Goodbye 2016

Hi,

As I have looked through my social media I have seen nothing but people saying 2016 was the worst year of their lives. It has been horrible in a few ways; Trump is now President, a lot of cool celebrities died and my dog passed away this summer, but besides that then 2016 has been the year of my life. 

I went in mindfullness therapy and was taught how to control my anxiety and that made my life so much easier! I passed my exams with top grades and I got this amazing job. I take care of a lovely baby, I love Seattle and the family I work for is awesome and take me to awesome places in the US, places tourists would never go to so I wouldn't had seen it otherwise. It's already 2017 in Denmark and my family called me and said that 2017 so far is cold and dark, my dad is insane that way :)

I meet my big idol Maja Shining and I went to se Alice Cooper, Guns'n Roses and The Pretty Reckless live. I have had a great year! May 2017 be just as good <3 

Happy New Year to you all and remember to always see the good in everything, no matter if you or someone you love battles with cancer or you have lost someone you really loved or something else bad happened, look on the bright side. 

Stay save :) 

Merry Christmas from Hawaii :)

Hi, 

So what can I say? This is so awesome! I'm on Hawaii and it's nice and warm. I take it chill. I work a little but I have plenty of time to just relax and enjoy life. This is paradise for sure :) 

So I have been told that each American family has their own traditions and these traditions are far away from the Danish traditions and it has been amazing to experience this. We had sushi as a starter and then mixed salad, roast beef and potatoes for dinner. Nothing else really happened. In Denmark we dance around the tree after dinner, we eat risalamande were you have to find the almond and the person that does gets an extra present:) but I experienced waking up today to tequila sunrise at a morning drink (awesome!) and then we opened presents. My family in DK just put money in my bank account as that would be a lot easier, my host family gave me shoes to wear in the gym and my host mom's parents gave me Ed Hardy's autobiography personally signed to me! It was so awesome! :D 

Besides that I got a scarf, an uncle Sam nutcracker ornament and lots of candy :P 

All in all, it's strange to not be with your family at this time of year but I don't feel homesick at all and I love Hawaii <3 

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and you spread lots of love. 

Bye <3

Back in San Francisco

Hi,

Wow, the baby really caught a bug in NY and what a lot of work I have done. I am happy that I have my mindfulness coloring books and books in general to relax with in the evening.
Last weekend I was at a concert with The Pretty Reckless and visiting a little tourist town called Leavenworth (Holy cow it was cold!)
And now I am here in San Francisco again. I'm so happy that my host family actually brings me with them when they travel. I know that I have to work but I don't mind and can you blame me? I get to see a lot of the USA and that was what I came for.
I really hit the jackpot with this family.

Anyways, this time I can really look around and do my own thing because my stupid ankle actually works again.
I really like this city, it's not super warm at this time of year but it's not cold either. It's cloudy and it looks beautiful when you look over alcatraz and see the mountains. It looks like the mountains are producing the clouds.

I'm sorry that I cannot post pictures in this stupid blog I don't know what's wrong with it but I upload picks to instagram here https://www.instagram.com/emma_stage/ if you are interested, it's not private so you don't even need to follow me.
It snowed in Seattle when we left and it was actually a good amount when you think of the fact that it never snows in Seattle. That was just proved wrong.
I brought it with me, that also happened when I lived in Brighton. It's my viking roots, sorry everybody ;)
But me, I'm super chill at the time and I love to explore America and get as many impressions as possible and yeah I'm starting to really speak like them now. Instead of saying "have a good day" they just say "have a good one." And yeah a lot of new expressions are coming automatically to me now. And if I ever feel homesick (I don't) then I just watch South Park :)

Have a good one! <3

Thanksgiving week

Hi,

It has been exciting and a busy week for me. I have not worked much but I have been exploring the east coast :)

My host family have family in Philadelphia and New York. We stayed on hotel Conrad on Manhattan. I had a day to see Philadelphia though I did not get to see it all, but I saw Independence Hall, Liberty bell and some of the buildings that are not allowed to be put down and replaced.
It looked a lot like cities I have been to in the UK.

