table

Double Royalty…

I attended 2 crownings this month, which are basically the beginning of Mardi Gras season where every German cultural group chooses a Prince and Princess to represent the group for the year. The first crowning was fun although I only knew about 5 people that were there. The second crowning was a friend of mine’s aunt and uncle that were being crowned, so that was really great to be a part of!

Heather and I at the 1st crowning

Heather and her brother Andy were in the band that was playing for the second crowning, which meant I had to hang around and wait for them to get in a quick rehearsal before the event began. Luckily Andy’s best friend Tyler was also left in limbo so we decided to team up and go for dinner before.  We get along pretty well so that’s a good thing.

Heather and I at the 2nd crowning

Games night…

November has been a great month, we arranged a games night at a friend’s house. We played this one game called Partini, which is super fun! It was girls versus guys (till a few more arrived then we added a guy to our side) the game is a mix up of a bunch of different games, so it’s luck of the draw what games you play every round. There is a horrible one called “Hum Punch” where you have to hum songs to your group and they have to guess them. Then there is a confusing one called “What Not” where you have to describe 5 things on your card without saying the word. (So you use things that are opposite and seem really logical to you, then you realize not everybody looks after kids and ‘gets’ you.) There is a coordinately challenging game called “Bouncers” where you have to catch a ball in a cup or throw it to your partner’s cup and so forth (surprisingly I did not totally suck at this game). The easiest games were “Mime Twist” (where you act out your card) and “Clay Smoothie” where you mold the objects on your card. So after much giggles and funny moments (Dan trying to mold toilet paper and like me having to act out “stripper”) it was decided the girls (and Dan) were victorious! I mean with all those X chromosomes…what did you expect? 

The winning team!

Porch lights on…candies in the bag…

Dum dum dum…Halloween, the day where I get to dress up and act like a 5 year and no one looks at me strangely, yah! So Halloween is just a day, however this year I turned it into a whole weekend! It started on Friday night by going to a “haunted” cornfield, you walked through a cornfield and through various houses and character try scare you, haha, okay so I said try…they DID scare me and I am not ashamed to say I screamed like a little girl!

Visiting the haunted cornfield

After that I meet up with some friends where we had a games night…in our Halloween costumes, which was pretty fun.

Heather dressed as popcorn

The Saturday was spent shopping at the outlet malls, an au pair Halloween party, then out in downtown Milwaukee…all in costume of course! I went dressed as Rainbow bright so I was wearing wings, a tiara, a tutu, and turquoise leggings, cute and bright jewelry.  An American friend of mine asked if I was “dressing sexy” for Halloween and I said no “I’m dressing like girl that never had Halloween as a kid and now I get to wear whatever I want” she just laughed.

Rainbow bright

 Sunday which was officially Halloween was trick or treating day, Julia and I took another au pair (Kor from Thailand) and well as AJ and the neighbours kid and we went on our merry way, I gave my host parents most of my candy as there was way too much…I’m not bragging or anything, but I am a pretty good trick or treat(-er?)

Braden, AJ and I on Halloween

Reunited friends…

Michelle who is a fellow South African au pair that I flew over with (and visited in Virginia) last year, had been promising to come visit me for awhile now and with just 2 months left on her contract, we finally set a date. Julia and I met her in Chicago, and true to Chicago style it was windy, rainy and cold! 

Windy cold Chicago, IL

Which isn’t great for sightseeing and picture taking, but not too deterred we marched around the city or I should say sloshed around the city, taking in its beautiful sights. Included in our self guided tour was Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Hancock Tower and of course deep dish pizza. 

Deep dish pizza

Which is probably not very good for you…but who cares cos it tastes so good. I would say it is best described as a pie of pizza, with plenty of cheese! We were scheduled to return to Milwaukee on the last train out of Chicago, but that never happened as something was wrong with the train, so they ordered buses for us instead, which they cancelled when they though the train was fixed…and then had to re-order when the determined the train was not fixed. Um, if you are having that many problems with the train I don’t want to ride it, thanks! So instead of arriving in Milwaukee at 9:30, we arrive at 12:30…ready to crash!

The girls at Navy Pier, IL

The next day I drove Michelle around the pretty city and took her to all my favourite places, she really loved the city and that just reminded me how lucky I am to have chosen such a lovely State to au pair in!

Michelle and I at Bradford Beach

Dirt Cups the American way…

“I have never had a dirt cup” after hearing this, my friend Heather insisted on arranging a get together where I would get to experience the great American dessert featuring ‘dirt’ and ‘worms’. We met up at her Brother Andy’s house after a day of shopping at the local mall. Two of my friends came with us and we all helped to make the dirt cups…pudding, oreos and gummy worms are surprisingly yummy when out together!

Dirt Cups