Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas Everybody...

Hi all on this fabulous week of Christmas,

Last time I wrote I was in transit from Brazil to Buenos Aires in Aregentina.  Buenos Aires was what I would describe as a lovely surprise (particularly after Brazil...).  The city is spectacular and you feel more like you are in Europe than at the bottom of the South American continent.  Some quick facts about Buenos Aires...1. they have the same electric plugs as us - the first I've found outside of Australia or New Zealand & they, like I, was convinced they existed anywhere else (but it didn't really matter because I now have US plugs, but anyway), 2. the country was invaded by the Spanish in brutal form (like the rest of South America, with the exception of Brazil), however the architecture was modelled on Paris, so the architecture is predominantly French..3. Buenos Aires is home to apparently the widest avenue in the world... the neuve de julio (the ninth of July avenue which represents Argentina's independence day) - I can definitely atest that the avenue is exceptionally wide...4. In the early 1800's, the English decided to invade Buenos Aires for no other reason than to get all of their resources, so they built the railway system that lead from all over the city to the port - so, because of this the roads are like the rest of the American and most of the European continent (opposite to us), but then their railway system operates the other way (same way as us).  I thought this was very quirky.... 5. Buenos Aires also has a river that separates it from Uruguay and I tell you, I had no idea it was a river... when I drove past it I thought that it was a bay as there is no sight of land on the other side, so I am also led to believe that not only are they home to the largest avenue, but also the widest river in the world... who knew!...6.  in Argentina it is very common that they use pink paint on many buildings.  Well, in the old days there was no pink paint, so to make the colour they mixed the white paint / chalk, with cow's blood - eeeeeeewwwwww!  Oh and my mistake, the colour is not pink, it's actually blush.  Enough facts... talking of cow's, let me tell you about my dinner on Thursday night...

This dinner was an interesting experience for me.  I was taken out by my Argentinian work colleagues to a famous steak restaurant that is frequented by many a soccer player (the whole roof was lined with their shirts), and also the odd rock star (Bono's photo was on the wall).  So, the night was interesting on two counts... firstly, I got a celebrity sighting, though I had no idea who the person was.  His name was Roberto Perfumo.  Roberto who? I hear you ask...  Roberto is a retired famous Argentinian soccer player, who is now an ESPN reporter.  So, being the opportunist I am, I asked if we could get a photo with the guy, but the restaurant wouldn't let us because they said it would stop famous people coming to the restaurant, so instead of a photo with me, we'll have to suffice with the internet pic instead (so famous, I can't even find a recent one). 



So the second reason that my evening was interesting was that I got to experience the traditional famous Argentinian desert, Dulce de Lecche - a crepe filled with the sweetest caramel you've ever tasted - it's pretty much condensed milk and sugar cooked and turned into a gooey delight, but sweeter.  This is to the Argentinians what Vegemite is to Australians, except worse.  They put it on everything - toast, fruit, straight out the jar....  Well,  those that know me know I have the sweetest of sweet teeth... I've been known to devour a pack of glace cherries in one hit, or a whole tin of condensed milk, or eating sugar cubes by themselves (no horse jokes Renee)... you get the picture,  but my 'tooth' is savoury in comparrison to the Argentinians.  The Dolce de Lecche was just toooooo much.  Not just headache too much, my body completed rejected it.  Immediately after eating, my stomach bloated so much that I developed a "food baby", which was so impressive that it could've been mistaken for a real baby!  1/2 hour later, and the most excrutiating trip home (think cobble stone alley ways), my body really did reject it, and as I'm a lady I won't go into the detail, but let's just say I spent more time in the bathroom than in my bed that night (eeeeewwwww!).  Now, the real question is though, was it the Dulce de Lecche or was there another culprit???   Let's go back a couple of courses to the entree.  My Argentinian colleagues said "leave the entree to us".  As a polite guest, of course I obliged, but I was very nervous because along with a sweet tooth, I am also a very picky eater.  So the entree came and it looked like an innocent piece of veal.  I was instructed to rub it with a lemon and to add salt and enjoy away.  So I had a couple of bites and the flavour was okay, but the texture was just wrong.  Rather than needing to chew like you would a normal meat, it just melted in your mouth.  So, I thought no more (with more than 3/4 left on my plate) and I dared to ask my hosts what I just ate.  I was informed that I was enjoying the beautiful dish of something that sounded very tasty when said in Spanish, but translate it to English and I found I was eating a beef gland (more eeeeeeewwwwww!).   Even better, it was a gland either from the heart or they thyroid (like one is more appealing than the other!).    I am pleased to say though that the main meal of fillet steak was fabulous.  An interesting night at least!

So that was Argentina (along with long days at work, but that would be boring to talk about ;)  ).... and then came my favourite day of the year - CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas Eve was lovely relaxing at home and skyping during the night with my beautiful families, sharing with them the Australian Christmas Day and watching for the first time "It's a Wonderful Life".... see I'm very lucky, Christmas started early for me!  Oh and earlier in the day the discovery of an even better reality tv shows... Mob Wives - quality watching and highly recommended....no, really, it's a new favourite (so much so, as I write this a few days later I am watching it again so mumma bogan can also fall in love with it... though she wouldn't admit it, it's keeping her away from reading the paper)!

