Swell

I arrived in Hoboken on Friday night. I love it. The town is so cute and charming and GAH. Ton's of young people and young families and so many good places to eat. I am so excited for this year. I was a bit cautious since the previous nanny told me some not so good things about the family, but we've talked about it multiple times and I have no doubts we will have an amazing year. 

I've already met a few other au pairs, two live really close and are probably the sweetest ladies I've ever met. I can't wait to have all sorts of adventures with them. The three of us went into manhattan on Sunday and lawd. It is so surreal that I am living this close to new york freaking city. There are endless possibilities. This afternoon HM (I'm going to have to come up with a better acronym or code name for her because calling someone host mom who is only two years older than me is weird. yeah, both parents are only two years older than me. It was kinda weird at first, but we get along so well. It's kind of like having roommates I guess.) and I were talking about how we should be extra's in movies and go watch tv shows be filmed. So we spent the afternoon on google and I ended up replying to a few ads and how crazy would that be?! We also decided we are going to see Ed Sheeran together in Nov. Like, it's so great how well we get along and the baby... he is perfect! Rarely cries and is just a joy. HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY?!?!

12 days!

I move in 12 days.
The thing I'm most excited about: no jet lag :D

New Jersey it is!

Got the job :)
I found out last weekend. I emailed their previous nanny early last week to get some feedback, but just heard back from her Sunday.... after I had said I would take the job. Some of the things she had to say weren't the greatest. I replied very fast hoping she could get back to me with some more info but I haven't heard from her again. I mentioned to the HF that I was concerned about what she had to say and they told me nothing was ever brought to their attention from this girl. That they were hurt she was so unhappy. Which makes me think a bit. These kinds of experiences are totally not worth it if you cant speak up for yourself. Communication is key. If you can't voice your opinion with the things you are unhappy about with the family, what do you expect other than to be miserable? I know it's hard, I've been in that situation, but really, whats the worst than can come of it?

Anyway, we are working things out and I will probably move over there in the next few weeks. I mentioned I was a bit unsure of committing for a year based on what this girl said. So I suggested we do a trial run. Say, 90 days and then re-evaluate then. If we get along and there are no problems then that's great and we can continue. If things are so swell, we will just part ways. They agreed. So we shall see what happens. 

New Jersey?

Possibly! Had a Skype call with a lovely family in NJ today. They are super close to NYC (just on the other side of the Hudson) and I'm super excited. I really hope something comes out of it. They only have one baby, 15 month old boy. So that's exciting.

 I would really love to return to Italy... but... this is:

1. closer to home, but still far enough away
2. less expensive
3. an amazing opportunity

It would be minimum of a year. So maybe I could put a little money aside for my next trip to Italy. Here's to hoping!

Looking like crazy for a new host family.

It's only been two weeks back home, and I'm already itching to leave. Looking to go back to Istanbul :) 

An Unfortunate Turn of Events.

I was denied entry to the UK. So they sent me home. womp womp. Won't go into detail, but it's nothing too serious. And on the bright side I didnt have to pay for the flight ;) silver linings, man~

I'll line up so post about italy for the next few days :) 

Kind of sad to be home. It's pretty strange. Once the jetlag wears off (it's horrible!) I'll try to plan my next move ;)

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” — Jordan Belfort

Next Stop:

London!

I'll leave Italy/Arrive in London June 15th. I can't believe it. Not only will I be living in London, but central :D:D like, a 10 minute walk to oxford street. Still pinching myself. 

Egypt: Days 1-3, CAIRO!

Left Italy around 10ish, I think (don't honestly remember) and got into Cairo around 1. Two of my friends from Istanbul were meeting me at the airport, their flight came in around 12. So I told them my terminal (it was different from theirs) and they said they'd come wait for me. I waited and hour and still no sign of them! Turns out, there were 3 halls to terminal 1. All different buildings. So i set off to the others to find them. We met up around 2.30 i think? Got a cab (was ripped off bc we were obv tourists) and set off to find our Host's house. We used couchsurfing for the majority of the trip, it was my first time "surfing", and i couldn't have been more pleased with how it all turned out.

Anyway, we got the the apartment, had a rest for an hour or so and headed out to Al-Azhar Park. WOW. What a view! It's such a gorgeous park, and we had an amazing meal at one of the restaurants. Took a walk after and watched the sunset :)

Day 2: Giza/Cairo
We woke up pretty early and headed off Giza to see the pyramids! While getting off the metro, some random man was like "no, the metro is that way" while we were exiting. We said we didn't need it, as we were going to the pyramids. He and his son were also going. We ended up sharing a cab.

The only word I can think of to describe being there is: Surreal. The whole time i just kept repeating  "Were at the pyramids. holy crap" we ended up going to a horse/camel tour place with the guy shared a cab with, and the "tour group" ended up just being us three and his son. So, pretty awesome! It was so nice. We came in from the back (I think?) and almost the whole way there was no one else. It was amazing to just be out in the middle of the desert just a small group of us.  

we climbed up one of the smaller pyramids, what a view!

This is Rambo. He was super friendly. He kept licking/trying to bit my pants. 

We went from there to Khan-Al-Kalili to do some touristy gift buying and have lunch, I don't have any pics on my computer of that at the moment, sooo just use your imagination? 

And we capped off the day with a boat ride on the Nile. Also Surreal. As we were leaving the market getting into a taxi to get to the river.... i ripped my pants. In the worst possible place. Good thing I had a scarf to cover it up with, but still.... it was awkward. 

Day three was spent wandering around Cairo  the Egyptian museum (holy overwhelming batman!) and looking for some more amazing food. Which we found. 

ok, so...

