The first days with the family

Apr 18, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey

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…

Medium Sized Interim Report

Apr 12, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Updates

Finally, the Granny Smith Apples are done being picked. After a rainy day off, we continued with the variety called Fuji.

Those are quite different from Granny Smiths. They are red, so you find them at first glance without having to search first. Their trees are much smaller than the Grannys’ trees, which translates to the count of fruit (so, 30 ripe apples and not 3000). But most importantly: Fujis are HUGE!!

On the first day I filled double as many bins as usual! 😀 That actually was the first day picking was actually fun…

Even otherwise the last days held some (little) successes. 😊

My first haircut on New Zealand soil was carried out, which was somewhat exciting for me. Mind you, this was only the 3rd Hairdresser I entrusted my graceful scalp to. 😀 I am quite pleased with the result…

Kiwis don’t know the wonderful and delicious concept of cheese soup!! So, I stepped forward and took my chance (for the first time as so often) on the recipe. When shopping, I had to realise that there was nothing like the German ‘melting cheese’. Cream cheese did the trick perfectly in the end.

I couldn’t believe it when I was back home as I finally tried it. My roommates loved it as well, which multiplied the achievement. 😊

It is only two days, until I will swap the rather dull (you notice in the count of posts) everyday life here in Hastings for the first week in the host family. As said, I will come back for a week after (cause visa extension) and then turning my back on Hastings for good in May. I grow more and more excited and am aware, how much my life will change.

I have spent the last three months only in Hastings and didn’t do much apart from work… Right now, I am looking forward to nine months in my beloved Wellington. And it is going to be unbelievable! All new tasks, many new people, not having to pay for everything you eat, having full weekends off…

Well, more on that in a few days. 😉

Olivia, one of our four chickens.

Praying Mantis with a broken wing.

Cheese soup like at home. (or at Auntie Anna E.’s 😊)

Another Small Interim Report

Mar 31, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Updates

Too much green cabbage. Unfortunately, I only realise when there’s already a massive amount inside the colorful frying pan. The rest, thinking in advance as a good chef does, already lies finely chopped…

Now you must be strong and find alternatives and compromise. Right, a salad. But I only have chives, onions, garlic and cabbage. A little plain in terms of color… I submit (young and inexperienced as I am) to the online advice and let the leftover cabbage mingle amongst a mixture of garlic, oil, salt and pepper and some slightly expired lime juice.

Thus, I have completed the second salad of my life and the 24th warm meal (Ha! As if I still count 😀 ).

And it is delicious. I’m still mum’s son, in the end. 😛

The calculation around the time change gets much more complicated. From the 5th of April, I am only 10 hours ahead of you… I don’t know who invented this. At mine, we go FORWARDS and at yours you go BACKWARDS. 😀

These days I am picking apples again and from tomorrow we will harvest the world-famous variety ‘Granny Smith’. These apples won’t get to Germany, but the look of the trees is overwhelming. Not the least in the eyes of the picker. 😊

The mornings grow increasingly ‘crisp’, but it always ends in baking heat. 😀 Did your sweat ever go INTO your ears? 😀

4 arms would be the only logical answer.

Monstrous compared to other trees and as full as it ever gets.

The days until my (temporary at first) arrival at the family grow less and less and the anticipation rises on both sides, as I have heard…

By then there would be quite different things and all new impressions to report. Now the working life only flows by itself as it is… 😊

Picture Trip to Mahia

Mar 26, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Trips

There was no apple left to pick. They are not quite ripe enough yet, we were told. What doesn’t mean any good to your bank account, delights your tired bones. Those 2 days off I will use to travel a little, I told myself and gathered information on what the area offers.

Many would go straight to a travel guide or the internet, but New Zealand teaches otherwise. I asked a native, who by the way is our merciful supervisor and whose Maori roots reach back to the very beginnings of Aotearoa. His culture is all about the environment and the historic backgrounds. He proposed Mahia as destination, next to many others. It is a peninsula on the northern end of the Hawkes Bay coastal line.

He had spent his childhood there and his ancestors set foot on New Zealand grounds in that place, too. So far, so promising… 😊

My flatmates confirmed the place as a popular (amongst Kiwis, not so much tourists) holiday destination and thus I packed my sleeping bag and camera and went.

In New Zealand you can’t go above 100 kph. For Germans, this sounds like punishment, but if you look closely, it is well justified: The Highways (outside of bigger cities) are at best compared to our country roads (Roads named L123 in Germany) and for 90% not to be mastered on (allowed) top speed. The corners always carry recommended speeds, so that you don’t miscalculate. For tourists, this is very helpful. 😉

Enjoying the Grand Liberty, I stopped at every place I deemed to fit my wellbeing and shot my pictures. First stop was Lake Tutira.

Lakeside House

The Mohaka Viadukt (built 1936, now a railway bridge), standing 95 meters tall, is the biggest structure of its category in all of Australasia.

In the forest it smelled like goats and I even saw some from afar. So, next to the State Highway 2 there are some Goats in the woods. Good to know.

In Mahia I checked in at a, thanks to the off-season very cheap, Holiday Park and parked my car in one of the few spaces looking towards the sea. A Holiday Park basically is a Hostel without rooms, as you carry your own housing (car, tent, caravan).

