SAN FRANCISCO!!

Howdy all you cool people! I went to san francisco last weekend and it was top notch aye!
I had planned for myself an exceptionally boring day of nothing and then my super-cool pal, Dianne asked me if I wanted to Go to see the city with her and her parents, Martha and Cecal (sorry, not sure about spelling!) ... I was like woohoo! You see I havent actually seen anything of San francisco myself because the only time i had been there was when I drove through the city after flying for nearly three days. Let me first thank Dianne, 1- Because she gracioulsy shared her camera with me on the day to takehundreds of random pictures, and 2 - Because she took me with her and 3 - Because she is just so damn cool! Dianne is from Alabama so she talks with a different accent, and in my opinion a very cool accent. Although I am open to developing an alabaman-style accent i still hold to my vow that I wont ever say the word "y'all"... even though Cecal is convinced that I most certainly will!
Anyway back to my super-cool day in the city... I took many pictures to share with everyone!















The View from the car


















One of my favourites from the day... The light at the end of the tunnel



















On the golden gate bridge
















My favourite saying... Only in...

















The city-style "Trolley"


We did so much fun stuff! We went to pier 39 which is amazing, saw the sea lions, and a two storey carousel and we went to union square...two words... Shopping, cheesecake oh wow, I was in heaven. Lt me throw in a few more words that will bring you into my heavenly state... Tiffany & co. 5 storeys of Levi clothes, Gap, Gucci, D & G, and for those cali. pals, H&M. We didnt go to gucci, D&G or Gap, but if we wanted to, we so could've. ps. clothes over here are so cheap, I brought a brand new Guess COAT for forty bucks... like woah! then we drove around for ages looking for castro district which is the famous hangout for Homosexuals, once we hit that part of towns there were rainbow flags everywhere, it'd be amazing on like halloween, or gay pride! We also drove through chinatown and down Lombard street which is the crookedest street in the world, no joke, it is actually known for its... ahem, crooked-ness which was awesome. BIG compliments to Dianne, who is the only chick I know who drives a van, and still she managed to do such a remarkable job as le' chauffeur and tour guide and friend! Good Onya tiger!
It was a long but amazing day, and since my blog wont let me post more than five pictures I will have to make a whole new post for more pictures... stupid computer *shakes fist!

De Ja Vu

Today a wierd thing happened
I had dejavu of a dejavu. Now just to clarify, a dejavu is when you experience something and it feels like you've experienced it before, or you see something youve seen before when you know you actually havent seen it before... are you all very confused???
So i dont know what all the college books say about dejavu, but I have a little food for thought on it.. I maybe completely wrong... but this is my blog and im allowed to be wrong... and if you dont like it... BOO FRICKKIN HOO!!!

Anyway.. dejavu
I like to think that dejavu is something that God either does himself or uses, to confirm that we are where we're meant to be. So today I had a really clear dejavu experience and it was so nice to just feel that I was in the right place at the right time. Maybe dejavu isn't what I suspect it might be, But as an experience it really drew me to God, thankful that he has called me to this and comforted in that even though this trip has its challenging times, my being here goes far beyond being a nanny and serves the purpose of God

It's all about me

G'day all! Hope you are all doing great! I am doing good myself... tired though...need sleep! Anyway I have much to post about but I cant do so just yet... I can however write down a few things about myself for my new cali. friends... and some of you perthians who might have missed certain things about me.... I might stick to wierd facts about Te-Neele and though there are hundreds (some would argue that there are millions) of wierd things about me, I will only write ten!
1 - I have multi-coloured eyes, a ring of blue on the outside, then a ring of green, then a ring of brown and then the black spot
2 - I dont like cats
3 - I dont like feet
4 - I recently discovered tht a scar that has been on my arm forever is disappearing
5 - my feet get cold really easily
6 - I have a love-hate relationship with scary movies... I get very scared... But i love it
7 - I get electric shocks al the time, nearly every time i get out of a car, especially if i wear my clogs... Jordy and james, do you remember when someone said I could get hit by lightning an then I was freakin while I drove to Jemimas birthday??? Good times
8 - I have six "e" s in my full name
9 - I love, love, love british comedy
10 - My beauty spot changes colour, usually depending on the temperature

Ok so ten wierd facts about myself.... whats wierd about you?

