The Secret to Success (well in the au pair world anyway)

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I have found the secret to being a good au pair: TAKE A NAP! I realized that I have been having no energy for the kids, so today I took a nap…well I went back to sleep after taking them to school! And I felt so much more on top of it and awake with energy that I came up with ideas of what to play with them, was funny and charismatic and had fun with them on the play gym and at the park. It was a great feeling to be settling into my job here, getting used to the hours, kids, work, people, language etc.; it’s all an adjustment! And adjusting I am! Sometimes I have moments of sadness or panic, but one should always have those if one is doing something worth wild! So with that I know I am doing something big and adventurous and worth the scariness! So here I am literally living each day in the unknown.

Today was a run through of the norm: rising up early to take them to school, battling them into uniforms and hair bows, feeding them and then marching them off to school.

After that I went back home and dove under the covers for an hour before going to work out at the gym. After the gym I ran some errands before beginning to make lunch for the kids. Then we set up a crafts corner in the living room and the two younger girls and I made a variety of little paper things. It all reminded me of how much I love doing crafts and how much I like working with kids. After that I took Marta on a long walk to the Port and we made a lot of stops at playgrounds along the way. We then RAN home to the apartment before Susi and Pablo (the parents) went out to a parent-teacher conference for Lucia. I kept the kids for a while then and we ate dinner, did homework and practiced BEING QUIET!!! After the parents came home I went to my room to relax and read before passing out after a long day!

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