COLOUR RUN

This week end I went with 4 friends to San Jose and we did the colour run!

It was more fun than I thought it would ever be, and SO SO much more messy than I ever thought as well!

It started at 9, but as there were so many people, we only started running at about 9.20 as they were only letting a certain amount of people start at once.  The vibe was amazing! Everyone was so pumped up, they were blaring funky songs, throwing out freebies, conga lines and so much more!

There is a colour station every 1km that you run through where there are people with colour guns and powder just lashing it out at you.  We went through Pink, Yollow, then at the water station were people throwing green water, then orange, blue then the finish. 
The finish was the best part!  They had a stage with music and seemed like a concert as everyone was around the stage having loads of fun.  They were throwing colour packages off the stage and every so often they would have a countdown and everyone would throw their colour into the air! Was very cool!

See the pics!! :)

Best
Roxy

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Yosemite National Park

I am so fortunate to have been able to see so many of Gods beautiful creations in nature.  Yosemite National Park (pronounced yo-se-mi-tee) is definitely one to view in your lifetime, and I am so grateful that I was able to experience a whole weekend filled with hikes, waterfalls, walks, smores and fun in this beautiful park!

We left San Fran on Friday morning, and arrived at the park in the early afternoon. I was in such awe with the beauty of this place!  We were in Yosemite Valley, so on both sides of the valley, there are rock faces, some up to 3000f (1km) high! The park is famous for its waterfalls and hikes and I was lucky enough to walk 3 of the falls.
We set up camp and I met the other 4 families that we were with.  There were 10 kids, 10 parents and 2 au pairs, so our party was big!  The camp site was right on the river and was among tall pine trees. It was very pretty. We didn't go on a hike on the Friday, but we walked to a waterfall called, 'Yosemite Falls'.  It was exquisite!  We went off the trail a bit and walked in the forest with all the kids.

That evening we made pizza on the fire and then had smores :)

The next morning we all went on a hike up Vernal Falls through the Mist Trail.  Its called the mist trail as the falls are so heavy at one point that you get absolutely drenched walking past! The path was super steep and there were so many people on it!  We saw many rainbows in the mist!  It was a very tricky walk up the falls as it was very steep, but at the top it was BEAUTIFUL!!  The water rushing over the edge flows at super speeds and the river before it is filled with rapids and sprays!  You only realize how high you're hiked once you get to the top, and it was far!

We all had a picnic lunch at the top and relaxed there for about an hour. When you look back from where you've come, it seems really high-but when you look forward to the next fall, you look incredibly low!

The families all decided to take the kids back down, but the other au pair and I decided that we wanted to hike up to the next falls-Nevada Falls.  This hike was a lot more strenuous and we had to  hike over large boulders! It felt like forever before we got to the top, and we were finished!!!  I feel like its one of my biggest accomplishments, and I truly got to view one of the most beautiful sights of all time!  Again when we looked down, the Vernal falls looked super far down and far away!

We spent some time marveling at the view and greatness of it all!

It took us an hour to walk down back to the start.

That evening, the other au pair and I decided to go for a walk after dinner.  We bumped into someone we met on the trail, and he told us that there is a party near by.  We asked how it's possible, as you are not allowed to make a noise after 10pm, but as we came up close on the party, we noticed that it was none like we've ever been to!!
It was behind this MASSIVE rock, and everyone was wearing headphones and there was no music?  We put on a pair and heard the DJ's music playing through them-it was a silent rave!! Was so so different! the dj was jamming and people were dancing, but when you took your headphones off, it was all to no music!! But we had lots of fun anyway!

We got n early start the next day and all had a picnic at the bottom of Al Capiton.  The 1km high rick face.  There were rock climbers on it, and it takes them 7 days to ascend! So they have these tents that hang from the cliff that they sleep in every night!.

It was a great weekend full of new and exciting things!!

MIST TRAIL

TOP OF VERNAL FALLS

PICNIC SPOT

NEVADA FALLS

BEAUTIFUL STILLNESS OF THE RIVER AT CAMP

YOSEMITE FALLS

SMORES

♥San Francisco♥

This city is slowly starting to grow on me :)

The first couple of days were slightly tough.  I was overly tired, sick and the weather was horrible! I kept thinking, what am I doing on the west coast, I want to be back in Boston-but now-its a different story!
San Fran is so pretty, and there is so much to do here!! I kept wondering if things were the same this side of the county as the other, and truth be told-there are the exact stores, Starbucks drinks and left side driven cars!!
We live in a great location and I can see the subway from my window, so every time I want to go shopping or meet friends downtown-I walk about 100m hop on the subway for 15 min and pop up at a station in the middle of shopping district-it is AWESOME! SO that is very new to me as i am used to living in the suburbs where we drive everywhere, so I am going to make full use of all these new things this year!

On Saturday I took the subway to meet friends who were coming  from a town a bit south of the city.  We met downtown and decided to do some touristy things.  As we were walking we came across the cutest street market where you could buy necklaces, earrings, t-shirts etc and we ended up spending a lot of time there.  We then made our way to 'Fisherman's Wharf' or otherwise known as 'Pier 39'.  It is right on the sea and is a kind of boardwalk filled with shops, restaurants and curios.  Of course it is aimed at tourists, but its still super fun to walk around.   There's a Jelly Belly shop, a hat shop,a left hand shop and other interesting things.  You can find so many Forest Gump memoirs as well, which I did'int really understand why?  The sea life around the wharf is also amazing, and at the end you have an awesome view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge as well as lots of Seals and Gulls.