Sticky situations

hehe! today had many 'laugh at Te-Neele' situations!!!
Situation No. 1 - I am requesting that someone help me to refuel my car and I say "can someone come with me to the petrol station coz I dont know how to fill my car up over here?" I didn't remember to call it a GAS station and they're all looking at me like 'what?'

Situation No. 2 - I have refuelled my car and am ready to drive to our next stop, a Mexican restaurant called chevy's, adnwe take off, I am following Chris and as i pull out of the PETROL station I pull into the left hand side of the road... I knew something wasn't right when I saw the cars coming straight at me!

Situation No. 3 - We arrive at chevy's and there is no customer parking so I park on the street, put my money in the parking meter and I walk towards the restaurant, when I get there, the guys tell me that I dont have to pay for parking after dark... No joke I spent like five minutes loking for enough stupid change... and I have been ripped of by the state of california... for the last three weeks i have been paying for my parking at all times , including after dark... seriously... where's the justice???!

Situation No. 4 - Mum this is a Killer... you are gunna love this one... We've been at the restaurant for like fourty five minutes and I turn to one of the guys, Mike and say "have we ordered yet" to which he replied "yes". I had no recollection of anyone ordering, let-alone me actually ordering something. At first I thought i'd forgotten to order, and after much discussion I finally remembered that yes, everyone had ordered and yes i had ordered! It was their first experience with one of my many ditz moments

Wish you all could've been here to laugh with me!

Life in Santa Rosa

Hey all! Thiings are going really well over here... Ive been keeping really busy with random stuff, Helping out more at the church, going to the gym... damn i am so fit... whats that... I see my arm muscles have returned... Oh yeah... I been workin' me guns orright! so I been gymming it, and painting stuff and creating stuff at church... I love it... and oh yeah, I do work every once in a while... Seriously, its true... I work! Here is photographic proof that I work, and yes this is me while I am working..























Ok so how many times does a girl get away with dressing up like a fairy, and dancing badly?? It doesn't happen often, so I enjoyed it while it lasted and had a blast playing dressups with my girls! I would love to show you all pictures of them, however for their privacy i think its best if I dont put their pictures on the web! I can say that I love working with them, and hough it does have its challenges, I am blessed to be doing this! I will hopefully be able to put a video thing on here to show you all around where I live, but again I will have to film carefully so as not to reveal to the world where I live... because then my many fans might just become my many stalkers! Much love... Tee

Chivalry is back

G'day all! I have had a great few days, starting with a sunday arvo with my new found pals at New Vintage Church of Santa Rosa. After much deliberation a few of us ended up back at the apartments where three of the crew live and we went in the spa... for the last week or so it has been warm weather...I love it! Did you know that no matter what side of the world we're on people waste hours and hours deciding on what to do! Anyway after a few hours of spa-ing a few of us went to the movies to see "when a stranger calls" which is a good movie, go see it, sit through the boring introduction and the boring middle to get to very intense and terrifying ending! Like 7 times in the last half hour of the movie i nearly had a heart attack from fright!
sitting through the entire average movie was all worth it for the major scare factor at the end! Then we went and watched desperate housewives... hehe... so many seasons ahead of you perth peeps! and all in all it was a great evening! and the next day, one of my girls that I nanny had a day off school so i got to spend a day with her and i had so much fun and then yesterday was just a blur of busy-ness and today i went to my new church and helped with some painting... two reasons why i loved this so much, 1- I got to paint, which, as any of my close pals will know, I love anything artsy, and I love to worship through painting so I was super happy. And 2- It was so nice just to serve in my fathers house. It doesnt matter where I might travel, God does not change, He was my King and Father in Perth and he is still both here in Santa Rosa. Just serving once again reminded me of his faithfulness and of the Psalm that says I would rather be a gatekeeper for one day in the house of God than spend a lifetime elsewhere. It is so nice to have a church, the house of God on earth, that I can call "home".

