Family Protrait

One of the most popular questions I get asked being an au pair is: What is it like to be on the side of someone else world? (paraphrased)

Because I am doing just that, I am a fly on the wall in someone elses life... I am in their family but not, I see all and hear all from an inside perspective but as an outsider. Its quiet strange to see how people act but then to hear how they persieve themselves. This blog has come about because like I had mentioned earlier in the week Sara and David are on holidays which makes my job useless... you would think, or I would at least hope and not even for my own personal sake.

This week granted they are doing a lot of fixing up around the house but they still seem far to busy for the girls. Sara has said on many occasions that she hope the girls grow up to be a well rounded person like I am, which I took as a tremedous complement however sadly I know already even though they are only 3 and 7 that this will not be the case. Certain things that I once took for granted as a child and even as a adult I appricate so much now. For instance other than on a weekend when I am not around I have never seen Sara or David sit and have dinner with the girls. I am responsible for feeding them even if either of there parents are home, which is always the case on a thrusday or friday because they alternate working those days. The second example that baffles me is that occasionally when either of them or BOTH of them are home, I still am asked to put the girls to bed.

Now, Sara and David are both very smart people who have a lot of success in thier careers and they both work very hard to be where they are. I just find it extremely sad that the girls are the ones who suffer... no matter how little Olivia respects me or appricates what I do for her I still end up feeling sorry for her, because she knows nothing different than how it is.

Sometimes in conversation Sara will discuss how she raises the girls and how she punishes them etc., and I just stand there listening in awe because what she discribes and how she acts are two totally different things. I do not believe in how they punish or don't punish the girls behaviour because the girls get away with things they shouldn't and as the au pair when I try to take action its ignored because Olivia and now even Bell have learnt that they can get away with almost anything with numorous warnings. Olivia says to me all the time that she likes when Im away because they she doesnt have to follow my rules... and thats one of the reasons I hate working when the parents are around because my word means nothing because they know that mommy or daddy is in the other room and will save them from punishment.

I know I have not yet written a blog about the parents or my perspective on thier life or parenting tactics and thus Im sure people might think im peachy on the issue and its not the case. I just feel so helpless and sorry for the girls because I can always try to instill honestly, trush and respect in them but with weeks or working on it, it has always been underminded in one moment when their parents do or say something.

It sounds like I dont like Sara and David, and this isn't the case they are both great people and honestly mean good and I honestly think they think they are doing good. They work very hard for the money they have and this is very important to them so they can give their girls the best school (which Livy got into and will start in Sept... costing roughly 10,000 quid a year!), extra curriculars and opportuinties. I just believe that money isn't everything and everyone I know arent 'rich' and we all turned out fine and you can have all the money in the world and still be a bad or unhappy person, and I fear this for the girls.

This week has been hard for me, and whenever I have a hard week I start thinking about my situation and this is how this entry came about.

I feel like not many people really understand the life im living over here, I love it for the place and expereinces but it is very hard and at times (like this week) it takes its toll on me...

I shouldnt have to questions why do I even bother trying?

LOVE LOVE LOVE
have a great weekend
I LOVE MY FAMILY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD <3 I LOVE YOU!

love/hate rollercoaster

Holla!

Before I even get into my weekend events, that will probably not even be written about in this blog because I need a good solid rant right now and you are all lucky enough to be blessed with hearing it!

I HATE MONDAYS, now I know most people hate mondays but I hated today because first off this week im a lucky enough to have both David and Sara on holidays and home all week, thus the girls dont listen to anything I say and I am kept super busy all the time with cleaning up after other peoples messes - its times like this week where I hate my job, I cherish the moments me and the girls are alone in the house because its so much more relaxed and we can have fun and they still respect my words. When they parents are here our routine gets all out of sort and the things the girls need to do dont get done.

