Rani

The American Dream

[die-rosse]

23/09 - 28/09/2019 Last week

During my last week in Dallas I cried almost every day.

Every day I had to say goodbye to certain friends and habits.

Monday 23/09/2019 was a beautiful day. I played outside with EJ and I couldn’t believe the year we’ve had together. ‘My’ baby is running around now! It’s amazing to see how much he has learned and what he’s capable of.

Monday was the last time I saw Antonio.

Tuesday 24/09 was the last time I went to the mommy-baby work-out with baby EJ.

In the evening I played beach volleyball with some friends and friends of friends. It was the last time I saw Kristen, my first real friend in Dallas, and Doug and Kate, whom I’d grown closer with over the last months. When we ended our night, Kristen & Doug gave me a goodbye card. I cried on my way home.

On Wednesday 25/09 we went to storytime at the mall for the last time.

Thursday morning, 26/09, was our last storytime at our local library. I got to know some very nice librarians, mothers and other nannies over there. Miss Coco, the librarian who always does storytime with the kids, got me a farewell cake/cookie, to share with everyone. What a friendly gesture. During storytime, baby EJ didn’t want to sit with me. he was always hanging out with the nanny of his friends. As if he knew I was going to leave and was already trading me for someone else!

In the evening I had my last beach volleyball game. When I joined this league, I didn’t know anyone and now I’m sad I have to go. My team was a lot of fun! Being Belgian and one of the better players in the league I got ‘notorious’ amongst other teams as well. I don’t remember who started it but by now everyone was calling me “the Belgian Hammer”. Team Sofa Kingdom! I found out what our team name stands for after our last game. These idiots... Wish I had met them sooner!

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Sunday 22/09/2019

It was my last Sunday in Dallas and some friends took me out to get some last touristic pictures. First we went to Klyde Warren Park because the Friends couch was there.

Then we drove to Trinity Grove where we had a beautiful view over the city’s skyline.

My friend Hai took some professional pictures of our last trip together. 

We got some ice cream/ milkshake to cool off and ended our trip at the Dallas Museum of Art. While standing in front of this view (next picure) I got emotional. Fear and sadness were creeping up on me. My friends asked me if there was anything else I wanted to do before going home, making sure I got the most out of today, but I didn’t want to postpone the inevitable.

Next to that, I needed to start packing...

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Saturday 21/09/2019

My host parents threw a barbecue for me and my friends as a goodbye present. Some canceled last minute but it the most important ones were there.

We played Kubb and had a lot of food.

My host mom made punch, my host dad prepared all the meat and baby EJ pre-tasted the chocolate cake. Even though it was ‘my’ party, baby EJ was the star of the night. He was flirting with my girlfriends, tried to join our game of Kubb and got the most adorable pictures taken. 

At dinner my host parents gave me a present: a necklace from Texas. I love it so much! I also finally got a picture with them. I will cherish these two souvenirs.

After dessert my friends and I headed downtown. I wanted to visit The Statler’s rooftopbar one last time as it has my favorite view of the city by night. 

Maria, Alexa and I ended up dancing in the bar downstairs. I didn’t leave until I was forced to at 2am, when everything closes. I got the most out of tonight. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. 

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Saturday 14/09/2019

I had one of the best MeetUps ever! A Cartoon Pub Crawl!!

Everyone was dressed up and it was hilarious! We had a lot of fun. Thanks to our costumes we even got into Rainbow Vomit - an interactive art exhibition - for free.

Can you guess all of the characters? (I was Kim Possible!)

We ended our night at our favorite midnight snack place Angry Dog.

I can’t believe I have to leave them in only a few weeks... I’m so happy I have this amazing memory to hold onto.

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Friday 13/09/2019

Leone, an au pair from South Africa, invited me to join a birthday party at Red River. I would only know her but since it was going to be my last chance to go dance over there, I went anyway. Also, I really wanted to try out my own boots.

We were a big group of girls, all of us au pairs I think. I didn’t socialize much because I didn’t feel like putting energy into meeting new people when I know I’m leaving in a couple of weeks.

Most girls didn’t want to dance so went out there on my own and managed to find a couple of dance partners. It was not as great though so I left before midnight.

Goodbye Red River, I’ll miss ya.

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Saturday 07/09/2019

I spent my Saturday afternoon in Deep Ellum on a special MeetUp: a Dessert Crawl. How genius! We visited 4 different places. Thank God I had a light lunch...

We ended our tour at an arcade bar where I tried a “mist shot”. That was the first and also last time I tried that, it was not worth the money.

In the evening Alexa and I went to a Harry Potter pop-up bar at The Whippersnapper. We had some themed cocktails and I took a test that put me in team Gryffindor.

We had pizza in Deep Ellum and got matching piercings afterwards. We ended up at The Candy Company. It looks like a small candy store but there’s a hidden door that takes you to the bar.

As the lights were turned on at 2am, we had a final slow dance on Purple Rain before leaving. What a night. I’m gonna miss this girl a lot.

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Friday 06/09/2019

I joined Antonio at his friends’ place for a relaxing evening at their pool. They have a hairless cat that was super sweet. Even though I’m a huge cat person, I don’t think I would ever get a hairless cat. They look so fragile.

