It's a shame that not everything can be nice all the time. That's what I've noticed in the last few weeks. After a few weeks, the days were still the same, Jemima started to get worse with me again, I hadn't met many people and I was working inside the house for all the 40 hours.
Homesick? No, I don't want to go home. But still I was looking forward to the end of June, when my trip back to Holland starts. I was just not feeling any emotions. For the people who don't know me very well; if I don't feel emotions, something's not right.
So, something had to change! And I changed so much that I hardly have any time left now. I met about 30 other au pairs, some live close, some live far away. Lotte is a Dutch (yay!) aupair who lives 5 minutes away from me, which is great! Besides meeting au pairs I've become a member of a gym in Vaucluse. I know that that is quite a surprise, since I've never done much sports, but don't panic. I'm not going to turn into some weird fitness freak. I just want to do the 5km color run in the olympic stadion here in Sydney, in February. The 5k color run is a run where you start with a white top on and eventually, I don't exactly know how, you'll finish with a top (and probably a head as well) full of colours! I think they're throwing powder or whatever. Anyway, I can't join a 5k run if I can't even run 5 kilometres. So that's why I'm going to do something about it!
To make my life nicer here (wow, that sounds dramatic), I've also asked Claire if I can go out and about with the children instead of just staying inside and doing the washing and tidying. And I can tell you that it worked. I don't know what happened, but this week we've done so many things that the house is a complete mess again. Not that I mind. It's not my house. And I'm in Australia, so I think I should be outside, enjoyin the summer :)

Speaking of summer, a few days ago I heard a christmas song somewhere and I honestly thought; 'why is someone playing a christmas song in the middle of summer? Oh wait, it's November.' November. It's the end of the year. I think I'll just skip the christmas feeling this year, because lying on the beach in my bikini with 'it's christmas time' playing on my iPod is not going to work.

My first weeks are over now and I feel like I've really settled in here. I've settled in with the family, I've settled in with the Australian habits, the language and the food. Though I still eat hagelslag and ontbijtkoek. Not my fault, my hostdad bought it for me. Anyway, I don't feel like a complete stranger anymore. I've taken the bus and ferry enough times to be able to pretend that I've been doing it for years now. In the meantime I hope people don't notice that I still ask the ferry-man if I'm on the right ferry. Every single time. You never know.

What I do know is that I'm really coming back in June (at the latest, maybe sooner)! Yep, all because I've found my perfect study. I've told everybody that I'm going to study at the Roosevelt Academy, but looking back on that idea, I was mainly going to study there because I'm expected to go studying. Which I didn't really feel like doing. That's the reason I thought of staying here longer. Until I found the study 'Journalism'. Why did I think the Roosevelt Academy suits me? I hated learning out of books in high school. I need to be creative, to do something with my hands. To write, take photos, make music or whatever. Fortunately, that's exactly what the study journalism is all about. Besides, after I've got my degree, I can work all over the world! If I even get the chance to get my degree. If I even get the chance to do this study. I couldn't make it too easy for myself; it's a (to avoid really weird translations, I'll just use the Dutch word) 'loting studie'. 50% Of the students that apply get in. Please, please, please, let it be me.

Another really nice thing is that Jemima finally seems to have gotten used to me. No more crying when I talk to her, no more slapping when I try to put on her shoes and no more screaming when her mum leaves her alone with me. Well, maybe a little bit. But not too much. She even starts laughing with me and cuddling me. I've got proof of her cuddling me; a photo! You know where to find te photo (photogallery). And yesterday I noticed for the first time how lovely she can be, as we went to the aquarium; Claire, Jemima, Matilda and me. Jemima couldn't stop talking about the sharks and I think if she'd had the chance, she would've swum with them. We saw lots and lots of fish, took photos, touched a starfish and talked to a 22-year-old aquarium-employee who wants to have 4 kids with a wife he hasn't found yet.

Besides fish in the aquarium, I've also seen a real fish. A whale, to be more specific. That's not even a real fish. Anyway, I was just walking at the cliff tops near the house, looking how beautifully the water was sparkling, until I saw a weird movement in the water. It was black and shiny, but before I could see it clearly, it was gone. For two seconds. There it was again! Wow, I think I'm looking at a wild whale right now! Not a tourist-whale-watching-trip-whale (which I would also love to do), but a real whale! Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take a picture of it, so I don't have proof. For all you know, I could just be making up a story. But for all I know, I'm not going to forget that moment.