The weather this week has been amaaaazing like SA summer and I can find my away around our part of the city.  I have been driving and tomorrow I'm going to get my CA drivers license!!! Iv already got a Social Security no and Bank of America account, so I am feeling VERY American-and Loving it!! Next week is going to be crazy busy but next weekend we are going camping in Yosemite National Park.  It is so beautiful and I can not wait!!

So until then!

Roxy

Street Market Jewelry

JElly Belly!!

A bit of SA in SF

Shopping mall!!!

*BLISS*

HATS!!

Two weeks in USA!

So, I have had a very interesting two weeks!  Orientation was fun-the being with other girls and NYC, the meetings are not quite as fun! Then I went to Natick MA to visit my old host family.  It was SO SO awesome to see them again, and to hang out. I spent Thurs, Fri and Sat nights with them, which by the time it was Sunday, felt waaaayy too short! I left Tarrytown in NY, and got on a train called Amtrak. As I was getting on the train someone said to me, 'hey I think you dropped something...', so i looked down under the train, which was about 2m and there was lying my PASSPORT!!!!! no way for me to get it, yet it was so close to me!! There was literally nothing I could do! :( BUT luckily there was an Aupair in America representative on the platform and she sorta ran and yelled after the train that she would get it and mail it to me! So there was some hope for me, but I was stressing!
I got my South African phone out, and put it on emergency call (because it doesnt work in USA) and prayed  that it would work,and luckily it did-so I called the Aupair emergency line and told the lady on the other end the story, anyway within 15min, Stephanie emailed me, she was the lady on the platform and she said that she had my passport and would mail it to San Francisco. PHEWWW!!!!  So besides that little hiccup, Natick was super fun!
I was in MA when the Boston police was looking for the bombers of the race, so there was a horrible sense around as everyone was still very shocked and upset about it all-but luckily Natick is far enough out of the city that we were not in lockdown or anything and could go on with the day as usual!

Sunday came and it was time for me to finally get on the way to San Fran!!
My flight was at 15.30, but due to the bombings and me not having a passport,I got to the airport before 13.00, just to make sure everything was ok.  The security checks were crazy-more hectic than iv ever experienced! and the flight was looonng!! especially after travelling so much! But I made it here safe and sound!!! 
Lynn picked me up from the Airport and I was welcomed home by huge hugs from the girls, drawings, presents, flowers and 'welcome to san francisco' signs! It was awesome!

Im so happy with my location in San Fran, my host family, my house and room....I am just waiting on a couple more friends!!

I'm here!

So the last 2 days have been a Roller coaster of emotions, moods and state of mind! But im now as happy as can be in NY!!!

It was really hard to say goodbye to Ross, and leave all the familiar comforting things behind, but imnow on an adventure of a lifetime and so far it has been great!

The flight from Jo-burg to JFK was 16 hours-which should be excruciating, but I managed to sleep on and off for about 10 of them, which was awesome as I haven't been tired the whole day!
It took ages to go through customs and Border control, but we finally arrived at the hotel at around 11 am.  There were 7 SA girls and 12 from Brazil so 19 of us arrived and had lunch together.  I then headed straight for NYC!   I must say, as soon as I heard the American accent being spoken everywhere and the New York accent-I really felt like I had just come home!!!???

Anyway...

I took a taxi from the hotel to the train, then took the train to the beautiful Grand Central Station, then jumped on thr green line down to the business district to meet up with a friend. 
I  went straight to the world trade site (OK I did stop at Starbucks for my first in 2.5 years) I didint go into the memorial, cause its kind of closed up and there's a Q you have to stand in to walk through and I had limited time.  I took some pics of the buildings tho :)  I met up with my friend at the Wall street bull and we walked to the flat Iron building and walked around the city a bit. It was SO SO amazing to be back! 

At 5.30 i started making my way back the way i came and by 7pm I was back at the hotel having dinner with some other girls going to San Fran as well!

Here some pics to enjoy! :)

SA and Brazil Aupairs

9-11 memorial entrance

Grand Central

new buildings at twin tower site

STARBUCKS!!!

Flat Iron Building-Madison Square

Empire State building in the background

Grand Central again

10 days to go!!

Aaaaaand the countdown begins!!!
10 days from today will be the 14th and ill be ON MY WAY!

Iv been out of town A LOT which is why my posts are few and far between..sorry...but its also led me to have already packed my bags!! Can you believe it!

So yes, 10 days left and I'm living with only a couple of shirts and pants in my closet as everything is already done.  
Iv got a full schedule coming up next week, it seems the last week is all about seeing those you love,saying goodbyes and visiting the places you are going to miss the most. (I don't know why people leave it to the last minute, it seems silly really!)

Monday is my pre-departure with the agency, where ill get all my flight documents and finalize the small details of the trip, I'm meeting with friends for lunch after that and then going for tea with another friend.  Tuesday I go to get all my Forex stuff sorted, get my $'s and sort out international transfers, then meeting up with my parents. Wednesday I'm spending most the day with a close friend  andFriday my family from out of town are coming down for the weekend. (not just t say goodbye-turns out there is a lot going on here that wend!) SO the weekend will be filled with quality boy-friend and family time, and on Sunday when I wake up my adventure will begin!

Think of me on Thursday-my only "off" day!

Until closer to the 14th...Roxy