An Au Pairs Adventures: June 2013

I haven't posted anything in the past couple of weeks-honestly, because nothing overly exciting has happened :/
Iv been walking the streets, meeting new people, trying new cafes and surprisingly-my body's adjusted to the weather. OK, so maybe some things have been exciting...so not, not so exciting-but I feel that I am totally ready for some real excitement! That being said-in 3 days we are off to the east coast to Kiawah Island in South Carolina! Its kind of a golf estate come island vibe where the weather is super warm (bliss) the beaches are many and the lifestyle is relaxed! We will be going for 10 days and spending the 4th July there. I was told to pack mainly sun dresses and bathing suits-this made me smile my biggest smile!! :) :) I am so ready to leave some of this fog behind for a bit and get my South African tan back!!!

Yesterday marked a HUGE day in the history of my life as I had waited at least 2 years for it to come! I purchased my very first, solely financed DSLR carmera, and added a super cool lens to it! Its my new gem and iv barely let it out my sight in 24 hours! So yesterday afternoon, I put on my walking shoes strapped my camera to my neck and took to the city streets snapping away!

Fav pic so far-using my telephoto lens

Having some fun with the girls and my camera

One thing that iv decided to do this year, is to search out all the San Franciscan Hearts. The city has all these decorated hearts that they get artists to paint, and then are auctioned off and the proceeds go to charities. They fun to look for because some are hidden in shop windows and restaurant porches, but the ones iv managed to find, have been really easy, and now that I have my camera I can go exploring for the rest! The five I have photos of are below.

I will definitely be posting from the East Coast!! Until then...

Roxy

Its been 7 weeks since I left home, and I can confidently say now that I'm getting the hang of things! I pretty much know my way around the city using the car, as well as the public transport system (otherwise known as MUNI) I'm meeting a lot of girls, going a lot of places and have found a really nice church that I have started going to:)

So, things I have been up to in the last 2 weeks...

Well last weekend was memorial day weekend, so I had Sat, Sun and Mon off. Was so good to know I had nothing to do and could just wonder the city, sleep in, see friends, explore or simply do nothing! I decided to a bit of all the above throughout the weekend, so I called Nicky (my friend from the Netherlands) and asked if she wanted to come stay over on Friday night. We met downtown and went to a piano bar that evening called John Folly's. It was a lot different to what I expected, but was super fun! There are 2 piano players and they play any song you request them to. SO we had some rap songs, such as Thrift shop being played all the way through to the good old favourites such as Journey's Don't stop believing! People dance to the piano's and it becomes kind of like a club...so was different, but we had a lot of fun.
Sat morning, we went down to Le Boulange for breakfast. Its a French cafe a block from my house. They serve coffee in a bowl, and have THE best pastries! We then decided it was a day to relax, so walked over to the Golden Gaet Park and spent the rest of the day there walking around, soaking up the sun and chatting.

I visited Cornerstone Church on Sunday which is where iv been going and joined a small group on Monday nights. This is HUGE for me that I'v finally found some Christian fellowship! It kind of feels like I have a weight lifted off my shoulders, and every week I can not wait for Sunday to go hear what message there is. The series they doing at the moment is called Moving Forward. I feel like its so relevant to where I am at the moment. Its all about moving forward with God and how amazing life can be with Him in the center. Its been so encouraging and uplifting to hear every week a message confirming what has been on my heart, and that is that life is so so much sweeter with Him in it. Whether you're in your small home town surrounded with friends and family, or in a big city all by yourself far from home. I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.Phil 4:13 <3

Monday I visited the Academy of Sciences. Its this awesome museum here in the city. There's a planetarium, a rain forest (literally!) a huge aquarium and a whole lot more to see. I love visiting places like this, so it was a great day

Oh and I PASSED MY CA DRIVERS LISENCE!! WHHOOOOOPP!! So now I have an American ID, and am 100% legal to drive anywhere in the USA! BRING ON ROAD TRIPS!!

This weekend has been a lot more chilled. I met up with 4 other girls yesterday and we had brunch in the city and then walked around. I calculated-we ended up walking about 10km in total-just wondering the SF streets. I love the fact that you can do that here!!
So we walked past Lombard street (steepest street in the world) and down to Fisherman's Warf. We did'int do too much, but the day was so quickly over it was frightening! It just ended up being a day filled with friends, laughter and new memories.

Today I was on my way home from downtown. I beeped my card through the subway and went down to wait for the right train. As I was waiting I had some papers and that to throw away so I did so. I then got onto the train and as we started moving a police officer came up to me and asked to see my ticket. I could not find it anywhere (and realized I most probably threw it away with my other trash). As I was looking she asked to see my ID and then started asking me all these questions as it was my SA drivers. The train was coming to a stop and she said that I have to get off with her and she has to give me a citation. (WHAT IS THAT?????) so in front of a jam packed subway, I am highly embarrassed not knowing what is going on and being pulled off the train by a cop!! We get onto the platform and she starts questioning me again and then whips out this book.....she was writing me a ticket, and said that it is highly serious that I dont have my ticket with me and she is fining me $103!! (R1041.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I was SOOO upset. I had shopping bags with me and started unpacking them praying that my card was in there. LUCKILY I found it! phewww! She gave me this stern lecture and told me to wait for the next train and then she walked off and that was that?

If you're in SF-ALWAYS remember to keep your train ticket with you!!

So its been an interesting week, but things have been good and have been getting better :)

Roxy
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