Heartbroken

How can I say goodbye?

Good News

I got a message today that cheered me up. I was alerted by geocaching.com that someone had retrieved and placed Hamish. I had been a little worried that he had been swiped but, thankfully, so far so good.
He is in a cache called Mausauel-Cache which is located in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Pretty cool, Hamish! Looks like he isn't going to beat me home but I am hopeful that he will eventually make it home!
My little adventuresome Hamish! Safe travels, little one. Until we meet again!

*Speaking on 'Until We Meet Agains' I do have a post lined up. But I am feeling a little like I want to jump off a cliff because I have so much to do in such a short time overwhelmed just now so I will be writing it up at some point. It will probably be my first post when I am back at home.*

My New Playlist

So my Dad misses the old music on my blog. Well, tough. I liked the old music too but I wanted to put some music up on here that kind of sums up my time as an Au Pair. Be warned, it does get a little 'teeny bopper'. I do look after 3 girls after all. It is just something that I couldn't avoid.

Here is why I have chosen the tracks that I have:
1) Frank Sinatra - New York, New York: I am pretty sure that I'm going to be pining for this place when I leave. I'm going to try my best not to but I fear that it will catch up with me. I love NYC. Hard to believe that I never wanted to come back after visiting in 2006. Strange that I came back just over a year later! I am going to miss going to Broadway shows, going all over Manhattan geocaching, Dylan's Candy Bar, Central Park.... I could go on..... I can't wait to come back sometime soon!

2) Kiss - Rock and Roll All Night: This song is so random but is definitely the song of my first year here. The girls just love it. They loved it even before Guitar Hero. Hard to believe, I know. I had never heard the song before I came here. I'm surprised that I had even heard of Kiss actually. The family have a video of Vinny and his friends playing baseball in the good old days and Rock and Roll All Night is the song that is playing in the background. I was shown the video pretty soon after I arrived here and have been singing the song since.

3) Drew Seeley & Selena Gomes - New Classic: This song is featured on Another Cinderella Story which is Michella's favourite film (see post below). I love it too actually. I can't deny it. I'd like to, but I can't!

4) Nickelback - If Today Was Your Last Day: First of two Nickelback songs. I love it. That's it.

5) Idina Menzel (Wicked) - I'm Not That Girl: This is played a lot in the house. Alex did this at her last piano recital so I've heard it a whole ton lately. I'm not complaining. I adore Wicked. I wish I'd gotten the chance to see it again.

6) High School Musical 2 - I Gotta Go My Own Way: First of the HSM tracks. I wanted to put more on here but I think that there is only so much teeny bopper-ness that one playlist can take. I chose this one because when Michella and I would walk Julianna to the Girl Scout Cabin we would always sing High School Musical songs. The Jonas Brothers and Miley would sometimes creep in there but it was mostly HSM. This was Michella's favourite one to sing. She would even act it out. So funny! Made the walk a whole lot more enjoyable.

7) Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody: The other Nickelback on my list. Again, love it. Final.

8) Jonas Brothers - Burning Up: A Chiaramonte girls' classic. They love it so I hear it a lot. It is catchy. A little too catchy sometimes - gets stuck right in your head and it is impossible to remove! Funny video too. You should check it out!

9) Phantom - The Phantom of The Opera: Another Alex recital piece which she played for the recital previous to the last one. She actually did a medley and it was really good.

10) Miley Cyrus - See You Again: We love Hannah Montana. It is a little scary when you start watching it on your own when there are no kids with you. That happened to me. It was then that I knew that I had to stop watching so much TV. While I've been here the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Concert Tour showed in cinemas. I went to see it with the girls. Awesome stuff. Didn't see the Hannah Montana movie though.

11) Jonas Brothers - S.O.S: My favourite JoBros songs. I can't tell you the number of times that meals have turned into singsongs. The Jonas Brothers are a favourite for those times. Alex and Julianna like Nick and Michella likes Joe. I guess that leaves me Kevin. I always feel sorry for him. It seems like people forget about him a lot.

12) Jason Aldean - She's Country: I heard this song a lot in Nashville. I think it is awesome. Really funny. I like country music. People enunciate in country music. I can actually understand what they say! Woohoo! I hope that I'll get to go back to Nashville one day.

13) HSM 3 - A Night To Remember: This song has a story. It progresses. I like that. Funny too.

The next three songs are from bands that I went to see whilst I've been here:

14) Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby: Sept 07 at the Beacon Theatre with Julianna Conz (from Brazil). I was still feeling somewhat homesick at this point and had seen this concert advertised. I decided to see if I could get a ticket the day of the show. Julianna came with me. We had great seats. It was a lot of fun.

