Apologies for the ramble...it's a true sign that I have missed blogging. I think it has been around two and a half weeks since I have provided life stalking material for you all. Yet, as much as I'm writing an apology, I have been far too busy. So, you win some, you lose some - without the busyness there would be no blogging material and I can tell you that I have three pages of notes ready to be written up...
Casting my mind back, a group of us aupairs went out for fondue together a few Friday's ago in Reston. The restaurant was called 'The Melting Pot' and it was located in the most obscure location. The GPS took us into this area full of offices and businesses and it was located at the bottom of one of the buildings. As you can imagine, we were all open minded and once inside it was lovely and the food was melt in the mouth worthy- both literally and metaphorically. We all sat around this oval table and shared cheese and chocolate fondue. Who knew that eating such little bites of food would fill you up as much as a 'normal' meal?! Needless to say, I have been converted to 'fonduism' but I can't say I have the patience to prepare all the little cubes of bread, apple, broccoli and mini cheesecakes and brownies. It's all an art form that is reflected in the price...mine was even more too as I had a glass of Sauvignan Blanc. As normal I couldn't resist, but it felt so weird being the only one at the table drinking!
In contrast, the following night was entirely different. Rose (my host family's old au pair) was stopping by for a few days after travelling down the West Coast and so we decided to go out along with Lizzy (host family's oldest sons girlfriend), Vanesha and her boyfriend Purvish. This time we were all 21 and the clubs and bars of D.C. were there at our convenience. Deciding to go out in the area of Adams Morgan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_Morgan ) and travelling there by metro.
Walking across the bridge into Adams Morgan and about to cross the road we all got chatting to this guy, who turns out to be one of the owner's of this hip club called Distrikt. Before we all knew it, he had got us passed the throng of people queuing to get in and we were standing at the top of the stairs laughing about how we had avoided paying the $20 entrance fee. This owner was only young and later told us that him and his friend decided to invest in a club after leaving university. Inside, Distrikt was double height, with exposed brick walls and a galleried second floor. In contrast to the under 21 clubs, it had a completely different vibe which felt almost exclusive but without the strict dress code or pretentiousness. We were all loving it, especially when we were provided with free drinks and our favourite music was played...M.I.A - Paper Planes to name one! The nights other highlights were also meeting and being kissed by Andrew from MTV's Real World D.C who was wearing his 'infamous' Panda hat, the hilarious Metro ride home and our stampede to 3 separate loos when we got home!
Suitably hungover, the next day was Kevin's birthday party at home. As our hangovers were well and truly settling in, a dozen 5 year olds descended ladened with presents and gallons of hyperactivity ready to launch. The theme of Kevin's party was 'Mad Science' and after the little children had fabric painted the faces of their 'Jack O Lantern' t-shirts they all sat down to watch this lady perform fascinating science experiments complete with dry ice and an exploding milkshake! Mid-way through, I had no choice but to escape and rest my head for a few minutes...especially after the scientist had them all screaming answers to her! They all loved it and received a really cool t-shirt, Mad Science goodie bag and Shrek themed Pez to take home with them!
Monday morning, I was scheduled to help out in Kindergarten art class which was brilliant fun! I was introduced to the class as 'Miss Hannah' and all the little children greeted me 'Goodmorning Miss Hannah' in their high pitched, cute voices...it touched my heart! That day we made paper, Frankenstein 'sculptures'- some of the little children needed far more help than others but eventually all were complete having the same shaped head and bodies but different shaped eyes, ears, nose and mouth! Currently, I can spy Kevin's 'Frankenstein' on top of the fridge!
