New work, new home, new family

As I already told you, I'm having a job!! I have been working for 2,5 weeks as an au-pair now, and I'll stay here till the end of January. It's a live-in function, what means that I have a new home till I'll leave here: my own room and bathroom and I'm able to unpack my bags and settle in one place!!! I can tell that it's quite a relief. Travelling is really nice and just awesome, but living from just one bag is quite hard at times. 

But okay, I live here 2,5 weeks now. 'Here' is in Paihia. The town in the Bay of Islands in the north of New Zealand where I was my first week in New Zealand. It's the place where I felt happy for the first time after the hard few days in Auckland. I'm happy to be back here. The weather is actually almost always amazing and my happiness continues here ofcourse. 

The first days working as an au-pair was not per se hard or difficult, but it was new for me to live with people I didn't know and have to take care of kids I don't know. I mean, I have been to Mexico with Valery to also take care of her daughters, but Valery is my mom's friend who I've met before I left. And yes, I have babysat at home, but still, that's just for a few hours once in a while. It's not and yet it is comparable to that at the same time. 

My job is to take care of Mikey (or Michael), who is 3 years old, and Leo, who is 1,5 years old. They're lovely kids. From the first moment I came into the house en played with them, I felt accepted and loved by them. I'm so happy. My hostmom and -dad are also really nice and lovely people. It's not only new for me to be an au-pair, but I'm their first au-pair as well, so it's also new for them. I think that it's a advantage for all of us, because we just find our own way of how to work and so. We both haven't got other 'high'-standards. 

But okay, I'll tell you more about what I did do the last few weeks. The day after I came, they let me have a sleep-in and just let me know the house and so. In the evening, I had dinner at their restaurant (yes, together they own the aquarium-restaurant in the little harbour of Paihia (called Zane Grey's), and he also owns the local pizzarestaurant (called Pizza Shack)). But so I had dinner there. It's a fine dine restaurant with fresh fish, good dishes and wonderful wines ofcourse. So well yes, I had really good oysters, an amazing pasta with local fish and yes a wonderful rosé. I felt like a princess to be honest. Watching the beautiful sunset I felt so happy, but so weird and homesick at the same time. I realized that it's really weird that I have my own life, with my own new family here, on the other side of the world, which my loved ones at home will never know. I also had the agreement with my mom that she shouldn't come visit me while I was away. But in that moment, I felt some kind of happiness I wanted to share with her and Deen so badly, so I texted them and asked if they could come. And well, long story short, mom is checking out if they're able to come during Christmas and New Years. That would be absolutelty amazing!!! 

The next days, I slowly started to work: helping them 1 hour in the morning, so she can get ready and can get a shower and so. And in the afternoons from the time Mikey is home from kindergarten or daycare till the kids go to bed. I'm off during the day, which gives me the opportunity to explore the surroundings or just chill, sleep and watch netflix, which I did the first 5-6 days because man I was so so tired. I also has been sick during these days, I had some sort of foodpoisoning /virus. It was quite hard and not really nice to have, but it was okay and I got better a day later or so. At some point I started to feel really homesick again, because I was just alone doing nothing. No contacts in Paihia. It wasn't really nice. But I'm able to use  Laine's (my hostmom) car. Eventually I probably will get my own even bacause I'll be picking up and dropping off Mikey from kindergarten from now on. But another advantage of the car is that it makes me able to drive a lot and check a lot of things and villages out here. 

Friday of the first full week, I went to a place called Opononi, it's a place on the coast of the Tasman Sea (Paihia is placed on the coast of the Pacific). It is in a sort of bay, and you can view the massive sanddunes. While I was driving there, it was raining like almost the whole time, but when I came there, the sun was shining. It was so so damn windy though, but it was nice that it wasn't raining haha. It was beautiful. I had a coffee and stayed there for like an hour, just enjoying. I drove back home. 

That weekend, some Dutch girls I met in Auckland the first weekend we're coming to the Bay of Islands with some other girls and had planned to do some things here. I joined them. We visited St. Paul's Rock. It's like 45 minutes climbing up and damn, you have the most wonderful and unreal view ever. It was absolutely amazing and wow, I felt like I was on top of the world. After we were planning to go to Kairara Rock, it should be closeby, but we couldn't find a track going there and well it was just weird. After we realised we were wrong, which was a really nice walk though, we just asked. We drove a bit to far and found some tracks going in the direction of the rock. We started a track (2-hours one way, so 4-hours long) just going somewhere. It was amazing. It was just yeah, beautiful and so quiet and I cannot really explain. But at some point we had to go through water and swamps and so and it was quite late already and we discussed of going back. I still have really bad cramps and pains in my groin (lies) from the Tangoriro Crossing, so I was like I'm going back and we'll see later. But they decided to come with me. After the track, I think we walked for like 3 hours or so, so it was like 5.30pm (17.30u) when we're back at the cars, we bought some ciders and drove towards the beach. The most beautiful beach ever!!! We couldn't see the sunset, because we were on the eastside instead of the westside. But them, it was amazing. No one was there and just total silence. Though, we had a slightly problem when we were leaving: a flat tyre. It was so shit. We had a spare tyre, but no gear to do something, and no one of us girls knew how to replace it. Well we found two girls with gear, and a man who was camping at a campsite nearby, and after like 1,5 hour, it was replaced and we we're able to go back to Paihia. It was late now, and we didn't eat yet, and only one place was still open, and damn lovelyyy hamburgers and yes it was good. I was so tired, when I came home around 10.30pm (22.30u), I slept so fast. 

On Sunday I was planning to join them again, to visit the Mermaid Pools in Whangarei. It's a really short track to get there, but so so steep. So my groin was feeling so bad again. But okay, I survived and definitely enjoyed it again. Thanks Marit, Joyce, Anna, Cheyenne and Noémi for those two days, and thank you Roos and Valerie for the Saturday. Whangarei is on the way back to Auckland, and they had to work again on Monday, so I had dinner there, alone, and just enjoyed again haha. 

Last week I didn't do anything, besides working then, on Monday and Tuesday. It's quite good weather and because of the fact there is no ozon layer here, it gets so warm if there's no wind, aaaannndd, you get tanned (and sunburnt) really fast. So I'm quite tanned already (yeaheas). Wednesday I went driving, I went to Kerikeri and explored its surroundings. I ended up in Te Tii. Not really something (Dutch standards), but such nice views and so. I loved it. Thursday, I went driving again, less a succes. Only saw one nice place: Whangaruru, but it wasn't as nice as Te Tii. And the drive was awful and stuff went wrong and blabla, but it was okay! Friday I stayed home again, because I also didn't really feel well. 

On Saturday, I met with a girl I met online, went out for dinner with her and ended up going out. It was really fun and walked in a girl I met in Auckland, really funny though. But yes, I think I'll be friends with her and will do some nice stuff with her the next few months and weeks!

I'll try to write some more soon, so you don't have to ask mom how I'm going. But it's so hard to write something and to begin somewhere. But, I promise! Write y'all soon.

Oh and yes, I am doing really well, but I do am homesick from time to time. Eventhough I'm already away some time, it goes really fast and really slowly at the same time. It's just weird that I won't be home the next few months and I miss my friends and family and yes, it is hard, eventhough I know this is an amazing experience and so. I just miss some basic Dutch things and so.

I'll talk to you soon, xxxx from Paihia