Its ok bloggy, I still love you!

So life has been pretty hectic lately, trying to find a job and a place to live. I have been leaving wherever I've been staying quite early on and not getting home till late, cos I've been going to job interviews and flat viewings and all sorts. I have a room for 4 weeks now, but still no job :(. I hope to be able to change that situation soon! My aim for this weekend is to finish off a blog post about Aus, and then go into what I've been up to here since I got back!!

Australiaaa - Part 1

I figure I can bundle the whole 3 and a half weeks of Aussie ness into one post right?. And it seems fitting to do it today, with tomorrow being Australia Day and all. This post will probably be all over the place because of what comes to mind at certain times, so just go along with it :D.

So off we went to the airport. Our flight wasn't until 10.20pm, and we had checked in online, so we didn't really get to the airport till like 9.30. It was enough time to get all our bags checked and nip through dutyfree before pretty much heading straight on. I was in economy class, and the girls and their mum were in Business. We were flying on an A380, so it was double decker which was pretty cool. I spent a lot of the flight going up and down though. We flew Singapore and the airline hosts/ess were really good about me getting up to business to hang out with the kids and stuff. I went up for a bit at the start, then wen to have my dinner, then slept/watched movies, then up for a little longer had brekkie, then up for another half hour and then we landed! I didn't realise until our first meals were served, but I was sitting the wrong seat for the flight. I was sitting in the seat I was meant to be in on my second flight, but oddly enough, noone corrected me. Huh.

It was a pretty good flight, no real turbulance or anything. I managed to sleep for a little bit which was nice. The food was pretty good too, which is always a bonus.

When we got to Singapore, we mooched around the airport for a bit, had some BK, went to look at the butterfly garden and playground, before the family had to get on their next flight. I couldn't get on that flight, so I had another 3 hours or so to kill at the airport. I wandered around like a bit of a lost soul really, tried to do some dutyfree shopping, but it was all pretty crap. I found a cinema which was showing a free movie, but that wasn't any good. There were some lounge chairs so I managed to get a 15minute nap there which gave me enough energy to get me through until my next flight.

The next flight was pretty sweet, slept a lot, ate food, watched movies. Just the normal.

At Brisbane airport, cos I was sitting so close to the front, and I had an electronic passport, and my bag had been put through priority (thanks to checking in with the business class passangers) I got outside within like 20 minutes of landing, at like 11am. I had to catch a taxi to the house, and it was kinda weird, cos I had no idea where I was going and the taxi driver kept asking me directions hahaha. But I got there eventually.

Once I got there, the 2 yr old was already asleep, and so I had a very tired 4 yr old to watch. Eventually she went to sleep, and I had to keep myself awake, which I managed to do until about 6pm, and then I crashed.

Had a really great time. It was hard living out of a suitcase though, I'm the first to admit its really not one of my strong points, and I do find it quite difficult. Once we got up to the Sunshine Coast and had our own house for a week and a bit though, it was nice to be able to unpack things and sort them out so that I could actually figure out what I had!! I ended up taking 2 suitcases home from Brisbane because it just weighed so much. It was hard living with the grandparents of the people that I worked for, hard to know my place and when to step back and stuff, and that's the main reason that the family gave me for not wanting to keep me on now that we are back in London. Its a bit sad for me, because I wasn't told anything about it while we were there so I don't quite know what I did wrong, but I guess you can't change it now!

Singapore Airport

Singapore from the air

The crap-ton of barges

Anyway, when we first got there we stayed in St Lucia with the mother's parents. It was quite full on there, as there are a lot of grandchildren and the grandparents lives revolve around caring for them, so there were constantly other children around. It was fun, there was a wide range of ages from 12 down, and boys and girls. It could also be quite hectic and it took the 2 little girls that I look after a while to adjust to the chaotic nature of the place and having so many people around constantly. The jet lag for the girls was quite horrific, and they never quite got over it while we were there - I don't think the heat helped and the fact that the sun was rising at 4am!

