The bulk of my collection comes from America and as far as decorations go you don’t get much more American than their favourite (or should I say favorite) chocolate… In fact, many of these decorations were given to me at the same Christmas in 1988 so I’ll break up the story so the posts aren’t too long…
I was 20 (gasp) and had left NZ for the wild blue yonder. I have no idea how my mother and father ever let me go… I believe I would be scared stiff to do the same!! Still they had brung me up proper and I was pretty capable… so a travelling I did go! But, as is usually the case with plans like these, they did not go so well as one may like…
I arrived in Washington DC after a very peculiar week in LA (could it be any different…) and was met by Sherry and Pom my new employers/family…
Yep, I did the US illegal nanny thing.
Big mistake…
Huge!
I arrived, green as the grass of rural NZ (the greenest) and was employed to be a nanny to two small boys… and a housekeeper of a 4 bedroom home… and a manager of a home based childcare centre… with children raging in ages from 9weeks to 9years old.
At age 20…
With no experience…
From 8am to 6pm.
Without breaks.
And all for the princely sum of $100 per week.
Oh, but board and lodging were provided… On a fold out sleeper bed… and not the sprung kind… noooooo, the foam rubber kind, available for a couple of hundred at your local Clark or Para Rubber outlet…
I lasted 3 months.
WOW. My goodness.
I’m loving these stories: thanks for sharing. It is amazing how objects can lead on to historical musings…
One of the benefits of age is the ability to actually say B*gg*r this and leave! Isn’t it great!
Quitter ;)