two more days
Posted on Wednesday, 4 January 2012 at 07:48
Sadly that time has come around... the time to go home. I have two more days left in Miami and tomorrow will be spent packing all of my things. I plan to spend the day before we leave with Sandy, though we're yet to decide what we're going to do with the last of our time together. While part of me feels ready for home - I want my own bed! - I really don't want to leave. Meeting Sandy has been the best experience of my life and I feel so lucky to have been able to come here and spend three amazing weeks with her c:
Anyway, a couple of days ago, my parents and I went to a beautiful place called Vizcaya, where they had an incredible house and garden. The three of us went there to spend some quality time together and despite it being way too hot, we managed to have a lovely time. I didn't take that many photos (I was too busy complaining about the heat haha) but I did get a few of some flowers c:
In other news, Sandy slept over at the apartment last night and we spent most of it dancing around and having fun with photo booth on my macbook. The things we do may not sound very interesting or adventurous, but we're more than happy to just "chill" in the same room together for hours on end haha. We also spent a ridiculous amount of time waiting for The Sims 3 to update, only to get bored of it after about ten minutes when it had finally finished haha.
And before I forget to mention it, we've had a visitor coming to our apartment every night to beg for food. He's a small tabby cat who was painfully thin when he first turned up at our door, but after us giving him cat biscuits every night, he seems to have filled out already. Although we assumed he was a stray at first, we've decided he probably has a home but gets locked out at night, and that he's either hungry or just greedy c; either way, he's completely adorable and admittedly I've gotten a bit too attached to this little fellow.
I think the reason I ended up caring so much about this kitty is the fact that he reminds me so much of my own cat back home, Tigger. Because he comes to visit every night, the thought of him coming for his dinner the day we leave, only to find we're not answering the door, just about breaks my heart... I'm too soft, I know. To make me feel better, my mum and I are going to leave a note for the next family who stays in the apartment, asking them to please feed the kitty who comes visiting c;
coopertown and the everglades
Posted on Sunday, 1 January 2012 at 04:32
A few days ago, Sandy and I went to a small town called Coopertown with my parents. It has a population of 8 (yes, eight!) and is home to the original Coopertown airboats that take you through part of Florida's Everglades. The main reason we went was to see the alligators up close, but we were also curious about the airboats... they were nothing like I was expecting, but pretty cool all the same.
Unfortunately for me, we had to wait quite a while before we got onto our boat. Since it was extremely hot that day (or "warm" if you were to ask Sandy haha), I got irritable pretty quickly and definitely wasn't as excited as Sandy or my parents. When our boat finally came and we were able to get on, I banged my leg on the back of the metal seats and am now left with a huge lump and bruise! Typical me :p
Each boat had a "tour guide". They drive the airboats and also tell you lots of interesting facts about the Everglades and the alligators. Our tour guide was really funny and had us laughing every time we stopped to take in the view or to watch the alligators.
During the ride, we were lucky enough to see about four different alligators, including the oldest one living there; he's 60 years old and is sadly blind, but certain laws prevent anything being done to help him. We only caught a glimpse of him, but one particular female alligator took a keen interest in our boat. Our guide explained that she'd view the boat as an object, rather than a boat with people on board, making her curious about what it was. She came right up to the edge of the boat and gave everyone a good chance to take her photo c; our guide also explained that if an alligator wanted to, it would be able to bite through the metal of the boat without a problem. I'd had no idea their jaws were so strong, or that they were such fascinating animals in general!
After the boat ride, we were given the opportunity to hold a baby alligator. It didn't really seem to mind being passed around like a parcel and actually seemed to quite enjoy being held by so many people. Neither me or Sandy dared to hold it - I'm not sure if it was a girl or a boy - but we did touch it's tail and it's foot... it felt so strange, like it wasn't actually a living animal!
Unlike Sandy and I, my mum wasn't afraid to hold the baby alligator... in fact she was one of the first people to get in there and ask to hold it. Her reaction was so funny... I really should've videoed it c;
Overall, the airboat tour at the Everglades was really interesting, despite the fact it felt like we were barely on board the boat for fifteen minutes (we were actually on it for around 40). My favourite part was probably learning about the alligators, although the actual boat ride itself was pretty awesome. Needless to say, the waiting we did in the afternoon heat was definitely worth it in the end c:
sleepovers, tinsel, and vinyl toys
Posted on Tuesday, 27 December 2011 at 06:27
It's currently 1am and I'm listening to Pandora... I'm supposed to be sleeping but I'm too impressed by how this thing knows what music I like. It isn't available in England and I've been wanting to use it forever... I'll really miss it when I go back home haha. Anyway, I'm here to post some more photos before I end up forgetting and never doing it c:
The night after I slept over at Sandy's house, she came to stay the night at the apartment. My parents had bought a 2ft Christmas tree so Sandy and I decorated as best as we could... my mum had also bought a 14ft length of tinsel, so we had to cut it into pieces first haha. We also used some red glittery snowflakes Sandy's mum gave me... we tried to make it as pretty as the world's smallest Christmas tree - which it basically is - can be.
