Teenagers these days, what a controversial topic! I had my fair share of teen aged boys and their inappropriate gestures and comments when I taught in a school for 9 months. Having only just left high school when I did this, I was very understanding and laughed it off taking it all one day at a time.
Now American teen aged boy oh boys. . . My very first set in stone memory of these boys was driving them all to their high school carnival. These boys are all very happy hormonal 14 - 15 year olds. About 11 boys piled into my car and insisted on me driving with one's foot over my shoulder, anther's bum my rear view mirror and a few other interesting bromance positions going on. Don't be alarmed I'm not stupid enough to go with this so I decide to be nice and offer to do two trips. So this very rambunctious young lad decides to battle my actual host kid for the front seat. After many inappropriate comments and questions he somehow veered onto the topic of his boxers and what were on them, so to show me he randomly decided to whip off his shirt, much to my disgust of course. Now that the annoying typical teenaged "make sure my boxers stick out over my pants" was in full view he was even more instant on me looking at them. After my yelling at him and telling him that I had no interest he decided to take off his pants at a red traffic light. . . oh no, it gets worse. He decided to jump out of the car and do a little dance with his pants around his ankles. Please keep in mind that I am in a soccer mom mini van with 5 other boys in the back cheering him on and loving the colour of crimson my face has adopted.
After he jumps back in the car with a great sense of pride and accomplishment on his face, he decides to put his arm around me and tell me he loves me. He also had this WEIRD obsession with smelling me and my hair. At the next red light I decided it was time to have some fun. As I predicted, he jumped out the car and did his little dance, but much to his dismay the robot turned green while he was still doing his dance, so my host kid who I developed a lot more sisterly love for that night, closed the door, locked it and yelled "DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE" and so I did, but the sporting lad caught hold of the door handle and trotted next to the car with his pants still around his ankles until we crossed the intersection and I decided to let him back into the car. Now you are probably all thinking "what a terrible Au pair" but he learnt his lesson, do you think he did it again? . . . Yes he did!
The amount of things these boys do to make me scream are endless, the amount of Chinese Fire Drills these boys have put me through are beyond counting, but I will share one other story. After picking up my host kid and 2 of his friends, I over hear them saying "top first, yes, yes", my immediate reaction was "NO YOU WILL NOT CLIMB OVER THE ROOF OF THIS CAR" but they assured me that they would do no such thing. We reach our first red robot and suddenly all their shirts come off! It was way worse than I expected. Next red light off with their pants and thank goodness we got the next couple robots green, but then we got to another red robot and thank goodness they decided Chinese fire drill instead of taking off their boxers. My host kid, over the roof, the next kid around the front and the other all the way around. A few days later it turns out one of my friends actually witnessed said action.
As much as these boys drive me insane, up the wall and sometimes make me want to rip my hair out, out of pure stress and freaking out that someone calls the cops on us one night or worse, my host mom drives passed, they really do make my year worth it. Each time I chauffeur them around it is an adventure and I think I should add that each one of these boys has slowly but surely creeped into my heart and I have found a soft spot for each of them (in a very non pedophile kinda way).
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
SNOW SNOW SNOW . . . . . .
IS ANNOYING!!!!!!!! One of the first of the many questions people asked me when they found out I would be overseas over Christmas was "Oh so you're going to have a white Christmas?" "Have you ever seen snow before?". No I had never seen snow until now and guess what? I really couldn't give a rats ass if I never see it again! It is cold, wet and it's only white for a few hours, afterwards it turns grey and gross.
The first dusting of snow that I saw was a little exciting, but once you have worn all those layers, (which you have to pay for and winter clothes are not cheap) and tried to pull your hair out from under your scarf with gloves on, so thick that you can hardly make a fist and trying to balance and melted and refrozen snow and walk at the same time, the stuff gets friggen irritating. The worst part about the snow has to be driving in it. when you break the car just slides, so when you are a good distance away from a stop sign you just take your foot off the accelerator and wait until you slowly stop moving and only break if necessary. Well in heavy snow. It isn't that bad once you get used to it, but it still really isn't a lot of fun.
I was sharing my views on the snow with my host kid one day and he actually made a very good point. I didn't really get to experience the fun and joy that snow brings, like sledding or building snow men or skiing, but to be very honest it's just cold and wet, I don't think I would really be into it anyway. You never know until you try, so I guess I'll never know.
Coming from South Africa anything in single digits in degree Celsius is considered freezing, so when it reached -10 here on one day I honestly thought that I was going to die and perfectly preserved. Only to find that it normally gets as low as single digits in Fahrenheit. Please keep in mind that 32 F is 0 C. So as far as my selfish, cheap skate, warm blooded self goes, I am perfectly happy with the "mild" winter that I experienced. As for my environmentally friendly and concerned self, I am extremely worried and I'm hoping that this was just Mother Nature's way of saying "let's give the nature lover a break".
