Recently my blog posts have been to notify you of upcoming appearances as an extra on television, but there has actually been a lot of other things going on. Since October 1st our apartment has been a bit of a hotel, hosting my various family members who came to visit. Family visits, holidays, and lots of work have kept me from getting in dance classes lately but I hope to refocus my time in the new year. I had hoped to get some classes in before coming home to Seattle for a week over Christmas but have just been inundated with jobs. I landed a great babysitting job through the hotel agency that will keep me busy till I fly out on the 22nd.
A family is visiting here from Saudi Arabia, while the father is here on business (he is the lawyer to the royal family). The two children are five and seven years old and have a full time nanny who has come with them for the trip. Myself and one other babysitter from my agency have been hired for 6 hours a day to be the children’s tour guides of NYC. So, the other sitter and I switch off days taking the kids to various tourists sites and shows, yes Broadway shows that is!!! I can’t complain much when I’m getting paid to sit and watch a Broadway show, especially when the father has me buy the seats 12 rows back in the center!
Here is what life was like this past Tuesday. I woke up and did some work for my internet job. My brother had flown his boss and his wife up to NY for a few days and was staying at our apartment since the decent hotels are booked from the holidays. (*NOTE: if you don’t know who Daniel’s boss is, feel free to ask me or email me, for internet purposes I thought I would leave the name out*) After getting some coffee with Mike and Daniel I headed into the city for another day of babysitting fun. After meeting up with the kids at the hotel, the nanny, two kids, and I were off in the private chaffered car that the family has on call for the duration of their stay. We arrived at Rockefeller Center and went to rent our skates. I spent the next two hours helping the kids around the ice rink as it was their first time to ice skate. The nanny stayed on dry ground and I impressed myself with my ability to balance on ice skates while being pulled at from both sides by falling children.
After getting our fill of skating we took the elevator to ‘The Top of the Rock’ which is the view point from the top of the NBC Studios Building (see attached photo). Dusk had just fallen and the view was gorgeous. My time to look over the city was cut short by tired and hungry children who had become grumpy and were ready to head back. We find out the Dad is waiting at the Plaza Hotel and we to go and meet him there. Our driver picks us up and whisks us back uptown to the hotel. At the hotel I meet one of the princes (the second one I’ve met so far) and try to keep the kids behaving while we wait for their dad. On our way back to their hotel I am handed a tip for the past 3 days and lets just say WOW, I don’t know when I will be ever handed that much cash again, well maybe after my final day with this family, but I don’t know after that! I say good bye to the kids who are sad to see my go but I promise to be back on Thursday.
I then go and meet up for Chinese food with Mike and Daniel as we wait to hear word from Daniel’s boss. A full belly of Chinese food and a Starbucks latte later we find out Daniel’s boss is on the Upper East Side at a restaurant. We hop on the subway, then take a quick taxi ride cross-town. We’re looking around for the restaurant when all of a sudden, there he is, Daniel’s boss is standing outside waiting to meet us. My stomach drops and I have a moment of wanting to run away because I am nervous. We walk up, shake hands and he tells us to head to the back of the restaurant. We make our way back to a large round table where Daniel’s boss’ wife is sitting and another man, who we learn owns a high-end men’s clothing store. We spend the next few hours making conversation with everyone and trying to not appear star-struck. It wasn’t too awkward, his wife was nice and he was hilarious. At the end of the night Daniel’s boss gave me a hug and kiss good-bye and that was it. The end to a very long but exciting day had come and I knew it was a day to be blogged.