Danbo underneath the tree. You can barely see it here (I posted a better photo of it on Christmas Eve), but he makes it look huge.
It was during this sleepover that Sandy introduced me to Fullmetal Alchemist. I've always liked anime but I never really knew where to watch them. She has a talent for showing me things she likes and getting me completely obsessed with them, such as The Legend of Zelda games, which I'd heard of but had never played, and the Pokemon games for GBA; I'd always been a Pokemon fan but had never actually played the games until Sandy one day mentioned how fun they were. Fullmetal Alchemist has been no exception... I'm in love. Where has Edward Elric been all my life? Haha. We stayed up until about 1am watching it on Anime Freak TV and did the same the next night too when she slept over for a second night.
Watching Fullmetal Alchemist... I think that's what I was doing here anyway. Either that or I was deep in thought about something haha.
This is the twin room at the apartment where Sandy and I sleep when she comes over. We pushed the beds together and managed to make a nice mess within minutes. The beds are on wheels and constantly move around on the marble floor... annoying, but also pretty amusing c:
Tomorrow we're going to Barnes and Noble's to pick up two Sabochan Toki Doki figures... Sandy bought the SANDy figure while we were there a few days ago and we decided we both want to go back and buy a Sabochan each c: I like to think I got her into vinyl toys just like she got me into Zelda, Pokemon, Fullmetal Alchemist, etc. After Barnes and Noble's, we're going to the Everglades to go on a boat ride and hopefully see some alligators. I'm praying it won't be too hot, but this is Miami we're talking about :p
sleepover time
Posted on Monday, 26 December 2011 at 22:13
Today is Boxing day and I'm spending it doing... well, nothing. But that's okay with me since I like lazing around indoors haha. My parents can't get their heads around the fact I'd rather be inside than out in the Miami sunshine. That probably makes me sound unappreciative since my parents and I have come so far from home, but I have an extremely low tolerance for heat... trust Sandy to live in such a hot state. No, I'm kidding... I really do love it here. Luckily for me, the temperature is supposed to be cooling down this next week... fingers crossed!
Anyway, since I have a lot of time on my hands right now, I thought I'd blog about a few things that happened during the past week c: I did want to keep this blog in chronological order, but like I said before, blogging hasn't exactly been the first thing on my mind.
Sometime last week - perhaps Tuesday, or maybe it was Wednesday... I've lost track of the days haha - I slept over at Sandy's house for the first time. The day before, we'd been to the mall and had bought Just Dance 3 for the Wii, so we spent the majority of the day playing that with her little brother, Luis. I thought I was going to be terrible at it, but it turned out I wasn't too bad and managed to get a few high scores, much to my own surprise. We watched Sweeney Todd sometime in the afternoon, and after Luis had gone to bed, we settled down to watch Across the Universe. Both of us are huge Beatles fans, and we both have fangirl crushes on Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson c; it's a movie we've been planning to watch together for a very long time... even though I have it at home on DVD, I stopped myself from watching it so that I could see it with Sandy for the first time.
While I was at Sandy's house, we also videocalled with our friend in New York, Lyndsay. We met Lyn the same way we met each other - on the forum I set up around four years ago - and we'd promised that we'd videocall with her once I got here. The plan was for us to talk to each other, but for some reason we could only hear Lyn if we plugged in some headphones, and I completely clammed up and couldn't speak. I've always had a strange fear of talking on telephones or via videocall and even though Sandy and Lyn were talking to each other, something I'd hoped would make me feel more comfortable with talking, I just couldn't bring myself to say a word. Sorry Lyn :c
You can just about see Lyn in the top left corner of the monitor... and half of me at the bottom haha. Sandy was busy taking photos while I typed to Lyn instead of actually talking.
This was my reaction to Lyn suddenly pulling one of her pet cats out of thin air... I'd looked away for a second and the next thing I knew, he was sitting in her lap. So cute c:
And here I am trying to talk to Lyn while Luis pesters me to play Just Dance 3 with him... or at least, I think that's what he was doing :p
Before watching Across the Universe, Sandy and I ventured outside to take photographs and were closely followed by Luis. We spent some time sitting on the driveway and looking at the stars c:
I still have more photos to post, but my parents have just decided that we're going to Walmart... I think they're just determined to get me out of the apartment today haha. Hopefully I'll find a mac-compatible Nancy Drew game... I got one a few days ago and spent yesterday playing it. I managed to solve it in a matter of hours and now that I have the taste for solving mysteries, I just want to play them all haha. So to Walmart it is. More updates soon c:
botanical garden
Posted on Sunday, 25 December 2011 at 20:00
A few days ago, Sandy, my parents and I went to a lovely little botanical garden in South Beach Miami. It was way too hot for me that day, being the English rose that I am, so I did a lot more complaining about the heat than I did enjoying the garden... much to Sandy's amusement. With it being winter, it doesn't feel hot for Sandy, but with my parents and I being from England where temperatures above 20C are rare even in the summer, it felt absolutely sweltering to us. We managed though, and in the end had a lovely day out c:
My dad taking photos at the botanical garden c:
We also went to a Holocaust memorial that day... it was right by the botanical garden, and since Sandy and I both love history, we were both very eager to see it. Unfortunately there was some maintenance work going on so the statues were covered in scaffolding and were off limits to visitors, but we were still able to read all all of the information about the Holocaust. There was a long marble wall with information carved into the surface, along with a lot of rather upsetting photographs. My grandmother who recently passed away had been taken to a concentration camp with her family during the war, along with my grandfather and a number of other family members. Seeing the true horror of the Holocaust was really quite upsetting with the thought that my own family suffered through something so horrific, along with so many other innocent people, but it was an amazing experience all the same and something I'll never forget. We donated $10 to the memorial to help with the upkeep c:
A marble wall with the names of people who died in the concentration camps during the Holocaust.
