Concrete Jungle

Hello Bloggle reader

I went to NYC over the weekend with three friends and we got the train in about 5 minutes after I had finished work and headed in on the train. I went with Tom, Stu and our guide for the evening Danielle. We got into Grand Central station and headed outside to hail a yellow cab. Stu did an excellent job at doing so, however we got shouted at by a man with a whistle, as we apparently skipped the line. We walked around looking for a place to stay and managed to find a hotel and it had a queen sized bed, a recliner chair and the floor. I asked for enough blankets and pillows to make a fort, however they denied me that chance.

We then headed out to NYC and ended up at Times square looking for a place to eat. We passed about 17 Maccys (I loved it). We ended up going to Planet Hollywood which is right on the bit of Times Square you see in pictures and stuff. We walked in and it's got like different movie props and costumes. The first one I saw was  two suits worn by Robert Redford and Paul Newman in The Sting. (I'm well aware a lot of you won't know what The Sting is, well google it or IMDB it. It's the greatest Con film ever. Even better than Ocean's 11. Sort it out) Well when I saw these suits I jumped around like a small child in excitement and forced Danielle to take my picture of it. Here is that picture.

There was loads of other films in there, ranging from Titanic to Grease and the Sound of Music, the food was nice also and our waiter was pretty spot on also. We had a few cheeky ones and got to keep our shot glasses and stuff. Massive win! We then headed out into Times Square at night which is really interesting, and a hard thing to describe, worth going though, can't think of anything like it.

We turned in relatively early and we decided who slept in the bed with the trusty old, Rock Paper Scissors, I was one of the winners and went to sleep fairly quickly.

We headed out the next day into the city and watched the Football in an Irish bar which served PROPER TEA!!!!! We had like four different matches on the 9 different screens in the bar and loved the drama. Except Stu, Stu is a Man U fan. From the bar we headed to the Rockefeller centre and decided to go to the top. Now some of you may know that I have a problem with heights, one of my friends pointed out that I had trouble walking up a hill in Manchester once. I've been trying to tackle that fear and I believe Rockefeller is my moment that proved that I'm challenging myself. Yay me! Here's proof in case you don't believe I went up myself.

We went back down and if you may have guessed from the picture it was a gorgeous day and absolutely boiling so we headed to Central Park and had a bit of a nap. Standard. And that was my first trip to NYC.

I'm all well and loving working with young people again, and don't you fear I have a plentiful supply of hugs and cuddles here. You are welcome dear blog reader for the promised pictures. I promised didn't I! Thanks for reading you wonderful person. You are my favourite.

I miss you all dearly.

Love Tim

Let's go to the mall and 1st day of work.

Righto blog readers and old nostalgic Tim.

Here's where this blog starts to pick up. We had a day off yesterday where we all went to a mall, which is essentially a big shopping centre. Think Meadowhall or the Trafford Centre. We were dropped off at the Mall and let loose, everyone headed to where they wanted to go, be it the apple store, Abercrombie or this cool shop that did really comfy bean bag things. I followed my heart too, straight to the food court and Maccy d's. Having devoured my ten nuggets and supersize fries (even though they only called it a large). Then started my seven hours in the mall. That's right folks. Seven hours. Shopping.

People bought loads of stuff, and spent a lot of money, it wasn't out of the ordinary for people to spend $100 dollars on trainers, it wasn't my thing but they convinced me that it was a good buy. So I believed them. Money spent ranged from $20-$1000. I spent on the lower half, I got one kick arse Avengers t-shirt and some really nice ice cream. $40 dollars bitches. Seven hours and after explaining to the pizza place on the food court that a margarita pizza IS a cheese pizza we then left and headed back on the bus and spent like 10 minutes in Wal Mart to buy stuff we actually need. I bought a phone and a washing bag and star wars bed sheets.

I also had my first day of groups and stuff on Monday 7th May. They were nice and from 'The Bronx' and they were lovely. It was nice to get back to working with young people. Top stuff. However I think that I will suffer from massive sleep depression. Gutted for my sleep pattern, yay for personal happiness.

Up next description of my trip to New York. Get excited.

I didn't want to give you much to read so have a gander there and do keep in touch. I love you all, specially and individually. Especially you! You beautiful person.

Tim

The Wild Wild West

First blog in America. For anyone reading this from my camp, this is primarily a way for me to remember the summer and for my friends and family to keep up to date with what i'm doing!

I'm am currently in the whats known as the Moose Lodge for the WiFi as our staff lounge is currently in refurbishment! Writing this to background noise of everyone having a great time. Iron Man is on in the background. Pure banter.

I left the UK on Tuesday and had a delightful flight with Virgin where they even served afternoon tea with scones and everything! Watched Big Bang Theory and Game of Thrones and the time flew by. Landed in JFK where there was a massive queue to get through customs. But that was all sorted and I met most of the people that I'm going to be working with and living with at camp, and as it happens they are all lovely! (Just in case any of them are reading this) Everyone gets on and there's lots of banter and fun and games. We went on a bus that looks pretty much exactly like a school bus from American TV shows, but red and headed on the 2 hour journey to Kent and the camp where we will be spending our time.

Over the next few days there was been some pretty hardcore and intensive training which has included rock hiking and climbing walls and zip lines. I've had a go at pretty much everything and was acting like a massive wuss on anything a foot off the ground. However everyone here has been lovely and supportive. I know I promised pictures but I haven't actually taken any yet, the best time to do so would have been the rock hike and I was holding onto the rocks for dear life due to the paralysing fear of  heights so no cameras were available.

Started playing Frisbee, as well so hopefully thee might be an action shot of it. I taught some people how to play a bit of ultimate and how to throw a frisbee with your forehand and backhand. I'm pretty sure I got the rules wrong but we enjoyed it. Also last night we had our dance training, which was well cool, we learnt some routines to Cotton Eye Joe, Apache and I'm still working on the Soulja Boy one. I also learnt how to Dougie.

If you've read through all this and are at the end, then I'm very proud of you. A* for you blog reader, you shall get a sticker when I return home you beautiful reader you.

Tim