Ottawow

I took a bus to Ottawa while I was in Canada to visit my cousin and old friend. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and met up with a friend of mine from prep school, who moved to Canada yeaars ago. It was amazing getting to spend some time with her, as this was the second time I’d gotten to see her in around 7 years.

Ottawa is absolutely beautiful. It really is such an amazing city. I loved exploring around and being able to catch a bus downtown (something a South African is still not used to).

We took a bus to my cousin’s apartment, and it was fantastic being able to relax and literally just chill out. After a little bit my cuzzie got home from work and it was so amazing seeing her again. She visited earlier in the year but I missed her a ton.

We went to see a band that night called White Horse and they were incredible! A husband and wife who were as talented as they were adorable together. They just had a kid and the wife looked amazing. So that was a treat to see!

Friday morning was incredible. And guess what I did? NOTHING. Being able to wake up without an alarm, take my time getting out of my pjs, chilling drinking tea and hanging out was all I needed.

I met up with my friend and we went for lunch and coffee at this gorgeous restaurant Downtown. I forgot what it was called but it was all artsy and stunning.

I had an amazing time exploring the town with her and getting to catch up with her now that she is a party animal 😛 We said our goodbyes and it sucked only getting to spend such a little time with her, but it was worth it for sure.

I made my way back to my cousin’s place and got in a quick workout. We went for dinner with her lovely boyfriend (soul-mate) and their friends. Curried cauliflower soup and Sangria. That is all ❤

My cousin and I have spent most of our lives apart but I’m so lucky to have her in my life. She is not only hilarious and beautiful, but a really amazing person 🙂

We headed back to Toronto on Saturday morning, to spend some last minute time with family and then have some pre-birthday celebrations.

Terri, her boyfriend Jared and I headed downtown to meet up with her good friends. We got delicious food, some drinks and headed to a beautiful park to chill out.

Then we went dancing and I pretty much fell asleep on the dance floor which sucked, but I was exhausted. Looking back I probably should have sucked it up and had a Redbull, but considering I had to be at the bus station at 5:30am the next morning I think my body did me a favour.

12 hours later I arrived back in NYC, took a train back to Asbury Park an hour later, and finally got home around 10pm. It was a LONG day. Did I mention I shlepped a massive suitcase, another suitcase, a backpack and my handbag like 8 blocks in New York City. Yes, everyone thought I was the biggest tourist. But oh well at least I have my summer clothes again!

It wasn’t 10 blocks or even that much of a mission I’m just overdramatic.

Ottawowza for sure ❤

Canada you were amaze

I’m a terrible blogger

Last Friday after work I began my little adventure to visit family in Canada.

I took a train to the city and explored around a bit before I headed to Port Authority for my bus ride to Toronto.

I chilled out,  enjoyed some delicious macarons, and read some of my new obsession; Outlander ♡

My bus was overnight so I got to see this gorgeous sunrise in Buffalo,  NY.

I was sitting next to this Sri Lankan man who ended up being very sweet. We shared stories of our countries and how we ended up here. Sometimes stranger isn’t always danger! It was lovely. But there is no way I would have ever met him if we weren’t on a 12 hour bus ride together.  You know, stranger danger?  😛

After a few little naps I woke up in Toronto

The next part of the adventure was finding the subway station and taking the subway to Finch – where I was picked up by a wonderful family friend.

She took me past the South African store (there is a huge South African community here it is awesome). I almost cried I was so excited to see South African things. Ceres juices, biltong (not that I even eat it), cadbury, nestle, everything! Of course I had to get some treats. It’s my week off right? 😉

Fruit & Nut because it’s my favourite, white eggs because they’re a classic, and smarties mini eggs because SMARTIES MINI EGGS OKAY?! 😛

Canada has been amazing so far. Adventures with Aunty Linda include going to my first wedding shower, visiting her great niece’s grade two little event (which was absolutely adorable), an amazing yoga class (which is something I need to find time to get into regularly I loved it so much), and getting to spend quality family time.

Got some inspiration from kids brainstorming what makes them proud :’)

Loved having time to relax, snuggle up on the couch and chill out with my main man; Earl Grey.

I’m currently on a bus to Ottawa to visit some more special people:) Of course I left my new boyfriend (my book – Outlander) in my suitcase that is under the bus. So I’ll probably catch up with my blogging on the ride.

But Canada AY, you’ve been fantastic.

