There is always some loss

Sep 7, 2015 | The Great Journey, Thoughts

All of them are gone.
There were so many goodbyes to say the last days. So many lovely people, whom you spent ‘the time of your life’ with, have moved on.
It is funny, but sometimes in life all happens at once. Same applied to the farewell to many very good friends. Some are going to Asia, some to the South Island, some go home, some are following a work opportunity.

Now only a few are left from out fantastic group. And now, I am to follow the trend and leave Wellington.

I would like to leave the au pair experience as is for now and turn to other fields. After all, I am a professional and I could use my ability.

Also, springs invites for some travelling. As I haven’t discovered all of the South Island, I am drawn there.
I will have to market myself and my abilities well and I am curious, how this new adventure turns out.

I will get to know new streets and new people. An without a doubt a new face of New Zealand, too…

Wellington City, where it all began…

The New Liberty

Aug 31, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Thoughts, Updates

My legacy to the family: The base frame of a watchtower in the garden.

Now I am free!

It was in that moment, when I was but 200 metres from that house, when it came to me: I will never have to come back, this chapter is closed for good and I am stripped of all duty once again!
I was overwhelmed.

The weekend then was well filled with things we did with the other au pairs, but the void starts to show and wants to be filled.

I am sitting inside the hostel room on my first big day of liberty and ponder about the day.
I have looked around Wellington for the job offer boards of hostels and applied online for a few. Breakfast and dinner is free at this hostel (though ‘somewhat’ limited) and that makes for an easy budget handling each day…

Sure, life changes in many departments when you leave your host family: You have to go outside to use the free public Wi-Fi of the city, you buy your ow food, you have the day at your disposal and decide for yourself, how much social mingling you are in for, you live in a hostel room (which luckily inhabits only me at this point) and you can leave and return at will.

Maybe my journey will lead me away from my beloved Wellington, who knows…
Anything is possible, after all…

Just as none of these pegs knows which piece of clothing it will clamp next, I don’t know as well which position I will hold soon…

The last days with the family

Aug 27, 2015 | The Great Journey, Thoughts

Slowly spring comes around, the days get longer and it smells nice outside in nature.
I cook the last meals for the family, settle the last disputes of the children, remind to be tidy for the last time, return the borrowed books for the last time, drink my last pot of tea, fold the last pieces of clothing, pick up the kids from school for the last time, take bread out of the freezer for the last time, bake cookies for the last time, vacuum and mop the floorrs for the last time, open the windows of my room for the last time, turn of the electric blanket for the last time, pet the cats for the last time, look out of the window on the surrounding hills with longing for the last time.

Only a few weeks back I thought I would stay in this place until next year. But that changed and I am happy with it.

Even though I don’t know how things will go from here and where I will sleep in the next 2 weeks, I am looking forward to the time to come. For my possibilities are unlimited, I could just look for another family, go for a well-paid job in electronics or just travel and on a budget work for accomodation and board discover the country.

The kids accept the decision and fortunately our relation doesn’t suffer on the last distance. Of course this isn’t what was planned. But the plan included everyone’s happiness…
One thing is for sure: I got to know the life as an au pair and it has been an unparalleled experience!
I cannot complain either, as my life here was not a bad one. The opposite. Only we had to agree that our two worlds wouldn’t harmonise on the long run. Thus, either one goes their own way and will be happy in their own way.

Until now my life in New Zealand also went pretty much went on railtracks, also: Some settling-in time travelling, 12 weeks on the apple orchard, 4 months on calm waters as an au pair.
Now the actual adventure may begin, let’s see what is in store for me! 🙂

 

 

Big words at the school of the girls (taken with the mobile)

The End of the Third Age

Aug 18, 2015 | The Great Journey, Thoughts, Updates

On my harddrive I organised my New Zealand pictures into folders. The first age was me travelling Wellington, Taupo, Rotorua and Napier. In the second age, I lived and worked in Hastings and the third one with this family.
And in two week’s time the fourth age will dawn.

When au pairs leave their families, it is an unpleasant thing. One voice in your head then says: ‘Well, that went down the drain!’ and the other voice rejoices about this step back towards happiness.

What happened?
When 2 foreign worlds live together in a confined space, the inner human starts to show one day. And when those inner policies won’t harmonise, neither of those to can be happy for long.
In my case, things have turned out not compatible. Yes, I was happy in the beginning and I had a good time and a good life here. But in the latest time I realised that this couldn’t work out for good.
Signs, you have a good time as an au pair: You are terrified by the thought of saying goodbye and don’t wish to have that soon. You are looking forward to the coming spring and summer. You love spending time with your family.
For those things didn’t apply, I decided to take action.

But the logical follow-up is: How will things move on from there?
With my own car, I can choose whichever way… I will begin to look for another family, as just because it didn’t work out with this family, it doesn’t mean I am not meant to be an au pair.
On the other hand, I could just take on any job and boost my travel funds a little. Come to think of it…it has been while wielding the soldering iron. 🙂

 

 

For peace may reign again!

 

 

As I walked through the streets of Wellington with my friends whis weekend, my longing to be free grew in me. Not having to go back, being able to breathe freely…

And this longing will get satisfied soon. It is not easy or nice to everyone involved, but when you are unhappy you should act quickly in favour of the change.
Be that cowardly or brave…

Colourful Interim Report

Aug 6, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Thoughts, Trips, Updates

Blog post number 70!

I can relax a little, as the kids are taken to their activities by the host mum. The scores for my meatpie with noodles stretched from 98/100 to 1000000/1000000 and there was enough for everybody… 🙂

Directly after the Winterreise I faced the most demanding weeks to that day: The school holidays.
On the one hand the new kind of routine (making breakfast for the kids, no returns from school, etc.) and on the other hand the fact that the kids are at home for the whole day made for an exciting 2 weeks.

For the girls have more classes per school day at their school than the boy’s, they get an extra week off. Due to that I dropped off and picked up the boy together with the girls in the last week… I also tried to make good use of the holidays, taking the kids to the museum, the park for a picnic or an indoor playhouse…
A few days they spent at their grandparents’, which made for some welcome breaks for me. 🙂

We crumb the chicken nuggets ourselves…

Now that the school holidays have long passed, I am more than happy about the old routine: Being with the boy in the morning and drop him off at school then. And only at 3pm I tend to the kids again.
To whom thinking about becoming an au pair: There is a groundbreaking difference between the kids staying home or having kids who are in school/ kindergarten already…

Meanwhile I have found an amazing group of friends, and we all regularly come together to enjoy the life beyond being an au pair. 🙂 Next to that, it is always the sweetest thing to meet travel companions of the past…

Last Sunday we celebrated Celine’s birthday with a walk along the Skyline Walkway in Wellington.
It was a rather cloudy day, but luckily the sky held back the gift of rain. 🙂 Instead it was insanely windy! Partially you couldn’t walk straight up and the hood of my jacket rattled like mad. 😀

View of Wellington from Mount Kaukau.

View on a wind farm west of Wellington.

I had to reissue the WOF (Warrant of Fitness) for my car the other day and my darling actually needed some reconditioning… At least for another 6 months I don’t need to worry about that now. 🙂 With cars made before 2000 you get the WOF for 6 months, newer cars get 12 months and brand-new ones 3 whole years from the day you buy them…

In our town new houses get built and even though I didn’t see the building sites at home up close as often, I think there are some differences to spot: