Kate Voegele Concert

Nearly all my friends and family back home and also here in the US know that I'm a big fan of actress/singer Kate Voegele. So when she posted new tour dates a month ago, I was completely surprised to find out that she was headed to New Mexico. Never thought that would happen. So I jumped online and booked my ticket. My host parents were so nice that they gave me the whole night off and told me I could stay overnight too so I also booked a room at a youth hostel. I was so excited. Well, yesterday I headed to Albuquerque on the train which is a 90 minute trip so I could see Kate in concert. I arrived in the city around 1pm and followed direction to the hostel which was a good 20 minute walk but it was on the main street so I got to pass by alot of great little cafes, shops and also the nightclub where Kate would be playing. So I checked into my room, settled and then checked out the town a little bit. Walking down the main street and finding somewhere to eat lunch. But 2 minutes into my walk it started snowing and not just a little bit of snow but alot of snow. So much that I could barely open my eyes to see and everything suddenly became white. I stopped by the place Kate was going to perform which is called Launchpad and took a few photos of her poster and the building. While I was standing out the front this guy came running out, twirling around and taking pictures of the snow. He was like 'I love snow. Don't you just love it too?'. I was like 'Yeah, it's pretty cool altho this is way too much snow. It's crazy'. Then he was like 'Quick, smile.' And took a photo before I could even respond. Then he was asking me if I was going to the show and stuff. I asked him was he and he said oh you will find out tonight if your going. It was crazy. He was seriously like a little boy on Christmas morning. (I later found out, his in Kate's band!)

After that little crazy moment, I kept walking and found a little cafe to some lunch. It was called Nick's Diner or something like that. It was a small nice place and really warm which was good cos it was freezing outside. I ordered a chicken finger basket and coke, then sat down and listened to my iPod til my food came. After lunch I ventured back out into the cold weather but thankfully it had stopped snowing. I was so cold I decided to head back to the hostel and relax. I tried reading but I was so tired that I took a 2 hour nap. I felt so much better after that!

I headed out the door around 5.30pm which was a little crazy because the doors didn't open til 7pm but I was so bored of sitting around after waking from my nap, I just bundled up in jackets and walked down town. When I say walked, I mean I probably walked the whole 10 blocks about 20 times just to make the time go faster and also keep warm. Not that it helped at all. Around 6.30pm I stopped and waited near the club which was funny cos I was standing near the corner which was right near Kate's tour bus. I must have looked a little crazy, standing in the middle of the walk way and texting but it was deifiately a good spot because Kate walked out from the back of the building and right near me to go onto the bus. She waved and said hello. I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh, it's Kate'. It was a little surreal at first. She's so tiny!

So, then I went and lined up (I was first in line!) and stood, and waited and stood some more until they finally let us go inside. When the guy took my name for the guest list, he told me I wasn't on it which was crazy since I had already paid for my ticket online and had confirmation sent through but turns out he was looking up the wrong name. Bit weird, since he was staring at my I.D. and the list at the same time but still couldn't spell my name. Hmm. So, I went in and got to buy some merchandise. I ended up buying 2 shirts, a hoodie, 2 CDs and a tote bag. Yeah, I know alot but who knows when I would get the opportunity again, right? After I had brought my stuff, the security guy kicked me out again cos we weren't allowed to listen to the soundcheck for one for the opening artists. Back to the line I went, only this time I was about 7th. Annoying! Finally allowed back in again, I made my way to the stage and managed to get front row but at a side view. It was perfect for me. I loved it altho at time it did get a little loud!

The first opening act was Kevin Hammond. He was a really good singer. I normally don't care much for the opening acts cos most of the time they are boring but these guys were really good. Second up was Green River Ordinance who again were really good. I even brought both the opening acts CDs. Kevin Hammond signed my CD too. It was pretty cool.

Kate came on stage around 10pm. I had a little heads up from a friend when she would come on stage (thanks, Steph!). It was amazing when she finally came out. Again, she's so tiny but really wonderful. She opened with I Get It followed by Inside Out and then she gave a little introduction and welcoming. We had the set list in front of us on the stage so that was cool to know what was coming up. At first it was a little hard to hear her sing cos it was so loud but it improved alot after the first few songs. I had Steph on the phone on and off all night so she could listen to the songs. Almost felt like she was at the concert with me! All Kate's songs are amazing live but I do have to say her live version of Unfair was beyond amazing. Definiately, my favorite.