Bris-BAYNE

Flying in from the West of Australia meant lots of red earth!

I managed to catch up with quite a few mates in the 10 days of so we were in St Lucia, on the first full day I was there, I was given the day off which was great because it meant I could have the day to myself to sleep and adjust to the time difference, but also get things sorted - like getting a pedicure for my manky London winter toes! I wandered round Brissy and managed to catch up with my mate Kate for dinner - woo!

It was kinda of a weird trip in a way, because I felt like it was totally full on, but we didn't really do much. A lot of the time in the first week was spent just hanging round home, because the girls were sleeping for 2-3-4 hours in the afternoon, so I just had time to chill out. I made some food - but the kitchen bench was so short it was so uncomfortable! There were always other children around too, so it was never really quiet. The fact that they had a pool at the house was good too, because it meant when the girls woke up from their sleep they could go for a swim and wake up their bodies! Luckily they were waking around 4pm when the pool was in the shade, because getting them into their togs (swimmers/whatever you want to call them!) was a mission, we they just nudy swam, which was hilarious. 

Thursday, we ended up, on the spur of the moment, heading out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which was pretty cool. We met up with an Auntie and 3 of her 4 kids - all the boys, but it turned out once we got in that she realised she needed to go to a Dr appointment, so the mother and I were left alone with the original 2 girls and now 3 boys! I had to give them a stern talking to when they went rampaging around in the feed the kangaroo enclosure, about how to feed animals with a flat hand and all that...I mean, I should know these things! But we had a fun time while we were these, except when little miss 2 year old decided to wee her pants right in the picnic area...fun times! Look, I even have photos!!

Token tourist

Koalas are just so cute!

Then I had my first weekend, which was quite full on! First up, I went to the XXXX Brewery, to meet up with a friend from work - Richard, and his family. They moved over in about April 2013, so it was neat to see them again. We went out to Carindale, which is a super fancy shopping mall. It was carpeted! And it had a Glassons! (Memo to self - Glassons in Aussie isn't as good). So after successfully purchasing some sexy pink shoes from Target, they took me home, where I managed to get to read my magazine for a bit, before my friend Kate came to pick me up (It was great having so many friends with cars!). We went out to get some picinic stuff to go to the carols in the park. We got there and all was good, until this massive black cloud started coming over and we could see some epic lightening....so we bailed! Turned out it didn't amount to much, but it was better to be safe than sorry! We ended up watching Love Actucally anyway, so we still had some Christmas spirit.

Ok, so maybe bundling this all into one was a silly idea, I'm gonna leave this here for now, and will do another post again soon!!!

Whoops!

So, I know I pretty much havn't posted about Aussie at all, but I've decided to keep my posts more brief, and let the pictures do more of the talking. So I need to sort out my pictures. Which is what I'm about to do, as Ihave 2 hours left at Singapore airport. And I'm tired :(

Annnnd its leaving week!

Wooo! On the Monday morning, I had an epic walk round the corner to the Kilburn Post office thing cos I had to pick up an amazon parcel I'd slept through the delivery of on Friday haha. I had to get it then cos it had Christmas presents in it for the family I was still with and I was leaving the next night!

After that, I headed up to the new family for my first day there. I got shown round the house and stuff, and then the 2yr old and I and the other Nanny/housekeeper person went down to this playgroup thing in Parliament Hill for an hour or so. It was nice to have the other chick with me as she could tell me about how the family work and how they do things, it was nice to get that from someone on the outside, as it were. After we got home, and put Stephanie to bed, I chatted with the mum and we sorted a few things out which was good. We went to pick up the 4 yr old from school and went to swimming, before taking them home for dinner and then I left to go home and finish packing! I had taken a few boxes and bags up with me so that was a good start. Ive somehow managed to accumulate 4 boxes worth of stuff since Ive been in London, whoops!!

