Australia Day, 2010

Who would have thought on Australia Day 2010, I'd be here. Union Island, St Vincent.

We woke up in Clifton this morning and tonight we're going to sleep at Chatam Bay - perhaps one of the most perfect bays yet.

And, in between, we managed to do some school, sail, swim, go on a wonderful hike and eat a Caribbean BBQ. (I even had a lovely little nap this afternoon - very much an Aussie tradition!)

The view during the hike was magnificent. I'm thinking it would be quite easy to look at this every day. Building a house on this hill is being added to my list of future aspirations.

After the hike, we waited on the beach for the BBQ to be cooked. The chef tonight went by the name 'Shark Attack.' Not sure of any connotations.

To celebrate Australia Day, of course, there were beers on the beach and a game or two of Tag with the girls. No cricket, though. I can't play a one-man, one-team game, and, as the only Australian, this was looking to be the likely scenario.

Finally, after quite a few, "Only a few more minutes,' 'In a little Whiles,' and 'Not too much longers,' we had a BBQ feast of Tuna and Lobster. Well done, Shark Attack.
(Yes Dad, I'm quite enjoying Lobster - you should be proud).

But, the best was yet to come. After dinner came a heartfelt song from the Swiss fam in support of Australia and her birthday today. "Kookaburra sits in the Old Gum Tree.'
I'm thinking of writing to the Australian Government to ask them to change our National Anthem.

So, here's to a wonderful Australia Day - spent at the beach with a BBQ - just as it should have been. Except, I also got to add some non-Australians - an adventurous Swiss family and French skipper (who was introduced to the Kookaburra Song tonight) and some Caribbean sunshine and the boat, Libellule.

Cheers!

Hello, Sunshine!

A brief hello from Grenada!
The country still living somewhere back in the 60's or 70's and I'm loving it.

I'm currently blogging in my secret black real-notebook-not-online but wanted to post a few photos anyway.

I'm currently somewhere under here:





I can watch children, and swim/lie in the sun at the same time. See, I can multi-task!




And, then, when the watching/swimming/lying is done, we take this boat back "home."

The Last Chapter on Dry Land

It's almost time to leave.
A million Thoughts are running around in my head. And the Thoughts are leaving their toys and books everywhere. Such a mess.
We leave in approx 36 hours. 2 sleeps. A day and a half.
Then many hours on a plane. And many many more on a boat.
Yikes.
I hope I don't get seasick. I probably should have bought medicine for that.
My room is the cleanest it's ever been. Too bad I'm moving out tomorrow.
Funny how you can spend days scrubbing the toilet for the inspection and then it not even be inspected during the inspection.
Actually, it's not funny. It's horrible. Inspect my toilet!!

I'm missing 2 parcels in the mail.
-----------> United States Postal Service, I don't have time to wait on hold for 45 minutes. I ended up giving up anyway and I didn't even get to speak to a real person. And I had to fake an American accent to get your voice recognition service to understand the number I was giving you. And, please stop insisting for a 5 digit postal code. The rest of the world doesn't use 5 digit postal codes!
And I'm no closer to tracking down my missing parcels!

I had a wonderful break over Christmas. I felt especially lucky because it was actually my 6th and 7th weeks of holidays in a year where I was only supposed to get 4. I got to eat Chinese Fondue 3 times in a week and Cheese Fondue once. Something strange has happened: I love Cheese Fondue. Where did that come from?

I went tobogganing twice. Also known as sledging here. And skiing once. I totally lost any scrap of dignity as foretold in previous post. I even took down an elderly gentleman. He was okay. But I couldn't apologize properly in French. (I told you, I've been learning the wrong language).

Tobogganing was awesome. The first time I went, I got through. I was too scared to enjoy it properly. It was a mean track and I feared for my life. And, as a result I was tense and mostly nervous the whole time. Fun, but fearful fun.
The second time was ah.mazing. The track was just as mean, 3.5 kms long and sometimes on the edge of really steep drops. I was scared. I'd bought a day ticket, which was the same price as 5 lift rides. So I had to ride at least 5 times to make it worth it. (I nearly died when I did that mental calculation).
After the first ride I was wiped. Ready to finish and soak my aches and pains in a hot tub. Did I mention it's 3.5 kms on a crazy track? Where you're sitting on a flimsy plastic thing with steel runners?
But - I had to make the ticket worthwhile (stupid mental calculations). And so we continued. And it got better. So much better. Something about letting fears and inhibitions go and just trying to go as fast as I could and keeping up with the boys. (Boys: always faster on the tobogganing track).
By the end of 5 rides I was soaked through my many many (waterproof: pfft!) layers but I was so satisfied. All tobogganing I'd done before: summer tracks, water tubing - paled in comparison. 17.5 kms going full speed with only a few inches between my behind and a whole lot of sludgy snow - did I mention I couldn't move the next day?