So, as you know mumma bogan was coming on Christmas day, but was not arriving until later in the evening, but never fear I wasn't alone, I managed to get invited to a progressive Christmas lunch.  Nibblies and champagne were at one house, main at another and then dessert at another.  My apartment ashamedly was not included in the progression as it struggles to hold two, let alone 11, but never fear, I was on vegetable duty.  So the morning was spent cooking up storm of vegetables, but then there was the challenge - how the hell do I get them to the other apartment four blocks away.  First part of the challenge... covering the veges.  Surely I have a lid to my roasting dishes somewhere in my boxes, or did I leave it back in Melbourne?   Oh well, I'll cover them with foil - bloody hell, no foil.  Oh, maybe the little shop around the corner is open.... bingo it's open, I love the convenience of this city.... bloody hell, no foil on the shop shelves... not a problem, they cook crappy food here, they'll have some industrial foil... bingo!   Back to the roasting veges.... why are they taking so long????..... wait a minute, does the oven go above 350 farenheit...crikey Michele, why didn't you put them on 450 an hour ago (because you didn't realise the oven could go that high...B.I.M.B.O...why can't the yanks bloody convert to the metric system?)!  Okay, so I have two trays of roasted veges, now covered in foil, a bowl of green veg, and a bottle of wine - the second challenge is how do I carry this?  Ah huh, one of the boxes that the groceries got delivered in yesterday... oh crap, I put them out in the recycling yesterday (in the stairwell of the apartment!)... it was late when I put them out yesterday, maybe it's still there... bingo, it'll be fine, just dust off the crap from everyone elses garbage...two out of two - foil and a box.  Okay, third challenge is now getting these veges on the move... oh dear, the box is a bit heavy, maybe I can get a cab... oh crap, no hand to hail a cab.... bingo, one santa in cab disguise sees me struggling and stops for me... another santa in disguise opens the cab door for me... beautiful, we're on our way... deary me, the poor cab is steaming up with all my veges... better open the window even though it's 1 degree outside.  Excellent, arrive at the other apartment building, the doorman's there to help - even a trolley on hand!  Great, arrive at the apartment, relax and have a glass of champagne.... ahhhh!  The rest is a breeze, with beautiful food, good company and overall a nice Christmas.

Mumma bogan arrived that evening at around 7 and to keep her on the move to shake any chance of jetlag we strolled along fifth avenue, went for a walk to the Rockerfeller Christmas Tree, visited the Christmas windows and then made it home. 





On Monday, we had kept the agenda clear, but after a great night sleep and a slow morning, we set out to explore the city and ending up just shopping - what can I say, the sales are extraordinary... and we managed to fit in a Magnolia Chocolate Vanilla cupcake (a famous NY institution)... mmmmmmmm!  Oh yeah, then we had a tradition turkey Christmas dinner which was beautifully cooked by myself, and then the two of us grannies had lights out at 9.15pm!!!  




So, talking of sales, we ventured out on Tuesday to Woodbury Common.  This is a direct factory outlet site in upstate New York about an hour and half bus trip from NYC.  Let's just say I felt like I was in Pretty Woman with all my shopping bags.... except I am not a prostitute, oh yeah, and my shopping was not funded by a sugar daddy, let alone a sugar daddy that looks like Richard Gere, oh yeah, and I wasn't on Rodeo Drive with store assistants doting over me - nothing really like Pretty Woman then.... anyway, this trip out to Woodbury Common (as everything seems to be) ended up to be more of an adventure than expected...  But, as you know mumma bogan is here, so I am pleased to offer her the guest bogan spot to share what is now known as the "Woodbury Common" experience - over to you mumma bogan.......

Experience is an understatement. Woodbury common is a HUGE version of DFO although far more upmarket. Its a shoppers paradise with every possible brand name ever to hit the market represented.
As we got there early, we passed comment how the size of the place absorbed the crowd, well........
this was soon blown out of the water, when the crowds arrived and queues longer than those waiting to get into the local post office just before closing on Christmas eve were everywhere. Anyway, we managed to do the pretty woman thing, and then wondered how we were possibly going to get this all home, considering we had to contend with a bus, then try to hail a taxi in the pouring rain, carrying fancy paper carry bags not designed to hold items when they get wet. Any way, we managed. All prepared for a hot shower and the jim jams, Michele announced that we were going out to an Italian restaurant for dinner, again in the pouring rain with the temperature close to freezing. At least this time we were able to hail a cab almost immediately. I now will never take my car for granted again. Anyway the Italian meal was well worth it, one of the best I have had.
I'm having a wonderful holiday experience. Haven't had a chance to really put the feet up, but hey, there is sooooo much to do, why waste it. Life here is almost surreal.
Michele has been absolutely amazing and I can't thank her enough.   She looks fabulous (apart from the knees) and I believe that the New York experience is really agreeing with her.I know how much she misses Brett, but I can leave for home assured that she is confident and comfortable in her new environment. 

Back to daughter bogan


So finally, I know you are all wondering how my knees are three weeks since the "ice skating incident" - what, you weren't wondering? -  well, I'm going to give you an update anyway.  So, I know some of you may think I was over exaggerating, so to prove that I was not, I thought I would share some photos with you...  Now, I warn you that they're not my best angle, but I think they're worthy to share....

On the night of the skating incident:

No, my knees are not usually that fat - they're usually quite bony, but there was no sign of bone definition that night.

Over a week later  (and still a photo really does it no justice)....

 .... well, they're just only fully healed now!

Are you all feeling sorry for me? Yes, well that's good... and guess what I just fell over again - getting out of my seat to top up my plate with more cranberry jelly - straight onto my knees again! I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm sure there'll be no bruising and there won't be a need for me to send you more photos of this set of bruise progression (fingers crossed!).  What is clear is that I am a danger to myself!

On that note, it is time for this bogan and mumma bogan to sign off for the last 2011 installment.  See you in the new year!