So overall this is a pretty negative blog, but I can't complain too much, I did take advantage of the fact that I got to see snow for the first and will probably be the last time. I got some good photos and that's all I need. The memories and painfully cold fingers from cleaning snow off my car, and having to heat it up 10 minutes before I went anywhere can stay a thing of my passed.
<------yes that is some pretty deep snow
Don't do this in non-water proof pants, I had a wet (frozen) ass for the rest of the day!
And I have to admit that snow on the beach is pretty cool!
The first dusting of snow that I saw was a little exciting, but once you have worn all those layers, (which you have to pay for and winter clothes are not cheap) and tried to pull your hair out from under your scarf with gloves on, so thick that you can hardly make a fist and trying to balance and melted and refrozen snow and walk at the same time, the stuff gets friggen irritating. The worst part about the snow has to be driving in it. when you break the car just slides, so when you are a good distance away from a stop sign you just take your foot off the accelerator and wait until you slowly stop moving and only break if necessary. Well in heavy snow. It isn't that bad once you get used to it, but it still really isn't a lot of fun.
I was sharing my views on the snow with my host kid one day and he actually made a very good point. I didn't really get to experience the fun and joy that snow brings, like sledding or building snow men or skiing, but to be very honest it's just cold and wet, I don't think I would really be into it anyway. You never know until you try, so I guess I'll never know.
Coming from South Africa anything in single digits in degree Celsius is considered freezing, so when it reached -10 here on one day I honestly thought that I was going to die and perfectly preserved. Only to find that it normally gets as low as single digits in Fahrenheit. Please keep in mind that 32 F is 0 C. So as far as my selfish, cheap skate, warm blooded self goes, I am perfectly happy with the "mild" winter that I experienced. As for my environmentally friendly and concerned self, I am extremely worried and I'm hoping that this was just Mother Nature's way of saying "let's give the nature lover a break".
So overall this is a pretty negative blog, but I can't complain too much, I did take advantage of the fact that I got to see snow for the first and will probably be the last time. I got some good photos and that's all I need. The memories and painfully cold fingers from cleaning snow off my car, and having to heat it up 10 minutes before I went anywhere can stay a thing of my passed.
<------yes that is some pretty deep snowDon't do this in non-water proof pants, I had a wet (frozen) ass for the rest of the day!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Big Apple Part 3 - Sites
I know it has been three months since my last post and I am still ranting about New York City but time has simply flown and I have been to busy to blog, so now I shall try to remember what else I wanted to say about this amazing city.
One of the first things that comes to my mind when I think about New York is obviously The Twin Towers. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to see them standing, but I at least got to see the memorial! What an emotional experience. That coming from me is a really big deal. I always found Americans very over dramatic and still feel like they can over exaggerate almost anything (not that I am saying 9/11 wasn't dramatic it was and still remains a huge deal), but for someone like me, who has never really had much interest in The States, to find the experience emotional makes me wonder how incredibly emotional this site is to the Americans, especially the thousands that were directly effected. When you see the two fountains that have been built, your breath literally catches in your chest as you hear the water rushing down and you imagine something that massive stretching up so high. The you look at the buildings around them and you turn your head up towards the sky and try to imagine those buildings doubled plus a few more stories and you just give up and accept that no imagination is wild enough (not even mine) to picture what those buildings were like.
One of the first things that comes to my mind when I think about New York is obviously The Twin Towers. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to see them standing, but I at least got to see the memorial! What an emotional experience. That coming from me is a really big deal. I always found Americans very over dramatic and still feel like they can over exaggerate almost anything (not that I am saying 9/11 wasn't dramatic it was and still remains a huge deal), but for someone like me, who has never really had much interest in The States, to find the experience emotional makes me wonder how incredibly emotional this site is to the Americans, especially the thousands that were directly effected. When you see the two fountains that have been built, your breath literally catches in your chest as you hear the water rushing down and you imagine something that massive stretching up so high. The you look at the buildings around them and you turn your head up towards the sky and try to imagine those buildings doubled plus a few more stories and you just give up and accept that no imagination is wild enough (not even mine) to picture what those buildings were like.
Some of the other fun and obvious things we did were Times Square which is really 24 hours of constant light, buzzing crowds and really gives you that excited feeling you get from a city that never sleeps and a of cousre a few randoms trying to convince you to see random shows or asking for donations like this cowboy. . . .
Then of course, how can you go to New York City and not see a Broadway Show. . . So we saw Chicago which was an amazing show and I would see it again and again. There were so many choices I wish I had enough money and time to see them all!