I could go on - but I need to sleep. New Year's Eve was a wonderful time spent with wonderful friends. Friends who feel like a gift.
We danced to juke boxes and set off our own fireworks. And I got to play a white grand piano.

My anniversary buddy left me for home this week and I feel sad about this. But - here's to 10 months and 10 days Nicole. Cheers!

I wish my IPod was bigger. I am loving far too many songs at the moment.

I've got one more day of being an au pair on dry land. One day. Of the routine that's been mine for the last 10 months and 10 days.
MLF3 laughed her head off today when she realized the pair from au pair sounded the same as the fruit pear. Most likely visions of me as a pear.

I must go - I need to finish packing and to sleep. It's so cold here....but I console myself with the fact that in only a few days I'll be sitting in sunshine. Probably getting burnt.

I don't think I'll have much internet for the next 5-6 weeks, so I shall see you then. I'm going to try keep a non-virtual blog (a la notebook) instead.

Trinidad, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent & Martinique - here I come! Please be kind. Rewind.

Ps. You wouldn't believe how many cheeseburgers I've eaten in the last week or two.
Pps. Happy New Year! Joyeux Anni!

Ciao, Dignity.

A quick update on my quest for a white Christmas.
I left home 10 months ago today.
10 months later I'm about to have a very very white Christmas in the Swiss Alps.

Today I made a snowman for the first time.
Correction: I helped with 3 snowmen, 1 cat and 1 dog.
There were several casualties including a couple of ears and a head and I've just remembered that we didn't put scarves or hats on our snow people. I hope they survive the elements.

I thought perhaps if I moved around enough over the holiday period (a few days with my Swiss fam, a few days with NickNatTayaAbbyGeorgia, and a few days with friends) then I could accidentally miss having to ski. It would be a pity and all but at least I would escape with my dignity this season.
It was a good plan.
Not good enough.
Until there is a major blizzard tomorrow, I will ski. I somehow agreed. What was I thinking? I can see my dignity flash before my eyes.

Two weeks today til we fly out of Zurich to Miami.

2 days til Christmas.

12 hours til I lose any remaining scraps of dignity. MLF3 did tell me she might "sometimes wait for me on the pistes."

Merry Christmas all. I leave you with a photo of my fellow slope buddies. This one was taken in our village.


Anyone know a blizzard dance?

Kylie's Top10 Most Awesome Things from The Week That Was

So, in case you didn't know - being a part of a family who are packing up their house for a year to go traveling is hard work.
I'm not having the best week. Have worked a lot of extra hours this week, and I'm still hanging tightly to a head cold....plus Christmas songs have taken over the Radio. But, despite this atrocity (yes, yes I know, worse things have happened) I have a Top10 from the last week.

Kylie's Top10 Most Awesome Things from The Week That Was.

Shall we count down? - but in no particular order....

10.) Jill gave me an awesome present of Nutella, Carambars and A Physical Blog (also known as a blank notebook) for whilst I am away on the boat with no internet.

9.) I found 85 cents whilst cleaning the Laundry.

8.) I told the girls the story of the boy who licked a metal pole during winter. I explained a metal pole by pointing to the stand of MLF2's desk chair. MLF3 promptly went and licked it to "see what would happen."

7.) I got to finally see nicknattayaabbygeorge in their new home here in der Schweiz. It's amazingly beautiful. I get to live here for a little while when I come back from the States!




6.) I got a BIG (not gigantic or anything, but medium sized) box in the mail for Christmas. Tonight I opened it, just to see what was inside. I shook one of the boxes and I'm betting on a box of BBQ Shapes and I'm so excited. (Don't judge me - BBQ Shapes and I have been parted for a long time!)