Michele & Hiske
xxxxx

Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away….

Hi all,

Sorry I’m late on this installment!

I come to you this time from TAM flight JJ3332 after leaving the city of Curitibia in the South of Brazil.  I am on my way to Sao Paulo (also in Brazil), then connecting to Buenos Aires in Argentina.  It’s 8:11pm Brazilian time, 7:11pm BA time, 11:11pm Madrid time; 5:11pm NY time and 9:11am Melbourne time, but who cares about official time, my body has no idea!  The one thing for sure is that my body is telling me it’s food time.  I’m absolutely starving.  As the flight time between Curitibia and BA is less than 5 hours, I have had to suffer through economy class – oh the pain!  It’s not the fact that I am managing to precariously balance my laptop on the tiny table next to a drink and then type whilst not elbowing the poor passenger next to me, or the fact that there’s a big silver box under the seat in front of me and my legs are so crammed I’m scared they’re not going to uncramp; no, it’s the fact that I am so hungry and they have just handed me the meal for a flight – a little silver and yellow packet of “Truinfo Minuto”.  Now I don’t know any Portuguese, but using my skills of logic (which at times I know is questionable) I am taking the stab that Minuto means small…It is literally a pack of 3 cracker biscuits which I have managed to devour in less than a minute.  Not an easy task when they’re just like saladas (any of you that have taken the 1 minute salada challenge know what I’m talking about!). 

Enough of my ‘woe is me’ tale…. let’s go through the journey of the last week and a half. 

What can I say but it’s been an absolute experience.  If you recall I was in Madrid last week, returned to NY on Friday night, and then flew out to Brazil on Saturday night.  So, Madrid was a great experience.  Work wise I was with the global learning team and got great perspective on the global world of learning.  I struggled horribly with the language, but I was lucky that I had my trusty colleague Nadia from Brazil, who although her first language is Portuguese and claims to speak ‘bad Spanish’, was an absolute godsend.  She navigated us to the office and back to the hotel each day – no easy feat!  On Tuesday night there was a group dinner at a traditional Spanish restaurant, and based on this experience I have no idea how the Spaniards stay so skinny or don’t suffer from scurvy.  First came the beautiful Jamon (it’s so sad, I can’t even think of the Australian word for it, but it’s like a cured ham, really good on fancy pizza…it’s on the tip of my tongue… Procciuto – phew, I’m worrying because not only can I not speak Spanish, but because I’m not talking to any native English speakers at work, I’m also losing my English!), served with fresh crusty bread, cheese and of course the staple in the Spanish diet, olive oil.  Then came the second serve (personally my favourite), fried potatoes and egg – who knew such a combination would be so awesome ... mmmm.  Finally the main meal came out, which for me was a lovely piece of steak – but where were the vegetables?  Oh they are a healthy bunch, the veges were French fries, just what we needed after a plate of fried potato and eggs.  On Thursday night I went with Nadia to San Miguel market.  This place was cool – think a square building with glass walls, lots of different market stalls (like the food hall at the Vic Market) selling all sorts of Tapas.  In amongst the Tapas stalls there were wine stalls and the idea is to grab a glass of wine, actually served in glass and it doesn’t matter if you walk around the market with it, and then grab some tapas.  It was a truly Spanish experience.

So, after the joys of Madrid, I flew back to NY, tired as hell because by the time I arrived it was 9pm NY time, but 3am Madrid time.  But given I had to fly out the next night I had to do my washing and given I’m in an apartment, that does not simply mean turn on the washing machine and leave it.  This involves multiple trips up and down the elevator to put the washing one, take it out, put in the dryer, pick up the washing…. Oh yeah, making sure there’s enough cash on the washing machine card – who knew these even existed - to make sure you can do the washing (and of course there was not).  Saturday was great back in NYC – it was a very fresh day (5 degrees), but I managed to do everything I needed to do (Christmas shopping, ordering groceries, getting supplies, re-packing etc. etc.), plus I had an afternoon with the broker to look at more places in New Jersey.  This was a successful journey, because although we were only looking at two places, I found a really great one.  It’s a house, with 5 bedrooms (!!!) and although this sounds big, it’s a traditional US tudor house with four levels, so we can easily close the top and bottom off and feel like we’re in a smaller house.  It’s recently renovated inside with some cool features, it also has a small backyard for Jack the dog to enjoy, and it is close to a big park with a lake as well (sorta, kinda like a mini Central Park) .  It’s only a 25 minute commute to NYC which is very good, but it’s also just off the river so you still get the view of the big apple without living constantly in the hustle and bustle of it.  Now we’re struggling through the lease process, but hopefully all will be okay for a February move in!  I will be very grateful for moving out of my little box of an apartment, and glad that I don’t need to move to Stepford Wives country – for some reason I just don’t think I’d fit in (a female working – god forbid!)

Then I was off to Brazil…. This was a great experience.  Three of my colleagues in my department live in Brazil, so they kindly organized a BBQ for me on Sunday afternoon.  As Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, they are also enjoying a beautiful summer, so Sunday was really nice and it felt like being back in Australia (but the meat was served on giant skewers!).   It has been 32 degrees for the last three days – so fabulous.  I am well and truly defrosted and looking forward to more heath in Buenos Aires.  Brazil is an interesting country – they too are booming because of their rich resources, but the government just isn’t investing in the infrastructure, so it is still a very poor country.  It’s sad really when you think about how much money is being pumped out of the ground here.   There are really bad slum areas here, and if you want to live in a nice house you need to live in a compound (i.e. a community with a tall electric fence around it), because you are likely to be the target for robberies.  How lucky we are in Australia.

