The Au Pair life continues..

Here I am again,

This time on the other side of the world (again). Chile it is. I left Holland the 5th of March and arrived en Chile the 6th. Here I will stay the next tres meses. My family (Paulina the mom y Sofia the 8 year old kid) welcomed me at the airport on monday morning. This time the flight was a bit harder than traveling to down under. Luckily Sofia y Paulina where tired to so we did a little siesta. Es muy typical de Espana o Chile. And then we had comida and went outside to walk around the neighborhood and buy some groceries. Tuesday my alarm went off at 6.45 and I woke Sofia up, made breakfast and brought her to escuela. Here she stayed until 4.10 pm where I picked her up again. Wednesday another schoolday so I brought her and picked her up and did my work outs and little housework. But on Thursday abuela was coming so she brought Sofia to school and picked her up so I stayed in bed for a little while longer. Friday Sofia has school till 2 so she could spend the rest with her abuela. I however stayed at home to feel the sun on my skin and made a walk around the neighborhood to el rio. (one of the pictures is the rio) On Saturday (today) we had pancakes con manzanas and we went to the fruteria to get new groceries and frutas. And in the midday we had a nice comida de choclo de chileno (corn). I really liked it! Esta muy rico! Then abuela had to go home and we said our goodbyes. Then in the evening we went to un concierto en el marque. It was about kids from a neighborhood that was overloaded by garbage and recycling. So someone started a project about recycled instruments and these kids played the instruments. Some where really young from aged 8 to 16. It was really nice to hear and see them play. But en la noche Santiago es muy muy frio. So I was not only moving because of the music but also because of the cold hihi. But now i'm in my warm bed writing this, much better.

I hope these blogs will interest you just as much as the ones from Australia.

Hasta Mañana!

To be or not to be

Just because I am here and you are still there I'll put some facts about Australia here. So if you ever decide to come. Here are the most important things!

Pro's

- Everyday feels like you're on vacation! Just go outside and see it with your own eyes

- English is a better language than Dutch

- The weather of course, even in winter you can wear dresses

- Passion fruits are bigger here woohooooo!

- Australians are really nice and like to laugh

- Timtams are quite nice! (chocolate cookies)

- Because of the chinese people around here the sushi is awesome! (and sushi trains!)

- Everyone can design and build their own homes (very interesting to walk the streets!)

- Sounds like the jungle if you wake up in the morning

- Wildlife in the backyard (little possums with baby's on their back etc)

Con's

- Apparently it's normal to give your kids food 24/7 (breakfast, morning tea, recess, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner)

- No cycling paths

- You have to wear a helmet when you ride your bike or scooter (a.k.a step)

- No 'patatje oorlog' here

- Crocs and sharks in the waters and spiders and snakes on the land

- Evenings are freezing cause they don't know how to build houses around here

- Normal bread is absent in this country (white toast it is) (with yucky marmite)

- Quite far from Europe, so only spoken language is English

- Leaving your kid for a few minutes is the same as neglecting your child

- Busses just don't show, or are late. Or they just drive past the busstop

Accidents can happen.

So here a not so fun part of my being away year. I had a car accident. Not our fault. Car crashed into us from the right when we where going straight when we had the green light. Right side of our car was totally smashed. Airbags went off on that side so that saved us. Emma was in the back on that side. But luckily she was covered by her childseat and the airbag so she had no injuries. Ruth was also on that side and had some blue spots on her elbow and feet because of the impact. I hit my knees against the glove compartment and because I was only wearing a shirt the seatbelt left a mark on my chest. Luckily that was all, cause it could have all been worse. Well now im all okay. Only blue knees and the spot on my chest.

Sooo today I went on a hike with Patty to Ku Ring Gai National park. The weather wasn't that hot but that was perfect for walking. We almost got attacked by a dog who had a thing with people reaching for their bags. As where we because we where taking our vests off. But after that we had the path to ourselves and had a great time using our carves and enjoying the walk. We layed down at the top on a baseball field with a view over the valley to relax a bit and then we went back again for our 'broodje knakworst met curry' time hahaha. Her sister came over some weeks ago so she brought the curry from Holland. Of course we HAD to make the broodje knakworst! And of course chat the time away and then get lazy while watching a movie.

Sailing adventures. Yo ho yo hoooo

This thursday Auntie Phillys and Uncle Bob from Ruth's side where coming over. Two very nice people who joined me on my working days to bring the kids to school and pick them up again. They had lived in Mexico and now they have a home in Spain, while still living in Great Brittain for some months a year. Great people, great stories. Then we all went out for dinner on friday which was really nice. Of course with some drinks and fun stories. And on Sunday we had a sailing trip planned. The family has a boat, which I had never seen. So I joined and was surprised how big the boat was! So nice! Double bed and a bunkbed in there, little kitchen, toilet and some cabinets where inside. And oudside there was the deck and some sitting spots. Really lovely space! We sailed along the harbor, even I could have a try with the steering wheel! It was a beautiful day, the seaplanes flew over our heads, de boat was nicely going up and down because of the waves and the drinks made it all a bit better. I found myself laying on the deck looking at the sydney harbor brigde and thinking to myself. I could live a life like this. Maybe the sailing life is better than a house with a garden hihi. We will see. ^^

Lane Cove park walk.

