We ended up staying at Dart's apartment last night and didn't get to sleep til lunchtime today.
We made a fort by his tv and played guitar all night. It was good fun.
Didn't meet choco at the loop because we were all still really tired. Turns out choco couldn't get there today either anyway, so it turned out fine.
I'll upload some pictures later.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Day 19: Mon 29 Dec
We got to sleep at 7am, as I said before, and ended up sleeping all day.
Train told me I wasn't allowed to wake him up at all, so I didn't. I got woken up at 11am by someone with what I think was a chainsaw cutting down trees outside out apartment; that's what it sounded like anyway. I couldn't see anyone, but the noise was really loud, I think it was closer to Train's window than our front ones. I'm surprised he didn't wake up. I went back to sleep and we both woke up finally around 6:30pm.
We watched the movie Crank- which I really enjoyed. Kale, if you're reading this, I'd recommend you watch it if you haven't seen it already- you'd really like it.
After that we got kind of bored and realised we had dvds that were due back the other day. We decided to start teaching ourselves sign language online, which entertained us for half an hour or so. This is like, 9:45pm now. Dart (Joshua) called and asked if we wanted to hang out this evening, because he was sick and had been in bed all day and gotten up the same time as us. We said sure. He's going to pick us up shortly, and we're going to get Imo's (pronounced Emo's) pizza for dinner, which is like, the brand of pizza that everyone keeps raving about how great it is. Americans eat a lot of just Cheese pizza. It's good and all, but kind of boring, I think.
Tomorrow we're meeting up with my friend Choco (who's real name is Dan) at the loop sometime in the afternoon. I call him Choco like chock-oh, but apparently Americans read it as cho-ko, it's funny the way the English language works.
Nonetheless, it's 11pm now and Dart will be picking us up soon. It's nearly new years eve, I just realised. We've been invited to some party that Dart's friends are having in a cabin somewhere I think. I'm not really sure about the details but it should be a good night. I need to go to the laundromat again, I keep running out of clean tshirts and polyprops. Maybe I should go to the opshop (they call them Thrift stores here) and find some cool tshirts. I'll see if I can find one that's open sometime tomorrow. There's a place in the loop called rag-o-rama which I think might be something similar; apparently a lot of scenster kids go there though, so I'll have to see.
Train told me I wasn't allowed to wake him up at all, so I didn't. I got woken up at 11am by someone with what I think was a chainsaw cutting down trees outside out apartment; that's what it sounded like anyway. I couldn't see anyone, but the noise was really loud, I think it was closer to Train's window than our front ones. I'm surprised he didn't wake up. I went back to sleep and we both woke up finally around 6:30pm.
After that we got kind of bored and realised we had dvds that were due back the other day. We decided to start teaching ourselves sign language online, which entertained us for half an hour or so. This is like, 9:45pm now. Dart (Joshua) called and asked if we wanted to hang out this evening, because he was sick and had been in bed all day and gotten up the same time as us. We said sure. He's going to pick us up shortly, and we're going to get Imo's (pronounced Emo's) pizza for dinner, which is like, the brand of pizza that everyone keeps raving about how great it is. Americans eat a lot of just Cheese pizza. It's good and all, but kind of boring, I think.
Tomorrow we're meeting up with my friend Choco (who's real name is Dan) at the loop sometime in the afternoon. I call him Choco like chock-oh, but apparently Americans read it as cho-ko, it's funny the way the English language works.
Nonetheless, it's 11pm now and Dart will be picking us up soon. It's nearly new years eve, I just realised. We've been invited to some party that Dart's friends are having in a cabin somewhere I think. I'm not really sure about the details but it should be a good night. I need to go to the laundromat again, I keep running out of clean tshirts and polyprops. Maybe I should go to the opshop (they call them Thrift stores here) and find some cool tshirts. I'll see if I can find one that's open sometime tomorrow. There's a place in the loop called rag-o-rama which I think might be something similar; apparently a lot of scenster kids go there though, so I'll have to see.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Day 18: Sun 28 Dec: COFFEE CARTEL ADVENTURE
Woke up at 2pm today and I tidied up a bit.
Did the dishes and things.
With the help of the wonderful Curtis, I got my laptop to play dvds, so we can watch them on mine now.
Besides this, we're not really doing anything.
No idea about tomorrow yet either.
It's 8C out.
I ate an apple for breakfast.
That's been pretty much the highlights of my day.
EDIT: okay, scratch that. Train and I made a spur of the moment decision at 11:15pm that we should go out to this 24 hour cafe place on the other side of town. The bus left at 11:30pm so we had to rush and change out of our pjs and things and get to the bus stop. We got there seriously just in the nick of time, we had just crossed the road and the bus pulled up. It was like an hours bus ride to the place, we were meant to get there at 12:30am but the bus driver didn't stop at the right stop for us, and I ended up getting us lost. After walking around for another hour, we decided to go into some fancy apartment lobby and ask for directions. Everyone here is so nice and helpful, I really like it. We were about 3 blocks or so from the place when we stopped to ask for directions and we got there just before 2am I think it was. Got coffee for myself and a hot chocolate for Train because he absolutely loathes coffee; I'm starting to as well, I still haven't found one single place that can make a decent espresso coffee. You don't know how lucky you lot all are back in NZ, you can walk into any robert harris, coffee culture or even like, muffin break for that matter and get a decent coffee- it may not be the best, but its 211234718209341x better than anything over here in America that I've found so far at least. I can't wait to get home and have a proper coffee.