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Thursday 05/09/2019

One of the most American things I’ve seen so far... 

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Monday 02/09/2019

Antonio taught me how to play Darts. I like it! It’s more fun than I thought. Or maybe that’s because I won?

We had dinner at Genghis Grill. It’s a restaurant where you take all the meat/ sea food + vegetables + sauce you like and then bring it to the chef to prepare it with noodles/ rice/... Can’t go wrong here!

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Sunday 01/09/2019

I went out for brunch with a MeetUp in Uptown; Malai Kitchen, a Thai & Vietnamese restaurant. The food was good and the mimosa overflowing.

After brunch we moved to a nail salon where we got pedicures and/ or manicures. I did both and it feels even better when you’re drunk!

In the afternoon my friend Antonio took me out. I joined him and his friends at a rooftop poolparty in downtown Dallas. We enjoyed the sun, the pool, the view and too much food until early after midnight.

[die-rosse]

Saturday 31/08/2019

It’s Labor Weekend! This means most people have a day off on Monday, including my host parents aka including me.

My weekend started off very relaxed. I met up with another au pair from South-Africa, Leone. We went to Greenville to check out the souvenir shops and then had some kind of brunch at her friend’s place. 

In the evening Alexa and I went to see DJ Pauly D at Stereo Live.

I have been watching Jersey Shore on MTV since I was 15 or so. It’s one of the few shows I watch together with my sister. Pauly D is one of the epic people in the show so I owed it to my teen-self to go see him.

Some people might think he became a famous DJ thanks to the show, and maybe that’s true, but honestly, he’s just a really good DJ! His set had a lot of variation between types of music and he put old and new songs into amazing mixes! Alexa and I had a great time!

[die-rosse]

Saturday 24/08/2019

The plan was to go do karaoke with 4 girlfriends. Unfortunately two cancelled so the remaining 3 of us decided to do something else.

We ended up going to Alamo Drafthouse, a movie theater close to where I live. This place is heaven! The seats are super comfortable, you can even put your feet up and per 2 people, you share a small table. During the movie there are waiters that bring you drinks and food, from small snacks to decent meals.

We saw “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”, Quentin Tarantino’s new movie. In my opinion the movie was kind of boring up until the last part. There was a huge plottwist that was awesome! Apparently not so much of a twist though. After the movie, my American friends told me the movie refers to the Manson Family Murders of 1969. Knowing this background story makes the movie a lot more interesting!

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Sunday 18/08/2019

I tried something new thanks to MeetUp: Broomball. In my opinion it’s a simplistic version of ice hockey; regular sport shoes, some kind of broom stick and a ball.

I had never heard of it so I was curious to try it out. It went well! Turns out I’m pretty good at defense! I had a lot of fun and would definitely try it again. After the game most of us went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.

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Saturday 17/08/2019

I got to check another thing off my bucketlist: see a baseball game!

In the afternoon I hung out with my friend Alexa, at her pool. Around 5pm we went out for dinner at Texas Live in Arlington, across the street from the baseball stadium. We skipped the boring official stuff and arrived during the first inning. The stadium was huge and the view was really pretty.

I knew nothing about baseball but it’s not hard to pick up. Because of the heat (still 98F - 36C° at 10pm), we left before the game had ended. I enjoyed watching it but I wouldn’t want to see a game every week and preferably also not in such heat since it can take a long time.

[die-rosse]

Weekend 10-11/08/2019

I had a lazy but nice weekend. The only two things I did were: 

1. Following the “Dodentocht” that was happening in the town where I was born and raised. It translates to “March of the Dead” which my American friends thought was weird and asked if it referred to the World War. No it doesn’t. The Dodentocht is a long-distance march of 100 kilometers that you have to walk (or run for the diehards) within 24 hours. On Facebook I saw 2 friends took on the challenge and thanks to tracking I could see how they were doing. One day, I will try this too.

2. Go to brunch on Sunday at Stock and Barrel. I had “spicy fried spaghetti” and it was incredible.

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Monday 05/08/2019

I hardly ever go out during the week but when my friends invited me to go play laser tag, I couldn’t refuse of course! 

We met at a place called “Main Event” in Plano. It was crazy! One big venue with a lot of different things to do: bowling, billiards, laser tag, arcade hall with video games and others, comfort food & full bar service, plus a karaoke lounge.

Every 10-15 minutes or so, there was a new game of laser tag that anyone could join. You had to get in line and pick any available laser gun and vest. We played multiple games for about two hours. I had a lot of fun! 

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Sunday 04/08/2019

When you visit Dallas, you have to try Pecan Lodge in Deep Ellum. It has the best barbeque of the city. The waiting line is always super long, starting inside all along the wall, going outside, all the way to the end of the block and sometimes even around the corner.

I finally got to try it with some friends and they knew a way to beat the line: order group plates at the take out desk. We got our food pretty fast and it was very good! Best barbeque I’ve had over here.

After lunch we all went to the same MeetUp: (board) games at a bar. I ended up playing my favorite game Code Names and the first, soft, version of Cards Against Humanity - Apples to Apples.