She played 14 songs which included two covers. She really interacts with the crowd and gives a great performance. The time went so quickly too. After the show I got to do the meet & greet line since I had purchased merchandise. So I made sure I was near the very end of the line (another hint from Steph!) and it worked out really great cos I got to talk a little more with Kate and give her some Australian gifts. She was so sweet. At first, she thanked me for coming out to see her plus she signed my CD and then when I said no worries, she looked up and asked where I was from cos of my accent. She was excited when I said Australia, she asked me a few questions about how long I'm in the U.S. for, if I'm enjoying it, what I thought of the concert and if I was watching season 7 of One Tree Hill. Then I gave her some gifts and she was like 'Are those for me? Aw, thank you so much. They are so cute.' Then I told her about the board (I moderate a fan board for Kate) and that I was good friends with Stephanie and her face lit up and she was so excited all over again. She was like 'Oh, you girls are so awesome. I really appreciate your support.' Then she got up and hugged me and kept saying thank you. She told me she is going to make it to Australia to perform one day. We also talked a little about One Tree Hill, Bethany Joy Galeotti and her style. Kate is so sweet when she talks about others. It was nice to hear her talk about her co-stars. So then it was time to leave and when I was walking back to the hostel I could hear Joy music playing really loud. It was funny how many girls at the concert were also fans of Joy and Everly. Love it! It's so awesome when you suddenly hear Kate or Joy music playing cos that never happens for me! So that's what I did yesterday and I have to say it was one of the best days ever! Not every day you get to see Kate Voegele in concert especially when your from Australia.

Hiking at Tent Rocks

I've been in the U.S. for nearly 2 months and I've hardly written any blog updates but truth is that most days are the same and I think you would get bored very quickly if I blogged about daily life. Most days are filled with breakfast, making lunches, driving to school, helping with homework, picking up from school, driving to sport practices and preparing snacks. Although I do get a lot of freetime which is spent doing groceries, meeting girls for coffee, shopping and laundry. Doesn't sound all that appealing to blog about, right?

The most exciting times are the weekends which is also my time off. You can normally find me hanging out with the 3 other au pairs here in Santa Fe. They are great. We usually meet for dinner and a movie on Friday nights, sometimes again on a Saturday night too. There isn't all that much to do in Santa Fe except dinner and movies but we are slowly finding new things to do. Like this weekend. Altho our Saturday night was a typical weekend ritual of dinner and movie. We had dinner at an all you can eat Chinese resturant which had so much food. It's a wonder the management didn't kick us out for laughing cos I think we laughed throughout the whole meal and if you've heard some of us girls laugh, well let's just say some would run and hide cos we can get loud! After dinner we went and see a movie, 'Julie and Julia'. If your thinking about seeing it, be warned it's slow, it's long and it's rather got no excitement at all. I was really disappointed. It seemed to drag on forever but then again we seen the 10pm session yet still we didn't get out of the cinema until 12.30am however I'd love those 2 and half hours of my life back please!

So today Julia and I decided to go on a Hike. We drove out to Tent Rocks which is about an hour drive from where we live. The drive was nothing exciting, basically just highway and lots of mountains. We finally found the hiking trails and paid our money ($5 gate fee), got a map and set off for the trails. the first trail we took was a 5km hike which took us 2 hours. It was incredible. First it started out a little steep and hot (due to the sun!) but then as the trail started moving along we found ourselves climbing through little rock tunnels, over rock steps and under trees. It was an amazing path. Nothing we'd ever done before. We felt a little like Indiana Jones going through the Temple of Doom! We had to stop a few times along the way cos it was so steep and we had to catch our breath not to mention take lots of photos. We finally made it up the top which had a beautiful view, nothing I could have pictured from the bottom. Yet, you know what I somehow managed to do. Ha Ha. Standing still, I somehow managed to slide straight to my butt and gosh did that hurt. I think I seriously bruised it cos it hurts so much now. Although, I don't think it really helped that later on when we were going back down the trail I slipped again and landed straight back on the same spot. So 2 falls on hard solid rocks is not that great for your butt. Be warned. Ha Ha. Oh, well I've got the little injuries for great memories.