And NYC, what can I say? The city that never sleeps!
I saw METs and it was cool to spend some time on the Upper east side, only Gossip Girl watchers will understand ;)

For Thanksgiving we went to Long Island and I was not feeling that well. I guess I wasn't dressed up for the cold. Isn't it strange that you can forget how cold the wind can feel? I am Danish and I am more than used to a cold wind but it still surprised me. The wind in Seattle has never been that cold!
But Thanksgiving day is a day I understand, you relax and eat, that sounds like the way I want to live. I got to relax a bit, I have to say I normally don't stay in bed for a cold but I do when I have the opportunity.

I went shopping on black Friday and I bought about everything except for Christmas presents... That's how good I am.
BTW it was cool to experience a black Friday in the US, seriously it was crazy! Americans know how to shop for sure. It sucks in Denmark, no one understands the mind of Americans in that small country.

On Saturday we had brunch on the upper east side with some relatives. It was a nice apartment and I know that it's super expensive.
We flew home Saturday afternoon and I'm 100% sure that the airplane was haunted. I was watching The Conjuring 2 and all of a sudden I was not wearing my seatbelt and I know I didn't take it off, we had so much turbolence that we had to keep it on during the whole flight. Or maybe I just forgot to buckle up again after I had been at the restroom and I suffer from dimentia or something.
But anyways, I'm back in Seattle and back to a normal work week. Though once again it seems like time will pass me by fast and before I know it we will write 2017... AND I WILL TURN 23 :O

I'm old....

I'm obsessed with Halestorm's new song Mistress for Christmas. I need to relax now, I have a baby with an upset stomach and a bad diaper rash x_x

Bye!

Election hangover

Hi..

.....Speechless, speechless, speechless....

What is there to say?
The most powerful political person is now... An orange maniac...

I moved away from Europe because the Union, the countries, including my own, and the people are going down. The right wing thing is trending and extreme right winged parties are popular. I was so happy to get away and now I'm sitting here not even knowing if I can stay. I probably can, he cannot kick out a person with a valid working VISA but I'm fear for America. I can leave whenever I want but the citizens are forced to stay. I am with you and I understand if you are scared.

I had a feeling this would happen though, I knew that the Democrats chose the wrong candidate, what where they thinking?
Bernie Sanders was the favorite and everybody who would vote for him said, we are not going to vote for Hillary, but the Democrats chose her anyways. Americans do not like dynasties, they did not want another Bush so why would they want another Clinton?
I followed this election from the very beginning and I was excited to experience a Presidential election up close even though I knew it could go wrong.
And wrong it went.

How could this happen? Obama is about the best President ever and now this.
It's like dumping a brand new Ferrari and replace it with an old rusty VW Golf.

Deep sigh, sadly I was unable to vote, not that my one vote would have changed this election but I would had felt less useless.

I feel so down right now, I believed in this country and I believed in the people here.. And now I just saw someone calling himself a white nationalist... Can you please just not?

Well, let's see what happens.

Have a day.. I doubt it will be a good one.

 

Pumkin spice

Hi,

The pumpkin spice season is over soon just to my sadness. I love pumpkin spice both in coffee, frappucino, Bailey's and... Yeah everything. I had a pumpkin pie crumpet on Queen Bee on Friday with some other au pairs. I'm so tired that we do not have pumpkin spice in Denmark...  We only have pumpkin spice latte on Starbucks for like 1 week or something. Maybe one day since Halloween has become so popular. I probably had my last pumpkin spice latte on Starbucks today.

It has been a relaxed weekend. I have been working so no wild parties from my side. I have mostly just been working out and then I went to look for pumpkin spice cream to put in my coffee, but it seems like Safeway on Queen Anne doesn't sell it. Lucky me. I will just find it somewhere else, I'm never giving up!
I went to the DMV office to get an ID card. I'm really not comfortable running around with my passport all the time. I look like a serial killer on my photo, but that is just typical ID photos.
I was afraid they wouldn't let me inside the country when they saw my VISA picture.

I have talked to many au pairs who works a lot harder than me and their host families are so strict. I am sure lucky with the family I stay with and how well they treat me. If you ever consider becoming an au pair then I have to recommendations for you; 1. be 21 or older and 2. look for the perfect host family for you. I spoke to 5 families before I found the one I just felt comfortable with.

But yeah, here Sunday evening I have to wait an extra hour before the new episode of TWD airs! Thank you stupid light saving time.