15) KT Tunstall - Other Side of The World: Nov 07 at the Roseland Ballroom with Julianna. Another act from home. Very exciting. Half her band didn't make it to the show for some reason (she said why but I can't remember). It didn't matter. She was excellent without them!

16) Relient K - High of 75: Nov 07 can't remember where. Went by myself to this one. Relient K and Switchfoot are two of my favourite bands. Their support act Ruth were great too.

Ok, done. The selection of music make a bit more sense now?

The Little Mermaid

I have a serious obsession. It would worry me but I am like this all the time.

I see a musical. I buy the music. I listen to it until the death (or until the next musical obsession comes along).

The first time that I saw The Little Mermaid, I didn't have time to get obsessed with it. I saw Wicked a week later and promptly got obsessive over such numbers as 'Defying Gravity' and so on. Oh, do I LOVE Wicked!

When I saw Billy Elliot a few weeks ago with Mum that kind of threw all thoughts of Wicked right out of my head. The only thing that has stopped me buying the CD is the bad language. That kills me because I think that the music is just so good!

Now, it is The Little Mermaid's turn. Things have changed since I watched it in January. Was that REALLY January? Seems like yesterday! There is a brand new Ariel - Chelsea Morgan Stock replaced the original Ariel, Sierra Boggess. There is also a brand new Prince Eric. Oh, is there ever! Drew Seeley is in the show for 12 weeks until August 30th. Yes, I just linked you to his Twitter page. Is that weird? Drew Seeley stars in Michella's ultimate favourite film, Another Cinderella Story. She just adores him....... 'Joey Parker'. The other day she was running off quotes from the movie in the car. So funny..... and a little scary. He is also Zac Efron's singing voice in HSM (just 1, not the other 2. Apparently the Efron could sing by then. Weird.).

The other difference was that I actually had some company with me this time. Beth was staying with me in NY for a week. She wanted to go and see either The Lion King or The Little Mermaid. I'd already seen The Lion King twice so it was The Little Mermaid that we plumped for.

We stood in line at TKTS in the RAIN (apparently it is impossible for the weather to be even half decent when I am lining up to buy Broadway tickets!), all the time hoping that two tickets would be available. I would have had a hissy fit right there and then if there hadn't been.

Well, there were, so we went. Duh! We had great seats - Orchestra section row 5. We were off to the side somewhat so we could see into the curtains backstage! It didn't matter. I mean, when you can see the veins in Ariel's arm, you know that you are close!

I was so excited that the same kid was playing Flounder, Brian D'Addario, as when I had seen the show before. I had been going on about him all day to Beth about how AMAZING he was etc etc. I actually started to worry that he was going to be awful. Of course, he wasn't. He was perfect. AGAIN! This boy can do no wrong. He has such a huge stage presence and, yet, such a little voice in 'real life'. More about that later.

I was blown away by the performance. Really. Not just Flounder, of course, but everyone. It makes me weepy just thinking about it........ which might explain my reaction when at the show. I cried from around the quartet 'If Only' until after the final curtain had fallen. And, no, I don't mean just sniffles. I mean, actual sobbing. It would actually be really embarrassing if I didn't have a good story to go along with it.

Let me go back around about 16 years to when I was 6 or 7. My Mum took me to London to see her Uncle Donnie in hospital. We also managed to go to see Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (longest name of musical ever?!). I was SO excited! I had been so jealous when my Dad had gone to see it when Jason Donovan was in the lead role. When I went Philip Schofield was Joseph. He had been one of the presenters of my favourite Saturday morning TV show, Going Live. Ah! Gordon The Gopher. I can still see how they announced in the show that Philip was going to be the next Joseph. I thought it was the funniest thing! Joseph was AMAZING. I can still see the part where he is in the pit and the camel. The finale too. Awesome. Anyway, I cried during the finale. I just did not want the show to end! I was CONVINCED that Philip Schofield was waving to me during the ending scene because I was crying. I mean, he was the only person that I was looking at so, naturally, he must be looking at me, right? Like I say, I was absolutely positive that Mr Schofield was waving at me. He wasn't. My Mum went along with what I was saying though. She didn't want to hurt my feelings by saying, 'Duh! Joanna, how can you be so totally and utterly ridiculous? Do you know how many other people were in that theatre that night? He was waving at them all, doofus!' She's nice like that, keeping what she is really thinking tucked away safely.

