The first two weeks

December 2nd, 2018

Hi! My name is Nora, I am 18 years old and I have been living in Australia for exactly two weeks now. Due to time constraints, I haven't had the chance to write a blog so far, but I'm catching up now :)

- The preparation

The decision to go to Australia was relatively spontaneous at the beginning of this year when I was thinking about what I wanted to do after high school. For me, it was always clear that I needed a break after school and wanted to see the world. When I watched a few experience videos of au pairs in Australia on YouTube, I decided that I would like to do the same. So I did some research and finally registered on the website AuPairWorld.com. On this site, prospective au pairs and families can create a profile, state their preferences, and communicate directly with each other. If you feel that you are a good match, you exchange more information and may even arrange a Skype call to get to know each other personally. This is how I quickly found my current host family: a German-Australian household near Sydney with two children aged 4 and 6.

Since I decided against using an agency, I had to take care of the paperwork myself, which means applying for a credit card and a working holiday visa, booking the flight, and taking out international health insurance. There were also other small things to take care of, like getting vaccinations up to date and exchanging some cash. In the end, I don't think it's particularly time-consuming to handle the travel arrangements on your own. It's also more cost-effective as you don't have to pay the agency fees.

I haven't booked a return ticket yet, but I assume I will stay in Australia until June/July.

- The flight and the arrival

I started my journey Down Under on November 16, 2018. Since the first flight didn't leave until late in the evening, I had plenty of time on Friday afternoon to go to Berlin with my parents and my youngest brother, from where the journey was supposed to start. Around 8 pm, I had to say goodbye to my family to go through security. It was quite emotional, and as soon as I passed through passport control, I had to hold back tears. After another hour in the waiting area, boarding finally started, and then came the approximately 6-hour flight to Doha (Qatar). In Doha, I had two hours to get to the next gate, from where we were guided to the next aircraft. We continued with a 14-hour flight, so I arrived in Sydney on Sunday morning, November 18, 2018, feeling exhausted but also super excited and overwhelmed.

In Sydney, I was greeted warmly by my host mom Karo, who then took me to the place that will be my home for the next few months. When we arrived, I met the kids, Sofia and Matthias, as well as the father, Ash. Considering that it should actually be the middle of the night according to my internal clock, I was relatively awake and after a quick shower, I went with them to a children's birthday party they were invited to. But when we drove home afterwards, tiredness overcame me, and I had to hold myself together not to fall asleep. That evening, I fell asleep at 8 pm, but I was wide awake again at 4 am. Hello jetlag! But I used the time to quickly Skype with my family back home and tell them about my first day.

- The first two weeks

In the first two weeks here, I have already experienced quite a lot. Of course, in the first few days, I got to know the daily routine of the family and my resulting tasks. When the kids need to be taken to school and daycare, when to pick them up, afternoon activities, etc.

My working days are on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, as my host mom has Mondays and Fridays off. On Mondays, I only have to pick up Matthias from daycare. Otherwise, on Tuesday mornings, I take both Sofia and Matthias and then have a few hours off before picking up Sofia and taking her to gymnastics, and then picking up Matthias. On Wednesday and Thursday, Matthias and I take Sofia to school, and then I spend the whole day with Matthias. In the first week, on these days, I explored the playgrounds in the area with him, so he also got plenty of exercise and was well tired out.

Fortunately, everything is within walking distance in Oatley, the place where I live, so it's not a problem that I don't have a driver's license. There is also a train station here, which allows me to get to Sydney quickly. On my first Friday here, I also drove to Sydney for the first time to meet another au pair girl. Communication between au pairs here is generally very good. I am in various au pair groups on Facebook and WhatsApp, and if you want to do something, you usually just have to ask if someone has the time, and boom, you meet new people and stay busy.

On my first day in Sydney, it was important for me to go to the harbor to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The typical tourist things. :)

A day later, I met up with my aunt and uncle, who have been living in Australia for four years, in a café in Erskineville. Since I haven't seen them in a long time, the reunion was a joyous occasion, and there was a lot to talk about. It's definitely good to have family nearby that I can turn to if there is something. Since my host family will be spending Christmas and New Year's in Mexico, I will also move to my aunt's house for about a month during that time. I am really looking forward to it, and it means that even though I am on the other side of the world, I can still spend Christmas with my family!

In the evening, I went to Sydney again, where I participated in a pub crawl. We went as a large group to four different bars and clubs in Sydney, and it was a great opportunity to meet more people and of course experience the nightlife in Sydney!

So, now I have provided an overview and will try to write blog entries weekly from now on to keep you up to date on my time here. Next weekend, I am definitely looking forward to the Good Things Festival in Sydney.

Until then, Nora.