First thing I did when I woke up was play Go-Fish (a cardgame) with the kids in our PJ's. Me and Sophie won spectacularly. And Ben was being a really good sport, even though he lost.
While we walked on to the ferry the sun was shining. I noticed for the first time they had painted random funny notes on the railing beside the walking area. Not like graffiti, but really stuff that was obviously meant to be there. Some of the words I didn't understand, but I loved the complete randomness.
From the ferry we had a beautiful view of Bainbridge Island and we could see our new house that we are going to move into next Monday. The new house has the best view ever. You see some more of Bainbridge, you see the Pudget Sound, the ferries and in the background.. Mount Rainier..
I took a bus for the first time in Seattle. Apperantly when you're traveling within the Seattle center you can just travel for free!
The library building was amazing. It's a big, funny shaped, glass building that looks very modern. Inside it almost looks more like a museum then a library, but you had tons of books there and fun stuff to do for the kids. After playing on the computer I read the kids 4 books, they loved it.
Me and the kids stopped at Starbucks. I finally figured out that a Frappachino Caramel with wipcream is the most delicious thing you can get and that it actualy more resembles the "ice coffee" from the Coffee Connection, then the regular Ice Coffee you'd get at Starbucks.
On our way back to the ferry we walked by Pike Place Market. You have a famous fish stand there where the guys actualy throw huge fish over to each other. They even made it into some kind of entertainment show and it was really funny just to watch. Amazing how they can make selling fish so much fun! Also Seattle is just such a nice city to walk around in. It's a big city, but for some reason it has a very friendly nice vibe to it. Not like Amsterdam, where it's just very crowded, everyone seems to be in a rush and you really have to look not to loose track of each other.
On the ferry back I saw the most amazing sight I've seen of Mount Rainier yet, with exception from the sight from the airplane. It's amazingly big and it looked beautifull with the snow on the tops. If you don't know Mount Rainier, google it, and imagine this is my view everyday. ^^
Hostmom offered me to drive the car back home again and said I'm just about ready to start driving on my own without her beside me. I'm so happy she's still letting me drive, even though I got pulled over by a cop on my second drive for driving through a stopsign. Luckily this police woman was very very nice and didn't give me a ticket, even though I also didn't have my driver's license on me. She even wished me the best for my year here.
At home the kids listened to a casette I brought from Holland with a story from Sesame Street that I used to love when I was a kid. Sophie was humming along. It's cool to see they like the stuff I brought from home for them.
Dinner was good, as always. Today was salad, chicken and patatoes. My hostmom cooks daily and always tries to be healthy, and it's always yummy.
My hostdad said he would have eaten more if he wasn't still so full from eating all that sushi we made last night. My sushi making skills are a really good fit with this family, and with me usualy being kind of afraid of cooking for other people, I'm glad they liked it so much. I tried inside out california rolls of the first time last night and they were perfect!
At 9pm I was in bed again and watched an episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager on my computer. Tomorrow my workday only starts at 9am, so I'll get a good night of sleep.
Bainbridge Island is amazing. Everyday I find something that I love about this place. If it's not the view, the cool parks, the nice feeling of being on a small island, the amazingly nice people or the new friends I made, then it's always the kids. Ben and Sophie are so great. For some reason especially if mom and dad are not around. Lucky me^^. Well anyways, just wanted to give you an impression of my life here. If you don't already feel jealous, trust me, you should be ;).
woensdag 26 augustus 2009
zaterdag 22 augustus 2009
Flying back home
Just wanted to give you a little update; I'm going to be back in the Netherlands from the 4th of September and I fly back again on the tenth. Everything is fine, I do still like it here, I just have to make a quick trip back to visit family. It's weird looking foward to making such a long flight twice in one week. I will really fly half way around the world and back again and will spend another 25 hours in an airplane, not even including the extra hours you loose by traveling to and from the airport and checking in hours before the flight.
It will also be kind of weird seeing my friends back home again, because it will be only a month ago that I even left. They've probably barely even missed me and will think I will not have made it through or got homesick. I DID NOT! :P I love it here and I wish I would not have to come home. Unfortunatly this situation has occured and it will really be the right thing to return home for a few days.
I'm wondering how I'll look back on Bainbridge while I'm back in Holland again and if I'll miss home more after seeing my family and friends..