So why in the world are you telling us this ancient, boring, totally unnecessary and irrelevant story, I hear you cry. That's right, I heard you. No need to be ashamed but you are wrong. About it being irrelevant that is. It is totally relevant to what I am about to tell you. this paragraph may, in fact, be totally irrelevant. I'm just proving a point that the previous story was not ancient, boring, totally unnecessary and irrelevant. Gosh, aren't you glad that you read my blog! :^)

I'm must be tired.

Anyway, at The Little Mermaid I cried and cried and cried. I physically couldn't stop. Just as the curtain was about to fall after the finale, Robert Creighton, who plays Chef Louis, spotted me crying my little heart out, waved at me and blew me a kiss. WOW! I hear you, you are repeating what my Mum said in her head after the Joseph incident. Well, how about this......

We left the theatre and decided to wait by the stage door to get autographs.

Beth with Chelsea Morgan Stock who plays Ariel.With Drew Seeley. Can't tell that I'd been crying AT ALL! Hmmm....Beth and Rogelio Douglas Jr who plays Sebastian. This is my favourite picture. Just look at his face! Beth dislikes this picture intensely. But tough, it is MY blog!This is Brian D'Addario. He is so stinking amazing. I love him. He was so unimpressed with us. He is 12 years old after all! Such a small voice when not on stage........ or maybe he was scared that we were going to kidnap him!This is MY chef, Robert Creighton. To conclude my story, he walked out of the stage door, came straight over to me and said, 'Oh! I saw you in the audience!' and gave me a huge hug! Ha! That totally makes up for the Philip Schofield thing! He was so sweet.

So, Beth and I both got our playbills signed. I also got Drew Seeley to sign the poster of him that Beth had bought me.

What a night! Truly awesome!

........ I started to feel really guilty that I hadn't got my girls an autograph from Drew Seeley. He is Michella's favourite after all! The two bigger girls love him too. What to do about that?

Beth and I decided to go back. No, not to see the show but on Tuesday evening we waited outside the stage door again. I had bought the girls a copy of Another Cinderella Story and we took that with us. Turned out that we should have taken our playbills too because Norm Lewis, who plays King Triton, came out the stage door which he hadn't done on Saturday. We didn't have anything for him to sign but we did get a picture with him.

I love his expression. He is just so smiley!

This was the security guard. He was not at all menacing. He was so lovely. Selena Gomes, who is also in Another Cinderella Story, was at the performance that night. The security guy (I wish I'd gotten his name! I don't like calling him 'security guy'!) motioned to me that she was coming out of the doors. I tried to go catch her but missed. Shame.

Oh well, still got Drew Seeley!The DVD says: To Alex, Julianna and Michella. Love Drew Seeley.

I don't need to tell you that they LOVED it! Alex said, 'You got us Another Cinderella Story. I knew it. I didn't even have to look.' To which I replied, 'Well, look.'

They watched it twice this weekend. I'm sure they'll watch it a lot!

New Music

I changed my playlist. You may or may not have noticed!
I'll explain more about the songs later - maybe this evening. I still have to blog about Beth's visit. Don't worry I haven't forgotten to update.... it has just all been a little crazy here.

Only one week to go. I am crying inside.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

***UPDATE: I don't think that I mentioned who the Yankees were playing. It was the Tampa Bay Rays.***

I can't believe it. I actually went to a baseball game yesterday.

OK, yes. I do love sports but I'm usually limited to football (soccer for you heathens over here), rugby, tennis, cricket...... did I say limited?

Baseball has never really held any interest for me. I don't know anything about it except I do know that Alex Rodriguez is currently dating the actress Kate Hudson allegedly. I don't know why I know that.

I decided on Monday that I probably should go to a game. I mean, it is the American pastime after all! So I went ahead and got a ticket.

I was strangely excited on Saturday. I did not expect that. I hopped on the train to Grand Central - it was weird buying a ticket to Yankees E153rd St instead of Grand Central. I did one geocache before going on the shuttle from GCT to Yankees E153rd St. It was funny to me because they always announce where the train is going and where it stops along the way in a pre-recorded announcement. That in itself isn't funny but the guy on the announcement sound so funny the way he said Yankees E153 St. It just sounded like he was so excited! He must be a Yankees fan!To get from the train station to the stadium you have to walk by the old Yankee Stadium. They don't have original names for their stadium like we do at Darlo. I have no idea what our stadium is called at the moment! I meant to get a photo of the old stadium on the way out of the game but my camera died a terrible death during the 8th inning so I never got the chance. It always dies at the most inconvenient time. Such a pain. I'll teach it a lesson next time.