What else can I tell you about Brazil???  The Brazillian’s are extremely supersticious.  They were telling me on NYE they wear head to toe one colour to represent what they want the next year – for example, if you want love you wear red; if you want money, I think it was yellow that you wear etc. etc.  Head to toe includes underwear as well!  A colleague from work told me that although she wore a dress and shoes in white last year – representing peace and the most popular colour for the NYE celebrations – she wore colourful underwear and the year was disastrous – clearly because of wearing bright underwear.  Needless to say she is reverting back to head to toe white this year.  Also for Christmas, they go to a ‘special santa’ to receive a blessing.  Although they’re not all religious, again it is the superstition that drives them do this, and they are going as a work group later this week to get their blessings.  They were also telling me that as Brazilian women, they are under extreme pressure to look good – it’s all about appearances.  I went out in the field with a sales rep today with Nadia and we visited a shopping centre.  In the shopping centre there was the biggest salon that I had ever seen – it was basically the size of a Coles Supermarket!  Nadia told me this was nothing, somewhere in town there was a nail salon with 300 nail artists and it was constantly full!  This gives you an idea of how much they invest in looking good.  Not so good for the ego standing next to these women ;).  Work wise, Brazil was also excellent – giving me again a completely different perspective.  I’m getting so many perspectives that I’m having to write them down everyday so I don’t lose them!

Well, as usual, I have managed to blabber on for longer than planned, so rather sitting on the flight to San Paolo now, I am now sitting on the flight to Buenos Aires.  Only one and a half flights left until I arrive back in NYC on Saturday.  I’ll be glad not to fly again for a while!  It doesn’t yet feel like Christmas for me, but I’m sure that will all change when I do get back.  By the way, what type of idiot plans business trips the week of Christmas???  Silly mistake, you don’t want to be in an airport this week unless it involves flying yourself off to a tropical island and lying by the beach with a pina colada in your hand…. (or more importantly to visit your daughter in NY!)

Anyways, this is Bogan in the (many a) City signing off for this week.  I wish everyone a fabulous Christmas with lots of love, joy and magic!  Enjoy the hot weather, and I hope those of you having a break (all of you I hope) have a fabulous time.

Until next time, Merry Christmas everyone, Michele

… BTW, next time it will be the 2 Bogans in the City (sorry mum if you find that offensive!)

Hola Amigos!

Hello everyone. 

I hope everyone's going well and getting ready for Chrissy!

Another busy week on the work front - the HR Directors from across the Region were all in town, so there were a lot of meetings and two days of training. 

On the personal side, I started looking for permanent places to live  - I found one really cool town called Hoboken in New Jersey on the other side of the river, and an easy commute, but hard to find the type of place I want, but not impossible (fingers crossed) - getting a backyard and a garage in NY is no easy feat.  I'm going back out there next Saturday to look at a couple more, which will hopefully fit the bill.  I also went yesterday out to Westchester County, north of the city, about 35 minute train ride from Grand Central Station, so also a pretty good commute.  Not too sure on this area though - it's a bit stepford wives... and wierdly it's really uncommon to have a fence - so basically there's all these houses on decent size 1/4 acre blocks, but they all just merge into one another.  I don't know where my little Jack would end up with those types of living conditions ;)  It's also very patriotic out there - Large American flags line the street from everyone's yards.  The real estate agent said it's more common to see all the flags out come election time.  The election is still 18 months away, though the campaigning is already going strong, so I can just imagine what it will be like as it gets closer.  Some Americans are funny (sorry aunty Barb for the generalisation!), but I'm travelling around with the real estate agent Barbara (not aunty Barb, another one) and I was mentioning how I had seen Santas in NY during the morning (I'll get onto that later), and she said... well, in America we celebrate Christmas on December 25.  I thought to myself, that's wierd, Barbara clearly thinks that America is the only country that celebrates Christmas and I must be so naive that I don't know why santa would be around at this time of year!  Several conversations later, I managed to educate Barbara about Christmas in Australia, and that although it's summer, yes we still do celebrate Christmas ;)

I flew last night to Madrid arriving this morning - strange for me because being used to travelling from Australia, countries are always behind us time wise (except for our friends over the ditch in NZ); whereas Madrid is 6 hours behind NY, so the jet lag has hit me pretty hard today.  I did the cardinal sin of travel - as soon as I arrived at the hotel I went back to bed and slept until midday.  Good thing is that I'm still tired, so hopefully it won't affect my sleep tonight.  I went out exploring this afternoon.  Went and saw the Plaza de Toros - a fair dinkum gladiator stadium.  Unfortunately it was closed though, but still an amazing building to see from the outside.  Also went and explored the shops.  The language barrier was lots of fun - I think I'll be booking in for spanish lessons when I get back to NY.  Let's just say the lessons I have been doing on my ipod don't quite cut the mustard!  Everyone from the region speaks Spanish, so it's an essential and apparently 70% (or so) of NY speaks spanish - that might explain why noone can understand me.  It's a beautiful city - amazing culture and architecture.The weather is cold here- around 6 degrees, but with the weather we've had in NY over the past few days, it wasn't such a shock.  In saying that, it was 18 degrees in NY earlier in the week and I was starting to believe that the 'cold' everyone was saying would eventually come, was just a big exageration.  Well, let's just say it's no exageration.  When I was out looking at houses yesterday, I was freezing my onions off!... and that was with a beanie, scarf, gloves and my coat.  I had jeans on and my legs were freezing - I think the next investment will be some thermals and a doona coat - the coat I have seems to already be redundant in this weather.... and this is without any snow yet!  Good thing is, in Brazil and Argentina it's summer at the moment, so I will get 1 week of defrosting next week before coming back to the big cold right in time for Christmas, for which I am hoping it does snow (but not too much that mum's flight can't make it in!).  I'm in Madrid until Friday and get back into NYC on Friday night, and then fly off to Sth America on Saturday night - my last continent to visit!