I hope to see some of you while I'm there! My cell will probably not work, because I have cancelled my Dutch account and have an American one now, but talk to me on msn or hyves and we can go and drink beer!! (As I can't do that here ;).)
It will also be kind of weird seeing my friends back home again, because it will be only a month ago that I even left. They've probably barely even missed me and will think I will not have made it through or got homesick. I DID NOT! :P I love it here and I wish I would not have to come home. Unfortunatly this situation has occured and it will really be the right thing to return home for a few days.
I'm wondering how I'll look back on Bainbridge while I'm back in Holland again and if I'll miss home more after seeing my family and friends..
I hope to see some of you while I'm there! My cell will probably not work, because I have cancelled my Dutch account and have an American one now, but talk to me on msn or hyves and we can go and drink beer!! (As I can't do that here ;).)
maandag 17 augustus 2009
From Amsterdam to New York to Bainbridge Island part 2
I've been having a great time here on Bainbridge Island so far. The time difference is still a bit hard though, 9 hours takes a lot of time to get used to and with all the new things I'm still learning everyday I'm already tired at 8pm.
I promised to continue my blog and write something about New York, so here it is: New York was amazing!
Monday The hotel we were staying at for the oriëntation program was actually in New Jersey. On the first night of our arrival me and Rosanne wandered around the hotel, had fun taking pictures and found an inside swimming pool on the third floor that had a beautifull view of the New York skyline. We went for a swim and after that it was off to bed and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Tuesday Class started at 8am the next morning, but we had an overly excited instructor to keep us awake. They incuraged us the switch seats and sit with people who were from other countries. In all we had 26 different countries people came from, although most girls were either from Germany or Brazil. Class was fun and interactive and with the regular breaks it didn't seem too long untill the day was over. For the evening there was a bus tour of New York planned and I decided to go with Rosanne. First stop; Central Park West. Second; Rockefeller Plaza. Third; Times Square and last but not least; the Statue of Liberty. We got out at all the stops and at Times Square we even had more then an hour to get something to eat and walk around. The bus also went by other famous buildings that our tourguide told us something about. Unfortunatly we got a little behind on schedule and didn't have time to go out at Ground Zero, were the Twin Towers fell down on 9/11, but we still thought we got more then our money's worth.
Wednesday Class again, this time starting with learning a new singing/clapping game to play with the kids. The song still gets stuck in my head whenever I think about it... Out of the 130 girls in class, to my surprise, I must have been one of the most talkative girls there. I really noticed that the experience I had came in handy with the questions that were asked and as the class was given in English I definatly had an adventage of understanding everything a bit better then most girls. We had CPR training and also with this it was nice to have had CPR before, so I knew the routine already. Wednesday evening we had a change to do whatever we wanted, so me and a group of other girls took a cab into New York and went to visit Times Square again. Me and Rosanne both loved the M&M store, which was a store with 3 stories FULL of ANYTHING of M&M's. M&M Statue Of Liberty, M&M underwear, M&M games, M&M spoons... Ofcourse we both had already purchased a I Love New York Tshirt, so we just had a good time walking around and trying not to spend all our money all at once.
Thursday Departure day. In the morning we had some last hours of class and in the afternoon my group was the first to leave to the airport. The airport in Newark was insanely confusing, as we didn't have normal tickets, but E-tickets, but luckily we all got through it in time. The flight was delayed by an hour anyway and flying with me to Seattle were 6 other girls, so we had a nice talk. Two of them were going to Bainbridge Island too. In the plane we unfortunatly all had different seats so the six hour flight was pretty boring (accept for the spectacular views!!). They even played the same movie I had already seen on my flight from Amsterdam to Newark twice! '17 Again' does get boring if you watch it three times in four days. :)
At the airport in Seattle my host family waited for me, and Ben and Sophie had made lovely drawings. I was a bit nervous at first to meet them again, but they are such a nice family and the kids are just great, so I'm happy I choose them.
Tell you more about Bainbridge Island next time!
I promised to continue my blog and write something about New York, so here it is: New York was amazing!
