Better

Hello again!

Since my last weird post, I'm feeling much better. On Tuesday I went out to dinner with 2 other au pairs and it was really nice! We're meant to be going to see a movie tonight as well! I like getting to leave the house haha.

On Monday when I went out for my walk, I went via Good Karma. I was looking forward to trying a 'Cinderella' but (shock, horror) they've changed to their Spring Menu! So I am looking forward to trying a whole range of new drinks! There's the Buttercup latte and the Dandy Lion and the Spring Fling and my gosh all the names are so cute! I walked into the city in a completely new way, so I got to see a whole bunch of new things, which was fun. I ended up having lunch at Shake Shack, an American chain of burger restaurants. The Cheeseburger and Fries were average (sidenote: why do people put cheese on burgers? IT DOESN'T BELONG THERE), but the Shake (or frozen custard) was made of magic. After Shake Shack I wandered to my bank, and I have to say something I never thought I'd say - I love my bank. Everytime I go in, there are at least 3 people I recognise behind the counter. Last time I went in my favourite teller exclaimed that she hadn't seen me for 2 weeks! And asked how I was. This time I had a new teller, but she was super lovely, asked about my accent (which she correctly identified as Australian, not British!) and was generally really friendly and helpful! 

Unfortunately this walk meant that my blister doubled in size, so since then I've been avoiding walking as much as possible! (Which basically means I've had an excuse to stay in bed & watch The Good Wife for 3 days in a row... shhh). Today I went grocery shopping, which was pretty fun! Leaning on the trolley helped me avoid walking on my blister haha! 

So this is just an update to say that things are going a little better. I'm still not the social butterfly queen of Philadelphia, but I'm feeling happier. 

Lots of Love,

Jess

Homesickness.

Today was a really hard day. Today was the first time since I left 6 weeks ago that I have genuinely regretted leaving. That I have wished to be home, with my family. I don't know exactly what brought it on. I think maybe I'm lonely. The 2 other au pairs who live closest to me who I occasionally see don't really include me in their plans (which is okay. they don't have to). I am not 21, so I can't join them on most of their expeditions anyway. I don't have any real friends in Philadelphia. But I can work on changing that. That is within my control. I spent most of this morning feeling sad and stayed in bed watching (can you guess?) The Good Wife. But I left the house for a few hours (more on that in a later post) and walked around. Talked to the lovely, friendly people who work at my bank. I came home feeling better. I have so many plans. I want to take piano lessons, Japanese lessons, cooking lessons. I want to adventure around Philadelphia, walk down streets I haven't yet. I want to have people in Philly who are my people. I will work on that. 

I came home feeling better. Then I saw I had mail - a postcard and a card. The postcard from my Daddy made me smile - I love, love, love receiving mail. I don't think I've ever felt more loved than the past month, my family are the best. As soon as I opened the card, I completely lost it. My wonderful, brilliant, beautiful mother had filled a whole card, inside and out, with her handwriting. I miss my parents so much that sometimes it's a physical ache. I try to stay busy and ignore it, but today it bubbled out. But that's okay. It's okay to be sad sometimes. And I know that while I'll always miss them, it won't always be this hard. 

I know this post is going to be weird for anyone other than me to read. But to be completely honest, I'm not writing it for anyone else, I'm writing it for me. I know that everything is going to be okay. I know that I really love Philadelphia. and I know that I really, really love these kids. 

When I met the bus this afternoon (it was on early, which it never is, so I was the only nanny there to meet it!) my kids came tumbling off the bus. C put her arm through mine, and R, who normally hates holding hands, grabbed mine and held it and told me a story. I love these kids. They make me happy and they are the reason I am here. They make me laugh, and they make me frustrated, and they make me happy. I am glad that I am here. I am glad that I chose to come halfway round the world and live in a new city with new people. I will persevere. I can do this.  

Other days will be easier. This too shall pass.

(I'm sorry if you're reading this. I just needed to get this all out, so in a couple days I can come back & read it. I know it doesn't make much sense or have any structure. I'm sorry)

Crazy weather, crazy week!

Hello again friends!

I think I may need to start getting used to rapidly changing weather in Philly! This week has been all over the place! As I strolled through the streets with my coffee on Tuesday, I didn't even think to make the most of the sunshine! What a mistake. 

