My working week

My working week as an au pair is actually very relaxed and I have a lot of free time. Between Monday and Wednesday my day starts between 2.30 pm and 4 pm. This gives me plenty of time in the morning to do the housework, to explore the city or meet up with other au pairs. Around 2.30 pm I catch the bus to the kindergartens of the boys to pick them up. As soon as we get home, it’s already 5:15 pm so they both get their dinner.

Then they go for a bath, then they drink a cup of milk while I read a book to them and then they go to bed. This is one of the most exhausting parts of the day. The older of the two boys always falls asleep very quickly, only the younger one always takes a while. Then it can happen that I sit next to his bed for 45 minutes until he finally falls asleep

Thursday and Friday are very demanding compared to the other days of the week, as I spend 10 hours with the two children on these days.

My first week 16 000 kilometers away from home

In my first week I already met another girl on Tuesday. We got to know each other through an au pair Facebook group. That’s how you get to know most of the other au pairs here. Together we spent the morning and had a nice chat.

On Wednesday I opened my bank account and explored the surroundings where I live.

On Thursday and Friday I spent the whole day with the kids. It rained on both days the whole day, so we couldn’t do much and spent most of the day in the house. This is very exhausting with children which are three and five years old, because they have a lot of energy. In the evening I was very tired of course, so I went straight to bed.

On weekends I have time off, so I have plenty of time to explore the city or meet other au pairs. On Saturday I had meat with a larger group of over 10 girls who were all new in Sydney. We had a coffee and went for a walk in the city together. At this day I’ve met some very nice people.

On Sunday I did the Spit to Manly Walk together with two other girls.

All in all, I have settled in very well after only one week. My Host family is totally warm and I get along very well with them. The children are still a little attached to the previous au pair, who is still here, but slowly they start to accept me as well. I feel very comfortable here in Sydney and also in my family, but I still spend a lot of time in my room, because especially at the beginning it’s a bit different to be surrounded by so many new people and impressions. The days here pass very quickly, but somehow it feels much longer than a week in which I am here.