I think one of the best parts of the trip for me was just walking around! I saw so much and got to appreciate all the smaller, fun things that a lot of people don't get to see because they rush off to the bigger things, like Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and all that jazz. As amazing as all those sites are, I really enjoyed the exploring, getting lost on some dodgy street in China Town where scary people were trying to force us to buy fake Gucci handbags and such. The best part about walking around, is all the random stuff you end up doing. Like the Ripley's Believe it or not museum, Madame Tussuad's, pretty coffee shops, going into totally unexpected places, like St. Paul's Cathedral and the Library, enjoying a stroll through Central Park and trying to identify different places you recognise from Sex and the City and other movies or series like Friends. The giant Christmas Tree behind the golden statue at Rockefeller Plaza, Planet Hollywood and loads of other exciting things.
It's impossible to get bored in New York City and it is such an amazing experience. When you are dead tired and aching from walking, running and feel gross from subways and city street smells, you just keep on going because you know, any second that you sit down and waste, is a second that you will regret.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
The Big Apple part 2 - accommodation
When you plan a visit to a place like New York City, it's all about location. Location, Location, Location, and what a better location that a block away from Times Square? The first thing that pops into your head at that moment must be something along the lines of "wow she must have a lot of money", my instant response would be an uproar of laughter and much to your disappointment tell you that I just got lucky. For pretty average accommodation pricing I managed to find a double en suit bedroom. So to give you an idea or picture in your mind, let me just remind you that you get what you pay for a block away from Times Square.
Upon arrival, the manager was incredibly helpful and gave us a few tips as to how to get around and what to see and when to see it. He had someone carry our bags up to the fourth floor, up about 4 or 5 flights of very rickety stairs and let us into our room. The room was uhm as I said, you get what you pay for. The old carpets made it look a little shabby and gave the room a slight dirty feel. The room was spacious enough, but the bathroom was something else. I could swing a cat without extending my arms and it would easily make full contact with all four walls. But it was a shower and a place to freshen up.
The next morning, we woke up quite hungry and we were rather keen to see what the included breakfast had in store for us. We slowly made our way down the uneven stairs to the spare empty hotel room with a few small tables in it to find, bread, bagels, croissants, muffins, corn bread and some other random pastry looking things. For the healthy portion of our breakfast, there was a bowl of bananas, some orange juice, and then of coarse, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. After all that starch in the morning I thought we would be okay until lunch time.
I think one of the most important parts of being open to staying in a "cheap" hotel is that you have to keep your sense of humour very close by. After deciding to save our shower till the next morning, we were really desperate to get the city off us before we tackled another day of it, only to find that there was no hot water. Oh joy! Not only were we gross and in serious need of a shower we also needed to wash our hair. So after much debate to the manager about the fact that the water he called "hot" hardly came close to luke warm, he gladly offered us another room so that we could have a "hot" shower. This time I would call it bordering on luke warm, closer to the colder side than hot I might add.
Overall I was fine with the accommodation, good location, safe enough, hot water if you showered in the evening we later found out, a comfy, clean bed, free wifi for any last minute details we needed to figure out and most importantly, I didn't see a single roach. I was happy enough and I would stay there all over again. . . maybe ;)
Upon arrival, the manager was incredibly helpful and gave us a few tips as to how to get around and what to see and when to see it. He had someone carry our bags up to the fourth floor, up about 4 or 5 flights of very rickety stairs and let us into our room. The room was uhm as I said, you get what you pay for. The old carpets made it look a little shabby and gave the room a slight dirty feel. The room was spacious enough, but the bathroom was something else. I could swing a cat without extending my arms and it would easily make full contact with all four walls. But it was a shower and a place to freshen up.
The next morning, we woke up quite hungry and we were rather keen to see what the included breakfast had in store for us. We slowly made our way down the uneven stairs to the spare empty hotel room with a few small tables in it to find, bread, bagels, croissants, muffins, corn bread and some other random pastry looking things. For the healthy portion of our breakfast, there was a bowl of bananas, some orange juice, and then of coarse, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. After all that starch in the morning I thought we would be okay until lunch time.
I think one of the most important parts of being open to staying in a "cheap" hotel is that you have to keep your sense of humour very close by. After deciding to save our shower till the next morning, we were really desperate to get the city off us before we tackled another day of it, only to find that there was no hot water. Oh joy! Not only were we gross and in serious need of a shower we also needed to wash our hair. So after much debate to the manager about the fact that the water he called "hot" hardly came close to luke warm, he gladly offered us another room so that we could have a "hot" shower. This time I would call it bordering on luke warm, closer to the colder side than hot I might add.
Overall I was fine with the accommodation, good location, safe enough, hot water if you showered in the evening we later found out, a comfy, clean bed, free wifi for any last minute details we needed to figure out and most importantly, I didn't see a single roach. I was happy enough and I would stay there all over again. . . maybe ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)