Time. It's a funny thing. 31 Days have passed by now. Or should I say; 31 Days have flown by now. The time goes so fast, it nearly scares me. It's precious time though. Time which I've mainly enjoyed. Enjoyed the weather. Enjoyed the fact that Jemima finally speaks to me instead of starting to scream when I ask her something. Enjoyed the lovely days in the city (no crying children around me, yaaay!). But most of all I enjoy the conversations I have with Claire. She's told me many things about her life now and I can tell you that she's had the most amazing life. Except for the fact that she's now tied to the house 24/7 because she has two children who need to be fed and kept busy and put to bed. But she loves it. I'm sure that one day I'll understand.

Before Claire got children, though, she has traveled the whole world. I think she's seen every single place there is to see. And she started studying when she was 26. 26! For me she's the living proof of my idea that not studying straight after high school doesn't immediately mean your life will be a failure.

Of course I get inspired by those stories. I guess I've known it from the start, I've known it before I left; I would give myself a hard time travelling here, because I wouldn't want to leave again. And that is what's happening now. It doesn't neccessarily mean I'll stay in Australia for a long time, but there are so many things I want to do and so many things I want to see. Where do I start? Well, in Sydney of course, since I'm here.

My backpack-plans are like this for now: at the 8th of March I'll have my last working day at Alex and Claire's house. That's a Friday. I'm hoping to be able to stay with them until Monday, because there is this surf camp that I'd love to go to and that starts every single Monday. So first a week of surfing, then I'll go to family in Melbourne and after that Tasmania. After Tasmania I'll travel back to Melbourne again and from there I want to go to Uluru, a.k.a. Ayer's Rock. And instead of travelling alongside the East coast (what everybody does), I'm going straight up through the middle of Australia to Darwin and then back south alongside the West coast. Sounds good, doesn't it? Yeah, great idea!      Oh, wait... 3 months you said? Well, then you'll probably be able to get to Uluru and that's it.

As you see, either I have too little time or too many ideas. So either I change the fact that I have too little time and stay longer, or I let the ideas shrink a bit. A lot. I don't know what to do yet. Luckily I still have enough time to decide. Or maybe not, since the last month has felt like one day. I'll let everything just depend on the moment and do what feels right. A typical Australian lifestyle.

6 Months is nothing. Literally nothing. It's 26 weeks. And of those 26 weeks I've already had 2. 13 Times the two weeks I've had now and I'll already be done with being an au pair. Isn't that absurd? I never realized how fast time goes actually. If I look at it like this, I could do high school all over again and it would be nothing. Okay, maybe not, I won't try, but just as an example.

I don't have to tell you how beautiful everything is here, then I would keep repeating myself. But I'd love to tell you how lovely the weather here is, just to make you a little jealous. 27 Degrees and it's just spring now! Maybe that's not a very good sign, I hope it won't be 40 degrees in summer, that would be a little too much for me, eventhough I love warm weather. Never mind, for now I'm loving the sun while the weather in Holland is only getting worse. I'm sorry, but yes, I do like that.

And with such nice weather I don't stay inside of course. I go out and about. Saturday I visited Sydney with Dagmar again! And this time we didn't only see the Opera House from across the water, I actually stood next to it. I thought it was amazing, since my grandparents have stood there as well and I get to see the same places as they've seen many years ago. It has something special. And doing it with a friend is even better.

The Botanic Garden are next to the Opera House, so we decided we wanted to take a look there as well. And there we were, living the australian life we - or at least I - dreamed of; lying in the grass, under the blue sky and the warm sun, with a view on the sparkling water and looking at all the typical tourists with their cameras. Most of them Japanese or Chinese by the way, no offence. Though not many Chinese and Japanese are tourists here, many of them actually live here.

On Sunday, Dagmar came over to Rose Bay, where I live. She lives in the centre of Sydney, so she's only experienced the busy city-life and I wanted to show her that there were some beautiful places nearby. And so I did! We went to the cliff that's on a two-minute-walk away from my house and we laid in the sun and took pictures. For both of us one of the first relax days since we've been here in Sydney.

I feel like I'm settling in now. I feel more myself towards Claire and Alex and I get my place in the family now. Last week everything has been a bit disorganised again - not the first time, nothing has been normal since I've been here - because Claire has had an operation last Tuesday. A vein has been removed from her leg, so now she's not allowed to walk too much. Of course she does, I don't think there's one mother in the world that takes time for herself, so today I told her to sit down after she'd been busy the whole weekend. And luckily she did. Luckily, otherwise I would've had to drag her onto the couch and I don't think I would've remained their au pair then for much longer. Matilda grows so much everyday, I think it's really special that I get to see it. When I came here for the first time, she just started to crawl and now she's already taking her first steps. It's unbelievable!

Something else that's unbelievable is that I'll have my first singing lesson tomorrow! I found a good singing teacher I think. I hope, because I could use some lessons to learn a bit of technique and maybe get over my fear of singing for people. Or at least the I-want-to-run-away-nerves I get when I have to perform. I'll cross my fingers and just hope for the best!

