U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament

Today I visited with Alan (another male au pair) the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament at the USAT Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. It is a huge area with 18 tennis courts, two big stadiums and lots more. The biggest stadium is the Arthur Ashe Stadium with 24,000 seats. But it was not open today, so we only could go into the stadium. The Louis Armstrong about 18,000 seats.After we got to the U.S. Open area wewatched some qualifying matches first and explored the area. Then we went into the Louis Armstrong Stadium, where some practice matches were going on. First we saw Novak Djokovic, number three in the world, practicing and after him Andy Roddick, number nine in the world, had a practice match in the stadium. It was a really great match of him and we enjoyed watching him playing tennis. After he finished, Roger Federer, number two in the world, started to practice on the court. And even the soccer player Thierry Henry was in the stadium and watched him playing. It was an amazing match and he played pretty good. We watched him for about 1 1/2 hour and we saw some great hits.

All in all we had so much fun and a great time at the U.S. Open.

We saw number two and three practicing for the tournament and so after a great day we went back to Manhattan where we spent some time at Times Square before we took the train back home. What an awesome day!

Learning how to cook

German pancake with bananas

The brownies turned out pretty good, but the cookies were a little bit burned ;)

Garlic mashed potatoes with fish and vegetables

Garlic mashed potatoes with omelet and vegetables

First three weeks

There was not much going on the last few days. Although I have already met my hostparents I did not really get the chance to live with them yet because they went on vacation to Italy. Until now I have only met one of the boys I have to take care of, but only for one days. We picked him up at his camp and the next day he and the parents went on vacation. The other boy is still on a sleep over camp and is coming home next week. I am looking forward to meet him.

After my hostfamily left I was a little bit bored because I was new to this area and I knew nobody. I was all on my own for ten days and nobody was home besides me. I started to play tennis at the gym and finally I found a good tennis player to play with. He is a college student. The first time I just played tennis with some older players who are already retired.

Furthermore I also met another male au pair in my area and I have already visited him. I am really glad that there is another male au pair in my area. He is really nice guy from Brazil. I have been over his house a few times to hang around with him. He showed me his house, we watched TV, played video games together and went to Starbucks.

So I am getting used to this are now and also to the american way of driving. It is a little bit different to Germany but it is not that hard to get used to it. I even have to take a driver's license test to get the driver's license of New Jersey. But I have a hard time to get used to this area and not to get lost. Sadly the gps of my car is not working ;)

I also started cooking my own food, so I do not have to eat pizza all day long. Today I also got my social security card and so I finally opened a bank account.

Au Pair meeting

Yesterday I had my first au pair meeting. We were having a pizza party at my local childcare coordinator's house and I got the chance to meet some other au pairs who are living in my area. We are about 25 au pairs in this group. Every month we have one au pair meeting where we have to go.

In my area there is also another male au pair so I am not the only boy in this group ;) He is a really nice guy from Brazil and I have already visited him once.

New York City

Another New York City trip. Today I went to New York again. It was really hard and difficult to get there because first I had to drive to the bus station on my own without any help. I kind of knew how I get there but I could not find it easily. I made a little detour ;). But finally I found the station and I got there even on time. So I went on the bus to New York which was about a 60 minutes ride. Arrived in New York I went to Pier 40 on the Hudson River to meet the other guys like another au pair who I know from Germany there. After everyone was there we went kajaking on the Hudson River. Although we could not go out that far it was really great and we had a fun time on the water. Then we had lunch and went to the Central Park. It is a really huge park in the middle of Manhattan. It is really beautiful and a nice place to relax, although it was really crowded. We also went to the place where John Lemmon was shot. And then the day was almost over, so I had to go to the bus station to take the bus home. Before that Ivisited the AppleStore which is a really amazing store. And again I went to TimesSquare because the bus station was close to it. Firstly I took the wrongbus, but at least the bus took almost the same route than the bus I should have taken. So I got off and waited for the right bus ;) After a long day I arrived back home finally, although it was difficult to find the way back home again. But I made it.

First impression

The first few days are over now. It is kind of a strange start ;) I arrived at the family on Friday and then from Saturday until Monday my hostparents went to visit their parents. On Thursday we picked up one of the boy from his camp where he stayed the last four weeks. On Wednesday my hostfamiliy went for vacation to Italy. And the older boy is still on his camp so I am home all on my own right now.

But the family is really nice and especially the younger son is so energetic and we will have some great times togethere.

Greetings from Wyckoff

Today I met my host family. My host father picked me up at the bus station and showed me around a little bit. It is a really beautiful town with lots of trees and green areas. I really like it here.

New York City

Today we went to New York City! After we had our last workshop at the Au Pair School today we went on our trip to New York City. We had a 4hours guided tour through this city and we saw a lot. We saw Ground Zero, the Empire State Buildung, Broadway and lots more. Furthermore we took a ferry so we all could see the Statue of Liberty. After the tour we went on "Top of the Rock", the top of the Rockerfeld Center. We had an amazing view from there and it was just awesome. Afterwards we walked through Times Square. It was a really great trip and New York City is just great. Best city ever ;)

Goodbye Germany

Today I left Germany again, and for the second time I will live for a whole year in the U.S. This time not as an exchange student but as an au pair. I will live in Wyckoff, New Jerseyin a family with two boys whom I have to take care of. I am really looking forward to this year and I amso excicted to be in the U.S. again. I just landed securely at the au pair school on Long Island where I will have a few workshops in the next few days before Iwill get to know my family onFriday. At this workshops I learned a lot about child care. But we had a really tight schedule sand we had about 32hours of school in only 3 days. It was really busy ;)