A beautiful early afternoon, my first off day from work I was about to spent in New York City with my friend Julián from Colombia who also went to the training school in Oakdale. We agreed to meet up at Washington Square Park and take it from there. It was a nice shinny afternoon but a little chill. I headed towards Time Square with my host papa, Paul, who was going to work that day. We arrived to Penn Station and walked towards Paul's office, when we got there Paul and I said good day to each other and when he took off I felt a cold rush going through my blood. My very FIRST time on my own in one of the biggest cities in the world, no guidance, no compass... just wherever destiny would take me.
I went to Starbucks to get myself a hot chocolate to warm myself on and headed towards Washington Square Park. Julián had a doctor's appointment so I took the time to sit on a bench to observe the park which had a fantastic entrance:
After observing the inspiring entrance of the park I experienced the complete opposite of inspiring and beauty of the world.... This guy at the opposite site of the park watched me and approach me with small and deep steps. He had his jogging pants and his sweatshirt with the hood on very discreet, I did feel safe though since there was several police officers in the area and the day was young. When the guy was just before my feet he said hello in a gentle and respectful way, shook my hand and
asked me if I ever did drugs... As I was about to say no in a questionable way, he interrupted me and started convincing me to try this special drug he had, and asked me to buy some of it. I gently told him I wasn't interested and digested the experience and met up with Julián. Great first impression of the glories United States of America ;-)
When we met up we decided to grab a bite to eat and then go to the Ground Zero in the Financial District where the memorial of the twin towers which suffered death and unfortunately took about 3000 people with it into it's grave. The feeling of standing just before the ruins of the twin towers was a dark, shaking, horrid and overwhelming feeling but at the same time a feeling of excitement that I was there. I could really feel the sorrow of the American population concerning that horrible day. The memorials had scratched in the names of the falling that day which made the attraction more alive an real.
I really sympathies with the American population and their loss of thousands of country men who suffered death on the 9/11/2001.
Julián and I just beside the ruin's of the twin towers.
Med standing before the southern tower
The security took longer than waiting in line to get into the attraction.
The new tower [One World Trade, a.k.a the Freedom Tower]
As mentioned before my host family is a gay couple. Every Monday night at 9PM this specific show is on TV about drag-queens, my host dads have kinda "forced" me to watch this show every week which now has become a tradition. This show is a group of male drag-queens who compete against each other of becoming the next idol in the drag-queen environment. The show is hosted by the legendary and still active drag-queen RuPaul. So this Monday night is dedicated to being fully occupied by this show. I'm sure these Monday nights will become memorable full of drama and b****ing, as I've discovered this show is a drag-version of jersey shore/ paradise hotel ;-)
Drag-race!!!!
"And may the best WOMAN win!"
Kensi at gymnastics:
My lovely host-child Kensi goes to gymnastics every Wednesday which is one of her favorite hobbies and part of my job is to bring her to practice after school. I've recorded this little video of her second gymnastic class I brought her to; she's just an amazing kid. I'm so proud of her and it's fantastic to watch her have that much fun. This is definitely something I'm looking forward to share with her down the road. Unfortunately the guardians aren't aloud in the same room during practice, so I could only see her from the window outside the excessing hall. Can't wait till next time!
here's Kensi doing a great job at a balance exercises.
12th of March 2014: Someone got "pantsed"
My host papa Paul and his team opened NASDAQ one day. Chris, Paul's husband, wasn't able to go since he had to go into his office for work, therefore I was invited by Paul to come into the NASDAQ office where very few people in the first place are allowed. But before heading to NASDAQ, Paul was in trouble.... Somehow his pants were gone... He just streamed them and got himself all styled up for the big event. He kept running forward and backwards through the apartment, what he didn't realize was that his pants were already on... Before then both Chris and I knew that his pants were on, and we started laughing quietly with each other without Paul realizing. When Paul went to the bathroom by the big bathroom mirror he still didn't see his pants were on, and I couldn't hold it any longer. I then asked hum: how about he pants you've got on? ;-)
The opening of NASDAQ went on national TV which means that I was on national TV (CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg) with my host papa and his team. This experience is fantastic, and it's really unbelievable once you're in it. Seeing yourself on the jumbotron in Times Square is unbelievable. I'm very grateful for receiving that opportunity, which of course I grabbed with open arms.
