First Week in Virginia!

All the years of having a dog in England, I have always swiftly avoided cleaning up any form of dog dirt in the house. So, I move to America and whilst the boys are at school one of the dogs (I don't know which one) decided to leave me a present on the carpet. I never knew being an au pair would involve this!

The last time I posted I was about to have a pedicure in the town where I am living and it was possibly the most relaxing experience; all of us (my host Mum Tracy, Rose, Lizzy and Rebekka and her host Mum Kristin plus baby Mairin) lined up on massaging chairs whilst women did our feet and nails, with hot stones too! All pretty surreal but I'll have to treat myself now and again now...like I do with buying Vogue every month back at home. This month in the US, the cover is of Carey Mulligan and there is the most beautiful feature/interview with her wearing these couture clothes. It's such nice escapism from my current bubble involving Lego, remote control cars and Xbox!

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/

Have yet to get over my jetlag so pretty tired this evening although I'm going out with some au pairs from my cluster this evening in D.C. The Metro runs right out to Vienna and so it is both a cheap and quick way to get into the city! I'll have to blog how the nightlife compares to England!

Slowly getting into the routine here, I get up about 6.30 to be upstairs helping with the boys before school between 7 and 7.30 when we leave! Have spent this week getting to know the area, paying visits to Tysons Mall (about 10 minutes away by car) and the local supermarket and Starbucks...all essential places! Hoping to do some more exploring next week - just as long as I'm back for the 'pick-up line' about 2.45 for school finish at 3.00. After school the boys come back and change, whilst I make them an after school snack (often 'Mac n Cheese') and then they do their homework. Quite a few evening a week football practice is on the cards so there is always a flurry of activity! Had a meeting with my Area Director on Monday which was informative...just need to figure out where I want to complete my 6 credits of study and what course. Prices are fairly astronomical for some places, so will have to do a fair bit of research! Hoping to do something involving PR, Journalism and Speech Writing which will hopefully help me get a job upon my return to England! Not much more to really report at the moment, apart from I need to start going to the gym and seeing more of Virginia! It's such a huge state with so much to see and do and other big east side cities such as Boston and New York are not far away either! I have yet to buy any clothes... amazing shops here but I still keep itching for Topshop! No surprises there!

Will blog soon - don't really have that many more 'Americanisms' at the moment, but Ryan's friend Nick's Mum reported how much she loved my accent - evidence that I have not 'slipped' into an American twang!