Hi guys!

I have quite a lot of stuff to tell. You see, I found out that it would be nice to have a passport, in order to get to Australia. So I went to the local government offices to get one. But that turned out to be a little more difficult than I had in mind. The first time I was there, they told me it wasn't necessary for me to have one, because I already have an identity card. It was a new rule, because of the high amount of passport-requests, and of course I went there the first day of this new rule (which I didn't even know about).. Sure, I do have an identity card, but I cannot travel outside Europe with that. So I was being told to get the airplanetickets as some kind of evidence, to show that I was not lying about going to Australia to get my passport quicker. I contacted Travel Active, the organisation who organises the au pair trips and they told me that I can't book a ticket without my passport! How lovely. Luckily, the people from Travel Active are really nice and they offered to call the local government office themselves, so they did. A few minutes later I got an e-mail from them, which said: 'Okay, all set! We have to send you a letter in which we declare that you really need that passport as soon as possible, in order to book tickets.' Why weren't the government people just as nice to me when I was in front of them? Never mind, eventually, after going to the office four times, I finally had the chance to get a new passport, and if everything goes right, I'll have it by the end of next week, thanks a lot Travel Active!

And if that wasn't enough sensation already, I have something else to tell you. My exams are coming up. Not in a few months, not in a few weeks, but in a couple of days. Three days exactly. Next monday I'll be sitting in the gym of our school. Yes, the gym. Ridiculous place to have exams in my opinion. Anyway, I'm a little bit nervous already. My grades are not that bad, I only have one insufficient grade, for mathematics, but still the exams frighten me. I really need to pass, I can't even think about spending another year of my life in a high school. No pressure. At all. Wish me luck!

I just came home from the CBR-centre, the centre where I had to do my theory exam for driving. I passed! I'm so happy, I passed in one time, while I was afraid that I would have to do it a second time, but apparently I didn't! Did I already mention that I need to get my driving license in order to become an au pair in Australia? Well, if I didn't, then you know it now. I'm not allowed to do the au pair-program with the organisation described below if I don't have a driving license. I was going to take driving lessons as soon as I was able to anyway, but I'll consider this as an extra motivation to get it as quick as possible!

Okay, let's move on to the real information!

So, this would be my first post then. Exciting, isn't it? Actually, I should be studying right now, because we have testweek at school this week. That means that, instead of the normal lessons, we have a week full of tests. How lovely. And to make it even worse (or better, if you look on the bright side), this is the last testweek before the exams. In other words; I should be studying really hard to get good grades instead of writing about a land far away that I'm not even close to yet, so that I'll get my diploma. You see: no diploma, no Australia.
Oh wait, I would almost forgot to tell you about my plan! My great, big, hero-like plan! So, here's the thing: I'm going to Australia. For about nine months. Nine months?! Yes, nine months. No, I'm not pregnant. The first six months I'm going to work as an au pair. That would mean that I get to take care of little (or maybe not so little, I don't know yet) children; bring them to school, make sure they have enough to eat, keep them busy during the whole day. Half a year ago I was not really into children, let alone be an au pair. But maybe children in Australia are much more fun. Australia is much more fun anyway. And children can't be that bad once you get used to them, right?