The Tuesday I had off, which was just as well!! I had so much packing to do, friends to catch up with, all the kinda fun stuff that you need do do when moving houses/changing jobs and packing to go away for a month all at the same time haha. Tuesday night I caught the bus up to the new place with boxes and a couple of bags (and when I got there and saw the girls, they gave me a night time concert of Do-Re-Mi...perfect!) And then went back to the old place for dinner, before cabbing it back to the new place with my suitcase and a few heavy boxes. It took me a while to get there though cos the taxi driver was real suss about putting anything on the carseats in case it scratched it....*shakes head*

Wednesday, I had my first full day at their house. We went to ball games in the morning with the 2 yr old, and then the 4 yr old finishes school at 12.30 on a Wednesday, so we had to go and pick her up. When we got home, we chilled out and played and did all kinds of fun things. We ended up having to go to their friends house up the road a bit for a little Christmas do, which meant lots of cake, chocolate, mulled wine, and they even got me a present! It was super sweet of them.

After that, I left them and went to meet up with Jen in the city to look at Oxford St Lights and go to Winter Wonderland. It was pretty cool. And massive! I wasn't expecting it to be so huge! We wandered through there for ages, looking at all the rides (which we were not going to go on), playing sideshows to try and win giant Minion toys (failing) and eventually figured out that the best thing for us to do was to just go and drink some mulled wine and watch the ice skaters. There were a whole heap of stalls there too, they were pretty cool to look at. My favourite one was the fake snow that you would pour into your hand in dry form and then pour warm water into your hand and it would expand and form awesome snow. Super fun!! There were a whole bunch of rides, but naturally the only one Jen and I went on was the enclosed Ferris wheel. We went to go on, and you get your photo taken first. Obviously Jen and I primped and preened ourselves in front of the camera, and the guy thought we were super cool (he's onto the right idea) and so he told us to skip the queue and go in the VIP entrance and go straight on. Awesomeness. 

Arty shot...right?

First lot of chestnuts....yum!

After we went on the Ferris wheel, we headed down Oxford St for a bit and looked at the lights on places like Selfridges, which was pretty cool. I need to get those pis off my camera...so they are still to come. We also went down to Piccadilly Circus to look at the statue they had turned into a snow globe. Super cool!

Is it still skiing if its on Playdoh?

Piccadilly Snowglobe

Thursday was an early morning start. I was due at Marble Arch in town at 8am for another promo gig. We were "Rent aCrowd". A new store was opening up  we had to go and be a crowd to cheer when  big present opened up and sime taxi's drove out. It was bloody freezing! But it was kinda cool, there was fake foam snow and an awesome Christmas choir singing carols and it felt very christmassy. 

Once that was done and dusted, I shopped my way to Leicester Square (its an awesome thing to do haha) and went to see The Butler movie. Its a very good movie, well done, and a really good story. I recommend seeing it! After the movie, I went to meet up with Tess and we went to do more shopping around Kings Cross before heading back to Westminster and wandering along South Bank towards the ITV studios for Graham Norton!

I'd won tickets a few weeks back, and so Jen Ingrid, Tess and I went. It was a pretty awesome experience. We waited for about 2 hours before the show started, outside, in the cold. Lucky they had shelter though so we didn't get to wet! We got the wristbands, and were told that we would be very lucky to get in because there was a massive guestlist (friends and family etc) going that night. But we were reasonably close to the start of the line, so we decided to wait it out and see if we could get in....and we did, yay!!

Our seats were right up in the back corner, and quite a way away from the action, but we still got to see the stuff happening. It was an awesome lineup of guests too! Daniel Radcliffe, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mary Berry (from Great British Bakeoff) and the musical guest was Cliff Richard. And of course Graham was there too. We had fun watching the taping, and then went out for dinner afterwards which was nice, because I letf the next day for Aussie, so it was nice to hang out with them.

Friday morning, I was on again with the family, and I went with the 2yr old to her little dance class that she goes too, it was so cute seeing a whole bunch of 2yr olds trying to dance hahaha. After we got home, and she went for a nap, I had the afternoon off which was cool, because I was "on" that night during the flight etc.

