Another Working Week

Monday 15th - Sunday 21st May 2017

Back to reality this week as it's the first proper week doing full time, as my birthday wasn't really a whole working day. This week I'm focusing on Cillian learning his sounds some more, so I'm looking at different activities to help him with that, but I've also decided that I'm going to start doing themed weeks with different activities - mainly so that I can plan some fun stuff to do rather than just playing with their toys all the time! But I think I'll start that after we get back from Australia, as Cillian's changing his hours so he'll do a full day on Tuesday at kindy and I'll have him all day in a Friday so we can go to music and movement with some of his friends!

One of the activities I did this week was make Cillian a letter garage - a letter on the parking spot and matching letters on the cars. The idea is that he will park the cars in the space that matches and he loved it! He was super good at matching them, even though he hasn't learnt all the sounds yet! He even grabbed the letters from Darragh's learning bag and matched them up too! It makes me super proud to see him excelling because of what I've been doing with him.

We also brought their scooters home from their old house, and Cillian was super excited to try out the skate park! It was really cute, he did his 'tricks' (jumping on and off the scooter) and I could tell he really wanted to go down the ramps but was way too scared! 

This week I have also discovered Centennial park, a scenic reserve in Timaru, so I took the boys there twice after school this week. It was pretty cool, there's a few bits of playground equipment around the place and a huge duck pond - obviously we had to feed the ducks! I'm trying to get them more used to longer walks as Wade and Mary have asked me to do this so they won't whinge as much when they get taken on hikes! 

Luckily it was a nice day on Friday, so Fabienne and Fie were still at the playground after I picked up cillian from kindy. We had a blast playing hide and seek and playing with the bat and ball!

This weekend I decided to have a chilled weekend of not spending any money so I have more saved for next weekend when I go to Dunedin. Saturday evening I ended up doing a few lifts to town for some of Wade's friends so that was a nice easy way to make some extra money!

Timaru Week 4

Monday 17th April - Sunday 23rd April 2017

The Fairlie show was on on bank holiday Monday, so I went with Wade and the boys. It was pretty much exactly like any of the shows I've ever been to in England, so it was pretty cool to go and do something familiar!

This week is the start of the Easter holidays, so I've upped my hours a bit whilst there is no school! We have been going to 'monster mayhem' at Timaru library, which has been pretty cool. It's twice this week and twice next week, one of the librarians reads a few monster stories and then there is a craft. On the first day we made monster masks, and then the following day we made cup monsters!

The weather has stayed pretty nice this week so we've been spending a fair bit of time outside which has been amazing! We've pretty much done the rounds of the different parks in Timaru. We've even brought Spider-Man and iron man along with us a few times! 

This week I have also been making plans for south East Asia, and it looks like I will be able to go to Sydney for a couple of days beforehand which will be awesome!

Saturday evening, Wade got me in contact with one of the girls he works with as she was going out with a few mates. It was pretty sweet going out with kiwis finally and (from what I remember) it was a pretty good night! 

Return to Auckland : Part 3

Monday 20th March - Friday 24th March 2017

Monday
I had a nice leisurely wake up this morning - I'm making the most of the lie ins before I start my Au Pair job! After a short walk around Albert Park, I decided to go to the art gallery today, as I haven't been yet and it's one of the few free things to do here. I actually really enjoyed it! I really wasn't expecting to but some of the exhibits were really cool, and I did a bit of origami!

After spending about an hour there, I wandered around the shops trying to find a little present for the two boys I will be looking after. I have never had more trouble finding a present for a child in my life! There are no toy shops, unless you count fancy dress shops that have party favours, and the book shops are small so they don't have a good selection to choose from. Nevertheless, I got a few ideas and planned to get something nearer to the end of the week. 

Kristine and Lottie had spoken to Neil about staying at his until they get their Kiwi Experience bus on Thursday morning, so they made us dinner tonight which was awesome! Fidya and Lottie went to the spa, so Kristine and I decided to put on a film to pass the time. 

Tuesday

I decided to spend the morning tidying up a bit and sorting out a few bits so I didn't end up leaving the room until after lunch. I decided to go back up to Newmarket to see if th ebugger warehiuse had anything I could give the two boys and, luckily, I managed to find a couple of superhero colouring books and little cars to give them, so I'm definitely happier now I've sorted that out!