Anyway, back to the story. We finished our drinks and decided to walk to the gas station which Train said was less than a block away to find some cigarettes for him, it ended up being about 3 blocks away. I needed to use their bathroom, but the guy at the desk said the door was locked and he couldn't open it. Got back to the cafe again and the girls working there were surprised to see us, they thought we had gone for the night. There were still a surprising number of people in there at this time, at least a dozen or so, I'd say. This is like, 3 something in the morning now, mind you. We got an icecream sundae, and kept the girls behind the counter entertained for a few minutes while we tried to make up our minds and asked them what they recomended and things. I'd read a lot of bad reviews about the Coffee Cartel (which was what the cafe was called- I forgot to mention that earlier) but it seemed an alright place. Sure it wouldn't be the best place to go to by yourself at 3am in the morning, there were a couple of creepy looking people, but we didn't feel unsafe or anything. The food and things there is a little expensive, but not overly so. Train and I were getting really super tired at this point, Joshua wasn't answering his phone and he's usually up around this time, but it turns out he was sick in bed. The next bus home didn't come til 5:30am so we hung around sleepily until then and caught that back home. It's so nice when the busses actually stop right outside your street; makes it so much easier. Got home around 6:30am ish and fell asleep at 7.
Pictures from this adventure to be added shortly.
Did the dishes and things.
With the help of the wonderful Curtis, I got my laptop to play dvds, so we can watch them on mine now.
Besides this, we're not really doing anything.
No idea about tomorrow yet either.
It's 8C out.
I ate an apple for breakfast.
That's been pretty much the highlights of my day.
EDIT: okay, scratch that. Train and I made a spur of the moment decision at 11:15pm that we should go out to this 24 hour cafe place on the other side of town. The bus left at 11:30pm so we had to rush and change out of our pjs and things and get to the bus stop. We got there seriously just in the nick of time, we had just crossed the road and the bus pulled up. It was like an hours bus ride to the place, we were meant to get there at 12:30am but the bus driver didn't stop at the right stop for us, and I ended up getting us lost. After walking around for another hour, we decided to go into some fancy apartment lobby and ask for directions. Everyone here is so nice and helpful, I really like it. We were about 3 blocks or so from the place when we stopped to ask for directions and we got there just before 2am I think it was. Got coffee for myself and a hot chocolate for Train because he absolutely loathes coffee; I'm starting to as well, I still haven't found one single place that can make a decent espresso coffee. You don't know how lucky you lot all are back in NZ, you can walk into any robert harris, coffee culture or even like, muffin break for that matter and get a decent coffee- it may not be the best, but its 211234718209341x better than anything over here in America that I've found so far at least. I can't wait to get home and have a proper coffee.
Anyway, back to the story. We finished our drinks and decided to walk to the gas station which Train said was less than a block away to find some cigarettes for him, it ended up being about 3 blocks away. I needed to use their bathroom, but the guy at the desk said the door was locked and he couldn't open it. Got back to the cafe again and the girls working there were surprised to see us, they thought we had gone for the night. There were still a surprising number of people in there at this time, at least a dozen or so, I'd say. This is like, 3 something in the morning now, mind you. We got an icecream sundae, and kept the girls behind the counter entertained for a few minutes while we tried to make up our minds and asked them what they recomended and things. I'd read a lot of bad reviews about the Coffee Cartel (which was what the cafe was called- I forgot to mention that earlier) but it seemed an alright place. Sure it wouldn't be the best place to go to by yourself at 3am in the morning, there were a couple of creepy looking people, but we didn't feel unsafe or anything. The food and things there is a little expensive, but not overly so. Train and I were getting really super tired at this point, Joshua wasn't answering his phone and he's usually up around this time, but it turns out he was sick in bed. The next bus home didn't come til 5:30am so we hung around sleepily until then and caught that back home. It's so nice when the busses actually stop right outside your street; makes it so much easier. Got home around 6:30am ish and fell asleep at 7.
Pictures from this adventure to be added shortly.
Day 17: Sat 27 Dec
Dart did come over, we watched Noi Albinoi which is an icelandic film, it's really really good.
He ended up staying over and sleeping on my air mattress. I didn't get to sleep until about 10:45am this morning. Dart left around 12pm I guess it was, and Train and I went out lunch to the Urban Eats cafe and it rained and it rained and it thunder stormed. Then we went home and started to watch a movie, but Train's laptop decided to cut out half way through. I fell asleep then, and woke up late. Train was about to go to sleep when I woke up, so I went back to sleep too.
I'll put some pictures of the cafe in later.
He ended up staying over and sleeping on my air mattress. I didn't get to sleep until about 10:45am this morning. Dart left around 12pm I guess it was, and Train and I went out lunch to the Urban Eats cafe and it rained and it rained and it thunder stormed. Then we went home and started to watch a movie, but Train's laptop decided to cut out half way through. I fell asleep then, and woke up late. Train was about to go to sleep when I woke up, so I went back to sleep too.
I'll put some pictures of the cafe in later.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Day 16: Friday 26 Dec- Boxing day
Americans don't celebrate boxing day.