So I went into town to meet Oli and we went to the Disney Cafe at Harrods. It was ace. There was Mickey everywhere and it was totally awesome. The food was expensive (I mean, what more can one expect from Harrods??) but it was fun, and well worth going too. After lunch, we did some gift shopping for the family that I was going to be having christmas with, so I spent too much money haha.

Home again to finish packing and shower and get the girls ready for flying and everything fun like that. It took us a while, but eventually we all piled into the car and whisked off to Heathrow!

Weekend before I left!

So I had to get up super early on the Saturday, cos I was due at Twickenham by 11am to work for the Barbarians game. Little did I know how little (aka NONE) of the game I would see! I was stuck outside the gate, from 11-5.30, in the freezing cold, listening to the cheers coming from inside the stadium. Torture! I was serving beers, and you couldnt even double cup them cos the way they know how many you sold (therefore you hand over the right amount of cash at the end) is by the amount of cups you have left. The guy I was working with was super surprised at the amount of "knowledgeable banter" I was having with patrons prior to the game. I'm so rugby knowledgeable hahaha.....

I was meant to go out that niht, but I was still like an ice block when I got home, so I literally just jumped in for a nice, hot show, and the  snuggled down in my bed to watch, yep, X Factor.

Sunday, I went into town to catch up with Tessa, my friend who had just arrived from home. She brought me lots of yummy chocolate and biscuts and all that good stuff....mmmmm. We went out for quite a resonably priced brunch in Regent Street, before going shopping so I could get my tablet! It took a bit of walking, but we eventually ended up with one I was happy with (although over here now they are a lot cheaper, damn!). We then went out to Camden market so I could get a few more presents and bits and bobs to bring with me. So that was reasonably successful which was good.

Man, the packing thing was a mission though. I had to pack all my room up, while also trying to pack to bring things over here and decide what I wanted to unpack while I was still in London and what not. Mission I tell ya!

Its the weekend!...and the week following....

Oh god, so behind, but here we go!

That Saturday,  Ingrid, Jalae and I met up to discuss the events of the previous weekened. Ahhh so many good times.

Then I had to go and meet the family (the aussie family) and hung out there for a little bit. We crafted and read stories and  had a whale of a time! Hahahha.

After that I had a bit more christmas shopping to do so went into town to Harrods and stuff, got bits and bobs, and finished my christmas shopping! Super early! Went home and got fish and chips....omnomnom. it was a brilliantly successful day and X Factor topped it all off!

Sunday, Edward, my cousin, popped round. He was in town for work. I was a very good British host and gave him a cup of tea and a tour before we went to the pub for a roast. It was gooooooooood. I gave him most of my christmas presents to take home too, so that was quite a decent postal saving for me!

That afternoon, Jalae popped round and we watched the ABs v Ireland game, and had a great time stuffing our faces with lollies and chips and coke znd yummyness. This all came out at the end when the game got so intense and I couldnt stop shaking!! oh god, what an epic game!!

Monday was the first day I had working at other places, and to start off I was working at Lords Cricket Ground - very exciting. It wasnt much, just a lunch, but I was thee from 11-5 and had to remember a lot about how to serve tables, I havent done that for quite a long time!! It was for some cricket club lunch thing, wasnt overly exciting. But they have a staff canteen there where we got served a hot lunch for £2 so that was quite good. After finishing up and going home via the library, I was exhausted! But..... I had to get up at 5am on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning and afernoon, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and afternoon and Friday morning I was working for the promo company I work for, doing some promo for Asda, a supermarket. They are just starting a new click and collect service so people could pick up their groceries from the tube stations. So we were there for the rush hour crowds.....joy. it actcually was pretty fun and the people I was doing it with were awesome, it was neat to be able ti hang out with some people my own age. We had lots of laughs and a generally awesome time, apart from the bitter cold!!

In between on Tuesday, I went back to the Aussie family for a bit of hang out tjme and we booked my tickets to come to Australia! I got the last seat avialable on the flights, so lucky we booked them then!

