America. Post Five

After the eventful day of New York... it has been a steady week of working hard for the Internationals at Camp.

In the girl's apartment there has been some amazing baking skills being shown off! Geraldine made awesome chocolatey crispy yummy things, Elise made some awesome cookies (which we have a second batch of now!) and so we have been completely spoilt by deliciousness. I have to apologise to all the internationals because cooking really isn't something I do that well - I do the eating part amazingly however.

I did however make an awesome sandwich... with the leftover "patties" as the americans call burgers... I had those, an egg and some yummy bread ad ketchup. YUM YUM. it was that good that Lenny made his own version (but cleverly put in two eggs as opposed to my one).

Zander's brain confuses me... he LITERALLY has so much damn knowledge in his brain I am not sure how it is possible.... he is admittedly very easy to wind up... but I don;t think there is a situation where someone could catch him out because he just know too much.

In one of my blogs earlier I should have written about the Fireflies, because they are so damn cool. As soon as it gets dark you can see little tiny flashing lights everywhere ad you can even catch them. They are so so so cute. and magical! Mum would love them. except for when she got too close to one and realized they are just insects with crazy bottoms that flare every now and then. SO CUTE.

At the weekend after a night of mellow drinking at Lory's (not so mellow for Alicia who forgot to pay her tab), Ryan, Lenny, Danny and I went bowling. Danny is a member of the bowling place so got us two hours of bowling for thirty dollars. nice. We played four games.... and yes yes I won two. Because I am ace! Ha. and totally kicked Lenny's arse (he is competitive) in the first game where I got 146 and in the last game I won by one point. It was beautiful! Anyway... twas a good afternoon!

we also saw Danny;s house.. which was HUGE and amazing... couldn't get over it!

On sunday we watched the game (England versus Germany) and I laughed my head off at how appalling England is... and how our fans support the most over-paid bunch of idiots ever. I just don;t get it. They don;t want to win...because they have nothing to prove to anyone because hey are paid too much for having crappy celebrity lifestyles! pff. I am done complaining.


Love love love

xxx

America. Post Four. New York.

A little story about a whale a fish and a crab....

Last Sunday most of the Internationals at camp went to New York, we all travelled in together but went our separate ways when we got to Penn station as we all had different things that we wanted to do. Sarah, Ryan and I wanted to go see some of the sights in Lower Manhattan. When we first got to New York we had a look outside and a quick peek inside of the Empire State Building. I didn't go up it this time as I am going to save it for when I am in New York for five days or so.
Literally within five minutes of being in New York we passed about six Irish pubs, my Dad always says that if you out all the Irish pubs over the World back in Ireland it would sink.

Sarah and I lost Ryan for a coupe of minutes, and then he came running out of a pub... and we agreed it was in everyone's best interest to go back inside the bar and watch the New Zealand game. We found a New Zealander in there and there were also a group of very noisy Italians.... who I am not convinced have ever been to Italy. Matt (the New Zealander) was hilarious.... and very much into the game. When New Zealand and Italy were drawn and there was still i love sandwiches  time left Ryan was shaking like a leaf. Bless his cotton socks... it was so sweet and funny.

So when the final result was a draw, Ryan was beyond ecstatic as it just was not expected of New Zealand at all. It was the perfect start. After the game... we stepped outside and it was so sunny and warm it was unbelievable seeing as it had been raining beforehand. We were proper happy and giggly skipping around the streets.

We decided to walk to lower Manhattan via fifth avenue... this of course lead us to the Museum of Sex. Bloody hilarious place, with a very impressive dildo sculpture. We only went around the shop section, admiring the books, postcards and vibrators.

Whilst walking towards China Town, we bumped into a a lady who used to go to the camp we work at fifty years ago. Mental. anyway... the heat got ridiculous towards the middle of the day so we found ourselves a lovely little Chinese place in China Town and met the others there for lunch. It had Air Condition and was freakin' DELICIOUS. very very yummy. It was called 69 and awesome.

the conversation between Sj, Ryan and myself just progressively got more and more rude and sex orientated. Not entirely sure why, just the way things went.... but it did result in several bouts of the giggles.