Everything was open like normal.
We slept in all day. I got up at 10:30pm and Train made me grilled cheese for dinner/lunch/breakfast.
After discovering it was 17C outside (how the heck did it get that warm all of a sudden?!) we decided to head out to the supermarket (which is open til midnight) to get a few things; cheese, juice, toilet paper, tissues.
I'm not sure what our plans for tomorrow are; but we found an ad for a garage sale which is a block or so from us, so we might go to that. B didn't come over tonight, so we're seeing her tomorrow afternoon sometime. Dart might be coming around too.
Everything was open like normal.
We slept in all day. I got up at 10:30pm and Train made me grilled cheese for dinner/lunch/breakfast.
After discovering it was 17C outside (how the heck did it get that warm all of a sudden?!) we decided to head out to the supermarket (which is open til midnight) to get a few things; cheese, juice, toilet paper, tissues.
I'm not sure what our plans for tomorrow are; but we found an ad for a garage sale which is a block or so from us, so we might go to that. B didn't come over tonight, so we're seeing her tomorrow afternoon sometime. Dart might be coming around too.
This is Joshua; we call him Dart which is short for Darticon-5.
He's 21.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Day 15: Thurs 25 Dec- Xmas day
It's been two whole weeks since I've arrived in St Louis and I don't really feel like I've accomplished an awful lot. I suppose if I sit down and think about everything I've been doing so far, there is quite a bit, but for two whole weeks it's not particularly much. I can try and justify this by blaming it on the cold weather, but if that's the case, then it doesn't really sound like I'll ever be doing much here, seeing as it's the middle of winter and all, and it's only going to get colder. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying myself and I've made some really good friends here. Train and I have been getting along fabulously, he feels like family to me, which is good I guess, because being away from my real family on Christmas day is certainly something different from what I'm used to.
New Years Eve is coming up and we don't have any definite plans for that yet, either. Dart has invited us to a NYE party that one of his friends is having in some cabin somewhere, which sounds like quite a bit of fun. I'll have to see what B is up to, because before we'd heard about Dart's party thing, we, or at least I, brought up that she should hang out with us that night.
There's also supposed to be a Christmas party happening at some point; B's organising a bad sweater party. She and her friend Booker are planning on coming over tomorrow night I think- apparently we're all going to get along fabulously, so that'll be good. Her friends are nice.
Train and I are going to go out for ice cream at some point, too. Need to figure out things for our boston/new york trip, too. I think Dart will be coming over in the next day or two, so we'll organise that when he's here.
As for what happened today; Train and I watched a few movies last night- Breakfast on Pluto- which is one of my new favourites, and Midnight in the garden of good and evil, which was really good too. We only got halfway through the second one, as it was getting late and we needed to sleep. I gave Train his presents before we went to bed, and he made me pancakes at 11am when we got up. Opened more presents and things after that and finished watching the movie before taking another nap.
My parents called at about 4:30pm here I think it was, so I got to talk to them for awhile, which was nice. I called Kale's family after that and had a quick chat to them too. I'm not really missing NZ that much yet, I'm missing the warm weather, for sure, but I quite like it here in America. Everything is so big though, and they really are a lot more uptight about things here. Everyone I've encountered so far has been really nice to me though, and when I thank people like bus drivers and things, they actually say "you're welcome" which is really nice :) I'm not used to that.
We're supposed to be baking cookies for Train's mum. I think we're going to make a lot of cookie dough and just keep it in the freezer until we have enough time to do everything at once.
I had a fake-chicken burger for dinner tonight. It was really tasty. It's a lot easier to be a vegetarian over here, they have such a wide range of vegetarian food at the supermarkets and things, lots of frozen fake meat things by a brand called Morningstar Farms.
I'm not sure what tomorrow is going to hold, probably more puzzle-doing and movie watching and candy eating.
New Years Eve is coming up and we don't have any definite plans for that yet, either. Dart has invited us to a NYE party that one of his friends is having in some cabin somewhere, which sounds like quite a bit of fun. I'll have to see what B is up to, because before we'd heard about Dart's party thing, we, or at least I, brought up that she should hang out with us that night.
There's also supposed to be a Christmas party happening at some point; B's organising a bad sweater party. She and her friend Booker are planning on coming over tomorrow night I think- apparently we're all going to get along fabulously, so that'll be good. Her friends are nice.
Train and I are going to go out for ice cream at some point, too. Need to figure out things for our boston/new york trip, too. I think Dart will be coming over in the next day or two, so we'll organise that when he's here.
As for what happened today; Train and I watched a few movies last night- Breakfast on Pluto- which is one of my new favourites, and Midnight in the garden of good and evil, which was really good too. We only got halfway through the second one, as it was getting late and we needed to sleep. I gave Train his presents before we went to bed, and he made me pancakes at 11am when we got up. Opened more presents and things after that and finished watching the movie before taking another nap.
My parents called at about 4:30pm here I think it was, so I got to talk to them for awhile, which was nice. I called Kale's family after that and had a quick chat to them too. I'm not really missing NZ that much yet, I'm missing the warm weather, for sure, but I quite like it here in America. Everything is so big though, and they really are a lot more uptight about things here. Everyone I've encountered so far has been really nice to me though, and when I thank people like bus drivers and things, they actually say "you're welcome" which is really nice :) I'm not used to that.