Ok so for the las two days ive been trying to post more scenic pictures but they just dont work... damn this stupid computer
so I have done something really cool... I, me, Te-Neele Lee Curtis, for the first time in my life cooked a roast (pork) and guess what??? No-one died after eating it!!! I was so proud of myself! I even took pictures... I know I know, you all think I'm a sad lonely loser... I'm not going to try and prove you wrong, because frankly... I know I dont have enough evidence to do so... HOWEVER, I do have evidence that i cooked a darn good roast... ere it is...














And here is the finished product...

















Go me and my amazing culinary skills... I am just so frickkin fantastic... Go me, go me go me (and i do a little go me dance for my amazing roast pork that is yet to kill anyone!!!)

This weekend I hit the town and saw some beautiful stuff, this place has to be credited for the scenery, some of it is so amazing. I went out for the purpose of taking pictures for this blog so you all could see where I live... and some of the stuff is like... WOW! Please excuse the quality of the pictures, I do not claim to be the worlds greatest photographer, but I'm sure that with practise, I will improve!

Favourites...

ok, ok... I get it... everyone wants to be in the hall of favourites... Well you all should be there except that I dont have photos of you on my digital camera... The hall of favourites IS under construction.. PLEASE BE PATIENT... Dont yell at me if you dont see your picture... and dont doubt your position as a favourite...If you take time to read my blog then you ARE a favourite!! And to mum, dad, and Jay... quit your whinging!

Only in America...

You know there are a lot of things similar between perth and santa rosa, the biggest being that out of all of america, Santa rosa seems to be the most relaxed of all (so they say... for those in the know; "who are "THEY"?") But the amount of times I have shaken my head, laughed and said "only in america"... I'm starting to sound like a broken record
They have cheeseburgers that you buy in a box and microwave, they have self serve checkouts where you scan the item(s) and it will tell you off if you dont put your item(s) in a bag, and then you put your money into a machine and it spits out your change and a reciept... no staff member required! And the malls have carpet on the top floor and yeh there is no such thingas a speed limit... Only in America
So anyways this weekend has been a weekedn of discovery and awesomeness! I got through one week and didnt spend all my paycheck, I found a new church that reminds me a lot of Riverview, I made some friends... goodbye sad boring saturday nights at home alone, hello lively social life, non stop phone calls coz i'm so damn popular, neverending invites to parties and the like... ahhh... I'm living the good life. So the story is that I went to this church in the middle of the week to meet some of the staff, check out the facilities and have a few basic questions answered. i ended up chatting to these two nice employees of the church for like an hour and they got my details and the next day I was invited to a concert in SanFrancisco... but I had to work (Shakes fist)! but i went to church te next day and met them all and they were so nice, I ended up hanging with them until like 230 am... Did you know that it doesn't matter what side of the world I'm on I cant get away from the inability to decide on a destination... I think its a church thing that we all stand around and talk about where we could/should go but take hours to actually get there!
It was lots of fun and they were so welcoming... It was really nice to have some normal human interaction that wasn't work related! They even invited me over the next day to watch the superbowl and I was like YES! ONLY IN AMERICA! and so i went... four hours after i decided who was going to win, the game finished (I was right... go me!) and I was highly disappointed. It was an easy win, and plus the vibe was down to much! no one really supported either competing team so the passion just wasnt there! I wish i could show them a real game of football where the aussie gang shouts at the tv, jumps around when their team kicks a goal and throws stuff when their team loses... You see real sport has nothing to do with the sport or the players... Its all about the audience and their cheering (or booing) antics... least thats wat i think anyway
So yay for money, yay for church, yay for real australian sports and big big yay for new friends!!
love ya's