On Wednesday, after the early morning shift, I literally went home to bed! After napping, and library-ing and getting a haircut (I couldnt have long, shaggy winter hair for Austalia!) I had my last ballet lesson. Ive really enjoyed doing the ballet, and have signed up to do it again, as well as a jazz class, next year. Should be fun!

Thursday in between, well, I pretty sure I just went home and slept again haha. I was exhausted!

Friday afterwards,  I went to Camden town to get some stuff, but cos I was so early, the markets werent opened yet, so I went back home to bed haha. I slept for a bit, but then I got up and did some packing. I had to pick Jake up from school with a friend for a playdate, so that was fun. It was a pretty cute playdate and we had a lot of fun mucking round. 

Once the parents were home, I went out to Brent Cross to go out to the craft shop so I could finish my scrapbook before I came home. I spend far too much money there, but its a good store with lots of fun stuff!

Better get off now and do some real stuff.....

Ha!

Dead beat

So after Saturday nights epicness, and not getting home till about 5am, I woke up Sunday with pretty much no voice...sexy!

I kinda just bummed around the house all day. Jalae and I went out to Brent Cross for a bit to get some bits and pieces, but it was so chillaxed and casual. It was good. Just what we needed!!

Monday, I was going on a school trip with Jake to the Museum of London. I was quite excited to see how this would work, and how they would do the whole museum experience for 5 year olds.

After it taking us like 45 minutes to get there, we only ended up with 20 minutes in the gallery, and the kids had 4 worksheets to complete about the topic - The Great Fire of London. I had no background knowledge about the topic at all, and so I was just letting the kids do their own thing. I decided that we should start with the back sheet so that we wouldn't all be crowding around the same things at once, and that turned out to be a film about the fire - which was a great intro for me, and reinforced it in the kids minds. But that was the only thing we had time to do. We didn't even get to look around the gallery much more.

After that, we went up to a classroom, where the kids sat down and watched a lady talking about the great fire. She was good, and got more interactive as the "show" went on, but again, there was no new information presented and the kids just got the same old story. I didn't get the idea of going, but maybe the kids got something out of it? I think there would be a whole lot of other, funner, stuff to do with the kids that would get the same info across, but hey, maybe thats just me?

I was still feeling quite rotten on Monday, just tiredness. So after the trip, I went home and had a nice Butter Chicken from Waitrose to warm up and chill out for a bit.

Tuesday, I had my token gym day which was good. Good to strech out those muscles again after not having been a whole lot the week before. Still felt rotten though.....

Wednesday, I had an interview with another family out in North Kensington. It was for a family with 7 month old twins and a 3 year old. It was interesting to see how another family works and how the dynamics worked etc. It gave me a good idea of what kind of family I would like to work with and not work with. I then went back into Oxford St quickly and picked up some more stuff from Forever 21, before heading home because while I was walking there was a massive hailstorm and my boots have started leaking, so I had very cold toes!

Thursday, after my gym class, I went up to my mates place in Hampstead. She is a nanny also, but was off sick with a chest infection so I went to keep her company. She has 2 new kittens, who are just adorable!! I had a great play with them, it was so much fun!!

Friday was the day that I had to sit down with Emma and talk about if the last 2 weeks had changed me or not. I thought I had done a pretty good job with Jake, we had fun, done some cool after school things together and been getting on really well, but Emma said it wasn't working for them. So she gave me 2 weeks to pretty much find another job and move out. Which was quite gracious really, she didn't need to do that at all, but it was great that she did, becasue I didn't really have anywhere else I could go.

After the gym and all that fun, I picked up Jake from school. We went to the Tiger store, which is pretty much just a fancy $2 shop, and picked up a whole bunch of baubles and pretty things to decorate some christmas decorations. He thought that was pretty cool, and we spent the afternoon decorating them, and listening to christmas carols. We had a great time, and its going to be things like that that I miss about this family.

My time at the library computer is almost up, so I'll have to try and update this later this week, we will see how we go! I might even just do it on the plane to Australia!

WOOO!!1