I walked back through Auckland Domain, stopping every now and again to spend about half an hour reading. I got pretty lost, and ended up spending longer than anticipated there! But I managed to find a few cool spots that I didn't see when Emma and I went there's back in February. 

 I decided to go to Zambreros for a burrito for dinner, I absolutely love that place - the food is insanely delicious! I then headed back for another chilled evening, I'm doing my best to save as much money as I can so I'm only letting myself go out once this week!

Wednesday
This morning I walked up to Parnell to meet an old friend from first school, Lauren, at a little Cafe. It was so lovely to see her after over ten years! Afterwards, I had a browse through the shops in Parnell but as I have extremely limited room in my backpack I decided to go to Auckland Domain again to do some more reading and chilling out. I walked back to the hotel for lunch, finishing up my noodles beforehand heading back out in the afternoon to chill out in Myers park again. I have been loving this chilled out life but I'm very excited to get back into working and having a set routine - I'm too restless at the moment!

This evening, Fidya, Kristine, Lotte and I went out for the Couchsurfing drinks and it was kind of mixed emotions for me as this will be the last drinks I'm going to, and it's always sad to leave cool people! It was good fun though!

Thursday

Today I met up with Cameron again and went to see Zhan at the cafe he works at, so basically a repeat of last week! This time I got a snickers milkshake as I hadn't long had breakfast and it was the nicest milkshake I have had for a flipping long time! So happy! I didn't stay out too long as the majority of the day relied on me washing, tidying and packing ready for me to leave tomorrow. I had to go and get my favourite dumplings for the last time!

Friday

My alarm went off at 5:30am this morning and that wasn't the easiest of wake ups! But I got myself sorted, tidied up Neil's lounge, had breakfast (well forced it down) and left ready for my elongated journey to the Holiday Inn by Auckland airport as, typically, there wasn't any direct buses or trains there, so I had to get a train to Onehunga and a bus to Mangere. 

The first aid training was really interesting, not much is different to the last one I did, bar a few minor details. Apparently now it's not being taught as essential to give rescue breaths in CPR,  as the blood should be oxygenated enough beforehand and also through the air,  and compressions are more important as it keeps the blood pumping to the brain, effectively making sure the patient isn't brain dead. Other than that everything was basically the same! We had loads of food given to us as well which was amazing! We also had to have a group photo taken and, despite having loads of photos to choose from, the one on the Facebook page is the worst one of me 😂... I'm on the far right with the disgusted look on my face!

It didn't take long before the orientation was over, and it was time to get on the flight to Christchurch. A few other au pars were flying their as well, so it was nice to have a familiar face to look hang out with for a bit. Mary came and got me from the airport, and we grabbed food before the long drive down to Timaru, my home for the next 5 months. We got there at around 9ish, so it was pretty dark, but she gave me a quick tour round the city and we went to see if there were any penguins down at the beach. I didn't see any, but I heard a few in heir nest which is pretty cool, I'm hoping to go back down there a some point and see them before they migrate

Return to Auckland: Part 2

Thursday 16th March - Sunday 19th March 2017

Thursday
I didn't have much planned today so I met with Cameron and grabbed lunch at Johnny Barrs in Wynard Quarter as Zhan works there. The food was amazing and, as Zhan finished at 4, we hung around for a bit until he finished and grabbed a few beers. I had an interview with a family at 8, so I didn't stay out too long. The interview went really well and the family seem lovely!

Friday
Today I made the most of the nice weather and went for a long walk around Auckland. I spent a bit of time sunbathing in Victoria Park, reading a few books. I then went back to Myers park. Myers park is my favourite park near to the centre of the city, mainly because it's super quiet whenever I've been!

As it was St Patrick's day, we'd planned to go out with some of the others from Couchsurfing. I had a costume ready, but there must've been red wine spilt on the table as when I went to put it on there were wine stains all over it! I still had my bright green socks though so I popped those on to get in the Irish spirit. As I had a few interviews the following morning I didn't drink all that much, but I did make use of the $10 steak deal!

Saturday
As previously mentioned, I had a few interviews planned for this morning, however one of the families has emailed saying they changed their minds about me as they would rather have someone for at least a year. Typically this was the interview scheduled for 9am so there went my lie in! At the moment I'm deciding between two families, one in Timaru with 2 boys and one in rural Canterbury with 3 girls. Both families look so lovely and I know I'll fit in with both of them! So I made sure I had second interviews with them, a few more families requested contact but I decided to stick with the original two as they contacted me straight away!

