Hey everyone, long time no see. I return with great news. After 2.5 months of searching, doubting, getting frustrated and having several emotional breakdowns, I have found the host family for my au pair stay! I'm not entirely sure when the last time I was this excited about something was.
It's a funny thing actually, because about a month ago I thought I had found the right family. Everything seemed to be clicking, my Skype interview with them went well, but in the end they ended up deciding that I wasn't the one for them. I was massively disappointed and felt that I had been rejected by the perfect family. But now I think it was fate - I found an even better one. Even more perfect. If the first family had chosen me, sure, I would have a good time with them, but I never would've found this family, which I think I'm gonna have an amazing time with. So really I should thank the first family!
Let me tell you a little about this one. They live in Sydney, in a suburb called Strathfield. Now this is already a huge win, since there are so many au pairs especially looking for a family in Sydney, so I'm extremely lucky to be one of those who actually get there. They have three kids, ages 7, 5 and 3, which freaked me out a little at first - I've only looked after two kids at a time before and it's already been a challenge sometimes. However, the older two go to school everyday (and the little one goes to daycare on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) so most of the time I won't have to look after all of them at the same time. My working schedule looks really good in general, I'll have a lot of free time so I can get out and about.
What's especially good about this family? They're Vietnamese Australian, which means I can get to know two new cultures at the same time and that's just really cool. Aside from my own room I'm gonna get my own car to use! They have a pool I can relax by and the pay isn't bad either. I also messaged with one of their ex au pairs a bit and she had a great experience and said the parents are really nice. All in all I'm just very very happy they chose me as their next au pair.
It seems a bit weird, naive even, that I'm this excited after only talking to the mom on Facebook. I have to keep my feet on the ground and remain calm at least until our Facetime call, when I'll meet the kids and talk to the family "face to face". But it's so hard to not love them when the mom - based only on my messages - told me she loves me already! So it looks like the excitement isn't only happening in my end.
We haven't set an exact date yet, but somewhere around the third week of July I'm flying to Sydney. Wow, I just can't believe I'm able to say that. The plan is to stay at least until Christmas, but who knows what'll happen if we turn out to be the perfect match - I don't have to start applying for schools until the end of March... We'll see. But right now I'm gonna focus on getting everything ready in time, there's a lot of paper work and running around to do.
So what does the future look like for my blog? I've decided I'm gonna be blogging in Finnish from now on, so all of my family and friends can easily follow my au pair life (and so that I won't forget how to write more than Whatsapp messages in Finnish haha). This blog will once again return to its roots and become a lifestyle blog - only this time from Down Under! I'll have to post iPhone pictures though, since I sold my camera. The name will stay the same, so this is easy to find.
Here's to the future!!!!