On Wednesday I was determined to leave the house, despite feeling a little under the weather. Right as I was walking out the door, my HD (hostdad) suggested I grab an umbrella, as it looked like it was about to rain. I glanced out the window and noticed...it was very, very dark outside! Umbrella in hand, I pranced out the door... and the pouring rain started about 3 seconds later! As I reached the end of the block I considered turning around, going home and curling up with a book. But I didn't want to 'waste' another day doing nothing, so I persevered. And then the thunder and lightning started... very close by. Looking around I noticed there were very few other people walking on the normally busy streets... I wonder why? I reached Rittenhouse Square just as the wind picked up and turned my umbrella inside out! I decided it would be best to take shelter in the nearest store I could find, which, luckily for me, was Barnes and Noble, the wonderful bookstore! I spent over an hour browsing and found 2 books and 2 magazines I couldn't leave without. Unfortunately the rain was still thundering down outside, so I perched in a corner and started reading! When everything had finally died down, I meandered home, and had a lazy afternoon. 

On Thursday I was feeling very lethargic and achy - I needed to sit down for a few minutes after a trip up or down the stairs, which is normally something I can do with ease several times a day. So Thursday was a day spent sleeping. Which unfortunately meant that I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight that night, because my body was too rested! I was glad to spend the day inside though, because it was very gray outside!

On Friday I ventured out to the grocery store (woohoo!), but as soon as I turned on the radio I heard "dense fog warnings". Exciting! Driving across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (across the river) the fog was very, very dense - I could still see in front of me, but the cars overtaking me kept disappearing into the fog ahead of me! Speaking of overtaking... the speed limit on the bridge is normally 45 mph, but was changed to 25 mph because of the fog. That didn't stop all the cars around me going at least 50mph! American drivers are crazy! Unfortunately because the grocery shopping takes a few hours, and because my host parents go out on Friday nights, I ended up working more than 13 hours on Friday...ugh. I finished the day tired and grumpy, not least because the children had been given permission to stay up to 9:30pm, instead of going to bed at their usual 8pm! 

On Saturday I slept in until 12 (but given the crazy day before, I didn't feel too bad!) and, despite my plans to head into the city, even if just to visit the bank, I ended up spending most of the day in bed, watching The Good Wife! I'm addicted, it's so good! Hulu & Netflix have both been very bad for my productivity levels! I can watch almost any TV show or movie I want at anytime! The previous day my HM (hostmum) had mentioned that they had tickets to a contemporary dance show that night, but didn't want to go. She offered the tickets to me, which I of course gratefully and enthusiastically accepted! The show was called "Bad Boys of Dance" and I ended up with 3 tickets! Unfortunately the 2 friends I invited to come with me both had to work, so I ended up with 2 spare tickets. 

I decided that I could walk the 1.4 miles to the theatre, in University City, and because the snow has FINALLY melted, I wore my beautiful new boots. Anyone who knows me well will know that I've wanted a pair of proper cowboy boots for YEARS now, ever since I read "Kitty, Kitty" by Michelle Jaffe! These boots are the closest I've ever found to cowboy boots, and they were only $15! It was a really nice walk, but I underestimated how warm the 16 degree weather would be! It was -7 degrees earlier in the week but now it's 16 degrees! Crazy! When I arrived at the theatre and picked up my tickets, I asked if I could donate the 2 spare tickets to the next people arriving to purchase tickets. The kind people at the box office informed me that all they could do was swap the tickets for tickets to the next performance, but they had no control over what I could do... Taking this advice, I waited for the next person to enter the line, and offered him my tickets - he only needed one, so I gave it to him. At this point, the Box Office Manager came marching over and informed me, in very strict tones, that I was not allowed to sell tickets in the lobby! I told him I just wanted to give it as a gift! He let me give the one ticket to the man, but then got right up in my face and forcibly suggested that swapping the other spare ticket would be best for everyone. He grabbed the ticket from my hand and went and swapped it for me. While it wasn't the most pleasant experience I've ever had, I understand that he was just doing his job. 