I've written a few posts, on the blogger app on my ipod... and i log on to the actual website... THEY ARE NOT THERE. wtf. so bummed. 

anyway... a short bullet point post will have to do i guess:

• i am having, hands down, the best au pairing experience here. 
• i love my host fam soooo much! in only a month they've become family.
• my love for italian food just keeps getting bigger (pizaa/pasta/bread, all day errrday :D)
• I'm playing this game of "how many pairs of sunglasses can i lose/damage in a month" current score: 3
• I've started a language class. 
• no homesickness, what-so-ever! woot!
• well, i miss my cat. 
• does that count?
• i have so many pics ill try to upload somewhat soon
• egypt was amazing; that will get its own post. 
• here are two pics that saved to my draft folder, even though i hit publish
• way to go blogger app.

Still alive, promise.

I made it here. After a cab, plane, two buses and a car. I'm finally settling in. It's been a little more than a week. I have so much to write about but I feel like I never have enough time to actually get on the computer. I'm going to try to write some post on my ipod while I'm on the train next time. 

anyway.

I love Italy.
and
I miss the chaos of Istanbul.

Varese is really nice. I think I'm going to really like it here. We live super close to the city center, so that's convenient. The kids are great, I love love loooooooove this family. The baby, who i look after the most, took no time in getting used to/attached to me. It's great. I love him to bits already. The girl, who is 3, is still getting used to me I think. She understands English very well but wont speak it much with me. So we're just giving her time. She'll do it when shes ready. She speaks to me 1093752 miles a minute in italian though, so that should help building my language skills ;) hopefully ill be taking a class here soon...

the municipality building in varese. amazing view :)

i went to milan last week. ugh. i love this place.

hopefully this weekend i'll be going to visit my first host family. if not this, then next. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. Also looking forward to making some new friends here. I miss all my Istanbul pals :(

promise ill be posting more soon ;)

Pictures of me standing in front of various things

i don't know what to do with my hands, ok?! pictures are awkward

Maiden Tower

I've lived 10 minutes from the tower for 3 months and it's taken me the whole 3 months to actually walk down to it and take a picture. The weather was so crappy we didn't even walk the whole way there. It counts that I saw it on the ferry twice a day sometimes, right? ;)

there's a few version of a legend that go with the tower... the one i remember involves a snake. A emperor heard that someone was going to try to kill his daughter or something so he locked her in the tower. Then one day someone smuggled a snake inside a basket of bread and it bit her and she died. 

that was the story I was told when I got here. I have no idea if it's the real one or if it's true or what,  haha.

anyway here is a nice picture of some fisherman:

love letter to istanbul

xoxo

Tomorrow is my last full day here!

I can't believe I've been here 3 months. It doesn't seem possible. I don't want it to end, but at the same time i'm ready to move on to the next adventure. I've eaten tons of amazing food, met so many wonderful people, and seen such beautiful sights.

*sigh*

I hope to write a lot of things down about my time here once I get to Italy.
right now though I'm going to log off and go get some rest so I can enjoy the day tomorrow (even if it's going to rain :-/) we're getting waffles!!!! om nom nom.

Istanbul Archaeology Museums

 Istanbul Archaeology Museums/İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri are overwhelming. haha I'll be straightforward. But for the price, you can't beat it! We went Tuesday and neither of us knew the price before hand. It's located right in the heart of all the tourist attractions, and directly next to Topkapi palace, so I was already prepared to pay a lot. Nope! 10 Lira! Score! for 3 museums  A lot of things were under construction (along with everything else in the city at this time of the year, womp womp) but still. h-o-l-y c-o-w. There was so much! I didn't even get to half way through the second building and I was ready for a nap. So much to take in a read. Everything is ancient. I think it's amazing to see all of that kind of stuff since we don't really have it in america since we are such a young country. 

apparently pre-nups have been around forever. I wish the text would have shown up better :(

"tiled pavilion"

inside the pavilion. I die. gorgeous.

only 10th century. no biggie.

a few random pics.

Because I am doing nothing today. Sitting here getting my things ready for my trip and doing laundry. I'm on my 5th cup of Çay I think. haha, oops.

ready to go!

I dont even know why I bought halley. It's gross. But for one lira, i'll take it. Chocolate is so expensive here :|

Spring has Sprung!

Finally! It's been so warm here the past few days. Today I left the house and left my coat at home ;) Usually I take it and by the time I get to the bus stop (only a 3 minute walk from the house) I am sweating and regret bringing it. So today I threw caution to the wind and just left it home and brought a sweater. OMG. It was so nice. It was in the 60*F range. I ate lunch outside in the sun and gbslkbgalgajdkkl. It was bliss. I snapped a few pics of our magnolia tree this morning. It's so gorgeous. Tomorrow I bet it'll be even more beautiful. The whole city is looking amazing, at the end of last week flowers were planted just about everywhere. On the highway they have the skyline of the city outlined in flowers. In Kadikoy there are some nice outlines of birds I want to try to take pics of. 

Au Pairs in Istanbul

All the au pairs I know here have all had a hard time meeting other au pairs. One told me that it's common to just meet other girls through your host family. Like, their friends have au pairs and they will introduce you to them. There wasn't many places online to find/meet up since Istanbul is not the most popular place to au pair (although, there is tons more here than I thought. and apparently even more in the summer) So my little group of friends and I thought it would be a good idea to start a group where it would be a little easier to connect. There is on fb group but it's not used much. I also don't think there are many actual au pairs on it. It seems to be more turkish, live in nanny types? ah well.

so.

the new facebook group.

--> Au Pairs in Istanbul <--

“If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another.

The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience.

If this sounds too mystical, refer again to the body. Every significant vital sign- body temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on- alters the moment you decide to do anything… decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction.”

-Deepak Chopra