I cannot wait that long! Anyways, I gotta go I have homework to do.

Bye :)  

Halloween, All Saints and the rest of the week

Hi,

What a busy time this is. During the weekend I was partying the way they do it in the USA. I was dressed up and I was out drinking. I'm sure some of the au pairs under 21 were annoyed this weekend. I was dressed up as a zombie bride (so original by a TWD fan ;) ) and I went to a place called Sarajevo in Down town Seattle. It was like they could not play other songs but horrible remixes of Thriller, seriously US? You do not have other halloween songs you can dance to? Whatever, I do not mind. The guys in the club are super.... sticky. A guy randomly tried to kiss me and I did not even know his name what's wrong with him? I danced with another more decent guy though and it ended up being a fun night. When the bar closed at 2 am we went to Neighbours (a gay club) on Capitol Hill, the only place that's open to 5 am. More annoying guys were hitting on me and I just wanted to be left alone at this time.
Here are a few pictures from the evening.

 

On Sunday I just slept in and worked out when I finally got up. 

On Monday I had a normal work day and had a deal with my host family, I should dress the baby up in her chicken costume and come to their office when they were off from work. I was not dressed up myself though but it did not really matter. I met all the dogs at the Amazon head quarter and they were all dressed up and super cute. I got myself a best friend dressed up as a lion just like in the Amazon commercial :) 

That is clearly a cultural difference I mean in Denmark we do not dress up our dogs unless you have a dachshund then you dress it up as a hot dog just because you can. 

In the evening a lot of trick or treaters came by and the dog was barking so much he scared the poor kids away. 

I was off from class that day and I am not sure exactly why? 

On Tuesday in Spanish class we went to Beacon Hill to experience All Saints which was very special with all the sugar skulls around and all the alters. Our teacher was a little disappointed about how little Spanish they spoke at the place. The food was super good though and it was a fun experience anyways. I also wrote a note to my beloved lost ones. 

Today the baby had her shots and normal babies would scream all day but she just slept through it. That is typical her and I love her for it. But tomorrow I'm off to eat pumpkin pie!!! 

Bye :)   

A week like no other

Hi,

What a strange week I just passed. I had my first day off and I was not the only one in the family, most got sick and it took us some time to get over. I worked Wednesday again and I was not 100% well but hey I work at home and I just napped when the baby napped. Thursday I went with her to music class and she was fuzzy. She did not seem to be happy about the teacher or the other kids, neither was she happy to be in the stroller as we walked home and neither was she happy to be home when we arrived. Friday was an even more fuzzy day but I did not have her, the nanny took over. and I had lunch with 3 other girls after I had worked out in the morning.
Saturday I went to a bar but came home somewhat early. I could feel a slight fever again and I just needed to sleep. Sunday was meant to be my day off from doing anything at all but I ended up going halloween shopping with another girl and that was great fun too. Halloween is an expensive time of the year and now I'm a little low on money too.... haha.
And the evening was spent having dinner with the family and of course the season premiere of The Walking Dead! What an episode!!

Anyways, the baby has been asleep most of today, I think she might have a cold. So I just watched the new episode of The Simpson's, read in my current book Joyland and did some homework.
I cannot wait for the Halloween weekend, it will be fun :)

Bye <3

First day being sick

Hi,

As i finally recovered from my ankle something strange happened today. Yesterday was normal with just the baby and I hanging out and going for a walk! It was amazing and the weather was good just as I had asked Alexa and she said it would be heavy rain. It only rained a little and it didn't rain when I walked.

But back to today instead of normal yesterday. I had a hard time falling asleep last night but I finally did around 1 am and this morning my alarm didn't ring so I didn't wake up before my door knocked, super strange... It took me like 1 or 2 minutes to jump in some random clothes and go upstairs. As I apologized for my over sleep and I looked for some breakfast my back started aching I just thought it was all the elevation of my foot and I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. The suddenly the pain spread to my stomach and I felt dizzy... Then I was suddenly covered in cold sweat and I felt like I had to puke. I told the family how I felt and I really didn't want to be a burden but how can I take care of a baby if I had passed out? I was followed back to bed were I slept for like 4 hours or something. It has been a somewhat boring day, I haven't been at Spanish class and all I could do all day was read and watch TV. I was happy that Trevor Noah could entertain me a little and when The Daily Show was over I found a TV show called Freakish on hulu. Waiting for the next season of The Walking Dead, this is a good show to watch.
But I miss my baby and I missed some fresh air.... I had plans for today and then this happened. Typical.

