Ocean City!!!

Last weekend (25-27 April) I and my friends (Graciela Arely Ameriqua Nina Lenka Janine Inghe Christina) went to the Ocean City, Maryland the city known as The White Marlin Capital of the World.

We were driving there with two cars: Nina, Lenka, Graciela and me in one, and Janine, Inghe, Christina, America and Arely in second car. Finaly we've got there, the house looked so small and it appeared so huge! We chose bedrooms and started prepered to dinner. And what did we make for dinner? - Spaggetti!!!

Next day was 'The Beach Day'!!! After breakfast we went straight there. It wasn't to warm but it was ok, and definitely we've had great time. We could even see a wedding on a beach!

The most incredible time came, when we went to downtown at night. It was crazy - we even fit together in the little booth for making pictures All OF US FIT THERE(where shoukd fit only one or to persons)!!! After coming back we took a bath in jacuzzi and finaly some sleep.

The last day was mostly about cleaning up everything, except for Janine and Inghe was prepering our breakfast so hard that they almost burnt everything (all this smoke).

It was great time - Nina and Lenka did not know what they lost leaving us on Saturday night for going party in Virginia.

Visiting Consulate of RP in Waszyngton DC plus short look into ZOO

Today Kristy, me and boys went to DC to make my new passport (my current passport is close to be expire that why I need a new one). After I read the website i thought that we should go to Polish Embassy and we did go there! Unfortunately we were informed thet for making new pasport we must to go to Polisk Consulate. It took as some time to get there but finaly we found it and the process of preparing all documents for passport went very easy. In May they will sent all my papers to Poland and from Poland, propably, they will sent my new passport in July in here (I hope so) if they do not have enough time to make it I will have it in September (that would not be good).

After everything in Consulate was made we went to ZOO, where Casey could see Bears, Pandas and other animal. Of course it was so late and he was so tired so we decided to go back home.

Here you can see some pics from that day.

Casey was so tired and fall asleep in the car with snoring.

Chinese time!!!

中國的

Most of you know that I decided to learn Spanish here in US but who of you know that I will decide to learn Chinese? Yes... yes..., Chinese!
Yesterday was my first class and I must to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
Everybody in the class had pretty much fun with pronunciation. And what I can say about it is that, I'm suprised to find that Polish and Chinese have so much common in sounds. Really!!! I'm not kidding. Because of that I had even more fun - hearing other (American) people trying to pronounce Chinese words correctly.

謝謝你 (Xie-Xie)

Mason's Baptism

Sunday 20th was the day of Mason's Baptism. What I can say about that is that it was the same like in the church i Poland but in different way!!! Here are some pictures from that day.

Perents, Godparents and Mason plus priest all together

Hihi... this picture look like somebody is askink: 'Which way I should go?' and Kristy and Casey are showing the correct way;)

Movie theather

Last Friday (April 18) I and my friends (Graciela Arely Kriss Meau Tai) went to MT to see the movie "The Forbidden Kingdom". The fynny thing was that gils didn't know what are we going to watch until we bought a ticket.


Direct I decided to see this movie after seeing that tailer:
http://www.stopklatka.pl/film/film.asp?fi=30875&sekcja=mmedia
I didn't read the recension and after seeing only that I thought that it will be something like 'The Last Samuraj' and it appeared so funny.

The very next day (Saturday night) I and others girls were celebrating Li's (Peru) Birthday in Annapolis. Happy Birthday LI!!!

April 5th - "A" Party

"A" Party - that is everybody had to come dressed up as something begins with letter "A".

This was the most american party I had ever saw.

There was over 120 people and we could saw:

- Animal, ants, alaskans, available, aliens, alcoholic, awake, Amor, athletes, artists, actors, angels, Anderson Pamela, Au Pairs, army, acrobats... and many many more.

We could eat food as Appetizers, antipastas and other even funny stuff to eat and drink (of course everything begins with A).

April 5th - US Capitol Building tour (Au Pairs' meeting)

Our April au pair meeting was a tour in The United States Capitol Building. The capitol building that serves as the seat of government for the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. And who was the tour leader? - Michael Weight! - Yes, yes my host dad!

The building is marked by its central dome above a rotunda and two wings, one for each chamber of Congress: the north wing is the Senate chamber and the south wing is the House of Representatives chamber. Above these chambers are galleries where visitors can watch the Senate and House of Representatives. It is an example of the Neoclassical architecture style. The statue on top of the dome is the Statue of Freedom.

We went to see the fresco painted on the interior of the Capitol's dome and it totally amazed me. Fresco titled 'The Apotheosis of Washington' and was painted by Constantino Brumidi.

