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Published: August 15th 2016
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So today is a holiday to celebrate the Saint Maria. After spending nearly 3 weeks now in Catalonia/Spain I have come to realise that most people are called Maria. Now I realise this is due to the Saint, so today everyone has a day off, they have their family round and relax. We ate Macarons at lunch time which is penne pasta with minced meat cooked in the oven. Also if you are called Maria then everyone has to treat you in a special way so that goes for ¾ of females in Catalonia 😉! Today is also absolutely scorching, last time I checked it was 36 deg so it is a good time to be inside and write a blog whilst the family have their siesta.
I am now in my 4
th week as an Au pair to a family in a small town called Bellmund. Bellmund is a village on a hill and it’s a pretty steep hill to walk up!! Bellmund has around 200 people living here, it does not have any shops and just houses. There is one bar/restaurant but it looks a bit outdated! In the area there is a small school, which
7 children attend. Some local children attend other schools in bigger villages. There is a very nice outdoor swimming pool, a small medical centre and a women who cuts hair. There is big dog who barks at everyone who passes and a 93 year old man who spends his days wondering around the village. It is very different to what I’m used to but I am treated like a local and when people pass in their cars they wave at me. The parents always lived in the main cities however decided to move to a place where they had a family background when they had children. So this village is home to houses that belong to their family, they also have a lot of land here, The family grow many of their own fruit and vegetables in a garden, so each week with the children we go to collect the tomatoes, peaches, plums and also eggs from the chickens. The other food they eat is all local produce from farmers and local people.
So what does an Au Pair do in a small village of Catalonia? Well one thing I can say is
every day is different and every day is very busy! So far my hardest challenge was when I was left in charge of the two-year-old. The first hour was great as she slept, but then all of a sudden I heard this shrieking ‘mama mama’. So I quietly walked in to her room, to her shock she saw me I was not her mama and she shrieked even louder. Ok what do I do I thought? I have never been with a 2-year-old on my own? So I just picked her up whilst she tried to tackle me and I tried to calm her down and it worked!! Of course feeding her some crisps worked well too.
The family also have a cleaner who comes to their house to help. I decided she would be a great person to practice my Spanish with. However, I have come to realise that as soon as you say one sentence in Spanish people automatically think you are fluent in Spanish, which is nice. However, when you don’t understand they look at you like an alien. Although, my Spanish was not very successful when I gave the 2 year old an
olive and suddenly realised it had a stone in the middle. I tried to explain to the cleaner that she needed to tell the girl however she then told me the child was now going to choke….Fortunately the child had clearly understood my explanation and actions and just left the stone J. I’ve also spent a lot of time with other members of their family which I think is really nice. Problem is when I don’t understand something and ask the children to translate the children reply to the grandparent Amelia said yes! Don’t rely on children for translation…
When I arrived in Spain I often mentioned to people how I had visited Spain before. To their horror they replied this is not Spain it’s Catalonia. Now I always knew part of ‘Spain’ was classed as Catalonia but it’s still Spain right? No completely wrong Catalonia and Spain are two separate places according to the Catalonians. The Catalonians want complete independence as they believe that the Spanish people do not respect them. I visited a small town Called Vic which is very pretty and historical and in this town they are meant to display the Spanish and
Catalonian flag, however at this current time only had the Catalonian flag! So yes never say you are in Spain when in Catalonia!!
The only male of the family works as a Fire investigator and Fireman so one afternoon we went to visit his fire station; this was great fun! We spent the afternoon taking rides in his fire engine with the siren, trying on the outfits, playing with the hoses and learning all about the fire engine which I loved! After we went to a small town home to a castle. It was a very picturesque place. We had a picnic there and this is when I finally had the Spanish omelette! I love Spanish Omelette but back home it’s really not that great! We also ate another omelette with vegetables and a pizza called coca. How coca is different to normal pizzas is that it does not have any cheese. It is a flat bread with tomato topped with peppers and artichokes oh and sardines! They love their sardines over here!! This pizza is traditional and comes from when the poor people used to knock at houses, this was made with food the houses could
give away apparently or their leftovers.
Other activities I do with the kids include visiting the swimming pool, going on bike rides and walks in the forest aka a few trees, walking around a lovely lake and bird watching. We completed the famous marshmallows and spaghetti activity, lots of painting and drawing, arts and crafts from boxes, playing banks dolls and Lego, playing football and basketball. As I said every day is different and you have to be very flexible on the children’s moods that’s for sure. I also always talk to the children in English as their parents are keen for them to be fluent in English when they are in their teens. Every year the parents have a different Au Pair for the summer, but I am the first British one – most have been from the States and Canada. So as you can imagine they speak a lot of American English so I explained to them the best English is where the Queen belongs haha!
Being an Au Pair is a lovely job abroad as it opens you up to another way of life. What I really like is how much
culture and traditions there are in Catalonia and how these date back many years but still today many continue.
Adeu for now J
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