As you can imagine, Halloween here is big...houses have been decorated two weeks leading up to the actual day and my house here is no exception! During this week, was also Kevin's 'real' birthday on Wednesday and we all went out as a family to this Japanese steakhouse which was both a spectacle and utterly delicious! The chef designated to our table area displayed knife throwing and fire tricks. Additionally, he also flipped pieces of cooked steak in each of our mouths to catch which was hilarious! Continuing the busy week, Thursday was the Halloween Parade at school and many parents went along to watch the Kindergartners and other year groups parade around the playground in their costumes. I have never known anything like it...some parents go to town on the costumes such as the boy dressed as a Taco and a little girl dressed as Rapunzel! That night, I hopped on the metro to DC and went to meet a friend in Clarendon for drinks in this bar which was a lot of fun. It's called 'Whitlows On Wilson' as is pretty basic inside but with a fantastic atmosphere - live music, cheap beer, American football games on screens and lots of young professionals wanting a chilled place to hang out after work and dinner! I drank Bud Light and woke up the following morning feeling normal...carrying on my weekly routine with the boys! After taking them to school, I helped my host Mum prepare the decorations for 'Trunk or Treat' which is basically trick or treating from the boots of each car in the school playground. The only hitch is that the cars have to be decorated...ours was a monster and so we spent a fair amount of the day preparing - it was brilliant! We all went together about 5pm and there were around 50 or more cars all decked out ready to give out candy to this school children!
The following morning, I took Sean (age 17) to his soccer match about 15minutes away and then spend a long and leisurely lunch with Vanesha at the Cheesecake Factory. True to its name, it is famous for its cheesecake desserts but also equally known for its delicious food! Fortunately for eating so much lunch, my stomach was well prepared for the night's antics to follow! Around 5 o'clock I drove to nearby McLean to pick up Lisa and Isabelle and we came back here to eat pizza with my host family which was lovely. Afterwards, we all began getting ready in our Halloween Costumes drinking wine as we were getting ready - Lisa was Lady Gaga, Isabelle was Sandy from Grease and I was a cat. Our friend Rebekka also made a grand entrance dressed as Madonna from the 80's (her host Mum did her makeup which looked fabulous!) and from here we hopped onto the metro into D.C. Intentionally, we were going to a club called FUR (I was dubious from the start) but we got chatting to this big group of people who were heading to a houseparty in Georgetown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown,_Washington,_D.C. and they invited us to go along with them. As we arrived at this town house, nobody questioned who we were at the front door and were happy to allow us in...it was a 'civilised' but hugely fun house party. Inside, it was all very open plan and modern with a floor to ceiling window to the rear of the house...which lead onto decking with patio heaters, an open bar and an ice sculpture! Around 150 people were at the party and it was amazing fun, we got chatting to some lovely people who we have kept in touch with since...all meeting up again next weekend I believe. A guy Isabelle and I were chatting to invited us to this sophisticated Monte-Carlo Casino night at this members club in Georgetown tonight but it was too short notice and we both already have plans unfortunately! That night, the house party whizzed past and before we knew it, it was 4am and we had well and truly missed the last metro which leaves around 3am. Consequently, we all had to stay on my friends sofa around 15 minutes away in Rosslyn...in the morning we all woke up in our outfits and left the apartment to be met by a seething mass of people who had been either taking part or spectating the marathon. It was such a mortifying experience for us all to walk to the nearest metro station in our costumes from the night before but we have looked back this week and laughed!
In comparison to the busyness of last week, this week has been much quieter. Monday, Isabelle and I went for lunch and had to have our nails done because the black polish from the weekend had ruined our nails! Thursday I went to Clarendon again and yesterday I popped to Abercrombie to treat myself to the cardigan I talked about earlier in this post! Not much planned the rest of this weekend, except going out to a wine bar later to meet a friend in D.C and the clocks change tomorrow so we all get an extra hour in bed which is a lovely thought!
I'll update again soon....
Starbucks
- slowly weening myself off them by taking a flask around with me most of the time. I think this week I have had 2! Yet, I got a thing through from my bank which said if I pay for 5 Starbucks on my debit card then I receive a free Starbucks card to put points on everytime I go...the last few weeks good intentions may slowly start to fall about about me once again!
'Americanisms'
NO SPRAY DEODORANT IS AVAILABLE ANYWHERE - I have resorted back to the early days of adolescence when you only wear roll-on. My host-Mum said spray deodorant was stopped being produced a few years ago to help the world's ozone layer, which is a good idea but weird to get used to once again!
