Monday, August 20, 2012

First Day

Today was my first official day of work as an au pair!

Had to be up by 6:30am because the parents has to be on the road early and someone needed to be awake as the kids got ready. Since I'm still adjusting to the time zone, it wasn't too bad. (and I've been going to bed at 9pm haha) They dress themselves and come down for breakfast, and then I make Laura her cereal and Nico his toast (with marmalade and margarine, NOT BUTTER! haha) While they eat, I make Laura's lunch; Nico's Kinder (like daycare or preschool) provides his lunch and snacks. Since they were up so early today, they had a good amount of time after breakfast and cleanup to play. We aim to leave the house by 8:15 so that we can avoid most traffic. I make sure Laura's hair is up and that she has her backpack, jacket, library book, homework, lunch, etc. :) Then we all hop in the car and I drive Nico to Kinder first. He gets checked in and then we drive to Laura's school. Both are about 5 minutes from their home. I walk Laura in to school...she gave me the best hug today when I said goodbye :)

Then I came back home, it was 9am. I Skyped with my parents for a bit, and then went for a run...tried not to get lost haha. Came back home and got the dog and walked/ran with him for about 20 minutes. I don't enjoy picking up dog poo at all. Then Skyped with Ben for a bit and had lunch. Then I went to the mall to pick up some stuff I forgot to bring or left at home by accident. Found some cheap slippers at Target...my feet have been frozen pretty much since I got here...their house isn't the warmest unfortunately. Then wandered about the mall for a little while and then it was time to get Laura from school; 3:30 already! She wanted to play on the playground for a bit, so we did that and then picked up Nico. He doesn't have a real start and end time, so it's a bit more flexible for pickup and drop-off. Bianca suggested I get Laura first at the end of the day because Nico's Kinder has afternoon tea at 3 and he gets bummed if he has to miss it...how adorable is that?!?

We came back home and I made them a fruit salad for a snack. Laura also had cheese and Vegemite on crackers...SO nasty. They did some arts and crafts for a bit and then I gave them some leftover spaghetti  from last night. And by the time they finished that, it was 6:30, which is their bedtime, believe it or not! I now understand why their mom starts so early. They were SO giggly and hyper it was unreal. Took like 15 minutes just for them to get their pajamas on! I'm learning a lot! I also and getting a glimpse of what it's like to be a mom. Wow... I love kids, but I'm definitely gonna put that off as long as possible! Read them a story and then of course they wanted another one, but instead I told them the story of David and Goliath. Then I made a taco and ate it.

Bianca and Volker had a late work/school day today, so they didn't get home until 7:30pm. She showed me how to use the laundry here and we quickly chatted about tomorrow. I don't need to be up until 7 :) haha and the rest of the day is pretty much identical to today. 

Overall, it was pretty good! Tiring moments, but I have almost 6 hours to myself during the day, so I cannot complain. So far so good.

Oh! Today "Take it to the limit" came on the radio and Laura asked me why it was saying "Take it to the lemon." Hahaha also her favourite song is Call Me Maybe.

Here's a few photos from the last couple days...

10 minutes from my home!



all ready for school! :)

photo by Nico.

their dog eats kangaroo... he's allergic to corn.

school :)

pro

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Collingwood Children's Farm

Today Bianca (the mom) asked me if I'd like to go with her and Laura (the daughter) to Collingwood Children's Farm. Why not? Until I meet people here, I can pretty much see myself tagging along with the family on their adventures! It at least helps me to get more familiar with where I am. Nico (the son) and Volker (the dad) were at a birthday party, so us girls got to hang out together.

So we drove about half an hour into Melbourne and arrived at the farm. Bianca is doing a project for school based around something environmental/sustainable, so taking a trip to this farm worked perfectly!

Here's a few pictures from our "girls afternoon"...



crazy that this is right in the middle of the city!

community garden


















Arrivals

Left Toronto at 6:30pm on Tuesday August 14. Flew 5ish hours to LA and made it right on time to my next flight. Had to get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 7. Glad I had a two hour "layover"...

Then began my 14 hour flight to Sydney. As I got settled into my seat, I prayed that the two empty spots between me and another man would stay empty, and then did. This was excellent. I full-on stretched out my legs for almost the entire flight, and slept for most of it. I was amazed! Put in my headphones when we took off and woke up like 5 hours later and had been listening to the same Jesus Culture album the entire time. Haha spirit foooooooood. Love it. Woke up and a discovered that I only had an hour to go. There weren't any personal TVs on this flight, so I was pretty glad to have slept through most of it.

Landed in Sydney and made my way to the next gate for my final flight to Melbourne. 
Gorgeous sunrise:


My au pair family picked me up at the airport and we went back to their home in Sandringham, about 40 mins from the airport. Here's a couple shots of their beautiful home. You can definitely tell that they lived in Sweden for a while. I sometimes feel like I'm living in IKEA :)

My room:





Rest of the house:



MOST delicious yogurt:


Their Keeshond named cody.


Walking the dog...


Australian homes have the neatest mailboxes!



Home :)


Words cannot describe its nastiness...


I hate goodbyes!!!

So, before I begin to share with you some of my adventures on this trip thus far, I thought I'd first reflect on my last few weeks at home. So many awesome memories made with friends and family.

ran into this guy at the mall...glad I got to say goodbye!

we are basically professional sandcastle builders by now!

with some lovely ladies @ the beach

a wonderful evening in Elora ;)

skyping with my fellow world traveler! 

I like this guy a lot...the world can know!

like I said, pros...

the proof is in the pudding folks!

gonna miss these goofballs.

at the Kubassek family BBQ

bunnies! 

And then suddenly it was August 13th! And I had to say goodbye to so many people I love!
Although it was really hard, and I cried more than I have in a while, it felt good at the same time. I actually felt really happy in some of the moments that I thought I'd feel horrible. It's hard to explain..


a little teary here... :'(

And met Sidney Crosby... CRAZY!!!

More updates to come! :)
Love you all.

xoxo Kaitlin