5.) My sister Kaity had her 21st (Hip Hip Hooray!) and I called during her party and totally used and abused the situation by catching up with all her/my friends. 3 cheers for Skype. And for Kaity, since it was her birthday...

4.) The discovery of an AWESOME gift game. I love gifts and I love games so this was the best time ever. I've been meeting pretty regularly this year with an awesome group of people to discuss what it means to make Jesus a reality. And this week we had a Christmas party and I won a packet of popcorn.
I'd like to dedicate this packet of popcorn to my sister Kaity, because she loves popcorn the most in the whole world. And also because I stole many of her party guests away from her party to talk to me the other night.

3.) Cake. Birthday Cake. It was MLF1's birthday yesterday and this equals cake. Cake for days. Happy Birthday MLF1!! Thanks for choosing my Banana Cake as your PRIMARY birthday cake. I feel awesome and affirmed.

2.) Tomorrow morning all the kids from the Primary School start at 7AM and walk through the Village shaking and hitting and clanging the noisiest things they can find. What an awesome tradition for the last day of school for the year. I made MLF3 a bottle with rice in it. She thinks I am so clever. Such admiration in her eyes. I have reached the highest point of my Au Pair career. You think I'm joking. I'm not.

1.) And last, but not least: Singing Christmas Trees. They're pretty much awesome.

I AM 1 Brother and 4 Sisters

So tonight I had my first really long conversation in German.
All German.
And it was pretty long.

I think I pretty much stepped on all and any German grammer rules - not really applicable since there are too many anyway - but! I was understood - and! it.was.in.german.
I may have told her I am 1 brother and 4 sisters, but hey, nobody's perfect.

This is my 100th post. I'm pretty excited about this also. Because a couple of years ago I realized something about myself:
I don't like starting something that I may not be able to finish.

Now, I can't finish a blog, but I was terrified of starting it and then never writing in it. I wanted to write a blog, and to actually write in it. To have memories and thoughts and anecdotes written down.
And my goal in a year was 100 posts. I thought approximately 2 a week was achievable.

So, hip hip hooray! On my 100th post I had a full adult conversation in German.
I may have been 5 of those adults (1 brother and 4 sisters), but hey - at least we spoke in German.

Pregnant Much?

So, a couple of weeks ago, I got asked if I was pregnant.
I didn't think much of it.

Yesterday, when I was taking some medication, I was asked again. Are you very sure you're not pregnant?
I know, I know. They have to ask this. To be safe. So I didn't think too much of it.

But today. Today I was handed some clothing and asked, Do you want this? It might fit you. It's too big for me now, I wore it when I was pregnant.

!!!

Thanks, but no thanks!

Actually, I took it.
Who says no to Free Stuff?!

A Million Mandarins & A Suppository Deposit

Dear Blog.
I'm sorry I have not paid you any attention over the last few weeks. But you don't call or remind me that you exist. I forgot about you.
Here's an update...
I de-registered today. I have officially told this country that I plan to leave in less than a month!
This makes me sad. I don't want to leave.
Hooray for return tickets in March!

The lady at the Gemeinde Office (Community Centre? Where they keep track of all their obedient Swiss citizens?) seemed unsure about the whole process. My residency card stated a date that I was required to leave that did not match up with my VISA. When I questioned her about this, her only answer was, We can neither understand or fathom the ways and thoughts of the Foreign Police, or something to this effect.
Yeah right, just admit a typo!

I feel sad. I should be packing. Somehow I've accumulated far far far too much stuff. How did I come here with only 20kg?!
I technically leave Zurich in a week and a half - how did this happen?

I console myself with thoughts of sunshine and white beaches. Are the beaches white? No idea. I realized that many of the luxuries that I enjoy here: Internet, copious amounts of chocolate, TV, my own space, the ability to go for a walk whenever I want in my free time...
I will not have these on this sailing trip. No internet, no constant and available supply of chocolate, no TV, no space??! And definitely no random walks....unless I suddenly learn to walk on water...hmmm....

For 5+ weeks....eek.

However, instead I am swapping these for visits to Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent & Martinique. (It's ok if you want to google these, I had to!)
So it's a swap I'm prepared to make. I think.
And....I get to visit my ever beautiful friend Katie and her lovely family in the States for a few weeks after the Caribbean trip and before returning to Switzerland! How wonderful is that!?