It was quicker to go back down the trail although we agreed it was a horrible hike going back down cos you had to do different footwork and watch more carefully as it was steep and rocks everywhere. Some parts we had to sit down and slide down little embankments. Don't ask me how we all hiked up those but we managed. As they say what goes up, must come down! As we got to the bottom of the Canyon Trail, we took a left and hiked along the Caves Loop which was a small hike but had some really nice views including a few caves and tent rocks (rocks that look like little tents!). There was a nice breeze and the sun was slowly fading so it was a little more enjoyable when going up the steep embankments. We finally made it back to our car and it felt like we had taken half of the hiking trail back with us cos our shoes felt like they were full of sand and dirt, which they were!

Another hours drive back home although it turned into nearly 2 hours because we forgot to take our exit of the major interstate (highway) so we had to keep driving until we found the next exit and somehow get back on the other direction. We finally found it and got back in the right direction but the laughter and few bad words were worth the little trip and memories. It was such a great day, beautiful weather and perfect views.

The New Life

I've been in the US for 10 days now and am loving every minute of it but I haven't had much time to post oh here until now. So I'm finally in New Mexico. It's gorgeous. It's very different to Australia in so many ways. There are lots of dirt roads, hills, mountains and 4 way stop signs! I arrived on Saturday after flying from New York to Mineappolis then onto New Mexico. Both flights were smooth although a little turbulence here and there. We got delayed in Mineappolsis due to rain so we arrived in New Mexico about 10-15 minutes late. I was so excited to finally touch down and am officially over flying. I was greeted in New Mexico by my host mom. She was so lovely. We had to drive an hour to the house so we talked heaps and she told me about the kids and different things. It was a quick drive actually cause we talked the whole hour.

It was great to finally meet my host family. The parents are really nice, down to earth and caring while the kids are exciting, gorgeous and welcoming. The first night we all watched 'Little Man' together along with 2 friends who were staying over. Sunday morning I got to sleep in and then my host mom, Kam, Kam's friends & mom and I all went out to breakfast, kinda like a girls morning. It was really nice. We went to a little Mexican roadhouse and I ordered a breakfast burrito. It was huge and yummy but something different. It was a soft tortilla wrap filled with eggs, bacon, potatoes and cheese with green chilli sauce tipped over the top. Green chillis are really nice, not too hot either. After breakfast, my host mom and I went driving around so she could show me different places including the kids' schools, their work places and some other places. It's such a beautiful, historic area. So unique and beautiful. That afternoon I went out driving with my host dad, he said I was a really good driver and had no hesitations letting me drive the kids. That's was really cool considering I drive on the opposite side of the road back home and on the otherside of the car but you know what? I love driving here! I'm driving a Kia Sportage and it's a much bigger car then I'm used to but I love it.

As soon as Monday morning came around, that's when I officially started. My days consist of waking at 6am so I can prepare the kids lunches, make breakfast, wake the kids and pack school bags or sports bags. Then I drive the kids to school. I'm off mostly during the day but I do a few loads of laundry, tidy the kids rooms and load the dishwasher. I start back up again at 2pm and do pick up from school, help with afternoon homework, drive to sporting practices and then help with more homework. So far it's been interesting and a little challenging in the homework department with concentration from the kids but otherwise all is good.
I've shopped a little bit, drove around town, pumped some gas, cooked scrambled eggs and driven on the other side of the road. I'd say I'm doing good right about now. Plus, if you can drive up the driveway well then I'm more then ok cos that thing takes at least 5 minutes to drive down and then another 5 minutes to drive back up again. It's bumpy, hilly, rocky and looooong. But I've got the hang off it and love it. For those of you back home and want an idea of the driveway, let's just say you definiately need a 4WD to get up it cos it's like going 4WDriving!!! It's crazy!!!

Anyways, I'm sure I've left things out like all the stuff that happened in New York but I'm so exhausted that I'm going to head to bed and get an early night. I'm meeting some other Au Pairs tomorrow for coffeee. Really excited. It will be nice to know some other girls around here. So I'm off and bed and I'll write again soon.