We're supposed to be baking cookies for Train's mum. I think we're going to make a lot of cookie dough and just keep it in the freezer until we have enough time to do everything at once.
I had a fake-chicken burger for dinner tonight. It was really tasty. It's a lot easier to be a vegetarian over here, they have such a wide range of vegetarian food at the supermarkets and things, lots of frozen fake meat things by a brand called Morningstar Farms.
I'm not sure what tomorrow is going to hold, probably more puzzle-doing and movie watching and candy eating.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Day 14: Wed 24 Dec- Xmas Eve!
Woke up at 2pm this afternoon to the UPS guy banging on our door; it was a christmas card from Train's uncle and aunty.
We were going to go to the supermarket sooner than 4pm, but we had to wait for the UPS guy to come a second time and drop off two big boxes from Train's mum; if you're not there, they leave you a piece of paper which you have to take to the post office to pick them up, and that's turned out to be a right hassle in the past for us.
We went to the supermarket and got a few bits and pieces to make a few meals for the up coming week, as well as that chocolate semifreddo dessert that I love making.
It's in the freezer now, and we're about to watch a movie then go to bed, most likely, unless we're still quite awake when the movie is over, and we decide to open presents then.
We're going to have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, Train makes really good pancakes :D
We were going to go to the supermarket sooner than 4pm, but we had to wait for the UPS guy to come a second time and drop off two big boxes from Train's mum; if you're not there, they leave you a piece of paper which you have to take to the post office to pick them up, and that's turned out to be a right hassle in the past for us.
We went to the supermarket and got a few bits and pieces to make a few meals for the up coming week, as well as that chocolate semifreddo dessert that I love making.
It's in the freezer now, and we're about to watch a movie then go to bed, most likely, unless we're still quite awake when the movie is over, and we decide to open presents then.
We're going to have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, Train makes really good pancakes :D
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Day 13: Tues 23 Dec
We did lots today!
At 11:45am B and Peach came over to drop B off before Peach had to go and do some errands.
I talked to her for a while, she was nice, she brought me coffee :)
We woke Train up an hour or so later, and we all got ready to head out to the bank. Peach came back at about 1:30pm and we all headed to the bank on South Jefferson.
We went into a place called Vintage Vinyl which is a pretty cool record
store. I bought a CD of a local St Louis band I really like called The
Pubes, it's really cool and cost me $10. Here's a picture of it :D
After that we headed to a small place for lunch which had pretty good falafel, and ended up staying there for a few hours just talking and things. It got dark around 4:30pm and Dart (Joshua) came to meet us too. We went to another place and got bubble tea, but I didn't get any of it because the weird tapioca balls creep me out.
Here are some pictures of our wondrous day:
At 11:45am B and Peach came over to drop B off before Peach had to go and do some errands.
I talked to her for a while, she was nice, she brought me coffee :)
We woke Train up an hour or so later, and we all got ready to head out to the bank. Peach came back at about 1:30pm and we all headed to the bank on South Jefferson.
That went all well and good, and we walked around The Loop (trendy artsy part of town) for awhile, looking in shops and things.
We went into a place called Vintage Vinyl which is a pretty cool recordstore. I bought a CD of a local St Louis band I really like called The
Pubes, it's really cool and cost me $10. Here's a picture of it :D
After that we headed to a small place for lunch which had pretty good falafel, and ended up staying there for a few hours just talking and things. It got dark around 4:30pm and Dart (Joshua) came to meet us too. We went to another place and got bubble tea, but I didn't get any of it because the weird tapioca balls creep me out.
Here are some pictures of our wondrous day:
This is Britny- also known as B or Glitter.
Train
Ben, or Peach.
Peach and Train
Our lunch
Peach, Dart, B and Train at the place with the bubble tea
UPDATE:
After all this, we went to a blockbuster which was next door to the bubble tea place and looked around for a bit. Peach and B had to leave because B's cat is sick and she had to go look after him. Dart, Train and I got out two movies- Noi Albinoi and Breakfast on Pluto. Dart came back to our apartment and we had dinner and things and mucked around for ages. We ended up looking on couchsurfing for someone to stay with when the 3 of us go to New York in a few weeks, found one guy who seemed nice and very very trustworthy, so we made him a video of our intentions; this is it:
(insert video here)
Dart also made a video, on a whim, about "Sally" "Joe" and "Mark" and drew little people on bits of paper and did things with them on our two completed puzzles. Here is that one:
(insert second video here)
He went home at 7am and then Train and I went to bed.
Day 12: Monday 22 Dec
We were supposed to do a lot of things today, but we stayed up too late last night and didn't get to bed til 7am today. We slept in til 5pm and missed the bank completely.
Mucked around for awhile. Dart (Joshua) came over later, at about 10:30pm I guess it was, and then we went out with him and explored the city at night time.
He took us to see the arch really quickly, and to east saint louis- in Illinois. We went to his apartment for a bit too, for a quick drink, and also drove to his home town- of Festus, MO; which is about an hour south of Saint Louis. I can't really remember the order of everything, but it was a great night nonetheless. We saw a lot of christmas lights :)
Headed back to his apartment after that and watched a movie called "The Science of Sleep" and had grilled cheese and tomato soup. We're going out with B and Peach again tomorrow, to see the Loop and a couple of cool stores out that way, and also to the bank. B is coming over at 11:30am, it's 8am now, so I'd better get some sleep.