And in other news, my Swiss family is a bit sick at the moment and I seem to have fallen down as well. I don't know how, I am eating millions of mandarins! Isn't there Vitamin C in them?

This week I learnt about Suppositories. I think they are much more common over here than at home? I've certainly never had to deal with them at home?
I won't tell you the whole story, but let's just say that this week I've had to google Giving Suppositories to Children.
I never thought about this aspect when I decided to be an Au Pair (the things they don't tell you!)
I tried to convince her to take a normal pill. I assured her she was capable of swallowing it. That perhaps she could just try, and if she couldn't, that would be ok, but please please please could she just try.
She couldn't.
She wouldn't.
And so I learnt about Suppositories.
But I later found out she thought I was going to try and make her swallow a Suppository.
The language barrier.
Sometimes it's bigger than you think.

A Story About Vomit (Not for the Faint-Hearted)

I'm not a fan of telling stories that, um, reflect no-so-well on me. So, for that purpose, today I've got a story about Pippi.
Pippi Longstocking.

Pippi was so glad it was Friday night. It had been long week and she was looking forward to the weekend - she had plans to visit the tallest mountain in all of Europe.
But first - a costume party!

She was going to go as, uh, Pippi Longstocking, and despite feeling slightly unwell, dressed up as, ahem, herself. A friend of hers dropped by on her way to same party and also became Pippi Longstocking.
And off they went - catching the train to the city where they would dazzle everyone with their - ah, long stockings.

Until Kylie, I mean Pippi, continued to feel more and more unwell. Quite nauseous and capable of projectile vomit.
The pair of Pippi's arrived at their destination, and after taking a small walk in the hope of giving Pippi#1 some fresh air, decided that they really should head back home.

On a side note, you would be very surprised how many people will stare at you when you are dressed up as Pippi Longstocking. Pippi#1 was so glad that she had been unable to make bendy wire stick in the long plaits.
Oh so glad.

They sat down to wait for their train and spent their time discussing where it would be best, should be the need arise, to throw up. On the train tracks? Or in the rubbish bin? The Pippi's were divided on this issue.
Finally their train came and they boarded and sought seats near the toilet. Just in case. Although, by this time, you should know that it was highly likely.
There were none and so Pippi collapsed on the steps of the train.

*Side note: Ticket-checkers will NOT check your ticket if you look white or green. Or perhaps if you are dressed up as Pippi Longstockings with your head between your knees.

Pippi would like you to know that there is nothing quite so undignified as throwing up into the toilet of a moving train dressed up as Pippi Longstockings.
Nothing.
Or as the Ticket Inspectors asking if you were pregnant. Me? said Pippi. I'm just a kid!


Unfortunately Pippi was unable to visit the highest mountain in all of Europe that weekend but hopes to in the future. Instead, she spent her weekend studying the causes and statistics of why she is far more likely to get sick on the weekend when she doesn't have to work.
She promises to publish any future findings.

A Story About Chocolate

I was making MLF2's bed this week and I came across this:




Well, actually, it looked more like this:


They were somewhere in there with the sheets, very over-sized bear (which takes up more of the bed than she does!), pillows and the worn-out but much-loved duck. I think it's a duck.

How to discuss this? How can I, who can easily consume large quantities of chocolate in my bed during a book or movie, tell an 8-year old that she really shouldn't be eating small caramel lollies in bed after the brushing of teeth.

They may be small, but my friend Jill thinks they are better than Nutella! Sacrilege.

And so that night I broached the problem.
MLF2? (I don't really call her this, in real life I use her name) I think there's a little problem.

Yeah?

Well, I found Carambar wrappers in your bed. I think your bear has been doing something a bit naughty. I think Teddy has been eating them at night when you are asleep and I don't think they are good for him.

Her face was hilarious when I told her this. At first, she looked really worried, as though she knew she'd been caught out. Then, as I blamed the bear, she looked relieved. She even smiled.

Perhaps you could tell Teddy not to eat them in bed anymore. They are not good for your, I mean, his, teeth.

We reached an agreement. She'd let the, ahem, bear know, and Carambars would no longer be consumed in bed.

Now, where's my jar of Nutella?