Sydney is definitely amazing. I've been there 6 days now and I haven't even seen 30% of everything there is to see.

One week ago, another au pair has arrived in Sydney, Dagmar. We're both from Travel Active, we know each other from the day we had the workshop. Dagmar is now doing a Cambridge course at the University of Sydney and after that, in December, she's also going to start as an au pair. She'll be even longer in Sydney than I will, so I'm glad to have a friend here who will be here the same time as me. We met up last Sunday and we got on really well, so yesterday we met up again and we'll probably meet up every weekend. We already know some things we want to do: go to Melbourne in a weekend, go to Bondi Junction, Bondi Beach, go to the cinema to see the last part of Twilight and before that Dagmar has to see the 2nd and 3rd part of the movie. Yep, we have enough plans to keep us busy for 6 months!

I got my first wage on Friday, 350 dollars, per week! Of course I'll have to save money for the backpacking, so I can't spend all of it, but it's a nice idea to know that I don't really have to worry about money, which some people I've met here do, because they are backpacking and haven't found a job yet.

Yesterday, Dagmar and I had a shopping day in Sydney. We bought the same necklace, which we both wanted for a long time. With 50 dollars, it's probably the most expensive necklace I've ever bought, but it's really nice. And of course we couldn't just buy a necklace, we wanted an outfit for it. So we bought one! There's sale everywhere and we both got an outfit for 20 dollars (see the picture in 'Photographs'), I like!

The Rocks is another amazing part of Sydney. It's the oldest part I believe and it's not even that big, but it definitely is beautiful. An old man offered to take a picture of us (see photographs again) in a little street, with yellow houses and palm trees. It nearly looked like a scene decoration, but it was real! The man turned out to be an experienced traveler and he spoke quite some languages, including a bit Dutch. And Russian. And German. And French. And probably even more.

Right now I'm suffering from a cold, which I could have expected, seen the circumstances (jetlag, tiredness, weaker immune system because of some antibiotics I had in Holland, spending 24 hours on a plane with -50 degrees outside etc..), so today I'm just going to relax. Maybe I'll walk to the sea, a walk of 5 minutes from the house. There is no beach, but something even more beautiful than a beach. I'm going to take pictures of it, because describing won't suffice, you have to see it yourself. Of course it would be even better to see it in real life, but I cannot really ask you to come take a look at something 16000 km away, can I?

The sun is shining, the sky is blue (unfortunately there also is quite a lot of wind) and I'm now sitting on my double bed in my own room with view on the swimming pool and palm trees in the garden. Just an average day of any Australian and I assume that soon this will become normal for me. But not for now, this is just my second day as the au pair of the Lehrer-family. It's 11 am here and I've got a break now. A 5-hour-break. (:

That means I'll be able to go almost anywhere. I could take pictures of the beautiful view, I could go to Sydney by ferry (I absolutely looove the ferry) or I could go to Bondi Junction, with its big shopping centre.

Instead of that I decided I wanted to play the piano and maybe just watch a movie or something, because I'm a bit tired. Yesterday my working day started at 9pm, but today it started at 7p, because the 3-year-old Jemima was going to go to pre-school. She didn't go though, becaus she's been ill for a few days now. She's already a lot better, but not 100%.

Jemima is a real toddler, she tests everyone's limit, while her mum, Claire, tries to make her say 'please' after asking something, because she has to learn some polite manners. Sometimes it works, but not always

I arrived at the family on Saturday, after having a few free days in Sydney. I love Sydney! At first, I only saw the high buildings and the loads of cars and buses, but now I discovered some really nice parks and other beautiful places. My favourite place is the bay with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, I love it there. Though I had a great time in Sydney, I'm also glad to be out of the hostel and have a place of my own.

Saturday evening, after I'd arrived, I suddenly cried when I was unpacking in my room. I don't really know why, but I asked another au pair if she had had the same and she did indeed, so I guess it's normal. Now I'm having a really good time. I absolutely love the baby, Matilda. She's usually called Tilly, I think because it's easier. She's 8 months old now and she recently started crawling and besides that, she puts everything in her mouth. Literally everything. From socks to plugs and from soft toys to cutlery. You can't leave her alone for a minute, but I wouldn't anyway, because she's such a nice baby (:

I think about home a lot, but I don't really miss it. It's more that I think about; Oh, I'm already out of bed and mum and dad have not even slept one hour, how weird. I'm already making some plans to travel after the 8th of March, my last day with Alex and Claire. I want to go on a surfcamp and I'd like to go to Thailand and the Fuji Islands. Besides seeing the red centre and east coast of Australia of course. And maybe the west coast either. Can I stretch the time a little more, please?