After the last interview, I went down and grabbed some dumplings before going to chill out at Myers Park again. After finishing a book (Silent Child - would definitely recommend although it was pretty predictable!) I decided to go for a longer walk. I ended up quite lost! But it was cool as I got to explore a bit more of the city that I haven't been to yet, and found quite a few vintage shops that look awesome, only problem being my lack of money and room in my backpack!!

Sunday
A few other girls stayed with us last night, so Neil made us all a fry up this morning which was amazing. He is off to Wellington this week, and very kindly said that Fidya and I could stay here whilst he is away.

I had one more interview this morning, and I ended up accepting the job with them! So after first aid training on Friday I'll be flying to Christchurch and they will then drive me to Timaru so it's exciting times ahead!

This afternoon I had another wander around the city, not really getting up to a whole lot as usual! I chilled out at Silo Park, although I got too hot sitting in the sun!

Alice got into Auckland today, so she came to the hotel and we all went to the rooftop pool and spa which was lovely! It was  so good to see a friendly face, someone you don't have to explain your life story to! It's been so nice being able to just have a relaxing week, and I'm looking forward to my last week as a tourist before settling down in Timaru.

Back To Qian Ling Park.

Sunday 9th September 2012

Today was a chamily day. This morning we went to Qian Ling Park again. It is breathtakingly beautiful. We got a lift half way to the park with BD's, one of the boys, dad. Seven of us were crammed into is five person car. Really legit. I felt so safe...

 Sam and his mother met us outside the park, and then we paid, well Chum paid for me, the equivalent of 50p. It is definitely worth that! After being in the park for less than ten minutes, some random old man came up to me and started speaking to me in fluent English. I was bombarded with questions, and he presented me with a music sheet. He wanted me to sing in front of at least fifty people. This was not going to happen. Unfortunately he was not taking no for an answer, and he started getting a bit angry with me. I didn't know what to do! Luckily, at this point my chum saw my distress and told him where to stick it! Well she said something in Chinese that made him leave me alone!

From left to right:
Lory, BD, me, Sam, Linda

We then had another trauma; I stubbed my toe. Well, I didn't realise I stubbed my toe, I just happened to see it was bleeding! I asked Lory of her mum happened to bring any plasters with her it really wouldn't stop bleeding, to which everybody started acting like I needed my toe amputating! They bandaged me up with tissues, which did nothing, but it's the thought that counts right? I was just worried that the monkeys might be feral and the scent of my blood will trigger a group attack! I'm not even joking, that was a genuine concern of mine. 

We managed to find an area where they had a few rides, like in Hebin Park. We went on the bumper cars again. I was driving, and Lory was holding on for dear life. I don't think she could handle my extreme speed...

We carried on walking up the path and eventually we spotted some monkeys! It was so weird to see them in the wild, just like we see squirrels running around Bournemouth Gardens. Crazy! Loads of people were feeding them, you can buy little packets of nuts for about 10p from various stalls dotted about the park. One old lady had bought a bottle of water and fed a monkey like it was a baby!

We then continued up some steps where we found to casual camels just chilling at the top. China is very random. You could pay to sit on them and have a photo, but they looked flea ridden and just generally ill, so I didn't want to get close enough to touch!

Lory then asked me if I wanted to feed the birds. I thought why not and let him do it! I felt like the lady from Mary Poppins! The birds were landing on my hands and even my head! It was such a weird experience, but pretty cool! Loads of random people took photos of me, it was weird I felt like a celebrity! A couple of people even made me have photos with their children! Apparently it's good luck for a child to have a photo with a westerner or something... 

We then continued up the mountain to a temple, there were so many Buddhas, it was absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take any photos in the temple area, but I took some before and after I went in! At the back of the temple, there is a wall where you close your eyes and have to stick your hand out in front of you and try and touch the metal circle in the middle. If you manage it then apparently you have good luck for the rest of your life! After a few tries, I managed it! Yay!

That's the wall I was chatting about.

