Here it is. The post you’ll see on every single au pair blog.
Many of those are filled with utter excitement and many new impressions of the country. With me, it is no different, only that the country itself is anything but unknown to me…
The first day, I arrived late the night before by bus, I spent alone in the house. The whole family was away and thus I had much time to get to know my new home. In the evening I was even asked which drawer holds the boy’s socks. I knew almost all of the things and hope not to have raised to many high hopes. 😀
So, I now live in a suburb of Wellington. Filled with big, nice houses and windy, most importantly.
‘My’ kids are 2 girls (aged 10 and 5) and a boy (aged 8) and there’s the cuddly toys, too: 2 burmese cats and an itsy-bitsy good boy. The elder cat is just sitting on my lap and rests its head on my wrist.
The first week is great to climatize, given that I will have much time to ponder over all new learnings while picking the last apples and to prepare mentally.
Next to 3 super cute greeting cards, my pinboard was decorated with a welcome message. As the ninth au pair of the family you can sense a certain routine to it, right away.
The children (this is quite common in New Zealand) tend to do a lot of sports, like taekwondo. It will be my job to take them to all those places. Amongst other things of course.
The family is well organized, so there is a plan for everything. That is a good concept, as it lets you know all the whereabouts. Actually it is crucial in order to survive, knowing where abouts you find yourself in all the chaos. 😀
Safe to say, it’s amsuing to see miniature fighters. 😀
We then went to places in Wellington I wouldn’t be able to reach without a car. For example the wind turbine on Brooklyn Hill… Just like all high ground around Wellington, you are presented with a fantastic view of the coolest capital in the world. 🙂
As opposed to where I come from, wind turbines are a rare sight here.
My beloved city…
Life changed dramatically once again. Now there are toys in the shower, my clothing has (thanks to the extraordinary cuddlyness of the pets) fur all over it and partly due to excitement, partly due to the raised ambience noice, my sleep has become more shallow. But that might correlate with the lack of the daily physical struggle. 🙂
It’s the school holidays and the kids are at home at all times. The family is tech-orientated, so I tend to see my own childhood, with a different eye now, sitting in front of the screens.
My diary holds about 4 times the information compared to the previous time and I hardly keep track of what happened what day. There’s just that much going on…
I bet EVERY au pair has errected a ginger bread house at some point.
Well, enough of this massive post. Meanwhile, the cats have swapped places and the kids shall not have a computer addicted au pair. 😀 Even though you’re off duty, you still are a role model…
