Christmas, New York, and Ice Skating

Christmas

Christmas is similar to how it is celebrated in our country, but also very different. On one hand, it is like Christmas back home, where families come together and celebrate. But the first difference is that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th here, not on the 24th. In the morning, without any visitors (including grandparents), the presents are unwrapped. They really go all out with gifts here. The whole living room was filled with too many expensive gifts after unwrapping. I also received something from 'Santa.' In the afternoon, part of the family came over and we had a meal together.

New York City

The next day, my host family went to Hawaii and I went to New York City to meet my grandparents. The week was really great and it was wonderful to see grandma and grandpa again. And a big thank you to grandpa for planning everything, because without him, we wouldn't have seen so much! :*

On the first day, when we arrived, we didn't do anything because it was already late.

On the second day, we went to the World Trade Center, took the Staten Island Ferry, and saw the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. We also walked over the Brooklyn Bridge.

The next day, we went to the 9/11 Museum, which was sometimes really tough. After that, we went to a church (I forgot the name🙈) and then to Wall Street. Later, we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy.

On the fourth day, we visited the Empire State Building and went to Times Square and Grand Central Terminal. In the evening, we went to Rockefeller Center to see the big Christmas tree.

The next day, we went to the "American Museum of Natural History" (the museum from "Night at the Museum") and then to the Guggenheim Museum.

On the sixth day, we went up to Rockefeller Center to see the city from above, which was breathtaking. After that, I finally fulfilled my big dream and went ice skating at Rockefeller Center. It was just as beautiful as I had always imagined! In the evening, we walked along 5th Avenue.

The next morning, we went to the harbor and took a boat ride. In the evening, we went to Radio City Music Hall to see a performance by the Rockettes.

On our last day, we didn't go back to Manhattan, but stayed in New Jersey. We went to a mall until noon and then went to the airport.

That's how our wonderful vacation quickly came to an end...

I was back home on Monday. My host family came back on Tuesday and it was back to the normal work routine.

Ice Skating

On the weekend, I went ice skating with another au pair in Chicago at Millennium Park. The surroundings were really beautiful, but it couldn't compare to Rockefeller Center. But what was nice was that we didn't have to wait an hour to get on the ice and that I wasn't alone on the ice. And my skating wasn't as catastrophic anymore :D

PS. If you click on the pictures, you can see a brief description :)