Under the Rotunda there is an area known as the Crypt. It was designed to look down on the final resting place of George Washington in the tomb below. However, under the stipulations of his last will, Washington was buried at Mount Vernon, and as such the area remains open to visitors. The Crypt now houses exhibits on the history of the Capitol. A star inlaid in the floor marks the point at which Washington D.C. is divided into its four quadrants (picture on your left); however, the exact center of the city lies near the White House.



The Capitol also houses the National Statuary Hall Collection, comprised of two statues donated by each of the fifty states to honor persons notable in their histories. One of the most notable statues in the National Statuary Hall is a bronze statue of King Kamehameha (on the right you see me and the statue) donated by the state of Hawaii upon its accession to the union in 1959. The statue's extraordinary weight of 15,000 pounds raised concerns that it might come crashing through the floor, so it was moved to a position in the Hall which could withstand the weight load.

We saw Old Supreme Court Chamber and... other places that I don't even remember. Mike has great knowledge about this place (well he should - he is The Capitol Police Officer) I am sure that I remember less than half of what he told to us. It was so many information in such short time. Of course I always can count on Mike to refresh me them.:D

After tour some of as decided to stay longer in DC and went to Art Gallerry and also eat somethig. We didn't to much time there because we had to come back and prepare ourselves to "A" Party in America's house.

Spring time

Spring is coming!!!

Cherry Blossom - Kite's Festival

Weekend after California Kristy took both kids, me and her friends to DC for Kite's Festival.

It was nice day and great time.



Kite... Kite... Kite... I don't even remember when was the last time that I had opportunity to play with Kite...



Of course Casey had fun as well


Capitol Building

. .

little 'strongman'...

West Coast of US - preview

Ok. It will be my first big post. I decided to write it in English so my no-polish speaking friends can enjoy too. (Excuse me for all my mistakes and correct me everytime you want).
West coast preview - let's begin!

>>>>Palm Springs - Los Angeles - San Diego

All my traveling began at Baltimore Airport, MD - March 16. I was flying to Dallas, TX (airport there is so huge!) to Palm Springs, CA. I had to get to Los Angeles to my Gateaway Hotel - The Hacienda Hotel. I've got there about 11 pm dog-tired. About half hour later my roommate come - Christine Nwankwo from UK.

The very next day, tour has started - at the lobby we met our tour leader - Sean Martin (definetely one of the best that I have ever met - good preparation, exeptional knowlegde, excellent driving skills and wild character all together); at the lobby Christine and I have met other trekkers as well: Marcin Lenkiewicz (jak sama nazwa wskazuje z Polski/Poland - first met person from my country since I have come to US), Sunyoun Kim 'Sunny'(Korea), Maggy Song (Korea), Marc White (UK), Jing You (China/UK), Robert Barnes (UK), Vicki Rutherford (Canada/Scotland), Bahareh Samadi (Canada/Iran), Mo Miah (UK), Adam Kott (USA), Danjana Robels (au pair also in Cultural Care Au Pair Program - Germany).

We did not have time to spend it in LA so we moved straight to San Diego. We were on route few hours there. '2211 Pacific Beach Dr - Campland on the Bay', our camp place. we built our tents (that kind was pretty easy to make it stand up - compering to my last tent in Polish Internation Scouts Jamboree in August 2007). After that some of us decided to go to San Diego Zoo and part of group went to downtown (Sean, our tour leader figured out that it was possible). I chose Zoo and I enjoyed it very much - pandas are so cute, and that Spectackled Bear!

Title of the next day was: 'SeaWorld Adventure'. The best was Journey to Atlantis - falling down was terrifying (especially that I was sitting in a first row and had never done such thing). Just stop movie and look at Christine and me - you will laugh for a long time, guarantee!!! It was really wet day, which has nothing common with the weather (it was very nice that day), Shamu, seals and shipwreck made themself!

Second evening..., second dinner..., group B... ...my group and cooking time. Fortunetely, there was no complaining about dinner, it means that group B (Marcin, Sunny and me) made a good job.:D

>>>>Las Vegas

Day 3 - time to pack our belongings and move to... Las Vegas - the most populous city in the state of Nevada! We were on our way for about 7 hours. Somebody can say that propably we were sleeping for most ot the time in the ven but he will be wrong. Self-entertaining in the car worked fabulous. LOSER's Club RULEZ!!!

Yes, yes I had white stripes of peper on my forehead and everybody had purple letters on faces (which after all appear as a 'LOSER' - w bardzo pozytywnym tego slowa znaczeniu, czyli z glebokim zamruzeniem oka) ;D

Finally, we've got to our hotel (Alexis Hotel) in LV. I was the only person with room that I did not share with anybody. I figured out fast that it was great, because I could spend whole free time before dinner in bathtube - relaxing , insted of worring that other person wants to use bathroom too.