Just before we went on air, the journalist told everyone from the team to join in on the scene, therefore I was a little confused, should I join in, or should I stay in the background? I was called up from a member of the team named Anthony this great and very humorous guy, "Rasmus come on, get up here!" :-) It was a relieving feeling that he called me up, which made me feel part of the group even though I didn't have any impact on the great job the team have done so far.
Me at the NASDAQ Times Square screen
My host papa, Paul, at the NASDAQ times square screen
Group photo, good job guys!
The very same evening of the day at NASDAQ, I had my first Au Pair group meeting. Since I had just experienced being on national TV, I was super excited and wasn't able to take my arms down. My host dad Chris and I made a bet of who would win the bowling game we were gonna play with the other Au Pairs and my LCC Zane. As I won the two first rounds, Chris wanted double or nothing... And since I beated him twice and very superior, I thought to myself: Is he drunk?! And answered him: "of course, you're losing anyway," as cocky as I got, Karma struck me back to the stoneage.... from Chris' point of view I was distracted by the female presences... which of course is a lie.. ;-)
Anyway here are the results:
Chris is losing, get used to it....
Damn it....
I'm winning, but in the end, I lost it. Big Time!
Au pair group.
13th of March 2014 Swimming and park:
To strengthen Kensi and my relationship my host dads have signed us up for a swim hall so that I can teach Kensi to swim. Kensi loves to go swimming and if we didn't set a limit, I think she'd get herself settled in the swimming hall ;-) I'm absolutely sure that this is a place her and I are gonna spend a lot of time, since Kensi was laughing 99.9 % of our time by the pool. I definitely enjoyed the time we spend there for the first time, since I'm in love with water as well.
Here are some pictures and a video of me and Kensi in the swimming hall for the first time. Kensi loves jumping from the pool edge!
Kensi jumping as if the devil was chasing her
Kensi loves the floating board! Also a great way to teach her swimming :)
Kensi blinding me :-)
15 th of March 2014 NY-city tour with a specialist
A beautiful Saturday morning, the sunrise glanced in the river by the apartment building. Our family had a looooong day ahead of us. Paul and Kensi were going to this amazing circus while Chris and I were going into the city of dreams, where he wanted to show me around specific parts of New York that I could come back to visit on my own.
After a quick breakfast we all headed towards the train station and headed off for our adventures.
So here we are splitting up at the train station with Kensi and pappa on their way to the circus:
When Chris and I got to New York we took a subway to downtown because we had to buy a ticket for tonights broadway show, Pippin. He wanted me to see one of the many broadway shows I shall see during my stay. When we got the tickets our plan was to go to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk it. We went there and the view from they bridge is just amazing. The bridge itself is amazingly beautiful where people can walk in the center of the bridge on this wooden path. Amazing experience where you can watch the Hudson River and experience the great view of Manhattan's East sSide. Since the weather was amazing the experience was jus fantastic.
I'm holding on the the wires, cause of the windy weather ;-)
The beautiful Brooklyn Bridge
First cap ride in New York, oh yeah babe ;-)
The Village in New York is know as a cozy little arena which is well know by the gay community. It's kinda the older part of New York, with these small romantic buildings. Definitely a more attractive area in the big city. We walked the streets of the Village got into different stores, and we walled by this small Scandinavian store that had some danish stuff:
Remoulade!!!
After Chelsea market we went to Chris' favorite restaurant, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the food, but I can assure you that it was fantastic! Chris had spear ribs with mashed potatoes with a special pesto, and a gravy. Which btw tasted amazingly. I had this rack of lamb with asparagus and potatoes. An amazing meal with "great" waiters, Chris.... You know what I'm talking about, haha ;-)
Walking Times Square and Broadway show!
Just before the Broadway show, Chris and I were going to, we went to Times Square to just watch the different stores and huge buildings surrounding the big square. We went to this big Toys R Us store where not even a kids' imagination could take you. This store had like 4 floors filled with big statues of toy, take fore example these two pictures:
A Lego Empire State Building, amazing! Go Danes!
The Hulk!!!