Well I only have 2 classes left in my writing class and it has been a great experience. I like studying here and I like to live here, my family wants me to come home when my stay here is over. Well, I don't know how I feel about it yet. I guess doubting is a way of developing and it is normal.

Well, hopefully I can work tomorrow and I will be fine, I hate being sick and I hate being beaten down by a stupid virus and I hate feeling weak.

I had a flue shot so I don't assume it's a flue...

Well, I will watch high school kids fight chemical people.

Bye

The new nanny

Hi

Friday was a relaxed day. I have started to reuse my ankle and it began in the fitness room on a bike. It is amazing to use my body again after almost 3 weeks of being unable to do anything. I also did some weight lifting and then the power went off. Yeah, I worked out to a flashlight, nothing stops this woman! There were a horrible rain storm outside and that meant no power for a couple of hours. Luckily for me there were still hot water when I finished my work out. I would hate to stink when it was the first time I was going to meet the new nanny. She is very nice and she's from San Francisco. I had some troubles understanding her since she speaks super fast but I made it (I'm here to learn so that's fine)

I spent most of the day doing homework and follow what's going on in politics. I cannot believe I'm here during an election and even an exiting and scary one. Both are unpopular in their parties (so why where they chosen?) and as a woman said on The Daily Show said; it's the first time you can vote for a woman and an orange person xD We talked about that in my study group in Denmark too.

All I can do now is practice Spanish. I have absolutely no excuse not to study and learn lots of new stuff. I play piano and guitar daily and the baby seems to love it. She doesn't understand it though but that's ok. I don't know what the nanny is planning on doing with her when it comes to practice music with her but maybe it is not necessary. I had her Friday night and was meant to put her to sleep and just before that we played music together.

Well, the bad weather continues and I hope it gets better so I can do something productive next week, and by productive I mean walks.
I really hope she can sit up by herself soon, that will make many things so much easier for me.

Well, goodbye!

Can infants have nightmares?

Hi

Sorry, the Francisco pictures are probably not gonna happen... Stupid old technology but it is not that important after all. I just discovered something new this week that I had no idea existed... Nightmares with infants. I wondered why the baby sometimes wakes up screaming like she's being hurt and nothing can calm her down. I tried white noise, comforting her (walk around with her, etc.) I tried to put her back to sleep and simply try to mildly talk her out of the hysteria. I decided to google it since it has happened many times and I found a doctor page that explained dreams, nightmares and night terrors. Infants can have nightmares about being dropped, be left alone or starvation and I guess in this case that it is starvation since food is the only thing that calms her down. I just wonder if she can have nightmares like that multiple times a day? This happens very often. I try to make sure that she can see me when she wakes up so she doesn't fear being left alone, of course I can be at the bathroom and stuff you know, I can't control when she wakes up. So, I'm of tomorrow doing the day and a nanny is going to take her so I'm gonna ask her if she experienced something similar.

Well, now it's surely fall in Seattle, nothing but rain and wind outside. I couldn't take her to music class because I don't have a rain cover for the stroller and I am still waiting for the rain clothing I bought online to myself. I'm able to walk a little but it is not perfect yet... I'm gonna start exercising tomorrow and hopefully rebuild my ankle... I am not gonna let this beat me down I'm a way too active person and I had a nice walk Tuesday that I haven't had in a long time. It was only a short walk from a bus stop on Queen Anne and here to the house but the fresh air and the use of my body was amazing!

Well, I think I will leave now and have a nice sleep through the night.

Good night.  

Back in the rain

Hi,

I'm back in Seattle. The last day was great though, the weather was hot and I had coffee at a popular coffee shop called Phil's Coffee. I had lunch at a small café and everything was great. Before Sunday I had brunch at a Chinese restaurant called City View. I can recommend it since it was delicious. It was a special kind of brunch though and fun to try. After that we went to San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art. It was super cool and I bought presents to my family in Denmark. They would had loved it. I will upload pictures as soon as my stupid phone will cooporate with my laptop (old crap).