Exactly 4 and a half days left before the start of my adventure in Australia.

So soon? How come? I could tell you the complete story, but that would be too long, I'll try to make it shorter. A lot shorter.

First of all; I've been extremely busy, that's why I haven't updated my blog for so long. In the meantime I went on a holiday with my parents, to Norway, but that's no big deal. When we came back, I'd been accepted for the Au Pair program and two days later I got two emails from the australian version of Travel Active, called Smartaupairs. They told me they had found two families for me and they sent me their profiles.

The first family was... well, let's say... not what I was looking for. The second family though, immediately caught my eye. Two children, Matilda of 6 months and Jemima of 3 years old with a young mom and dad, called Claire and Alex. I decided to email them before they'd chosen another au pair, as I assumed that they did not only receive my profile, but also profiles of other au pairs. Two days later everything was set. I can tell you everything about them now, but I think I'll get to know them better as I'm there and then I can also take pictures.

 Claire and Alex wanted me to come as soon as possible, but I still had to work until the end of August and I had lots of things to organise, which I did rightaway: I got a visa, travel insurance, booked a ticket for the 3rd of September, earned money 5 days a week and in my days off, I did all other things neccessary.

Last Saturday was my last day at work. As I'm leaving Monday, I wanted a free week. Well, free... today's the first (and probably the last) day that I actually have nothing to do. Of course I still have to pack some things, but I can also do that on Sunday. The main part of what I want to take with me is already packed.

Tomorrow night I throw a birthdayparty and a goodbye party for friends at the same time and on Saturday, I will see a bunch of people for the last time. Saturday night I have a diner with the whole family and then I also have to say goodbye to the majority of them, because only my grandparents will see me off (next to my parents and best friend).

For now I'll just have to wait until the moment my plane departs.

It took a while, but I've finally filled in all the papers for TravelActive. I wrote a motivation letter, made a PowerPoint about me and got a medical report signed by my doctor. Besides that I've filled in about 10 pages full of questions about me and the things I want/expect as an au pair.

I sent everything last Friday, so I hope it has arrived now. And if it didn't.. well, I copied everything, so if I got lost or something, then I can send everything again without much effort haha.

I also got a job! Yeah, unfortunately travelling costs much. And though I do have the money, I could still use some extra money. Effect: Me, working 5 days a week, for about two months. Call me a moneymaker!

Oh, I forgot to tell what my job is: do you know the 'Archeon'? That's a theme park, about the past. You can find the prehistory, the Middle Ages and things from the Roman times and stuff. I can tell you that I wasn't planning on looking like some medieval person. So I didn't. I work in the restaurant! It's the only place in the park where you're allowed to wear 'modern' clothing haha. It's tough work sometimes, but I have nice colleagues, so it's not too bad! And the wage is not too bad either ;)

If I'm not mistaken, TravelActive is going to go find a host family for me now, or as soon as they've received my papers. I'll let you know when they've found one for me, I can't wait!

I did it! I passed my exams! I got the news this afternoon, and I was so nervous. All week long I was confident about getting that diploma, but this morning I couldn't hold the nerves in. And then, finally, at three o'clock I was being told I could quit high school FOREVER. Hallelujah.

Next stap: Fill in the papers for TravelActive and send them as quick as possible. So I thought. But that turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought. I have to get a statement for good behaviour, I don't know exactly how to call that in English, but I'm sure you all understand me. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait two or three weeks for that statement and as long as I don't have that, I can't send the rest of the papers to Travel Active. Well, no big deal. I can do whatever I want now!

For example: Get a tattoo. Oh, no need, I already did! Together with my best friend, we had been planning to get a tattoo all year, and we finally got it! You can see it in the picture. The birds are my best friend's and the right one is mine. Nice, right? :)   I'm really glad I have it now, it stands for a new beginning in my life, almost as if I can leave the past behind and start all over again! And I'm real need of that.

Long time no see!

VACATION. That's the only thing on my mind right now. I finished my last exam yesterday, and I think that I made all exams well enough to get that diploma! But there's something even nicer going on. In exactly 13,5 hours you'll find me flying high in the sky. In a plane of course. Because me and two friends are going to spend a week in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria!

But I still had quite a big problem to solve. My suitcase. The one on wheels I told you about. You see, it's quite a big suitcase, so that means I can put in as much as I want to. So I did. Until I weighed the suitcase with all my stuff in it. And the weight was far above the weight limit on the airport. Eventually, I spent four hours packing, unpacking and repacking my suitcase until I finally managed to get the weight below the limit. Four hours. Pathetic, I know. But I still get to bring all the stuff I want, so pathetic or not; I'm happy :)