Great weather, great food, great company!

Hi everyone,

The last two weeks of working as an au pair have been spent trying to get into a routine with the girls. We try to do at least half an hour of "homework" (either reading, writing or English) every day, followed by an activity. The elder daughter Lucia and I have come up with some games to play, crafts to make, recipes to cook, things to do at the park and activities for the garden, which so far are doing well at keeping everyone entertained! Here are a few pictures from our lessons and activities:

Maeva learning some words in English

Leana doing a reading comprehension in Spanish

We made an apple crumble!

I went back to my childhood making Hama beads with the girls 

We went on a trip to the park to collect materials... 

...to make miniature gardens!

We do have some challenges. Sometimes the girls refuse to eat, or don't want to work, or generally are just in a bickering mood, which I find tough as I can't really express myself well enough in Spanish to deal with things as I would at home. So some days are difficult, but others are fantastic fun! I was invited to a dance show they put on in their parents' bedroom with handmade programmes, we've been to the cinema to see 'Finding Dory', the girls are making a lot of progress with English and they're always excited to find out what activity we will be doing each day.

I'm getting to know the girls a lot better now. Lucia is quite quiet, but likes to speak English with me, and often will sit with me while I'm planning lessons or help me plan activities. Leana loves to talk, and sometimes I haven't a clue what she's saying, but it means there's never a dull moment! And Maeva is very sweet, although also quite sensitive, and loves to play and watch Peppa Pig at any opportunity!

My English lessons with Lucia, Dario and Marie Jose are going well, and I'm realising how much I enjoy tutoring as opposed to teaching. Being one on one with someone is very rewarding and means you can focus your lessons to them. I'm also really appreciating having the one on one time with Marie Jose to learn Spanish.

And my Spanish is definitely improving. I am completely immersed in Spanish - the only time I speak English is during the lessons or with family over the phone. It's tiring but really rewarding and my understanding is significantly better than three weeks ago. However the weekends are my own, and I've been lucky enough to spend time with some wonderful people in Madrid over the last few weeks, and speak English!

I met up with Brooke and some friends of hers to watch the Gay Pride festival in Madrid:

And my friend Beth was visiting Madrid so I met up with her for a couple of days this weekend:

We visited the Botanical Gardens

We watched the beautiful sunset in Parque de Retiro by the boating lake

We went on a cable car ride over Madrid and the view was incredible 

The view of the palace, cathedral and river from the cable car

We ate the 'best churros in Madrid' - and they were pretty great!

The weather is great - between 30 to 40 degrees every day! But during the night it's a little too warm, although I enjoy being able to swim in the pool and sit outside until 12am if I want. We went to a late night outdoor cinema with the girls on Sunday to see 'Big Hero 6' which was great fun. I will definitely miss the beautiful sunshine and the relaxed way of life in Spain.

So overall, although au pairing can be tough, I have a very generous and kind family here and I am thoroughly enjoying working with the girls. It's all fun and games, and there will be a lot more fun and games to come in the final three weeks of my time here!

Thanks for reading :)

Laura

Au Pairing in Spain - the first two weeks

Hi everyone!

Somehow I've been in Spain two weeks already. The time has flown by, but I do feel very settled in the family. I'm working in a village south of Madrid for a family with three girls: Lucia (11), Leana (6) and Maeva (3). The mum (Silvia) is French, learnt Spanish at university and has been married to her Spanish husband (Angel) for thirteen years, so her Spanish is excellent! But it's really nice to have the opportunity to speak French with her, and her family, who live nearby. It was especially helpful at the beginning when I was finding Spanish very challenging.

For the first week and a half the girls were still at school, so I spent my mornings getting used to the house, reading, preparing English lessons and of course making the most of the sunshine and the pool!

In the afternoons I would collect the girls from school, and we'd play some games and go in the pool once the parents got back from work.

I've been accepted as part of the family and I feel so lucky for that! I've been for dinner with the family at the grandparents house, I've been to friends' birthday parties and I've been on days out with the family, for example at the weekend we went to the river with two other families...

And I was invited to see Leana graduate from primary school too...

Now the the girls have finished school, I have a routine for the week. In the mornings we get up (the girls around 10/11am now!) and have breakfast together. Then I do about an hour of English with them, depending on how we're feeling. Then we have a choice of activities; playing games, watching a film, going to the park, cooking etc. I'm going to try and get into a routine of a certain activity on each day as well to make things easier and have a variety. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings I go to zumba, and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings I do an English-Spanish exchange with a lady in the town. One hour in each language practising reading, writing, speaking and grammar. It's very helpful! I'm also going to be giving extra English lessons to Lucia and Dario, the son of the lady I'm doing the exchange with.