I'm safe and good, tomorrow/today should be fun. I have about $35 of my original $500 in american cash I brought with me. Going to the bank to get out a couple of hundred in the morning/in a few hours. B said she'd bring coffee over, which will be nice. We made Dart some cookies and a card for xmas.
Mucked around for awhile. Dart (Joshua) came over later, at about 10:30pm I guess it was, and then we went out with him and explored the city at night time.
He took us to see the arch really quickly, and to east saint louis- in Illinois. We went to his apartment for a bit too, for a quick drink, and also drove to his home town- of Festus, MO; which is about an hour south of Saint Louis. I can't really remember the order of everything, but it was a great night nonetheless. We saw a lot of christmas lights :)
Headed back to his apartment after that and watched a movie called "The Science of Sleep" and had grilled cheese and tomato soup. We're going out with B and Peach again tomorrow, to see the Loop and a couple of cool stores out that way, and also to the bank. B is coming over at 11:30am, it's 8am now, so I'd better get some sleep.
I'm safe and good, tomorrow/today should be fun. I have about $35 of my original $500 in american cash I brought with me. Going to the bank to get out a couple of hundred in the morning/in a few hours. B said she'd bring coffee over, which will be nice. We made Dart some cookies and a card for xmas.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Day 11: Sunday 21 Dec
Flip stayed the night last night- I gave him my air mattress, pillow and blanket while he slept in the lounge and I slept on the floor in my sleeping bag in Train's room. We ended up staying up pretty late, til like 6am this morning, I think, but it was fun. We woke up at 2pm and I had some more curry; Train's curry is really really good, I'm going to buy some of the box stuff to bring home with me I think.
At 3:30pm Flip and I caught the bus to SoCo (south county) Mall and hung around there for awhile. Train didn't come because he wanted to have some alone time to get some of his art done, he never really has a lot of time to while I'm there, because we're always out doing things together. Flip got picked up by his mum at 5pm and I stayed there a little longer just looking around and things, it's a really big mall and it has like, 3 stories in it. There were a lot of people at this one, not like Crestwood Plaza where we went the other day, which was completely dead.
I caught the bus home at 5:50pm and it was getting really dark by then. It was -9C when I left home with Flip at 3:30pm, now it's -13C; I'm glad I'm inside and warm. I got off the bus, and Train was supposed to meet me, but he wasn't there so I walked home by myself. He wasn't at home either, so I called him on his cellphone- he'd walked a different way to the bus stop and we'd missed each other. He had loaned me his big long woolen coat, too, so he was freezing by the time he got home :(
I made him some hot cocoa to make up for it.
We're going to the bank tomorrow, I'm going to transfer some money tonight across onto my cards; I was meant to do it before I left NZ, but I guess it doesn't really matter because I can do everything online anyway, for free.
We made good friends with B and Peach (Bridget and Ben) and we're going to hang out with them lots- they said they'd take us around to all the cool places in St Louis :)
They're friends with the owners of this cool record store in south city called Apop Records, which has a lot of local art/music/zines and things, and a lot of the more obscure and hard to find media, so that should be cool.
There aren't many good shows on at the moment, because it's winter and christmas next week and all, but we're going to try to find some good ones to go to after that. I think there are a few coming up around mid January sometime.
At 3:30pm Flip and I caught the bus to SoCo (south county) Mall and hung around there for awhile. Train didn't come because he wanted to have some alone time to get some of his art done, he never really has a lot of time to while I'm there, because we're always out doing things together. Flip got picked up by his mum at 5pm and I stayed there a little longer just looking around and things, it's a really big mall and it has like, 3 stories in it. There were a lot of people at this one, not like Crestwood Plaza where we went the other day, which was completely dead.
I caught the bus home at 5:50pm and it was getting really dark by then. It was -9C when I left home with Flip at 3:30pm, now it's -13C; I'm glad I'm inside and warm. I got off the bus, and Train was supposed to meet me, but he wasn't there so I walked home by myself. He wasn't at home either, so I called him on his cellphone- he'd walked a different way to the bus stop and we'd missed each other. He had loaned me his big long woolen coat, too, so he was freezing by the time he got home :(
I made him some hot cocoa to make up for it.
We're going to the bank tomorrow, I'm going to transfer some money tonight across onto my cards; I was meant to do it before I left NZ, but I guess it doesn't really matter because I can do everything online anyway, for free.
We made good friends with B and Peach (Bridget and Ben) and we're going to hang out with them lots- they said they'd take us around to all the cool places in St Louis :)
They're friends with the owners of this cool record store in south city called Apop Records, which has a lot of local art/music/zines and things, and a lot of the more obscure and hard to find media, so that should be cool.
There aren't many good shows on at the moment, because it's winter and christmas next week and all, but we're going to try to find some good ones to go to after that. I think there are a few coming up around mid January sometime.