christmas eve
Posted on at 06:43
Since arriving in Miami, I haven't been posting anywhere near as much as I hoped - or said - I would. I did intend to post every day, but blogging hasn't been the number one thing on my mind; I've been so busy spending time with Sandy, having sleepovers and going places. This post is going to be about my evening with Sandy and her family, but I promise I'll catch up on the last few days... I have tons of photos to upload!
So today (or yesterday if we're going to get technical) was Christmas Eve. Sandy's parents had invited my own parents and I to spend the evening with them at their house, so we gladly went along to join in with their festivities, which turned out to be extremely different to what I'm accustomed to; having a Polish family, I'm used to spending my Christmas eves celebrating Wigilia. At first we spent a little while talking and getting to know Sandy's godparents, before moving to the dinner table where we had a small buffet. After that, Sandy and I went outside for a while and exchanged gifts, before heading back inside to sit with my parents, her godfather and godbrother. The rest of the evening consisted of a lot of talking and laughing, and we ate a delicious cake (or bread, as Sandy's family were calling it) made by her godsister... it felt lovely to be so welcomed by Sandy's family and I really enjoyed spending time with them. After we left, my parents and I went to a church near the apartment where we're staying to attend midnight mass and sing some Christmas carols c:
It's now 1:30am and later on I'll be spending the day with just my parents to celebrate Christmas day. They bought a turkey and intend to cook a traditional English-style Christmas dinner in the hope it'll make us feel a little more Christmassy, since being in such a warm place during winter makes it feel like summer for us Brits. After eating, we'll probably just spend the day relaxing and enjoying the sun c:
Presents from Sandy underneath our tiny Christmas tree c:
Sandy and I decorated it together as best as we could. I'll go into more detail about it when I go through the photos I have to upload from the past few days c:
And she'll hate me for posting this, but I couldn't resist. Besides, it's the first photo I've managed to get of Sandy looking at the camera c: this is her with her dad... her expression really shows how much she disapproved of me taking her photo c;
meeting sandy
Posted on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 at 16:34
Well, it's been two days since I finally met my best friend and I honestly couldn't be happier. On Sunday, the day we met, my parents and I arrived at her house to find her sitting on the front step with her four year old brother on her lap. I couldn't see her face, but as soon as I saw her sitting there, my stomach dropped and I was so overcome with emotion... I felt like I was going to faint. Surprisingly I didn't cry (I'd been convinced that I would) and it was instead Sandy who was sobbing, despite thinking she'd be the one who wouldn't cry. Her mum was the first person to hug me, and after that I quickly went to Sandy to hug her too, or as well as I could with her brother on her lap haha. Once she'd stood up, we hugged again and she went to wake up her dad who was getting some sleep ready for his night shift at work. The rest is honestly a blur; it felt so surreal being there at Sandy's house with her and her family, after so long talking to her online. Our parents spent some time talking and Sandy's dad promised she can come to England in the summer, and she made him pinky promise. My parents eventually left me there with Sandy and we took a quick trip to the post office in her car, before taking a walk to a lake in her neighbourhood (or maybe it happened the other way around) where we just sat and talked.
When we got back from the lake, we had some dinner together and then spent the rest of the day playing Mario Kart with her brother (who insisted on playing too) and watching television with her mom. It might seem like such an ordinary day, but for us it was the complete opposite. My parents picked me up later that night and we came back to the apartment where they're staying.
Yesterday was spent mostly at Aventura Mall... Sandy and I went there on the bus which was an experience in itself haha. Buses aren't that much different here in Florida, but I was impressed by a cord that ran along the windows for passengers to pull when they wanted to get off the bus. The mall was so big and noisy compared to the malls I'm used to back home, and most of the stores were ones I'd never heard of before. Sandy and I were on a mission to find a Christmas present for my mom, and only found it when we were on our way to meet her and my dad when they came to pick us up! After that, my parents took Sandy and I back to the apartment and the four of us went for a short walk to the beach... despite it being so dark we could barely see the water, the city skyline looked incredible. When we got back to the apartment, the four of us sat together and talked for an hour or two, and Sandy tried some English tea c:
Surprisingly, I've barely taken any photos since meeting Sandy. She's yet to let me take photos of her, but I'll manage to talk her round c;