We had our work Christmas Party on Friday night - was a casino theme and they had all the gambling tables set up and they gave you money to gamble with that you could cash in for gifts- what better gambling is there!  Let's just say as a poker player, I'm a really good HR manager...  I got the chance to meet the CEO.  It was very funny, I was sitting down when I was introduced to him, so I stood up to be polite and formal.  Let's just say he is not a tall fella, and I had my heels on and was I was really towering over him.... he looked up and and said "it's okay, I think you should sit down again"...  was quite amusing. 

So, back to santa in NYC.  Yesterday (Saturday) morning I was making my way to Grand Central Station to go house hunting in Westchester and I started seeing a few santas out in the street, more within the station getting on trains, a few more getting off the trains.  I figured there was clearly a santa event in town.  So anyway, my first sightings were at around 9am, and then I arrived back in NYC at around 2pm, and the few santas had multiplied into hundreds.  It was very strange though as they were everywhere, all seemingly just randomly roaming the streets.  So, being resourceful, I went home and googled it, just to find that there was the annual "SantaCon" event.  On the NYC website SantaCon is described as "a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason".  Well that explains it... apparently this happens all over the world, including in Adelaide of all places, and the idea is to come out dressed as Santa and basically go on a pub crawl.  There are very strict rules for said santas though, such as:

Santa is happy, so shouldn't get in fights
Santa should bring gifts for little children and not give them coal, for adults however it is another story
Santa should enjoy himself at the bar, but not end up being the one that needs to be carried home etc. etc. etc.

So, there are no photos this week as I don't have my camera cord with me, but instead I thought I'd share a sample of some ads from the US with you.

It may be my ears but I had to listen to the following ad about ten times before realizing that they weren't singing what I thought they were (let's just say, what I thought they were singing was not appropriate for prime time... interested to know if you hear the same thing as me!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fcYWGwQu2WI

The next one is also a Christmas one and I think it's adorable.  Makes me smile every time - I think the little ones will particularly like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GzxkNRvujiw

Finally, this one is may favourite at the moment - Gotta love the hamster moves...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJWA3Vo6TU&feature=player_embedded

Anyway, that's me signing off for another week!  The time is flying and 5 out of 104 weekends have already passed...  missing you all.

Take care everyone!
Michele

All Skates Are Not Created Equal!

Hi All!

Well, another week has gone by!  The week went really quickly and was nowhere as eventful as last week, but I'm pleased to say there are still some gems to report in on.

So, Wednesday night I went watch the lighting of the Rockerfeller Centre tree... me and 4 million others!  Let's just say there was no chance of seeing a thing, so I walked myself back home and watched it on the tele.  So devastated because I missed Justin Bieber lighting the tree!... (I hope you picked up the sarcastic tone!).  

Thursday night I caught up with an old colleague from PM in New Zealand, which was very nice -  we went to an "Asian Fusion" restaurant (everything here seems to be Asian fusion), and that was very pleasant.

Friday night I went and had a look at the Rockerfeller tree  (the photo of me is a shocker, but I thought it was funny to share that I look like the marshmallow man in my puffer vest! - now I just need one with arms)....

This is the Rockerfeller building itself, and I was getting very creative with my photo taking and was impressed with this one.



Saturday morning I made my way out to Greenwich village - this is the home of many a celebrity, not at least the NY superstar herself - SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker for the less informed).  I was certain this was going to be my moment - surely I would get my celebrity sighting.... not to be.... the squirrels were pretty cute though (and no, the photo is not upside down!).  The other photo is of Bleeker street a famous little shopping strip - the photo does not do it justice.  It's a beautiful, quaint village and you can't believe you're in Manhattan.  I guess that's why the real estate here is DYNAMITE!

On my walk home from Greenwich Village, I saw this very interesting site... what can only be described as really leading edge safety practices...

...OMG! A country that is so advanced in someways and archaic in others... Glenice, Lyn and Mark, I think some US employees could use your representation over here! The second photo gives you some context for the height that they were working.

 So, this morning I was on my way to the ice skating rink before going to work (yes, it was Sunday...) thinking how uneventful my blog was going to be this week.  I got to the rink just as it was opening - I was thinking "how great it's quiet at this time and even better there's great skaters here at this time, no need to worry about the carnage this time".  So I 'lace up' (so up with the lingo now) and get out on the ice... oh oh, I have the wobbles... oh oh, I need the edge... phew, it's okay, safe this time...  venture away for the edge.... oh oh, wobbles again... oh oh, disaster strikes...oh oh, I'm face down sliding with arms forward doing a brilliant unintentional version of superman... it's okay, I'm near the edge, can get up quickly without anyone noticing....I keep going, pepping myself -  "you're good at this Michele - you belong out on the ice with all of these professional skaters that have been skating since they were two years old and probably lived in the north of NY state where there's ice lakes probably all year round, you are worthy!" ..... I keep going, wobbles again... oh oh, superman impersonation again!... oh oh, over comes Skate Patrol and a medic... how humiliating...straight over to the edge and off the ice without making any eye contact with anyone.  Ice rink - 1: Ego and knees - 0...(I seriously have fat, swollen knees with bruises all over them!).