Day 10: Saturday
We had the dinner party last night (on saturday- it's sunday morning now). It went pretty well. Ben (Peach) was the first person to arrive and that was at like 4:30pm B and her friend Daniel arrived sometime just after 5pmish and Allen (we call him Hagrid because he has a big hagrid beard) arrived around then too. We had to go and meet Eric (Flip) at the bus stop because he was bussing up from south county- his bus was supposed to arrive at 5:25pm but we got out there and it didn't come for ages. It was freeeeezing cold and Train wasn't wearing proper shoes, only his Japanese sandal things. We ended up having to walk for a good few blocks more to meet him because he got off at the wrong stop. Nevertheless, we got back to the apartment in one piece and had japanese curry and macaroni cheese for tea. Oh, we baked peanut butter and oatmeal cookies when B arrived, that was fun; still have a ton of mixture left so we'll make some more of them later. The ones we made got a little burnt on the bottom, but still tasted fine.
We finished another puzzle, too. Hagrid is really good at them :)
I'll upload some pictures and finish this blog later.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Everyone hung around at our place for awhile, and we just talked and things. I tried this weird RTD drink called Sparks- it's pretty similar to Pulse and comes in a cool can. It tastes kind of odd, but it's drinkable. Here's a picture of the cans:
They have a plus on the top and a minus on the bottom, so they look sort of like a battery- I guess it's a play on the energy drink part of it? Hmm.
I also had a smirnoff mojito thing, it was alright too; not my favourite, but drinkable anyway. Here's a small picture of what they look like- we didn't bother with cups though.
Hagrid went home after a while, and so did B's friend Daniel. B and Peach took Train, Flip and I to walmart in SoCo (south county) for a wander around; this was at like, midnight. We drove there in Peach's car, it was the first time I'd been in a car the whole time I've been in the states. I still find it really strange how they drive on the other side of the road, but I'm getting better at looking left first before I cross, which is good :)
There were a surprising number of people at walmart that late- it's open 24 hours I think, and a lot of people were there doing xmas shopping. We played with some of the toys and things there, and looked around for things, but didn't end up buying anything.
Peach dropped the three of us (Train, Flip and I) back to the apartment, and then he took B home. We watched The Brothers Grimm
and then just talked for awhile before going to sleep.
We finished another puzzle, too. Hagrid is really good at them :)
I'll upload some pictures and finish this blog later.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Everyone hung around at our place for awhile, and we just talked and things. I tried this weird RTD drink called Sparks- it's pretty similar to Pulse and comes in a cool can. It tastes kind of odd, but it's drinkable. Here's a picture of the cans:
They have a plus on the top and a minus on the bottom, so they look sort of like a battery- I guess it's a play on the energy drink part of it? Hmm.
I also had a smirnoff mojito thing, it was alright too; not my favourite, but drinkable anyway. Here's a small picture of what they look like- we didn't bother with cups though.
Hagrid went home after a while, and so did B's friend Daniel. B and Peach took Train, Flip and I to walmart in SoCo (south county) for a wander around; this was at like, midnight. We drove there in Peach's car, it was the first time I'd been in a car the whole time I've been in the states. I still find it really strange how they drive on the other side of the road, but I'm getting better at looking left first before I cross, which is good :)
There were a surprising number of people at walmart that late- it's open 24 hours I think, and a lot of people were there doing xmas shopping. We played with some of the toys and things there, and looked around for things, but didn't end up buying anything.
Peach dropped the three of us (Train, Flip and I) back to the apartment, and then he took B home. We watched The Brothers Grimm
and then just talked for awhile before going to sleep.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Day 9: Friday.
Today we didn't do much either; this is becoming somewhat of a trend it seems :/
It's warming up slightly, was about 2 or 3C today, back down to 0 now though. I don't think it's going to snow, though.
We watched two movies last night too, Audition- which is a Japanese movie with lots of blood and gore (it was pretty creepy)
After that I was too scared to go to sleep, so we watched the Dark Crystal which is a movie by Jim Henson- it has muppet thingies in it :)
We got to the post office today, Train's mum's friend had sent him a present- it's a christmas quilt. :) Had ravioli for dinner again, and have just been cleaning up the apartment and things, we're having about 7 friends over for dinner tomorrow, so that should be fun.
My cellphone is finally working, it took a few days though. I put some money on it now too, so it's all going well. I called up the internet people too, about our wireless that was broken and they helped me fix it, the guy I talked to on there was really nice and helpful, I think his name was Josh.
ANYWAY, I should probably go. We're making a Japanese curry for dinner tomorrow night, as well as cookies and I'm going to make some mashed kumara too. I'll take lots of photos tomorrow, I promise, to make up for all the days I haven't been adding many decent ones :P
It's warming up slightly, was about 2 or 3C today, back down to 0 now though. I don't think it's going to snow, though.
We watched two movies last night too, Audition- which is a Japanese movie with lots of blood and gore (it was pretty creepy)
After that I was too scared to go to sleep, so we watched the Dark Crystal which is a movie by Jim Henson- it has muppet thingies in it :)
We got to the post office today, Train's mum's friend had sent him a present- it's a christmas quilt. :) Had ravioli for dinner again, and have just been cleaning up the apartment and things, we're having about 7 friends over for dinner tomorrow, so that should be fun.
My cellphone is finally working, it took a few days though. I put some money on it now too, so it's all going well. I called up the internet people too, about our wireless that was broken and they helped me fix it, the guy I talked to on there was really nice and helpful, I think his name was Josh.