So I looked around, found this park nearby and thought it would be nice to do a hike there. Lane cove park that's what that place is called. I went up there and did the lane cove river walk. The weather was awesome and the hike was really nice. Walked for a while before I sat myself down beside the water and looked at the kookaburra's flying above me. Australia. Here I am. Good weather, nice hikes and strange birds around me. I could stay here for a while. And I did. Sat there for some time. Before I went on and hiked along a new path. Which turned out to be the Great North Walk. A path over rocks, under parts of mountains and along plants and trees with almost no one walking it. "it's a beautiful day the sun is shining, no one is gonna stop me now''

Hunter Valley the wine adventure.

Patty convinced me to come. Cause actually I don't really like wine. No kidding. I wanted to see and taste the wines of Australia, so here I went on this trip to Hunter Valley with Sanne and Patty. Girls weekend out. Music on the radio, talks about boys and dreams about wine. Already seemed like a good plan. We arrived at Hunter Valley, walked into our Hotel and checked in. Well at least that was the plan. Only to find that the place was fully booked. Also by us. But the guy from the hotel just put other people into our room. And he didn't really care about us being there too. So there we where sitting in front of the hotel, calling booking.com to find us another place to stay. They did. We ended up in front of a murderscene for backpackers and we ordered booking.com to find us something else. They did and we ended up in a nice hotel with 1 single bed, 1 double bed and 1 bunkbed. So of course you know where I wanted to sleep! In the BUNKBEDDDD! On top of course. #Childhood life. Then we dropped our stuff and went to our wine tasting. First time for me so I had to taste a lot. Hihi. When we where headed back there where kangaroo's in the fields so we where all shouting Kangaroo's!!! So I made some pictures until it was time to feed our hungry belly's. We ended up in the only place with 'normal' food. Instead of going to Macca's (a.k.a Mac Donalds) But sadly enough the food was bad but the music was good and the drinks where there. So it was a good night anyway. We ended up doing some games of pool, which of course I ruined. And went to bed. To wake up the next day for some sightseeing around Hunter Valley before we went home. We had the sun at our side and the food in our belly again. So happy hearts, happy minds. Happy me:)

Castles, beaches and islands. Paradise.

Patty my driver was waiting for me around half past 8. Time to go to Newcastle! Seemed that the sun was following us because when we stepped out of the car in Newcastle we had a lot of sunshine in our faces. Great vacation moment! Time to check out this little city! We walked towards the water, walked along the water and found a cute place to have lunch. I actually burned my back. Of course I forgot sunscreen.. But who would have thought you can get a sunburn in winter? Right?! Well ok. Then we went on our way to Pearl beach. Nice beach and even here the sun found it's way to us! There seems to be a thing of pools beside the beach. Probably a little place without sharks or jelly fish. Safe place for kids. And looks also like a nice place to have a swim. We have to keep this place in mind. Nice and not that crowded. Then we where in the mood for an icecream so we went on and found this place with pelicans! Pelican Island was on the other side hihi. But we had to eat our icecream quickly cause they where looking at us with evil eyes.. Then we had to go home to fill our belly's withhhhh the build your own burgerrr! It was a good one! Nice dinner for a nice ending of our date together. Patty I love you! hihi

Bondi to Coogee walk

On a nice misty sunday morning I went on my way to Gordon Station. Because you know I broke up with the busses. So from now on I'm walking to the train station. Singing loudly of course. And I reached the station where Patty would arrive. Time to go to Bondi beach! When we got there there was this nice blue sky with lots of clouds above the sea. A beautiful sight and my camera and I loved it! Patty met this girl at Bondi that she knew from her old job and we chatted for a while before we started our walk. The walk took us over a nice path but sometimes we had to take a detour because some parts had collapsed. Nevertheless a beautifull sight and of course the sea made me so happy! Always gives me this vacation feeling. Sounds of the sea, waves splashing onto the rocks, surfers hihi. When we arrived at Coogee we sat down for some time to just chat and look at the beach and the sea. Then we decided to go to Sydney Harbour for a chocolat platter with a hot chocolate! Yummmmm! When we arrived it was suddenly very hot so we had to eat fast before our chocolate ran away. Still it was one of the best dates that I've had. After that we went to the cinema to see Tarzan. I was warned that the movie was not at all as the Tarzan most of us know from Disney. So I prepared myself for just an ape man from the jungle. The movie was great! We both liked it a lot! The jumping, sliding through the jungle was awesome! So for everone who hasn't seen it yet. Watch it! It's not the Disney one, but it's still awesome!