So I guess you're asking yourself why this seemingly great skater went from awesome to completely useless in just one week, well there is a reason.... new skates, thus my revelation that all skates are not created equal.  After my great outing last week, I went straight home and ordered myself a pair of ice skates on ebay.  I was so excited when they arrived on Thursday - they're beautiful figure skates (white, elegant, and with a maple leaf on the side - how professional looking) and they cost me a total of $10.90!  I was so stoked with my skates, but they are evil, horrible things.  Who knew there was a difference between ice skates - they're just a shoe with a blade on the bottom, right?  Nooooooo, figure skates blade sticks out further out the front so they get caught in the ice if you don't know how to skate properly.  Who knew 'hobby skates' (i.e the ones they hire out to the public) are designed for useless skaters like me to make them feel like they knew what they were doing?...Anyway,anyone want to buy a pair of ice skates for $20?  They're really good ;)

That's me signing off for another week!  Keep in touch.
Michele

"My legs, my legs, I can't feel my legs"

Well, what a huge week - a roller coaster of a week at that, but at least my ride has come to a halt for this week!  It's been busy, so it's a long post this week, but I have added more photos this time as promised.  I hope you enjoy.

Let's start with the working week, which was only three days because of Thanksgiving.  Well,  I experienced my first soggy walk and let's just say gumboots (known here as rubber boots) are an essential item.  I had to walk all the way home in the rain on Tuesday night with no umbrella as my one was on its way to NY in my air shipment.  That was not so fun.  A lady from the office took me to a traditional diner, where as you arrive they place a big bowl of gherkins in front of you... there was seriously about 10 gherkins in there, just fresh, unpeeled and ready to be munched.... along with a bowl of coleslaw (a little random in my view, but quite common here).  Not surprisingly, I passed on the gherkins.  I ordered a boring chicken sanga, but check out the pastrami sandwiches, apparently a very famous dish in most diners... 

After Miami, I've started knuckling down at work and I think it's going to be hectic until the end of the year.  I will be travelling to Madrid for a week then I'll be off to Brazil and Argentina, just in time to arrive home on Christmas Eve to get ready for Mum on Christmas Day! What a December...

So, something I've learnt about myself... I'm a cable junkie!  I didn't have foxtel at home, but here you have no choice.  Anyway, my number one cable thing is the movies, which is not so shameful, but after movies then there's trash tv and I'm not talking soaps, sitcoms or anything like that, I'm talking reality trash... Kardashians, Kendra, Baseballers wives...if it's trash, I'm watching it - I feel like I need to go to an AA equivalent for my addiction.  So, you can imagine my anguish and dispair... no, I'm not being a drama queen... when I came home Wednesday night and my cable wasn't working.  30 minutes later, the internet stopped working too (reminder, Thanksgiving was on Thursday so now I'm thinking that I've got no TV and no internet for 4 days!!!!!)  I had to calm myself with a brown paper bag, and then when I got myself together (after trying to reset the systems about 15 times), I went down to the doorman and asked whether there was an issue in the building... bad news, it has nothing to do with the building, the internet and cable is controlled by the owners of the apartment... then some good news, a representative from my apartment owner company was in the building... then bad news, my cable wasn't working because the apartment company had not paid the bill... more bad news, the guy couldn't get onto the customer service lady who had a company credit card...even more bad news, the radio station is playing 5 songs on a loop... finally good news, they paid my bill (9.30pm now)... great news, the internet starts working... devastating news, the cable is still not working!  Luckily, my air shipment arrived on Wednesday (good news), so I could at least keep myself occupied for that night at least unpacking my boxes.  Anyway, so Thursday the cable is still not working, oh yeah and I forgot to say, no cable = no tv here!, so Thursday arvo, after Macy's Parade (I'll get to that after), as I was getting no response from my apartment company (grrrrr....) I rang the cable company myself.  Anyway, 5 minutes later and phew, there was a picture on my tele!  And not just any picture, Ghostbusters!  I don't think I've watched that movie since the 80's and what a great NY movie!  Anyway, enough about my cable addiction, the rest of the weekend has been ace....

So, as I mentioned I went to Macy's parade.  It was sooo cool.  The balloons were giant - here  are a selection of some of my favourites....

And one that was just plain freaky (sorry he's sideways)....

Anyway, there were so many people there!  Here's a video (Ebonie, I thought you'd like this - listen closely to the song!)

You can't hear the song so well, but it was "Hey Baby, I want to know, if you'll be my girl" (don't know the proper title) being played by a big band.  I thought it also gives you a sense of the masses and masses of people there. 

I'm also pleased to say I saw another celebrity, that's two in two weeks - one for the oldies

... and for the youngies, it's Neil Diamond!

So that along with doing my washing and Ghostbusters was my thanksgiving day!  Oh yeah, and I forgot to say, the elevators broke down in the apartment building that day so I had to walk up and down the eight floors (nine when including the basement for washing) about five times....

So then it was Black Friday.  So, I was thinking the name of the day originated from a terrible event or something in America's history, but no, it's all about consumerism... let's refer to Wikipedia on the subject.

"the term began in 1966 in Philadelphia as a way to begin the Christmas shopping season and to describe the success of the retailers because they are no longer in the red but now in the “black”. It also explained the heavy traffic and pedestrian foot traffic on the streets"

So, there's some US history for you.  Anyway, my Black Friday was quite eventful.  Firstly I went to the best toystore in the world to find a present for my nephew Jack.  FAO Schwarz is one of the best places on earth - think of the toy store from the movie Big (Tom Hanks) with the giant piano on the floor.  This place was two floors full of every toy possible, with people demonstrating how they work, a special lego world, and a giant lolly section... so cool.

