245 days done, 116 days to go

Wow, today I realised that we have been in Boston for 245 days (i.e. 8 months!). Time has really flwon by. We have done and seen so much, we are so blessed to be having an experience like this. Boston is really such a great place to live, and although we've had a lot of snow and experienced a low of -22C (with wind chill), we have enjoyed every minute of our adventure so far.

In the last 8 months, we've travelled to New York, Niagara Falls, Las Vegas, LA, Seattle and San Francisco. We went on the boat cruise around lower Manhattan, saw the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building, went on the Sightseeing bus around Manhattan, saw Times Square, walked around Central Park, went on the Maid of the Mist in Niagara, saw Old Vegas, went to Hollywood, drove through Beverley Hills, walked around Santa Monica, saw the Space Needle, saw the Cables Cars and Alcatraz, saw some of the Williams' in LV and LA and met some Locks (from Vancouver) for the first time.

Here in Boston, we've Seen the Red Sox play the NY Yankees, the Celtics play the NY Knicks and Harvard play Yale in football. We saw Bruce Springsteen perform at Fenway.We saw Jerry Seinfeld live at the Wang Theatre. We saw the 'Soup Nazi' from Seinfeld at Harvard Square. We had supper at the Cheers Pub. We saw the renowned author CK Williams at The Castle in Boston University. We've been up to the Skywalk Observatory at the Prudential Building in Boston. We've tried all the Boston foods like Clam Chowder, lobster, bagels with cream cheese, steak tips, buffalo chicken tenders, etc. We lived through historic Hurricane Sandy (largest Atlantic hurricane on record) and Blizzard Nemo (Boston's 5th biggest snowstorm with 24.9 inches of snow). We've explored Cambridge and Boston. Visited MIT. Visited the JFK Museum. Built our first snowman 'Sipho'. Eaten dumplings in Chinatown. Attended the Ig Nobel Awards. Attended a Bar Mitzvah. Met some amazing and interesting people. Made many new friends. Studied at Harvard. Celebrated our birthdays and 3rd Anniversary. Went on a harbour cruise. Had picnics along the Charles River. Saw the Head of the Charles Regatta (boat race). Watched the Fourth of July fireworks. Followed the 2012 US Elections and watched Obama's inauguration (second term in office). Saw the beautiful leaves during Fall. Had our first Thanksgiving at the Cohens. Heard that our new little niece Kirsten was born on 13 Febuary 2013.

So many happy memories! Now to enjoy the remaining 116 days :)

Below are some pictures from our Chinese New Year lunch (10 Feb13) hosted by my friend Juan. Celebrating Year of the Snake.

 

Winter Storm Nemo... 5th most snow in Boston

We've had a pretty mild winter so far (touch wood!) with occassional 1-2 inches of snow and the coldest day so far has been -14C (-22C with wind chill).

Winter Storm and Blizzard Nemo began on Friday at midday and snow fell consistently until Saturday 12:00. A record 24.9 inches fell in Boston, making it the 5th biggest snowstorm.

The Govenor of Massachusetts had declared a state of emergency on Friday, banning all cars off the street from 4pm. Schools, shops, the T were all closed on Friday as a safety precaution.

We watched as the snow pelted down and covered the ground. This was classified as a blizzard since the winds reached about 60km/h.

This was the most snow that I've ever seen, there was snow about 40cm on our balcony.

I even built a snowman, was a bit difficult as the snow was fine and kept on breaking up. After a lot of patience, this was the final product:-

Meet Sipho the South African Snowman :)

Luckily we didn't have to shovel any snow. Here they have all different kinds of snow machines (there's no such things in South Africa!). Good luck to them clearing all the snow!