It was time.. The moment that every tourist of New York would be looking forward to. The broadway city... As mentioned before Chris ordered tickets to the broadway show Pippin. A fantastic show which is about this prince who rebels against his father's way of ruling a kingdom. Fantastic scene shows, acting, and acrobatic skills. Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures of the show.
A fantastic and memorable day had passed by and a day full of new experiences and impressions of my new home.
16th of March: Movie theaters in a 1st world country ;-)
My first time to the movies with my wonderful host family was a surprising experience. When we walked into the movie theater and sat in our chairs, a waiter comes with a menu card where you can order different kinds of food. Simple but amazing possibility ;-) God I'm coming back to Denmark as an overweight man.
We ordered the food and got comfortable in our seats while the trailers rolled down the screen. Then the food came, and we ate while the movie was on, great service and most importantly, GREAT company ;-) definitely not the last movie we would see as a family.
Kensi absorbed by the trailers before the Lego movie is about to start :-)
The 22nd of March 2014: One visit doesn't come alone.....
Kensi had two teeth rocking before Paul and I was going to Washington, D.C. One of her teeth had been rocking for almost 2 months, so it was time for it to go. Paul and Chris were shaking because of the fear to pulling out her tooth... Me (as the big brave Hercules I am ;-) stepped up and pulled out the tooth, no hesitation at all ;-)
The day after....
Literally an hour before Paul and I was about to leave Kensi's other tooth was ready to come out and Chris came to me and said: "that tooth has to come out before you leave..." (Cause again both Paul and Chris were too chicken to do it ;-) ... I said okay.... So that's why you hired an Au pair.... To make him/her the bad guy ;-) I see it now.... ;-)
I went to Kensi who understandably was a little fearful and scared that it was going to hurt, and pulled out her other tooth. Afterwards I evaluated the thing I just went through during these last couple of days..... I freaking just pullled out Kensi's first tooth.... How awesome is that?! Brave girl!!!!
And here are the pictures of the adorable, charming and brave little princess after loosing two of her teeth!
Pictures of Kensi and her smile without teeth
Time to go off to DC (Paul had a business trip and offer for me to come along on my day off) full of excitement and pre conceptions of what to expect of the great Capitol of the United States of America, but first a 4 hour road trip ahead of Paul and I which did start out with a huge challenge for us... Paul had rented a car through the company just the day before we were off, which resulted in this little beauty that definitely would give us a great reputation on the highways of the country ;-)
We made a stop at this local crab food place just at the very southern spot of the state Maryland, here are some pictures of me eating at a crab-house in the village of "North East" for the very first time, where my host dads Paul convinced me that I ate something completely different than it rally was ;-) well played Paul, well played.... Will get back at you ;-)
The newbie has to wear a bib...
About to eat something immoral, he thought....
When we arrived to Washington, D.C., we accidentally drove to the Pentagon which was a nice accident cause who doesn't wanna see the Pentagon? Although it was a great opportunity it was also an empty and sad feeling we left with by walking the memorial of the 9/11 incident. Seeing the memorials of that day was a mixed feeling.
The Vietnam memorial
The (Abraham) Lincoln memorial
After we had seen the memorial of the loss at the pentagon the 11th of September 2001 and the memorials of Lincoln, the 1st, 2nd world war, and the Vietnam war, we headed to our hotel, which was just across the street from the US Capital. When we got there I met up with another Au pair Laura who lives with a family in the Washington, D.C. Area, so we thought, why not meet up since we both were in the area?
We had a nice evening walking the beautiful streets of Washington, D.C.
The day after Paul had to go to his coworkers in the departments of the local area, so I had all day by myself in the Capitol of the great United States of America. It let me the opportunity to explore and discover the fantastic monuments and historical icons of the American history. Here's some pictures of the places I visited, unfortunately I had a bit struggle with the camera, so I wasn't able to take pictures of all the places I went, but my camera got back on the right tracks later, that's why I have missen pictures if the national history museum.
A fantastic trip with my host dad Paul, thanks for letting me the foreigner from a 2nd world country tagging along to discover the great 1st world country the United States of America's Capitol ;-)
The PCN bank
Saturday night it was time... We went into the New York City around 2PM. Spend some time in the city before my big surprise (I got my first hot-towel shave at a barber shop in mid-town, then had lunch in Korea Town, and had my first "bubble tea").