ANYWAY, I should probably go. We're making a Japanese curry for dinner tomorrow night, as well as cookies and I'm going to make some mashed kumara too. I'll take lots of photos tomorrow, I promise, to make up for all the days I haven't been adding many decent ones :P
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Day 8
We ended up staying awake all night and watching movies. Watched rocky horror
and Girl, interrupted.
A couple of people have said I look like Winona Ryder in that movie, I guess I do sort of, well my hair at least.
Train made me pancakes for breakfast and then we went to sleep for a few hours after that at about 11am this morning. We didn't go out much today, just to Aldi's and the dollar store. We had cheese filled ravioli for dinner- it was really good.
Have almost finished our puzzle, too. There is just two big patches of blue sky left to do- it's pretty tricky.
Sorry about the short and boring update, there isn't really much to tell about today. Our wifi still isn't working, and I tried calling the customer service thing, but I gave up after being put on hold for almost 10 minutes. I'll call back tomorrow. My cellphone isn't working yet either :(
We've put the second string of xmas lights up. It looks pretty cute, in a cheap, sort of ghetto way haha.
There are about 6 or 7 people definitely coming on Saturday, so that should be good. I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone. :D
It rained a bit here today so all the snow is melting; it's getting slightly warmer too. -1C now, as opposed to -4 yesterday and -9 a few days before that.
Oh, Train baked bread, too. It's really yummy. He's really good at baking. :)
I also just realised I hadn't shown you any pictures of the apartment, so here are some now.
Tiny bathroom:
The "dining room"/room where I'm sleeping:
Kitchen:
Pantry:
Train's bedroom:
and Girl, interrupted.
A couple of people have said I look like Winona Ryder in that movie, I guess I do sort of, well my hair at least.
Train made me pancakes for breakfast and then we went to sleep for a few hours after that at about 11am this morning. We didn't go out much today, just to Aldi's and the dollar store. We had cheese filled ravioli for dinner- it was really good.
Have almost finished our puzzle, too. There is just two big patches of blue sky left to do- it's pretty tricky.
Sorry about the short and boring update, there isn't really much to tell about today. Our wifi still isn't working, and I tried calling the customer service thing, but I gave up after being put on hold for almost 10 minutes. I'll call back tomorrow. My cellphone isn't working yet either :(
We've put the second string of xmas lights up. It looks pretty cute, in a cheap, sort of ghetto way haha.
There are about 6 or 7 people definitely coming on Saturday, so that should be good. I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone. :D
It rained a bit here today so all the snow is melting; it's getting slightly warmer too. -1C now, as opposed to -4 yesterday and -9 a few days before that.
Oh, Train baked bread, too. It's really yummy. He's really good at baking. :)
I also just realised I hadn't shown you any pictures of the apartment, so here are some now.
Tiny bathroom:
The "dining room"/room where I'm sleeping:
Kitchen:
Pantry:
Train's bedroom:
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Day 7
Sorry about the super late update.
Today has been hectic.
Train and I ended up staying up really late last night and just mucking around and things, got to bed at about 6am this morning, slept until 10, got up and got ready then caught the bus to Walmart over in Maplewood.
View Larger Map
Of course, the bus didn't go that way directly. We had to catch the #70 bus NORTH to the Metrolink (tram) station at Grand, then get on the Metrolink going WEST to Brentwood. We got off there and walked to where we THOUGHT Walmart was- we could see a huge big plaza thing, and assumed it was there. After about 5 minutes of walking around aimlessly, we realised it wasn't there at all, so we asked someone for help. Turns out it was about a couple of blocks away and we could catch the #2 bus directly there from where we were standing. Did that, found our way inside eventually and got to shopping.
We ended up buying a dishrack, cellphone ($21.69 US), rolling pin, some spices, new batteries for Train's camera, another baking tray, a lint roller, some more coconut, a dishbrush, a cake decorating/icing set and some candy. In total, minus the cost of my cellphone, it came to $51.48 :S Everything is expensive here, well, compared to NZD at least.
There was a subway inside Walmart- so we got lunch there and then headed out to catch the bus back home stopping via the post office.
God, if only it was that simple.
We ended up getting lost AGAIN, for a few hours, going to bus stop after bus stop, after bus stop. We were lead around in circles. We asked all the different bus drivers how to get to the street we were trying to find, and they all told us different things. We ended up SORT OF finding the street which the right street with the post office was meant to run off of, but we never found the post office. By this time it was about 3:30pm and we were super tired so just decided to give up and catch the #11 home.
Got home and practically fell into bed. Slept until 12am and then got up and did the dishes. No photos today, I forgot to bring my camera. Wasn't really an awful lot to take pictures of anyway, except us getting lost. No idea what we're doing tomorrow just yet- we're going to watch that Rocky Horror movie sometime tonight I think. Our wifi is still broken, so I'm going to call the guy up tomorrow to see how we can fix it. It still works when we use the network plug things, but the wifi bit is broken, which is a real pain.
Today has been hectic.
Train and I ended up staying up really late last night and just mucking around and things, got to bed at about 6am this morning, slept until 10, got up and got ready then caught the bus to Walmart over in Maplewood.