 

We then went to Dicos for lunch, before going home for a nice two hour rest. Not that I needed it! Lory set me up a 'QQ' account, which is China's equivalent of twitter and Facebook. It is all in Chinese, but it's retry similar to twitter, so I could just guess what I had to press!

We then went to the cinema to see Batman, obviously my chamily are fond of superhero movies! Lory bought popcorn, and it was genuinely the nicest tasting popcorn I have ever had in my life.

Chad then came and joined us I hadn't seen him since the welcome ceremony day!, and he took us down a really dodgy looking street, where Lory told us we were getting food. There were a lot of super dodgy looking street food stalls, that I felt like you could get food poisoning from just looking at them. Thankfully, we went into little restaurant, so tucked out of the way you would miss it unless you knew it was there! 

In this restaurant, you basically picked the meat and the vegetables you want, and they bring it all out in separate bowls. You then have a cooker in the middle of the table and use chopsticks to put in what you fancy and you cook it up yourself! It was a lot nicer than I've made it sound.

Hebin Park, Fishing and Spiderman.

Sunday 2nd September 2012

Had a nice lie in today for a change! Lory was still at her music lesson when I eventually got up, so I chilled in bed until my chum knocked on my door to give me her phone, to which Lory told me she was going shopping and would be back later than expected. Chum and I have a paralinguistic communication thing going on; by pointing and smiling or frowning we were able to vaguely understand each other. I had a jam sandwich for breakfast, and I honestly have never appreciated a Jam sandwich that much in my whole life.

When Lory got back, she showed me a program on her computer that plays English films obviously with mandarin subtitles, so I watched the notebook! It was so nice to just sit down and chill out, watching something I actually understand!

Chum had some friends over for lunch, two ladies and two boys, who were about 7 and 10. Lunch was super delicious! I was falling in love with GuiYang's cuisine, although I was pretty horrendous at using chopsticks at this point. It provided everyone with entertainment though!

After lunch we went to Hebin Park, which is surrounded by luscious green trees. Lory told me that they don't have pandas in GuiYang, so sad, I really wanted to see a panda! I really don't know why I expected to see pandas in the wild in China, as I know they are an endangered species and China is absolutely massive!

The best thing about Hebin park is that there are fairground rides there. We went on bumper cars, a cycling monorail and a haunted house. Lory didn't want to go in the haunted house, so I went in with my chum. We properly bonded through that experience. Although, I didn't find it that scary as I had no idea what was being said! We had to sit down around a table and put headphones on. At one point it felt like someone was breathing down your neck. That was horrible, other than that it wasn't too bad!

We then made our way round to the back of the park, to where there are a few decent sized ponds where you could pay for a fishing rod and bait and go fishing. I caught the biggest, ugliest fish, which I named Hagrid much to Lory's amusement. If you catch a fish, then you get to keep to which is pretty cool. It would've been ridiculous for me to keep Hagrid, so I donated him to one of the boys who seemed to have a fascination with him.

We then went to the amusements area of Hebin park, where you had to buy tokens to go on any of the games. We played air hockey, a basketball game and a racing game amongst others. It was good fun!

On our way back, we past a stand that sold all kinds of things, and the boys got some bubbles. These were pretty cool bubbles as it is designed as a whistle, so when you blow bubbles you make a squeaky noise as well! Despite the language barrier between the boys and I, we were still able to play games with each other, which Lory's help with the translation of course.

We then went to a massive department store, which had a huge cinema at the top. We watched the Amazing Spiderman and, to my delight, it was in English with mandarin subtitles. I'd never watched a superhero movie but, surprisingly, I really enjoyed it!

We then went to KFC for dinner, they were going out of their way to get me food as close to English food as they could possibly get, bless. I'm not overly keen on KFC but I daren't say that as they are trying so hard to make me as comfortable as possible.

When we got home, Lory tried to teach me a Chinese card game. At first I thought it was similar to rummy, but then she brought in things like a 'Boom' and I was completely lost! She found it quite hard to explain to me in English, so I decided to show her snap as that's an easy game that you can't get wrong... can you? Well I managed to teach it to her completely wrong. I forgot to say you can't look at your cards! Silly me. It's ok though, in case you were worrying, I totally blagged it by calling it easy snap, and re-taught her snap calling it hard snap! It's worrying that I want to be a teacher. 

I really did feel like I bonded well with my chamily today, even if chad was nowhere to be seen!