Monday The hotel we were staying at for the oriëntation program was actually in New Jersey. On the first night of our arrival me and Rosanne wandered around the hotel, had fun taking pictures and found an inside swimming pool on the third floor that had a beautifull view of the New York skyline. We went for a swim and after that it was off to bed and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Tuesday Class started at 8am the next morning, but we had an overly excited instructor to keep us awake. They incuraged us the switch seats and sit with people who were from other countries. In all we had 26 different countries people came from, although most girls were either from Germany or Brazil. Class was fun and interactive and with the regular breaks it didn't seem too long untill the day was over. For the evening there was a bus tour of New York planned and I decided to go with Rosanne. First stop; Central Park West. Second; Rockefeller Plaza. Third; Times Square and last but not least; the Statue of Liberty. We got out at all the stops and at Times Square we even had more then an hour to get something to eat and walk around. The bus also went by other famous buildings that our tourguide told us something about. Unfortunatly we got a little behind on schedule and didn't have time to go out at Ground Zero, were the Twin Towers fell down on 9/11, but we still thought we got more then our money's worth.
Wednesday Class again, this time starting with learning a new singing/clapping game to play with the kids. The song still gets stuck in my head whenever I think about it... Out of the 130 girls in class, to my surprise, I must have been one of the most talkative girls there. I really noticed that the experience I had came in handy with the questions that were asked and as the class was given in English I definatly had an adventage of understanding everything a bit better then most girls. We had CPR training and also with this it was nice to have had CPR before, so I knew the routine already. Wednesday evening we had a change to do whatever we wanted, so me and a group of other girls took a cab into New York and went to visit Times Square again. Me and Rosanne both loved the M&M store, which was a store with 3 stories FULL of ANYTHING of M&M's. M&M Statue Of Liberty, M&M underwear, M&M games, M&M spoons... Ofcourse we both had already purchased a I Love New York Tshirt, so we just had a good time walking around and trying not to spend all our money all at once.
Thursday Departure day. In the morning we had some last hours of class and in the afternoon my group was the first to leave to the airport. The airport in Newark was insanely confusing, as we didn't have normal tickets, but E-tickets, but luckily we all got through it in time. The flight was delayed by an hour anyway and flying with me to Seattle were 6 other girls, so we had a nice talk. Two of them were going to Bainbridge Island too. In the plane we unfortunatly all had different seats so the six hour flight was pretty boring (accept for the spectacular views!!). They even played the same movie I had already seen on my flight from Amsterdam to Newark twice! '17 Again' does get boring if you watch it three times in four days. :)
At the airport in Seattle my host family waited for me, and Ben and Sophie had made lovely drawings. I was a bit nervous at first to meet them again, but they are such a nice family and the kids are just great, so I'm happy I choose them.
Tell you more about Bainbridge Island next time!
zondag 9 augustus 2009
From Amsterdam to New York to Bainbridge Island part 1
7:54 am, Bainbridge time.
Crazy enough it has already been almost a week ago since I left on monday morning to the airport. My friends, Jasper and Annerie were there to say goodbye at the trainstation, and Annerie even went along with me and my mum to Schiphol. (Thank you!^^)
At the airport I met Rosanne, who was in Au Pair Care program too. The flight took about 8 or 9 hours, so it was very nice to have someone to talk too.
For a change the food we were served accualy tasted good and we had lots of movies to pick from. So, to all of you who plan make international flights in the near future, I recommend United Airlines^^.
I have sooo much more to say, especially about New York, WOW! And Bainbridge is so lovely too, I have not yet regretted coming here. "Unfortunatly" the kids are up and we had plans to eat waffels somewhere between 8 and 9am, so I have to go. Here's a quick picture from the plane from Amsterdam to Washington D.C.. (The flight from Newark to Seattle was even more beautiful.. the sights were just amazing.. )
I'll send in another update soon!
Crazy enough it has already been almost a week ago since I left on monday morning to the airport. My friends, Jasper and Annerie were there to say goodbye at the trainstation, and Annerie even went along with me and my mum to Schiphol. (Thank you!^^)
At the airport I met Rosanne, who was in Au Pair Care program too. The flight took about 8 or 9 hours, so it was very nice to have someone to talk too.
For a change the food we were served accualy tasted good and we had lots of movies to pick from. So, to all of you who plan make international flights in the near future, I recommend United Airlines^^.
I have sooo much more to say, especially about New York, WOW! And Bainbridge is so lovely too, I have not yet regretted coming here. "Unfortunatly" the kids are up and we had plans to eat waffels somewhere between 8 and 9am, so I have to go. Here's a quick picture from the plane from Amsterdam to Washington D.C.. (The flight from Newark to Seattle was even more beautiful.. the sights were just amazing.. )
I'll send in another update soon!
zondag 2 augustus 2009
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