I walked around for a bit outside the stadium to soak up the atmosphere and then headed inside. First thing I did inside was buy a hat. Good thing too. You'll see.

I had to head up 3 flights to get to my seat. I still had a good view as I was in the second row. They have cup holders. Such a novelty. We may always have a unique name for our stadium but we don't have these.Before the game started, of course, the national anthem was sung. I liked how they asked everyone to remove their hats. Respectful.I'm gonna tell you, I have no idea why there are so many innings in baseball. Seriously. Just cut out the first four and be done with it. It was dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Nothing happened. It only got interesting in the last few innings when all the players realised that they actually should do something to win the game. I didn't mind that the game was dull really though. I was taking it all in.Still novel.

I was lucky because I was sitting beside a father/son combo. The little boy, Danny, was five years old and it was his first ever baseball game just like me. It worked out well for me because his father was explaining everything to him and, as I don't understand baseball at all, I listened in.

Danny was very sweet. He gave me a rundown of the movie Cars. He likes guitar hero. He can run very fast. He loved the clapping hands that kept coming up on the screen. He sung his little heart out when it was time for 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game.' I wish I'd got a picture of his sweet little face. He's going to be a great Yankees fan. They are lucky to have him.

So like I said, the game only really got interesting towards the end but by that time I was just so uncomfortable that it was hard to get any enjoyment out of it. The sun was relentless. In those seats you are just so unprotected from any kind of weather, be it sun or rain. Out of the 3 1/2 hours that we were out there, we probably had cloud cover for about 15-20 minutes..... if that. I got burnt despite slathering on the sunscreen multiple times. I was sweating out of every pore in my body. It was so disgusting. My only consolation was that it was just the same for everyone else. It got to the point where I just wanted to get out of my jeans. It was ugly, I tell you, ugly. That wouldn't have ended well for anyone though and I'm pretty sure that that would have marked the end of little Danny's career as a Yankees fan. He would most likely be scarred for life and need therapy until the day he died. Thankfully, I managed to resist the urge. I'm not sure how I resisted. It really was that AWFUL!

I survived. Thank goodness. It was getting hairy there for a while. The best bit of the game was when the grounds people (? - I really don't know what to call them!) 'performed' YMCA. They do it at every game apparently but I had no idea that it was coming until I noticed them all walking in time to the music..... It was so funny. Ha! I laugh just thinking about it.The closest that we got to this.......was the Mark Teixeira homerun that was coming straight towards us but dipped down at the last second to the people below. My heart stopped at that point I think. Those balls come at you pretty fast. One child was hit with a foul ball. Horrid.

*My detective skills tell me that Mark Teixiera is of Portuguese descent. The X is pronounced like 'sh'. When I was at Au Pair Orientation there was a Brazilian girl whose name was Alexandra, except it is pronounced Aleshandra. Apparently that is how they pronounce their Xs. I'd love to know if I'm right*Will Ferrell was at the game. You'll have to trust me that that is him though. Some of the action. I can't remember who this is though. Either Derek Jeter or A-Rod probably as they are the only ones that I remember taking photos of.Still novel.

I enjoyed the game but the Yankees lost 9-7. It was all a bit anticlimactic really. The atmosphere only really took off after the 7th inning I'd say and it isn't like football and rugby where you stay in your seat until half time and then go do what you need to. There were so many empty seats all the time because people went awandering. The attendance was 46,205 by the way.

It sure didn't beat Hampden for atmosphere..... but anywhere would be hard pressed to do that.

I'm glad that I went to see the Yankees. I can now cross that off my list. I'm going to have to come back to NY for the US Open one year...... maybe see the other A-Rod. I tried it. It doesn't work with him. He'll always be Andy Roddick.

Fun times........ but I don't think that I've ever been as pleased to get home and get into my pjs at 6.30pm than I was yesterday!

My Sweet Julianna

Today was horrible.

Not just the weather. It rained all day. ALL day!

I shouldn't say today was horrible really. It wasn't. It was quite a good day. Normal. Except for Michella's Brownie Bridging Ceremony.

She has completed being a Daisy and they hold a 'Bridging Ceremony' for the Daisys (Daisies? I'm not sure how to write it in this instance!) to become Brownies. It was super cute. They had to actually walk over a little wooden bridge and their Brownie pins were pinned onto their Daisy vests by older Girl Scouts. Michella's was pinned on by Julianna. Their pins are pinned on upside down and then will be turned the right way in another ceremony when they become Brownies officially. It is a little complicated but the kids loved it.