Train rides are a good time to catch up on blogging.

04/16

Life never works out the way you think it will. Yet somehow it all works out.

When I knew that I was coming here and chose to take a gap year to work and travel, I did a speciality coffee barista course so that it would be easier to find a job at first. I met someone who had connections around the states in high-end coffee shops who assured me he could connect me with people around the country.

So I came here thinking I was going to be making speciality coffee around the country this year. But when you have family in New Jersey it changes a lot.

I don’t have a clue how I’d afford to live anywhere and have to pay rent at this point, but I’ll get there. If you told me a year ago that I’d be working as an assistant manager at an independent theater in Asbury Park, have already left a part-time job because it was too overwhelming,  and am now trying to pick up extra work just to get by between paychecks; no ways in hell would I believe you.

Living in America isn’t easy. It’s very expensive. But hopefully it will all be worth it one day ♡

Another blog post about New York City.

Written: 04/13

There is just something about this city.

Something about it makes me happy and excited to be there.

Maybe it’s the tourist in me still but when I get a chance/ any excuse to visit NYC I will take it.

I mean I spent the whole day there (I’m on the train back right now) and all I bought was some food, coffee and a metro card. Basically 20 000 steps later I had a fantastic day exploring new places in the city.

There is always something to see. I love the buildings, the yellow cabs, the artsy well-dressed people. The way you can see an incredible view basically anywhere. The parks. The landmarks.  The pizza. The near-death experiences crossing the streets.

And now that it’s starting to warm up, I cannot wait for more adventures in not-minus-a-million degrees New York City.

I’m currently on my food break and finally have some time to type out my blog post so Hi.

Written 04/ 10

Nothing is really getting easier, I’m just starting to deal with it I guess. People said it would be hard but get easier with time, but it’s almost like it gets harder as you miss more.

You miss a lot of things. Missing as in missing family, friends, home. But also missing as in missing best friend’s 21sts, your graduation etc etc.

I’m trying to put myself first and make a life for myself but it is a lot easier said than done.

I want to travel. Unfortunately you need money to do so. So it’s going to take a while before I can afford to do what I want.

I definitely want to be here for the summer. It’s going to be fantastic.

I’m going to Canada for a week in May which will be amazing. Cannot wait to see my family there and I’ve also sent a suitcase with my summer clothes there. So it will be nice to have something to wear besides my winter clothes I brought here.

Apparently it gets as hot here as it does in SA in the summer but we’ll see. I doubt it could be hotter than Durbs which is basically the sun.

♥

New York City

Written: 03/ 30

Almost missed the train. The taxi took forever to fetch me so I literally bought a ticket and got straight on the train. Now when my family was here when we took the train to New York Penn Station, we would get off at Long Branch and get on another train to Penn station. But they didn’t say anything on the intercom about that transfer so I just read my book.

Turns out I was meant to get off at Newark and get onto another train to carry on to Penn station. No one told me that. The person who took my ticket must have assumed I was going to Newark Penn Station, not New York. Ugh. So the train stops,  everyone gets off and I’m in Hoboken. Where the hell is Hoboken.

Good thing it was just a couple subway stops from where I would have been getting off anyways. So I had a fantastic walk through the city to meet my cousin, his boyfriend and his friends.

I witnessed a really cool moment of humanity on the train though. This young man had been late and gotten on the train before it left and didn’t have time to buy a ticket. He thought he could buy one on the train but the conductor lady was being a b*tch cos she didn’t have change for him and wanted to throw him off at the next stop.

This other man gave him the cash so he could get a ticket and get a ride to the city. It was something that I saw and straight away thought I needed to blog about it. It was like I needed to see that human kindness

I had an amazing day in the city. I bought myself a Michael Kors watch, something I’d wanted to buy for myself for ages.  I told myself I’d get it as a reward once I’d worked hard for a couple months. It felt good to have reached my goal:) I’m obsessed with it. Every time I look at it I still can’t believe I own something so pretty and it makes me proud that I earned it.

I had my first Burrito. It was delicious.

On the train ride home I had another awesome good karma moment. A woman gave me a bunch of Halls because I was coughing so much. I was probably just annoying the shit out of everyone but I still appreciated the effort 😛

Till next time NYC. ♡

It’s been awhile. I know.

Written: 03/29

I’ve had lots to say. A lot to blog about. Made notes and everything.  But between being sick and work I’ve pretty much just been vegetating at home and never getting around to typing out what I’ve written.