I'm healing well and I can take care of myself now which is great!
Normal day today and the baby was sweet. She seems to love Paul McCartney and Queen. She will love all kinds of music before I'm finished here ;)
Rock'n roll baby!

Have a nice day. ❤️

San Francisco from a wheel chair

Hi.

I'm in San Francisco with my host family and what a great place! We are staying at an apartment own by relations to the family. I really hate the fact that I can't walk around and explore this place... Of course I'm overreacting a little since I'm not in a wheel chair. My ankel is not broken only sprained and I can walk a little but it is tough for my back to walk around with this stiff leg and my foot is sore if I don't rest it.

But back to what I was saying before. The weather is lovely it's really warm and the sun is shining bright. It was raining all week in Seattle so maybe it was not the worst time my ankel could twist around.... Who am I kidding? I miss my work out..
I also miss the other au pairs.

I have spent my time well though. I have practiced Spanish, guitar, piano and I have done home work. My family has been super helpful. I take the bus to the college but they have hired Lyft cars to me and they have been treating me super well. I think it will heal quickly thanks to them. It is a little tough with a baby to not be able to jump around and entertain her but she has been in a super good mood lucky for me.

This place is great so I will head out. I will update with pictures.

bye!

The health care system

Hi

I chose to see a doctor today. My host family were been out of town this weekend and I'm still unable to walk. They were home around 1 pm and they drove me to a clinic and that was a lot of paper work! I have an insurance called Erika and they corporate with AETNA and it took about 20 minutes just to find the coverage. I still had to pay a fee on $35 but that's ok it's nothing compared to what it would cost without an insurance. The doctor was very nice and she did a good job. She had a concern about a lower bone in my foot and said I should get an x-ray. We went to the emergency room and once again filled out a million papers and then we had to redo it because he read my birthday wrong.
It took some time before I got to the x-ray room but it took only a few minutes. The guy said he couldn't see anything but he will send the pictures to the clinic so they can decide what to do. I'm just happy to get this checked up you know. Before leaving when I looked at health insurance I thought I would not need it because I never see my doctor but I decided to buy one because I use contacts and I can get an eye infection easily and my birth control can have some serious side effects (I'm not in the risk group but still)

Better safe than sorry and if you want a year in the US don't hesitate to buy an insurance as you can see I'm perfectly healthy and I still needed it simply because I was clumsy.
I have to say I'm kinda glad I don't have to fill out this many papers when I see a doctor or go to an emergency room in Denmark.

Anyways, I will just sit here and feel sorry for myself. I wanna run and do fitness! :'(

This is my sad face. 

Goodbye! Have a nice evening.

Remembering New York

Hi

When I first arrived in the USA I landed in JFK airport and was met with a guy with pink sign saying Culturural Care. I arrived on Long Island really late and I was super tired. Still I had to get up early the next morning and have class. As I arrived to my room my roommates were asleep. Only one was awake and we just said hi quietly not to disturb those who were asleep. The room was super hot since there were no air conditioning. Due to my jet lack I woke up really early and had a shower. I am glad I brought flip flops. Nothing really happened at the school, we were taught about child care in the USA and safety driving and CPR. The coolest part was when we went to Manhattan. I finally got to see something American and just a school in the middle of nowhere full of mostly Europeans.

The Campus

Swan lake 

Candy picnic

Our trip to Manhattan was Thursday and we were driven in buses. We were many au pairs so we were many buses. We had a tour guide in each bus the one in my bus was from Brooklyn and he was great fun. He showed us Lady Liberty (from quiet a distance) and ground zero, I wish I had had some more time so I could had been to the memorial museum.

Lady Liberty from a distance

Ground Zero 

I actually thought this was a guy but it's just a statue

Me with the statue

The firestation that lost most men in 9/11

The view from Top Of The Rock

We went to Top Of The Rock and saw it all from above! It was so beautiful and I saw Upper East side you know... from Gossip Girl :)

Afterwards we had some alone time and I went to time square and looked at shops. I didn't buy anything though I was too busy getting impressions. Oh not true.. I went to Hard Rock Café for dinner. Anyways it was fun but I love being here in Seattle with my host family (and actually use a clean bathroom) the double jet lack was horrible though... 

Anyways it's past and now I've been here for 2 month! I can't believe it time goes by so fast. 

Bye