A bushwalk and a stick of gum

Today I woke as per usual, I decided i didnt want to drive so my bosses took both cars today... and come 1230 pm I was bored... ok there's only so many hours of TV you can watch... No your eyes dont go square... But your brain gets fried... ad in true american style i was turning into a couch potato, the only thing that might experience any development would be my butt!! So I got motivated and walked to the shops... I mean sure, I brought chocolate there, but hey it was a long walk and the chocolate brand was lindt... any girls will know that lindt is like -wow- and they have terrible chocolate (and all other food) so to find chocolate thats been imported over here and has the real lindt brand on it was so noice! Anyway, I got out in the grey and prayed that it wouldnt rain on me (thank you Lord, no rain on me!!) and I started walking. I found this beautiful trail with a little stream and all. It was quite a long walk, but beautiful. Anyway I got to the shops, brought a few bits ad pieces, and I got some gum. It was fatter than your average pack of gum so I was thinking there was double the gum pieces... but no, only fifteen pieces. So i eagerly opened my purchase and alas! I saw fifteen STICKS of gum! For a grand 2 weeks I have been under the illusion that chewing gum would be one thing of familiarity in this mad american world. I HAVE BEEN DECIEVED! I thought I would give the gum a chance, pulled a stick of gum out and realized they were individually wrapped, not just with that thin paper as used by the australian 'wrigglys extra' gum, but like the whole outside warpping re-wrapped around each stick of gum... and THEN within that extra wrapper there was the thin paper wrapping. 'How clean, sanitary, and considerate of the gum people to put so much effort into wrapping their gum...this gum must be really good' and I put it in my mouth... It tastes exactlythe same as the gum in australia. It seems that while each individual stickof gum differs in package and sise, the same minty flavour still exists... ahhh the familiar things are often the best things!

What a rollercoatser ride of emotions and expectations!!

My favourite people (some of them anyway!)

So the day has improved, Its really easy to get gloomy over here, but once i am busy doing things, then I am distracted away from my loneliness... so as one distraction i thought i could look at some photos of some of my favouritest people in the whole world... now obviously i would love to put all of you in this part... but I dont have photos of everyone in this computer, so ther are a few of my favourites whose pictures do not appear... your photgraphic absence is duly noted! I dont even know if that makes sense but doesn't it make me sound super-smart?!?!... it does... right...? Lucky no. one of my fave's is Kev... I only have an eye on this picture because of his annoying dislike for pictures... sure he lurves to take pictures of other people (in my case they are always quite... well lets just say that Kev has photographic memoirs of me at some of my worst moments) but he hates being the focus of the camera!!
The boy on the left is a little bro to me, I was his nanny for two years and he was my little sunshine... I wonder if i can get into trouble for putting that photo on this page... are there laws against that??? Wonder if Constable Curtis would know...
CRUSTY!!! how i do miss you so! Think of all the fun times, the many car trips and late night random movies, Kung Pow... Ahh good times... and your dad... ahem... how are we supposed to get married now I'm on the other side of the world?? Your papa must be so heartbroken! Crusty I miss your bear hugs
Mum and Dad... Love you... Miss you... Can't wait to see you!!!
Panda... we were totally meant to be sisters!

There are more of my Perth Faves to come but right now Im going to bed! Did you know that since i came over here I turned into an old fart... I went to bed at like 8:30 last night... and I had a nanna nap today... I'm so old! Did you know that I turn 21 on the 7th of April (and yes I expect lots of presents and phonecalls)! Did you also know that I have decided that I am going to be 21 for a few years... I figure I mightaswell lie about my age as long as I can get away with it... Plus, If i turn 21 every year for the next few years then I get Awesome presents for the next few years... Its a win-win situation!! What do you all think?

Rainy Days

Its pretty grey over ere... rainy and average. Homesickness is really getting to me today... I havent had a real hug from anyone for ten days... which is for me, a really long time... In fact the only real human contact I've had was on Sunday at church... once in a whole week. quite depressing. Plus its cold and wet so I cant go out and explore the world around me, The only antidote for the gloom is the few people who i have gotten to speak with in the last week and a half... I really wish that even just one of you guys could be over here... I miss you all so much