My uncles have gone overseas for two weeks and I miss them already! I’ve been looking after the kids (the five doggies). This means early morning wake up bark wars and going back to sleep until I literally HAVE to get out of bed and get ready for work.

I’ll be woken up between 5am and 7am by one of them breathing heavily right by my face.  But they’re adorable, but I guess getting so much love from five dogs and walking up and down two flights of stairs three times a morning is better than sleeping until 10am.

So it’s been over three months since I’ve been here now. Some random things I can say since the last update blog:

I ate key-lime pie for the first time and my life changed. How have I never eaten it before?

I’m now a taxi regular. It’s cold and I’m sick and lazy okay.

My uncles and I went to the city last Tuesday and it was amazing.  My cousin from Australia who I hadn’t seen since I was like six was there so we went to visit.

We were on the David Letterman show.  Walking around Times Square and hear a lady shouting ‘Who wants free David Letterman tickets?!’. I don’t even watch his show but I will definitely take free tickets to any show in New York nevermind getting to be in a live audience. So that was fantastic.

I definitely have to restart my Kayla Itsines BBG programme. I did it properly for three weeks and then got sick and lazy. So from Monday I will start over.

It’s meant to be Spring here but it’s still pretty flippen cold. I like it though. I am kinda terrified of summer now. After wearing so many layers for winter I don’t think I’ve ever been this pale.  After my trips to Israel in high school I was like a tanned surfer.  Now I look like I’ve been living in a cave for fifteen years.

I miss home. A lot. I miss Rhodes and all the memories. I really miss a lot of special people.  I won’t lie it’s really rough. But I’m taking each day as it comes:)

No one said it would be easy. I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. Besides the fact that I want to do my post-grad, I don’t know what I want.

I want to travel. I want an adventure. I know that for sure.

Life is a journey not a destination. ♢♢♢

Yes my keys inspired me.

So I’ve been here for almost three months. I can already say I’ve quickly gotten a new bunch of keys. Last year I had my car keys, Rhodes student card, apartment keys… Your keys are such a simple and normal part of people’s lives that you don’t notice how they almost carry our ‘lives’.

I’m not a student right now.  My car is in South Africa. I’m not living with my girls. My life is completely different. I have a completely new set of keys. New key ring. New house keys. A key for both my jobs. Gym card.

It’s scary but exciting. I guess people go through a bunch of sets of keys throughout their lifetimes. Changes. Experiences. Mistakes. Lessons.

Slowly starting to understand how it’s all part of life.

Ten things I can say about life right now

1) I just rearranged my room and I am way more excited about it than I should be.  But it’s amazing. It’s very zen, spacious and simply beautiful.  It is perfect! So yeah I’m stoked about that.

2) I’ve always loved gyming/ working out, but recently I’ve become slightly obsessed. Nothing crazy, but seen as I’m not studying anymore (well for now), and I’m working majority of the time,  when I’m not at work all I want to do is workout and then chill in bed.

3) Carrying on with that point, I’ve been doing Kayla Itsines BBG training routine for almost two weeks. It’s a 12 week programme so I cannot wait to see if I can achieve results like so many women who use the guide and have incredible bodies.

I enjoy her workouts. The guide brings structure and good routines. Usually I do whatever body part I feel like doing that day: legs, arms, abs, bum…. This breaks it all down well and keeps me focused. I am motivated and determined to reach my goals!

4) Tomorrow marks the end of my detox skinny herb tea 14 day teatox. I really enjoyed it. Using the morning start and bed time cleanse teas I genuinely feel healthier and more toned.  It increases your metabolism and is great for your kidney, liver, colon, etc… Definitely something I would recommend. I’ve already ordered a 28 day package.

5) Something scary happened to me this weekend that probably won’t even seem like a big deal to a lot of people but it was to me. And seen as you’re actually reading my blog you seem to care for some reason.

I got invited to a house party last weekend so I thought ‘sure why not? MERICA!’. I got picked up by the dudes friend and his girlfriend.  He was too drunk to drive already. Anyways so as we’re driving to the party drugs came into the conversation and he asks if I’d be down to drop acid tonight.  I said definitely not I’m not into drugs.

He tried to convince me how “these weren’t addictive” etc etc. I really didn’t care,  I don’t touch drugs. All they could say after that was “prepare yourself”. I was concerned.