View Larger Map
Of course, the bus didn't go that way directly. We had to catch the #70 bus NORTH to the Metrolink (tram) station at Grand, then get on the Metrolink going WEST to Brentwood. We got off there and walked to where we THOUGHT Walmart was- we could see a huge big plaza thing, and assumed it was there. After about 5 minutes of walking around aimlessly, we realised it wasn't there at all, so we asked someone for help. Turns out it was about a couple of blocks away and we could catch the #2 bus directly there from where we were standing. Did that, found our way inside eventually and got to shopping.
We ended up buying a dishrack, cellphone ($21.69 US), rolling pin, some spices, new batteries for Train's camera, another baking tray, a lint roller, some more coconut, a dishbrush, a cake decorating/icing set and some candy. In total, minus the cost of my cellphone, it came to $51.48 :S Everything is expensive here, well, compared to NZD at least.
There was a subway inside Walmart- so we got lunch there and then headed out to catch the bus back home stopping via the post office.
God, if only it was that simple.
We ended up getting lost AGAIN, for a few hours, going to bus stop after bus stop, after bus stop. We were lead around in circles. We asked all the different bus drivers how to get to the street we were trying to find, and they all told us different things. We ended up SORT OF finding the street which the right street with the post office was meant to run off of, but we never found the post office. By this time it was about 3:30pm and we were super tired so just decided to give up and catch the #11 home.
Got home and practically fell into bed. Slept until 12am and then got up and did the dishes. No photos today, I forgot to bring my camera. Wasn't really an awful lot to take pictures of anyway, except us getting lost. No idea what we're doing tomorrow just yet- we're going to watch that Rocky Horror movie sometime tonight I think. Our wifi is still broken, so I'm going to call the guy up tomorrow to see how we can fix it. It still works when we use the network plug things, but the wifi bit is broken, which is a real pain.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Day Six
Today was another unproductive day.
Train dressed me up in some of his clothes last night, and doing my hair. We played around for awhile then went to bed at about 3am. We ended up sleeping in til about 3:30pm again today- it was just so cold out we didn't want to do anything.
Here are a lot of photos from last night:
I attempted to make Train some French toast for breakfast but failed miserably. I can't cook on gas stoves, his one is a little temperamental at that; plus his frying pans aren't the best. He came out and helped me fix things up and then we went out to the dollar store as well as Aldi's (another supermarket) and the blockbuster (video place). We spent quite a bit of money, but ended up getting a 2 foot xmas tree, a coffee maker, a stand mixer, some notepads for shopping lists and things and some fruit juice that turned out to be really gross :(
Oh! I forgot to say! It snowed!! There's about a 1.5cm thick layer of snow all over the ground and it looks really pretty. I forgot to take photos when we went out today, but I'll take some tomorrow :)
Tomorrow we're heading to walmart (a huge store like the Warehouse) to get me a cellphone (finally) as well as a dishrack, a scrubbing brush, a rolling pin and some green dish scrubber things- we weren't able to find any of these things at the dollar store or the supermarket, sadly. Walmart is quite far away, we have to catch a few busses to get there. It should be good though. I don't like thinking about how much everything works out to be in NZ dollars, it's all so expensive :(
A big package has arrived for Train at the post office, so we're going to go by there on the way home tomorrow after going to walmart, to pick it up. I still haven't needed to go to the bank yet, but I probably will next week sometime.
At the moment, I'm planning on visiting Curtis (who lives in North Carolina) in the middle of February sometime, and staying there for a week or so, as opposed to going in January. Still need to work those plans out. Nonetheless, everything will be good.
Here are some photos of our xmas tree in the lounge:
Train dressed me up in some of his clothes last night, and doing my hair. We played around for awhile then went to bed at about 3am. We ended up sleeping in til about 3:30pm again today- it was just so cold out we didn't want to do anything.
Here are a lot of photos from last night:
I attempted to make Train some French toast for breakfast but failed miserably. I can't cook on gas stoves, his one is a little temperamental at that; plus his frying pans aren't the best. He came out and helped me fix things up and then we went out to the dollar store as well as Aldi's (another supermarket) and the blockbuster (video place). We spent quite a bit of money, but ended up getting a 2 foot xmas tree, a coffee maker, a stand mixer, some notepads for shopping lists and things and some fruit juice that turned out to be really gross :(
Oh! I forgot to say! It snowed!! There's about a 1.5cm thick layer of snow all over the ground and it looks really pretty. I forgot to take photos when we went out today, but I'll take some tomorrow :)
Tomorrow we're heading to walmart (a huge store like the Warehouse) to get me a cellphone (finally) as well as a dishrack, a scrubbing brush, a rolling pin and some green dish scrubber things- we weren't able to find any of these things at the dollar store or the supermarket, sadly. Walmart is quite far away, we have to catch a few busses to get there. It should be good though. I don't like thinking about how much everything works out to be in NZ dollars, it's all so expensive :(
A big package has arrived for Train at the post office, so we're going to go by there on the way home tomorrow after going to walmart, to pick it up. I still haven't needed to go to the bank yet, but I probably will next week sometime.
At the moment, I'm planning on visiting Curtis (who lives in North Carolina) in the middle of February sometime, and staying there for a week or so, as opposed to going in January. Still need to work those plans out. Nonetheless, everything will be good.
Here are some photos of our xmas tree in the lounge:
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