Around the World in 24 hrs

Finally in New York City. I arrived last night but had no energy to write. It was a crazy, weird and horrible in ways past 24 hrs. I left Sydney with 2 other girls at 9.30am, we only just made our flight since it took forever to get through security and customs. We were one of the lasts ones to board our plane. They split us all up in single seats instead of seating us together. That was a nightmare in itself for the first half of the flight but we survived and had a good flight. I sat next to a couple from Los Angeles who had been visiting Australia. They were really nice. I watched some movies although I kept taking little naps cos I'd been up all night and had no sleep. I probably watched 3 movies. I finally got to see Forrest Gump. I've never seen that movie. It was a really good one. I also watched Longshots which is about football and then I watched Hannah Montana. The food service was good. We had lunch (chicken, salad, lemon cake and cheese with biscuits), we had snacks (peanuts, mini breadrolls and cheese with biscuits) plus we also had breakfast (blueberry pancakes, yoghurt, fruit and juice). It was really nice for plane food.

We arrived in Los Angeles around 5.50am but since customs didn't open til 6am we had to wait a little which caused us to stress a little as our connecting flight was at 7.30am and we still had to claim our luggage, re-check it and go through secruity. Plus one fo the girls I was traveling with had no boarding pass for the next flight cos the guy in Sydney took it off her. It was a nightmare. We finally got the boarding pass sorted, got through security only to find we missed our flight by a few minutes. As you can imagine, we stressed out big time. But it was all sweet, we booked new flights and then just had to chill in the airport for 3 hours until we realised that our luggage had been sent on the flight without us. We stressed some more. Our lives were in those suitcases basically so it was really daunting on us. So we sat around the airport which was crazy cos we were so sleep deprived that we had some weird energy to burn. We were singing songs, naming random Australian commercials and laughing. The other people must have thought we were crazy but we didn't think so. As long as we could keep laughing after the day we had, had so far.
We left Los Angeles at 11am, still didn't get to sit together but that was fine cos I slept nearly the whole flight. I was exhausted. By the time we landed in New York, it was getting dark but it was still a great view. We had a guy pick us up and help us claim our luggage which was being held in buggage claim. We were SOOOOO excited to see it. After we got our bags, we went out to the car and drove the 45 minutes to the training school which is on Long Island, New York. We couldn't see much driving in but it does look beautiful.

After meeting some other girls, getting our room assignments and having some food it was basically free time. I really wanted a shower but only to find there was no hot water, let's just say that didn't stop any of us. You sit on a plane for over 24 hrs and it probably wouldn't stop you either. Ha Ha. We spent the rest of the night talking, eating, checking our emails and calling home. Didn't get to sleep til 2am and was up again this morning at 7am. Crazy.

So now I'm just waiting for everyone to wake up so we can go have some breakfast and start the day. Looks like a nice day and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. Doesn't feel real. We are actually in New York. It's crazy.

Start of a New Journey

This coming Monday (September 7) I will be flying out to the U.S. to spend 2 years abroad working as an Au Pair for Cultural Care Au Pair. What is an Au Pair? Well, it's a French term which means 'on pair' or 'equal to', denoting living on an equal basis in a reciporocal, caring relationship between host family and the children. An au pair is typically a young woman from a forgein country who chooses to help look after children of a host family and provide light housekeeping. The au pair is given room and board and is typically paid a weekly "pocket-money" salary. So that's what I'm doing. I'm going to be living with a family, caring for their children whilst learning about their culture, lifestyle and seeing some of their gorgeous land.

My flight leaves Sydney on Monday morning at 9.20am. I'll be flying with 2 other Australian girls who are in the same program. We will have a short stop over in Los Angeles, California before heading to our final destination of John F. Kennedy airport in New York City. We will spend a week in New York at a special training school where we will learn about American childcare standards, laws and lifestyle. Whilst at the school we will meet other young girls from other countries who are in the same program, I've already made friends with many of them through facebook! When our week is over at the training school, we will all go our seperate ways and travel to our host families.

I'll be living in Santa Fe, New Mexico with a family of 4. I'll be caring for 2 children Kam (12) and Qbm (10). My daily schedule will be preparing the kids for school, driving them to school, picking them up from school, helping with homework, driving to sporting practices and events and helping out with everyday stuff. I'm sure it will be busy, fun and interesting.

So this blog is designed to keep friends and family back home in Australia up-to-date with everything I do and experience in the next 2 years. I will post pictures, daily recaps and other little tidbits along the way while all those back home can leave me comments :o)