We got to the house party. The front couple of rooms had people mostly drinking, so I assumed people would just be really drunk. We walk around the house to meet everyone and I walked into probably the scariest moment of my life. Everyone in the room were snorting lines of cocaine on their iphones.

Now I know people in South Africa do coke,  but I had never gotten myself into a situation where I’d be in the same room as people doing cocaine. I had never been in a more nerve-racking environment that I had to make an effort to not have a panic attack and seem like a total freak. So I played it cool and asked where the bathroom was so I could leave. That then led to a bunch if coke heads say “BATHROOM” in terrible English accents (Ugh), and a guy literally snorting a line and saying “Welcome to America”. So that scared me.

The next room we got to seemed chilled. There were trippy pictures everywhere but the people seemed okay. Everything was cool for a couple minutes, until someone took out a bag of acid. Someone offered me a free pill (or whatever a ‘thing’ of acid is – I have absolutely no idea). Thanks but no thanks bro. So I left the room seen as pretty much everyone had taken one but me. I don’t know what people on acid are capable of lol.

I just realized I should probably stop now. You see, that’s how great and comfy my new room is. Sitting in my little chill spot. But long story short, drugs are f**king stupid. Don’t do drugs. Yeah I despise them because addiction has severely impacted my life and my family’s life. I know what drugs do to people. I could never be so selfish to put my family through what I’ve been through.

It seems like drugs are seen as so casual in this country and it’s hectic. They shouldn’t be. Whether you do cocaine every couple weekends or every day, it’s a drug you shouldn’t be messing with… You shouldn’t mess with any drug for that matter.

If you’re that bored with your life go to gym instead of using. It’s the better, natural and healthy way of getting those endorphins humans crave.

The rest of the ten things coming soon.

❤

Lingo Thesaurus

One of the strangest things I’ve had to get used to is the different lingo in America. The confused faces I’ve seen after I say some words are hilarious, and I’ve quickly had to adjust to using different terms for words that are commonly used in SA.

Bin = trash or garbage. Using rubbish bin makes them even more confused.

Serviette = napkin. Don’t use the word serviette unless you want them to attempt your “English” accent and pretend to be fancy.

Jol = party, good fun kinda thing.This was a hard one to explain. Still haven’t met someone who can even pronounce it the same.

Robot = traffic light

Jersey = sweater

Cool drinks = soda

Sweets = candy

Trolley = wagon

Bill = check

Lift = elevator

Pavement = sidewalk

Chips = dried potato chips like Lays. Hot chips are fries or french fries here. I ordered chips at Burger King once and the next thing they asked me was where I was from. Do not ask for chips they WILL laugh at you.

Cozzie/ costume = bathing suit. A costume here is what you dress up in for Halloween.

Just now = huge confusion to Americans. There is no such thing as just now. To them that means now. But to South Africans just now means in a bit, sometime in the near future or the near past, but not necessarily immediately. Also one of the harder ones to explain.

Now now = right now but not literally now. Trying to type out an explanation for this has made me realize how complicated these expressions actually are.

Chunder = throw up/ vomit/ puke. Using this word only leads to one thing. *Insert a terrible attempt at an Australian accent* “Aaahh I’m gonna chunder mate!”

Dof = dumb/ stupid.

Siff = gross. I’ve only used this one a couple times since being here but each time people think that’s a great word for something disgusting and claim they’re gonna start using it.

Takkies = sneakers/ trainers

Boot = trunk

Petrol = gas

Varsity = college/ university

Autumn = fall

Chune = I literally don’t even know how to explain what this means. Chuning someone means chuning someone. Can be used to say ‘chune when you’re finished’ (let me know when you’re finished) or ‘he was chuning me’ (speaking badly about him/ giving him shit). Very difficult one to explain.

Chop = dumbass. ‘Don’t be a chop’.

Shot = thanks. ‘Shot for coming’

Howzit = hey how’s it going.

What’s worse than having to think of different words that you use all the time is having to pronounce things with an American accent so people actually understand you. For example:

Bathroom. This one is very annoying.

Sprite. Basically pronounced as Spraat with my Durban accent. Literally had a bartender say I was adorable after having to try pronounce SPRIIITEE better so many times.

This list could go on forever.

Another thing I’ve had to get used to is how American’s write their dates wrong. My birthday is the 19/05/93 but here its 05/19/93. Still gotta get used to using pounds, miles and fahrenheit

This all might take awhile.