Anyway, the dance performance was AMAZING, they blended ballet and contemporary dance techniques which was stunning. The beautiful lines, and jumps, and twirls of ballet mixed with the fun and energy, and physicality of contemporary dance was so much fun to watch! It was all set to pop music and the dancers were amazing. The only thing I didn't love was that the only female dancer was dressed in skimpy outfits, and her only role in the whole show appeared to be "Hot girl arrives on scene, boys dance off for her." However, there were some truly amazing dance sequences. One, set to "The Scientist' by Coldplay, while (disappointingly) not done backwards (let's face it, how amazing/impossible would that have been), was danced mainly by the woman and the main male dancer, simulating fighting and anger. Dance-simulated fight scenes are some of my favourite things ever, so I obviously loved this number! Overall, the whole performance was so energetic and joyful that I left feeling super energised and upbeat! I am so grateful that I got the chance to see this performance, and didn't have to pay for it!  I also have a ticket for the next contemporary performance in March, which should be super fun to go to! When I tried to give the ticket back to my HM, because the tickets were hers in the first place, she informed me that because they were on the board, they got tickets to all the performances anyway, so this one was mine to keep! She also let me know that in future, if there are any performances they don't want to go to, they're more than happy for me to take their tickets! So generous and kind! 

Unfortunately the ~3 mile round trip to the theatre in my new boots has left me with a massive blister right in the centre of my heel, so my plans of adventuring today have been cancelled. I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed, watching more Good Wife! And I've just discovered that Good Karma is open from 7am-10pm EVERYDAY so... maybe I'll go sit there for a while! 

I'm sorry this is such a massive essay, you get +100 brownie points if you made it to the end! 

All my love,

Jess

Mission Accomplished

Hello friends!

Mission accomplished - I made it to Good Karma cafe! And it was even more amazing than I ever could have imagined! It's the kind of cafe where people sit for hours with their notebooks and laptops and "write novels". They have a full blackboard of winter specials, including the delightful sounding 'Cinderella' (some form of pumpkin spice latte) and 'London Fog' (a special kind of Earl Grey tea!). My first foray into their coffee was a Candycane Mocha and it was quite nice! The barista did a wonderful job of making sure it was the perfect temperature - warm enough to keep my hands warm, cool enough to drink straight away! One of my personal pet peeves is when a coffee is waaay too hot to drink straight away (looking at you, Starbucks). 

I actually haven't been drinking very much coffee since I've moved to Philadelphia - which is kind of strange for me, given that I normally drink coffee every time I leave the house at home, or when on holidays! I have a feeling Good Karma is going to break me of my new habit, as I want to go back and try all their specials! 

I also discovered a wonderful cafe called 'Sabrina's' on Saturday, I went for brunch with some of my friends and it was splendid. I guess the one downside is that on the weekends you could be waiting for up to an hour for a table, and when you get inside it is quite noisy! But the food is spectacular! Their brunch menu changes every 2 weeks, but at the moment it's Beyonce themed, so I tried the "Destiny Fully-Filled" French Toast, which was marvelously decadent and over the top! The serving size was big enough for at LEAST 2 hungry people! 

On Sunday night I went out with the same friends to see a movie! We saw 'That Awkward Moment', which was WAY better than I thought it was going to be, but was still kinda predictable. I'm looking forward to more movie outings soon!

I hope your day is going marvellously! My next mission is to try Shake Shack for lunch tomorrow!

Love

Jess

Welcome to Philadelphia!

Hello friends!

It's been just over a month since I arrived in the USA, and I've decided (with a little encouragement from the lovely Viva) to start documenting my experiences on this blog. I can't promise that it will always be exciting or interesting for anyone other than me, but hopefully it'll be fun to write! 

I am absolutely loving living in Philadelphia! All the streets around where I live are full of red brick terrace houses (or row houses, as I am learning to call them!) and it is such fun to walk around and see how people have managed to personalize their houses! There are so many planter boxes under windows, which I find charming! 

I realised recently that despite the fact that I've spent many days wandering around exploring the city, there are places VERY close to my house that I haven't even looked at! There is a coffee shop very, very close by that I haven't stepped foot in! There is an adorable looking shop called 'Pancake' and a Bagel shop called 'Spread', both of which I walk past on a daily basis but haven't called in to buy something delicious! So my aim for the next couple of weeks is to continue finding lovely, new places to visit! My mission for tomorrow is to buy a hot chocolate from the coffee shop that is so close to me! I will let you know how I go! 

Last week I found Joseph Fox Bookshop while wandering down a street I hadn't walked down before, and was thrilled to discover such a tiny, filled-to-the-brim independent bookstore in my new city! I always judge a new bookshop by how extensive their range of children's books is (not sure why, but it works!) and found that they have a whole room dedicated to picture books, children's books and young adult books! Wonderful! Unfortunately because it is a relatively small space they only have room for one book by each author, but it was still such a nice find! 

Alright I think I'm done with this post! It was a little all over the place, but I hope you enjoyed it! 

Lots of love, Jess