So, after the greatest toy store on earth I went across the road to Central Park again, because I remembered there was Strawberry Fields there - the memorial garden for John Lennon.  It was a nice little garden with people just sitting around reflecting.  There was also a busker there playing Beatles songs, so it was good to see.

Then I encountered the shop keeper from hell... I decided to brave one store with a big sale on it and tried on a few dresses.  The shop lady gave me a pair of shoes to try on with the outfits.  After trying them on and being harassed by said shop lady, I decided not to buy anything.  Then said shop lady turns into psycho.  It goes something like this  "what about the shoes?  You have to get the shoes, they're so in fashion now.... all the big designers are designing shoes like this at the moment, they're like $100 off, so you have to buy them... I mean look at the label on the bottom, they're made in Italy, so you know, they are sooo good... look let me ring them up for you (drags me over to the shop counter), they're only $325 with tax, I mean what a steal" etc. etc. I think you get the picture.... Anyway, I said, no, I would rather not, and then left the store.  As I leave I see her bagging me out to the other assistance waving the shoes around.  Mental note, do not go into that store again...

So Friday night was supposed to be murder mystery night, but it got cancelled because of not enough interest... so, I went to dinner with Teena and her husband Matt (Aussie lady from work)  at a place in downtown.  So, we enjoyed a beautiful meal and then a jazz band was setting up... how lovely.... so the jazz band kicks off, it was really classy, old school style jazz with old style microphone..

... and then came the dancers.  And, not just any dancers, burlesque dancers.  Let's just say I am somewhat naive in the world and thought burlesque was more a certain style of dancing as opposed to nearly being a full strip show!  Well, anyway, it was a bit of fun (photos would not be appropriate for public consumption!).

Come Saturday morning, and it was time for ice skating.  Not far from where I'm staying is an ice skating rink that is free.  The one and only time I ever went ice skating was for my 10th birthday!  So, I'm a little nervous, but thought at least I've been roller skating a few times in the past few years (thanks to the little ones in my life) and I'm not too bad at that, so hey, this should be okay.  Anyway, so I get on the ice and off I went.  I stayed out there for over an hour and didn't fall over once - well done me.  I can't say the same for the other hundreds on the ice - the art of skating was being able to avoid the carnage that was happening in front of you - it was a hoot.  Here's a picture - sorry it's a bit blurry, but I was going so fast that it was hard to capture in good quality (he, he, he!)

I went off to the movies again solo last night to see A Week With Marilyn - it was a nice way to spend the night and I think with the list of movies coming out, it is going to be a regular Saturday night thing.

This morning I ventured out to the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market.  It was a fair hike, but what a find!  They have an assortment of vintage jewellry, clothes, jackets and all sorts of stuff.  It was really cool and really cheap.  Definitely a place to go back to.  I then ventured to another market in Chelsea, not as good though as Hell's Kitchen.  I was out and about walking for around 3 1/2 hours!

So in the title of this I said that I can't feel my legs, well I wish that was true.... on the contrary my legs are very mad with me at the moment!  I have blisters on my feet, and super sore legs and hips from walking up and down the stairs on Thursday, walking to central park on Friday, ice skating on Saturday (which also gave me ankle bruises!) and walking all over the city this morning.  I have worked it out that I have done the equivelant to nearly 30 miles walking since Thursday!!

So, now I'm exhausted!  All I am going to do for the rest of the day is sit here typing my blog and watch re-runs of Kourtney and Kim Take New York (back to back marathon) in preparation for the season premiere of the next series tonight! 

Anyway, this is me signing off for another week.  Keep in touch.

Michele

I'm in Miami B#!@h!

Hi All,
Well I arrived back last night from Miami - the city of glamour, crystal blue water, partying and a whole lot of plastic (in both wallets and you know where!).  What you see on the movies/tv is what you get (minus the 'orange hue' that you see on CSI Miami).  I arrived Sunday afternoon to my room not being ready, so I plonked myself outside to enjoy the Miami heat and catch up on emails.  Going on outside was the hotel's weekly pool party - plenty of sun, pool, booze and loud 90s club music.... oh yeah, and butie..I learnt through a magazine advertsing underwear that gives you a butie that's how it's supposed to be spelt as opposed to bootie... anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, hotel pool party... anyway, I spent the afternoon people watching (and sadly working at the same time), strategically positioning myself away from the plastic, oh I mean action, but with a good view of what was going on.  Let's just say this butie does not belong with the Miami butie!

Anyway, then I went to my room and was introduced to Kiki who I was sharing a room with - she was a little freaky at the start, but after a few days we learnt to like each other!




So, I didn't go to Miami to just sit by the pool and hang out with Kiki, I was there to work... it was great to meet the team and to get down to business (I'm going to keep the work stuff minimal on my blog, but for those of you that are interested in what I'm doing from a work perspective, just send me an email).

Just to add to the Miami glamour, Dita Von Teese was holding a launch party at our hotel for Cointreau.  Funny, they must've forgotten to slip me my invitation.  The party was full of more glamorous Miami butie - huge high heels and tiny dresses.. well, from the outside that's what it looked like.  Dita on the other hand was tiny and petite and wearing this amazing full length dress - she has a face like a porclein doll.  Sadly enough, I couldn't build up the courage to get a photo with her, but I make it my aim whilst in the world of celebrities to try and spot a celebrity each month and to get a photo with them - I've put it in words now, there's no going back.