Saturdays and Sundays I have off, but it is difficult to have time to myself unless I go out of the house. Silvia has been very kind in organising activities for me on Saturdays. The first weekend I did a bike tour of Madrid (of course, being me with my awful balance and apparently rusty cycling skills, I managed to fall off right in the city centre!) and this weekend I went to the Palacio Real for a tour and visited the cathedral and some gardens in the surrounding area. Here are some pictures of my time in Madrid:

The Temple of Debod 

La Plaza de España

La Plaza Mayor 

The Crystal Palace

A beautiful rose garden in one of the many parks of Madrid 

The royal palace - el Palacio Real

The cathedral

There have been a few challenges, of course. The language being the main one. I learnt two years of accelerated Spanish at university, but forgot a lot of it during my time in Austria, so especially at the beginning it was tough. I feel like I'm not at a point where I understand a fair bit, but producing the language is still hard sometimes, which makes giving instructions and disciplining the girls tough. I don't have to discipline too much, but Leana is very headstrong, and sometimes makes a massive fuss out of small things, so that can be challenging. But overall, I feel very comfortable here and I think this is the best au pair experience I could have hoped for :)

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Salamanca 2014 - Introduction

This Sunday I am going to Salamanca, Spain as part of my degree with my course mates. We will be staying with a Spanish family and learning Spanish in a school there from 9am-1pm every day for two weeks. I am excited about the trip, and I know it will be fantastic for my Spanish, however it is also very scary because I've only been learning it for a year!

My university booked the flights for us and organised the accommodation, however we were then told we had to book a bus from Madrid Airport to Salamanca and would then be taking a taxi to our family. We have to make our own way to the airport as well. So the first hurdle was booking the bus through a Spanish website - WordReference was very helpful! I eventually got this sorted, and then we received another email to say that we had to book the bus for a later time than originally planned and from a set terminal - our lecturer then redid our bookings for those of us who had the wrong bus, thankfully! Next was getting to Gatwick. I am going by train as I live quite a long way from London, and I booked my train tickets well in advance. However I checked the timings again more recently and the train I was booked on to no longer existed! I had to get in touch with the train company and luckily I was able to get the train closest to the original one in time as I had booked an off-peak ticket - phew!

Thinking I'd sorted all the travel arrangements, we then discovered that we had only been booked onto the flight with hand luggage, despite being away for two weeks. We had to get in touch with a man from the company in charge of our trip and pay separately for hold luggage. Finally having sorted this only a week ago, all I have left to worry about is getting a taxi or walking to my family's home - but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

I've also made a list of all the important information and documents I need to take with me; health and travel insurance, travel information and confirmation, passport, family address and information and maps of the area. It's scary having to think about all of these things - I just hope I get there safely and don't get ill while I'm out there!

Map of Salamanca

While I am in Salamanca, I will hopefully have lots of free time to explore the city and surrounding area after our mornings in the school. I would like to visit the University of Salamanca, the Cathedrals and the parks and river. We are just over two hours from Madrid as well, and on the border with Portugal, so there may be some opportunity to explore further afield as well!

The family I am staying with is a mother and her daughter who is a similar age to me. I am staying on my own with the family, while others on the trip are in pairs, so I'm quite nervous but I know it will be good for my Spanish and I hope that I will be able to bond with the family well. Plus, I will see my course mates every day at the school. I am going to take a present for the family to thank them for having me, and I have been brainstorming about what I might take. I want to give them something typically British, so my ideas are shortbread biscuits, teabags, English sweets or an English book/film. I haven't decided yet!

Having just had quite a long summer holiday, I haven't used my Spanish very much, so this week I am trying to swat up on some vocab before I go! I am trying to watch Spanish YouTube videos and read short Spanish texts online as preparation, but I know it's still going to be hard!

Overall, the weather looks pretty good for the trip...

...and I'm pretty excited for that! The next few days will be frantic summer clothes shopping, packing and making sure I have everything I need for going! I'm nervous about the challenge but so excited for the opportunity to explore Spain for the first time, improve my language and bond with a Spanish family and my class mates.


Thanks for reading!

Laura

The first meeting and initial plans!

A few weeks ago we had an introductory meeting to our year abroad. There was a lot of information thrown at us for 6pm on a Monday, but I just wanted to get started on planning where I was going to go and what I was going to do! Unfortunately though, not much can be done until October, other than researching and considering where would be best for me to go.

Technically, I have the choice between a French-speaking, German-speaking or Spanish-speaking country, however I am studying accelerated beginners' Spanish, and, at my university, in order to continue with this course next year, you are supposed to go to a Spanish-speaking country for your year abroad - not that I'm complaining! My initial thoughts are that I would like to go to Spain over Latin America, as I feel that would be a very big step and a long way away from home and everything I know...and plus, spaces are limited!

I also feel that a British Council teaching placement would be my preferred option, instead of studying at a university or finding my own work placement, as I have in the past considered teaching once I graduate and I think this would help with that decision, and also with my Spanish in general!


In order to get us to the level of Spanish we need, the university run a trip to Salamanca in September, the start of your second year. It is a two week intensive course, all expenses paid, studying in a Spanish school. To go on this trip, you must get over 60% over the year in Spanish, and yesterday I discovered that I had achieved this! So now, I am very excited for this trip, especially as it is now confirmed and only three months away! I have never been to Spain before, and I think it will be a great opportunity for my Spanish, and to learn about the Spanish culture in preparation for my year out.

¡Hasta pronto!

Laura :)

My introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog!

Having recently started preparations for my year abroad, I thought I would begin a blog so that I could take you through my experiences from the initial organisation. I am studying French, German and beginners Spanish, and will most likely be spending my year abroad in Spain.

My aims for this blog are to present the life-style, culture and my experiences in Spain, however I also want to be able to share my struggles and confusions as I get used to living and working in Spain in the hope that it will be of use to others.

I hope that you enjoy it!

¡Hasta pronto!

Laura