After Chinese, because of how hot it was we decided to get the free Statton Island Ferry there and back... to get a looky at the Statue of Liberty. Twas weird seeing it for real... and not with some master mind criminal climbing up it with a bomb and with several helicopters shooting at him.... (movies are definitely realistic.)

It cooled down quite a bit, we had a look around ground Zero - and at the little church next to it, which is very sweet. Then for dinner in Little Italy with the biggest damn pizza I have ever seen. I couldn't finish it.. and for me that is very upsetting and weird. I felt like I let Ella down. We then grabbed a cab to Union Square and ran around like loony's trying not to get run over so that we could find a cinema.

We went to see Karate Kid, with Cokes bigger than my head, and it was awesome. I cried from start to finish. Though the three of us got freaked out when we saw that I had a missed call from my boss and one of our housemates. The film finished at midnight (much later than we anticipated) and we then were rushing to get back to the station....

we thought we were going to be in trouble for not being back or for not being contact or something, and then we had the wrong train timetable so had to wait an extra hour for a train home. The the cab man from the station to the house was just rude and argumentative. What a twathead. So we finally got in at 3am and we had to be up for work at seven am... it was not a pleasant morning. Sigh. However it was an AMAZING day and i love how beautiful New York is, I could happily spend many days there just wandering around. It is completely crazy of course, but I wouldn't expect it to be any different. I;m so tired I can't really explain how much  I loved this trip to New York. And I had the best company ever....the whale, fish and the crab actually had the best time. Lots of giggles... and food.


xxxxx

America. Post Three

It has been a hectic few days… I get the impression that is how it will be at camp for the next ten weeks. I have had my first few days working in the office, which has so far been consisting of doing ten jobs at once and trying to be amazingly happy to everyone. Which is great…. But not when you haven’t slept because of tooth pain. But I think I have done quite well.

I have made a trip to WaWa… which is like a food convenience store… it is great in there… they just have everything you could possibly want to munch on at any particular time of the evening.

I have also realised that I am a particularly affectionate person… not in a romantic way or anything, just like to have people around to give cuddles to. I have to refrain a lot… because I am so unaware of what other people’s personal space issues are like. Haha. Unfortunately when I am drunk I want to give everybody a cuddle… crazy times. I miss Venn’s cuddles! Haha. And of course the BF’s. There are a lot of people I am missing…. everytime I have something relatively awesome to eat… I take a photo… always thinking… I must show Ella this – I know she’ll appreciate it.

Speaking of food… Zander and I went for a Chinese the other day which was awesome… I had lo mein which I have never tried before and it was tasty! Yes there is a photo to be put up sometime of myself with the little Chinese boxes that they have here. Love them. Also I am amazed at the amount of make up I haven’t been wearing – so unusual for me and there are so many photos of me without make up. Totally weird. Just feel way too relaxed.

One of the American girl members of staff took Alicia, Chris and myself out for a meal at the Olive Garden at East Brunswick Mall. It was very yummy and I was absolutely full up fit to burst. Then we went back to Jacqueline’s to watch the Lakers vs Celtics game.  The finals. I know nothing about Basketball... but loved it all the same and got ridiculously involved. Lakers won… (I was supporting them – even before they won).

The office at camp thrives on Dunkin’ Donuts. Constant coffee coming in and out… people always taking each other’s coffee orders. And those little donuts are so delicious – healthy eating is just not happening at the moment.  Makes me laugh.

Geraldine and Ryan have made the arts n crafts place look amazing. Apparently it was an absolute state, but now it is all lovely and beautiful. And organised! Haha.

After a mental few days in the office (my shift sometimes ends up at thirteen hours!) I tend to try and get into the pool because it makes me so happy. But on Friday night… it was so warm and lovely it was extra awesome. Unfortunately Lenny and Ryan dared me to go down the little slide. On my way up there, with Lenny following – I didn’t notice a wasps nest… and pretty much just bumbled along straight into it. I got stung four times. One of them was on my lip… and I preceded to look like elephant man.

So naturally after the full time office staff had laughed at me a bit, and given me some meds for the stings…. I went to the bar. I got stupidly drunk (not sure how, my beer kept being re-filled) and enjoyed some cosmopolitans. It was also karaoke night… and it was just very very messy. Ryan and I did some amazing swing dancing... although nobody saw... as we were down at the front where there dj's where! We thought we were amazing.