But arriving was only part of my plan…

That’s how I picture a welcome.

I relocated myself, so I could get a clear lookout west. Because even though the sun rises north down here, it still sets west…

By the way, that’s me minus the beard. 😉

Clouds can project shadows upon the underside of other clouds.

After having dismissed the sun properly, I drove back and spent my first night inside the car. It was quite cold, but some things you can’t miss in life… 😀

It wasn’t hard then, to interrupt the sleep and go some way to see the sun rise. The good thing about this peninsula is that you have a clear view of the sea, both to the east and to the west. Let me tell you, it is so worth it! Get out of bed, go to a nice place and watch this overwhelming spectacle of nature. Whether you press the shutter release of the camera, or someone else close to you, is up to you. 😊

Finally, the sun announces itself…

…and the sky burns.

New Zealand is getting the light. Even only the change from dark to bright is majestical.

I went this and that way on the peninsula, before making my way home.

Even though some sights are looking pretty in the picture; when you stand in that place, it is much more beautiful…

Tadaa! Again, something for the first time: My first portion fish and chips. One of the nation’s signature dishes… 😊

My supervisor did also mention the ‘White Pine Bush’, which I only passed on the way there. This time I stopped and immersed myself (a passionate fan of Tarzan) in the realms of the jungle.

Again, just next to the highway, the ‘White Pine Bush’-retreat is a stunning contrast to its environment. It was being made fit for tourists, but you feel not less embraced by nature…

Jungle vines are real! 😀 Pity I didn’t bring my loincloth, otherwise I would have swung away on one of those vines and would disappear into the thicket for some days and would hunt leopards, looked for gorillas and only lived off fruit and termites… 😀

The roots of those Kahitea trees are massive.

I better get the laundry in now, later it is a baking dish with some tomato sauce out of a jar (fell into my shopping basket), chicken breast and pasta. 😊

Tomorrow I am back at work and it is the everyday life again… But soon. Soon the last apple will be picked and a whole new chapter will begin…

All as planned

Mar 13, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Trips, Updates

In 33 days, I will open a door. A door that belongs to my home of the next months.

My plan to spend the 12 mandatory weeks in the apple orchard, in order to extend my visa, works out. Only I will go back to Hawke’s Bay after one week with my host family to use April’s last two weeks for work. Cause theoretically you have to work only one day per week, to make it count for the extension.

After all bureaucratic and also physically exhausting efforts I can settle in my (in the beginning planned as the only station) host family.

When I really think about it (Attention, try this for yourself. Sorry to all parents.), I am giving myself an outstanding package of New Zealand…

Firstly, one (out of max. 3) months a tourist, no work, just ‘being’ here. In that time, I looked for a host family. The advantage of having the applicant sitting in front of you is that huge, you can actually go for the perfect family. Also, that they most likely will accept. Skype is nothing compared to a talk facing each other over a table…

Then I applied for the working holiday visa. Disadvantage: For stays longer than a year you need a health certificate. They cost, but that’s just the way things work. For an extended stay I am more than happy to go through that.

Holding the working visa, you can dive into the life as work-and-traveler. You can spend long days picking apples in screaming heat and think about life, the meaning of education and a qualified job. You learn what saving money means. You learn that work clothes begin to smell quicker. Also, you learn that life is not all fun and games.

So, when you are either sick of it or you completed you 12 weeks for the extension, you can ignite the second stage. You go out to your host family and..well, I will report when time has come.

The calculation in months is easy. My case shows as follows:

1 month on the tourist visa

12 months on the working holiday visa

3 months in extension of the WHV

When I arrive in my family, I will have spent 5 months in New Zealand already. Effectively, 11 months remain. The last of them I would like to spend traveling the South Island, so that I have 9-10 months with the family.

 The other disadvantage is the rebooking of my flight ticket. On arrival as a tourist you must show a ticket homebound. It is no problem to extend a flight ticket (doesn’t cost the world). But flight tickets are only extendable over the span of one year. For my stay lasts longer than a year, I had to let the booked flight go and will have to look for a new one. Maybe this could’ve gone smoother, so make sure to speak early enough with your travel agent…

Anyhow, even this circumstance is fully worth the additional time I have here at the end of the world.

Amongst others because of this:

Most Au Pairs arrive at their host family directly and leave them directly for home. 1 year as an Au Pair, some traveling on the side, the end. In the beginning that was my plan, too. But it has changed dramatically.

When arriving at my family, I will be familiar with the Kiwi way of life. Then I have already seen streets, supermarkets, gas stations and mannerisms, food and the slang. Within my stay, being an Au Pair is on the one hand the biggest part, on the other hand not the only one.

And after traveling the South Island, I can have a little ‘reunion’ with the family before I return home. I travel, work, be an Au Pair, travel again and then I go home. After 16 months worth New Zealand…

On a road trip it went up as it often does and this time again, I was not disappointed. New Zealand is SO beautiful!

Remember: For trips with your camera, sunset hours are the best. 😉

In the end of my road trip, I found this place. A world record, only 100km from my current stay! 😀 (The name describes a hill and actually is a full sentence.)