In all today was a good day. It just all went to pieces as I was making dinner. Julianna and I were talking about the friendship bracelets that she makes with her friends. They are known as the "Six Strings of Friendship" - so adorable. They actually sell their bracelets. I was telling her that I would have to buy one from her before I leave. She, in turn, told me how many she had to do before mine.

Then it clicked how soon I am leaving.

The look on her face.

I will never forget it.

She tried not to cry.

I tried too. It didn't work.

It hurt that I had made her cry. I mean, it wasn't like I set out to do that but it upset me that I'd upset her.

Then she talked about me leaving for the rest of the evening. She was trying to be nonchalant. She didn't fool me.

She hugged me every time that she walked passed me.

She was sad. I was sad. We just tried to keep from mentioning it to Michella.

My sweet, sweet Julianna. She is more like me than I care to tell her. Poor girl. I'm going to miss her smiling face. Sweet, sweet Julianna.

Quidditch..... for Muggles?

I came across an article in Sports Illustrated Kids today that intrigued me to say the least. Quidditch is the sport that is played at Hogwarts by Harry Potter and his friends. It is taken very seriously..... think League 2 Play Off Final, Wimbledon or the Superbowl. Those are all comparable. Now it is not just played at Hogwarts. At least 200 colleges and a number of high schools in the United States have started Quidditch teams or intend to.

Um, what??

Are these people overlooking the obvious?

You know, the lack of magic and the fact (I say 'fact', ha!) that Quidditch is played on broomsticks..... that fly!

Apparently, that doesn't seem to stop these people. There are brooms but the brooms don't fly and there is no magic. It has been adapted for us 'non-Wizarding' folk.
Here is what Sports Illustrated Kids says about Quidditch:
Objective: To score the most points. Each team has 3 hoops on its end of the field and players score points by throwing a ball (also known as a quaffle) through one of the opponents' hoops. This is 10 points.
The game ends when the Snitch is caught. I did wonder how they were going to do this. I mean, you can't just make a tiny little gold ball hover and dart around the pitch trying to avoid being caught. In Muggle Quidditch, the Snitch is a human and the team who pulls a sock off the Snitch's shorts wins 50 points and ends the game.
The team with the most points wins.

Players: Each team must have 7 players on the field at all times, including at least 2 girls. A team is made up of 3 Chasers (throw the Quaffle through the opponents' hoops), 2 Beaters (attempt to temporarily knock their opponents out of the game by hitting them with balls known as Bludgers), 1 Keeper (defends his team's hoops) and 1 Seeker (attempts to find the Snitch).

Key Rules: Players must keep their brooms between their legs at all times by either holding on with one hand or gripping it between their thighs. The Snitch is allowed to leave the field and may hide wherever he or she wants. But if a seeker has not found the Snitch withing 10-15 mins after the game begins, the Snitch should return to the field of play.

So there you have it - Quidditch for Muggles. Who knew!
Here is a video that I found on YouTube. We don't have sound on this computer at the minute so let me know if there is any inappropriate language. I doubt it as it is from the news but just let me know anyway! I'm having trouble getting the Html up here so click on the link to see it

I'm really looking forward to spell checking this post, by the way!

The article in SIK (ha, ha!) ends like this: 'And having a good time is what the game of Quidditch is all about, whether you're a wizard or a Muggle.'

Um, tell that to Harry and Malfoy!

A Momentous Day For Hamish

Saturday I went caching in the city. I was by myself this time as Chen Li had strep throat, although she joined me later on. I was working on a puzzle cache that included finding about 6 separate caches at little community gardens in the East Village. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. The gardens were all so beautiful and caching in that area was just so peaceful. It made such a difference from the hustle and bustle of midtown. I managed to find five out of the six caches so that wasn't too bad really. I really didn't mean to take this picture like this. I prefer to take photos where people aren't pointing their behinds towards the lens like this! After caching downtown I headed uptown to Snug As A Bug In Central Park where I had decided to place my first travel bug. His name is Hamish. He is actually a keyring that my auntie, Kathleen, sent me. His goal is to get back to Darlington. I sent him on his journey exactly a month before I leave so it'll be interesting to see how he does. Hopefully he will get to his destination safely but we'll see!Chen Li came to see him off with me. So long for now, Hamish! Hope to see you soon! Safe travelling!

And because I really just cannot get enough of this sweet, sweet face......