I decided after beating Lenny at pool that when I got home I was gonna be sick in a bin… and then pass out in my bed. Turns out that Char was also a massive mess.. threw up all night and passed out on the sofa.

Due to the wasp stings… I became really ill during the Saturday (which we had to work). We went to the supermarket to get our food, and I threw up. I came home to put away food and clean… I threw up. I threw up again before going to do the Laundry with Char everyone. It was insane. I managed to get rid of feeling poorly at the Laundrette. Then had a Macdonalds. Sigh.

            Saturday night I just had a real quiet night in which was lovely. And made plans for Sunday. Which will be an entirely different blog.

Love for everyone at home… and happy smiles for everyone I have met here.

“would you like any gashback sir?”

xxx

America. Post Two

Okay… so I have been here eight days now and my love for the place only increases. There is so much to describe, but I am just gonna write about the highlights.

Well first of all Alicia (one of the Australians) wanted to perfect her throw of the American football, so we were throwing it to each other in the pool.. .and she got it. She totally perfected the throw and it was awesome… so then I started trying to learn and I got it too! Alicia was so funny, and will be totally awesome with the kids – because she was so excited about people learning new things! It was so cute. And we both felt real proud for learning something new. Alicia also introduced all the internationals to apple and peanut butter which I love.

I am in love with the swimming pool.. today for example I hadn’t had much sleep and was feeling fairly low for some reason, but I jumped in the pool and had a swim and automatically I felt so much happier. Cannot wait to get down onto the beach – it will be awesome. I love the sea.

On Sunday night we all went down to the local bar, Lory’s; which is a true redneck style bar. Xander (our American international gypsy) has just described it as a ‘corner dive’ It was fantastic – the staff ere so friendly. They nicknamed me ‘Natasha’ because apparently ‘Emily’ is too pure and innocent for me… I wasn’t too sure whether that was a compliment or not. But it stuck. As usually being a lightweigt (or a Cadbury as the Australians call it) I got fairly drunk and was having free shots of flavoured vodkas and tequila. I CAN’T GET OVER THE SIZE OF THEIR SHOTS. Lenny (Irish) and I were pretty hammered and it took like forever to walk home because we were just laughing so much. But the bar was great, so “American” and the girls managed to get a few dances in to the jukebox and the boys played a lot of pool and drank many pitchers of beer. Twas a bloody good night… and a painful morning.

On our day off (Monday) Sarah and I spent the majority of the day at the Lake on camp which is stunning. But even better was that the maintenance guys mentioned that there were turtles around and we saw some! They were so cute though apparently they are snapper turtles… so we didn’t get too close. Also on the way back from a game of tennis, we saw baby groundhogs. (The Americans hates them as they are pests… but they were SO CUTE!)

Also to top my chilled out day yesterday off.. the boys remembered to order me a roast beef sub from some take out company. I took one bite and claimed it was a mouth orgasm. Phwoar it was amaze… so yummy. The beef was perfect. Ella… you were right that my stomach was made for America.

Had a great day in the office today and worked my bottom off basically being a P.A… which I would love as a job so it was fun. My list of to do’s is never ending but it is great and keeps me busy and pumped.

Oooo…. One more thing. Apparently on the Jersey Shore they do battered oreo cookies.. er hello.

Guidos

xxx

In America. Post One

Just arrived at camp.

The staff here are actually amazing. I am totally in love with the grounds and how beautiful it is. Met some of the young American Staff today and they seem absolutely fascinated with the British accents. At camo we have ten internationals living together. Six girls (four English, two Australian) four boys (one South African, one Irish, One New Zealand and one English).

Everybody is so damn nice. I am excited for the weeks to come... I can't get over how gorgeous and lush it is here is New Jersey. I fear I am going to become one of those America fans.

However, without a doubt I will remain rigidly British - but I do love the positive and upbeat attitude that all the Americans I have met so far, adopt.

I am missing certain people terribly - I am lucky to have the Internet and my laptop with me.

I will try and post frequently, however I am unsure how often I will have chance. it is gonna be a hectic three months.

xx