Well, got back into NY last night and took myself off to the movies and watched Twilight - OMG... so good!  Happy to say the movie experience is very similar to Australia, so I managed this one with relatively little issue.  Today I spent a lovely morning walking around Central Park.  It is autumn now (or in my yankee accent 'fall') going into winter so the colours were amazing.  The park was so full of activity -  there was a fun run, the ice skating rink now has ice in it and lots of tourists and locals enjoying the sites.  The park is amazing, beyond the skating rink, there's also a huge lake, baseball parks, restaurants, special gardens and walks.  I've only seen a small portion of the park, so I know there's so much more to explore there.  I ended up walking for about 2 hours - I only planned to walk for 1.  I might say it was only because I was enjoying myself so much, which is 1/2 true, but I also got myself a little bit lost!  Anyway, I managed to navigate myself back home.  It was another beautiful day - 17 degrees, but back down to 11 tomorrow. 

Also went and did a proper shop today.  It's great, the supermarket deliver free to your apartment.  I'm still not used to the food though - food shopping is really hard and trying to find things is a challenge... I was looking for beef stock, couldn't find it so asked the supermarket guy for help.  He just looked at me like I was crazy - anyway, I eventually found it on my own...seems that it's called broth over here...  Also seems the yanks are struggling with accent.  Everytime I have to spell my name, I go, Zed, I, E... and I get a funny look.  So I start again, and say Zeeeeee, I, E... more funny looks.  I look down at the sheet of paper and they are putting A instead of E ;)  I'm not going to change my accent though - my uncle Mick managed to keep an aussie accent for 5 years in London, so I can do this same in 2 years in the US!

I got the fright of my life this afternoon when this excrutiatingly (not sure if that's a word, but oh well...) loud buzz went off in my apartment and I couldn't find where it was coming from.  I opened the door, noone was there, so it wasn't my door bell (I don't think I actually have one), I picked up the phone, but there was noone there, and then the buzz went off again.... I hunted the sound to my kitchen and found another phone (separate line to my telephone) which is my line to the doorman of the building.  The nice man on the other end was kindly letting me know the shopping delivery man was on his way up... anyway, I think there's going to be a lot of 'firsts' like these for a while. 

So, this week is now only a 3 day working week - it's thanksgiving on Thursday and Black Friday on Friday (obviously!).  Apparently the sales on Friday are extraordinary, they open the stores from midnight Thursday and there are lines and lines of people.  If I'm not doing anything... what am I saying, of course I'm not doing anything... I might have to see if I can bag myself a bargain!   In saying that, I've made a friend with an Australian lady from work, who lives here with her family. They've invited me to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on Thursday - this is the one with the giant balloons;  and also to a murder mystery night on Friday.   Should be a hoot - it's a dress up, so right up my alley...  not sure who my character is yet though - let's just say the suspense is killing me... get it, suspense... killing....? ;) (I think I'm funny!)  I'll be sure to take plenty of snaps - I've been slack lately but promise to do better in this area!

Well, that's the bogan signing off for another week.

Ciao,
Michele

I've Arrived!

Hi All...  Well firstly welcome to my blog.  I have now been in the big apple for 24 hours and have moved into my temporary apartment.  It is what would be described as 'very cosy' by a real estate agent, but on the bright side, at least there won't be much for me to clean.  In saying that, the stove and oven are huge, so mum, there'll be a big turkey cooking for Christmas for you!  My apartment is on the 8th floor, so there's a bit of noise from the street.  I have to get used to the regular sound of police sirens - my first reaction is to look at the tv, but then I realise it's outside my window!  I also now have the privlege of cable tv.  Coming from a non-foxtel household I have found that I prefer to not have so many choices.  There's over 100 channels.  Enjoying the Notebook tonight for about the 25th time ;)
It was pretty chilly today - in the low 50s, which I think equates to about 11 degrees.  I have learnt the weather is good when it's between 60 & 100... below 60 and it's freezing, above 100 and it's sweltering.  Having had my first shock of cold, I ventured out tonight and bought myself a beautiful winter coat - it's Veteran's Day (apparently good for sales), so I managed to get one for 50% off (and yes Brett, it was a real sale)!   There was an entire floor of the darn things to choose from, but I managed to find one that was very stylish, but not too OTT (..that's Over The Top for you old timers).
This city is so set up for convenience - apparently every food outlet, restaurant, cafe etc. etc. (excluding restaurants with famous chefs) will deliver to your door.  However, after some pretty ordinary Subway last night, I was intent on finding something a little bit more nutritional.  I found a beautiful fresh market at Grand Central Station today and there were so many foods available that you just need to bring home and warm up - so cooking seems like an unnecessary option here!  However, given that my aim is to not end up the size of the house, I managed to find some beautiful fresh pasta and cooked up my first NYC home made meal... good on me!
Well, tomorrow is a day of exploration and familiarisation.  I have booked in for a haircut (hopefully I don't need to take out another mortgage to pay for it), and then I am on the hunt for a supermarket (I hear they're all hidden underground), and then for a stroll around Central Park.  At least with having such a 'cosy' apartment, it's forcing me to get out and about and with no car, walking is the best option.  Fingers crossed, the Australian winter kgs come right off... in saying that I had to fill out a form today for the gym at work and had to put down my weight in pounds... seeing 'that' number (triple figures!) would give anyone the motivation to drop weight.   On Sunday I'm off to Miami so I'll write again upon my return.
So, this is the bogan in the city signing off from her first blog...
Ciao!  Michele