Time for dinner and Limo (Limuzyna) had come. I know that our limo did not look exactly like a limo that people used to see in movies, but, trust me, that was a limusine - not a 'WHITE BUS WITH A BAR' . It was my sister Anna who asked me what was the white bus with bar in Las Vegas?. Firstly, I thought she was talking about our ven, but it has no bar inside so I ask her 'which bus? there was no such bus!' and after while I realized that she propably was thinking about Limo. So funny!!! (te hehehehe...)


Limo - you can fell like a rock star! - That for sure! - especialy if you have champagne, wine, beer and shots of Tequila inside... I was wondering, from where limos came. And here is the answer: the word 'limousine' is derived from the name of the French region Limousin, and is associated with the long cloaks once worn by the shepherds there. Traditionally, the limousine has been an extension of a large sedan. Limousines are most commonly driven by chauffeurs.

Okey, and what do you think is the best to do after limo?
- of course night club.

Dancing - means barszczyk's time, but I wasn't alone, Sean appears as crazy dancer as me, too - AAAAAAAOOOOOOO!


>>>>Grand Canyon Scenic Flight - Death Valley

Day 4 and Grand Canyon Scenic Flight from LV. The VEEERY expensive one (457$) and the very amazing one. That one included landing inside Grand Canyon - where we drunk a glass of champagne, had some snacks and what's more - we could even have a little conversation with a small desert squarel (tak zwana surykatka). I have made over one hundred fifty pictures during this flight, and I can say that there are not such words that would be proper to describe beaty of Grand Canyon, I'm sure that Bahareh and Mo, who decided to fly too, will agree with me about that. After all, Grand Canyon was called in 2006 as The eighth Wonder of the Ancient World.

Next day we visited Death Valley (190 feet below sea level). This National Park is situated between Naval Air Weapons Stanion China Lake and Neilis Test And Trainig Center. Other interesting thing is that Death Valley is the lowest place in US, and not far from it is The Sierra Nevada - mountain range which has the highest peaks in US (except Alaska) - Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4,421 m). Amazing scenery; hiking; looking at sunset and exploring new point of view on constellation of the stars in California sky, at warm night, sitting close to camp-fire... could not be better.

...or maybe it could! - It was time to say 'godbye Death Valley' and 'good morning long (ten hours) way to Marina' and that was it! - long way but with such great surroudings (The Sierra Nevada range, green landscapes in Monterey County) that I could see from the best place, in front of the ven - I knew which day choose to sit there:D.

>>>>Monterey - San Francisco - Palm Springs

Seven in the morning, very cold and we are leaving our sleeping place in Marina. Short stop in Carmel and then hiking in Point Lobos State Reserve. I know that I already use this sentense many times but THERE was so BEAUTIFUL! And then we moved, crossing the City of Gilroy - Garlic Capital of the World! And the time for the city of the last stop had come.

San Fran - quick stop for mission burito (ogromniaste zreszta - nawet polowy nie zjadlam); brief trip around the city, unfortunately in the ven (but we still could smell Eucalyptus trees, that were introduced to California during California Gold Rush in 1850s and then planted in 1900s); a little time for short hiking through Golden Gate and... ...the end of the fabulous tour.

Of course Fabulous tour means fabulous people and fabulous peole used to continuing going out together. Sor do we! We went to the Irish Bar (I have now clue what was it name) and had great time. It was after 1 am when we come back to Ou Western Americania Hotel and decided to keep our being together going in '211'. After all there were only three survivers (Sean Christine and me) and '211' changed into '209'.

5.30 in the morning - time for me had come, I packed my belongings and set off to Ferry Building (Amtrak Station).

'BONUSIK' - Bonus material

...I really miss you guys

Now, I was on my 13-hours-way to Palm Springs. When I've got to the resort in PS, the only thing I wanted was the shower and the bed.

Those several days with my host family in Palm Springs were very nice. I met Kristy's brother - Dan, his wife and kids. Kristy's Father came there as well. It was a family jamboree and I did not must to take care of Mason and Casey as much as normal (mainly only during their naps) - and Casey has been naping for four hours during those days. I could enjoy that nice and warm climate.

Unfortunately everything that's good ends fast, and I had to say goodbye to The West and go back to Arnold. Between our flights, in Dallas,TX, after lunch I took Mason on my arms and he fall asleep as much as possible... (I love this picture of us that Kristy made - it is so cute!). I just love this family!!!

**edit**

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