Afterwards we went to the memorials of the memorials of Lincoln and the Vietnam war, which is very nearby each other, we also saw the Washington, D.C. Monument which is unbelievable and beautiful!
The Vietnam memorial
The Washington, D.C. monument
After we had seen the memorial of the loss at the pentagon the 11th of September 2001 and the memorials of Lincoln, the 1st, 2nd world war, and the Vietnam war, we headed to our hotel, which was just across the street from the US Capital. When we got there I met up with another Au pair Laura who lives with a family in the Washington, D.C. Area, so we thought, why not meet up since we both were in the area?
We had a nice evening walking the beautiful streets of Washington, D.C.
The day after Paul had to go to his coworkers in the departments of the local area, so I had all day by myself in the Capitol of the great United States of America. It let me the opportunity to explore and discover the fantastic monuments and historical icons of the American history. Here's some pictures of the places I visited, unfortunately I had a bit struggle with the camera, so I wasn't able to take pictures of all the places I went, but my camera got back on the right tracks later, that's why I have missen pictures if the national history museum.
A fantastic trip with my host dad Paul, thanks for letting me the foreigner from a 2nd world country tagging along to discover the great 1st world country the United States of America's Capitol ;-)
The United States Department of the Treasury
The White House
Demonstrations
The National Executive Office (across from the White House)
1st World War Memorial
The national gallery of art
The Capitol, beautiful building!
The national galery of art west building
29th of March 2014: The power of surprises
A little week later my it was time for a surprise my host dad's had planned for me.... Before hand they had cracked my s*** up by giving me all these thoughts in my head about what was going to happen, which resulted in a couple of lost bets on my consciousness! thanks Chris..... -.- haha.
Paul and Chris got a gift from a friend, Kathi, who was so sweet to take care of Kensi from Friday afternoon till Tuesday night. Thanks again to Kathi :-)
Saturday night it was time... We went into the New York City around 2PM. Spend some time in the city before my big surprise (I got my first hot-towel shave at a barber shop in mid-town, then had lunch in Korea Town, and had my first "bubble tea").
The moment finally arrived and I was scared as hell.... We got into this restaurant where the waiters let us down to the basement of the building. The basement had a bar and looked somehow like a jazz club since there was a stage by the end of the room. When we got to our table some flyers of the drag-queen Courtney Act was showing (a drag-queen who then was part of the top 4 at the time of the 6th season of RuPaul's drag-queen race) Unbelievable surprise where also their friends Anthony (a guy Paul works with) and Lawrence, his husband. Amazing people who are nice, open minded and a lot of fun!
The show was phenomenal! It was unbelievable to see a person who you had only seen on national television that close to you since we sat just before the stage, and a another surprise was that we had VIP tickets so we got to take pictures with her after the show.
During the show she told her life story through her dating life by telling it with a humorist twist including songs. Fantastic show! When she told about her only dating straight guys when she was in drag, my host dad Chris shouted out loud: "come and talk to the straight danish Au pair over here!" She walked towards me and said in danish: "Hej hvordan går det skat? (How are you doing, babe?)" To my big surprise she was half danish since she first said: "my mom is. Actually danish". I answered back in danish: "oh jeg har det fantastisk skat, hvad med dig (Oh, I'm fantastic honey, how are you?"). She looked at me with a confusing expression in her face and said: "Okay, I don't understand a single word of that... But I'm definitely taking you for some private time back-stage after the show...." The crowd laughed out loud and she was on with her show.
An amazing start of the evening, where we afterwards went to a birthday party, who was a friend of Lorentz's and Anthony's.
A memorable night full of unexpected surprises and fun! Thanks for a great night guys! :-)
By the time I lie in my bed, I thought to myself... God I miss Kensi already can't wait for her to get back from her stay at Kathi's :-)
Here are some pictures of the phenomenal show with Cortney Act and back stage:
Courtney Act herself, flirting with me ;-)
The gang is gathered ;-)
The gang is gathered version 2 ;-)
Private time with the straight Dane ;-)
Private time with Paul ;-)
Someone's bringing guests ;-)
Couples photo, great one :-)