But now on to why I hate today... I found out that Livy had been stealing gum from my room, first just pieces then packages. Now I know its just gum and it may sound stupid but Olivia knows better than to go into my room, and second she has had problems with stealing things from students and school and it has been "dealt" with and to find out she has been going into my room and taking my stuff really hurt. So we dealt with that more today than the last stealing episode was dealt with... she is not aloud having sweets all week, and she said sorry to me after a while. THEN with Bella today she decided to tear her room apart by threwing paper all over the floor and empting 4 of her drawers onto their bunk beds and since she was being looked after by her parents she wasnt told to clean up her mess and I was the luck one who found it and had to deal with it when she was at nursary.

Can you tell everything is starting to get to me... this job has probably been one of my most challenging jobs because althought im just an au pair when the children are challenging the job is obviously challenging but its also because my heart is in it... its not just a job its my life and sadly I let things get to me and take things everyone involved does personally (well not Bell shes to young to blame lol)

But, there was light at the end of my day... Livy finally got over her punishment by dinner time and was cheerful again so I let it go and we had a nice time. After bath she asked if we could hang out and so we created a new song because we are all a part of a band called J.I.P (Jenn, Izzy, Pops) which we created last spring term, and we re-wrote the words to Miss Mary Mac.

Olivia and JENN x3
With the help of BELL x3
Created a BAND x3
That the called JIP x3
They were so COOL x3
They preformed at SCHOOL x3
For all the KIDS x3
They danced a LOT x3
They said come BACK x3
And waved good BYE x3
(wave goodbye) lol

THE END... and we lived happily ever after (until tuesday begins)

FREE HUGS and St. Patricks Festival

Hello All,
Before I start out on my weekend events I will start off wishing you all a festival Patties Day, Im sure when most of you read this it will either be the 17th or later so HAPPYS PATTIES DAY ALL, hope you all enjoy yourselves drinking green beer, and celebrating with the best of the IRISH! Matilda, Kylie and I celebrated on Sunday after we had a very humbling afternoon in the sun. Sunday was the highlight of my weekend, althought Saturday night Rita, Amanda and I had a great night at Zoo Bar celebrating Amanda (Rita's roomie from University) welcome to London. It was tons of fun but it was an early night considering they were flying out to Madrid at 6am Sunday morning.

Sunday we had the best weather to date I think, it was gorgous and Matilda and I met up early to head to the St. Patricks day parade and festival but got side tracked by the weather and headed for a nice relaxing morning in Hyde Park, we planned on catching the festival later since it was on till 6!

BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY WEATHER

We started off just sitting in the park and decide that we needed some wine, and since London is glorious you can just go to your local TESCO and bring alcohol into public places... like the PARK! So Matilda and I just sat enjoying eachother company until we saw... Stuwart the FREE HUGS original! We went a got our free hugs and then started a conversation with him and he ended up letting me see how it feels to give free hugs... and my conclusion = it feels GREAT. Two hours later Matilda, Stuwart, Bill (the guy below) and I had to part ways because we were an hour and a half late for meeting with Kylie at the festival in Trafalger Square. But back to the hugs, at first I was nervous at the type of characters you get hugs from but the amount of creepy people definately size up to nothing when compared to all the people whos days you make just by giving them something as simple as a hug. Only really odd guy I got was like my 3rd or 4th hug and he asked if I was giving FREE SEX as well, and I said no just hugs, and he trumped me by saying so you charge for SEX are you a prostitute then... then we got into a philisocial conversation about sex and how society doesnt associate sex with love anymore and therefore he didn't believe my rational to not giving him free sex, buts thats just where my great wit comes in, haha! I hugged all sorts of people from homeless people, to the elderly, to children and then just anyone who wants an extra hug. We were lucky enough to have people share their stories with us or who/where they are from. One woman told us about St. Amma who is the Saint of Hugs and people line up in thousands to hug her and she said the experiences is heavenly. To another woman who was on vaction from Germany and she said she was taking my heart back with her, to a teenage boy who wanted to stay in London because of Speakers Corner (the location in Hyde Park where we were giving Hugs, its also the same place I wrote about a while back where people stand on stools talking about anything). At the end of our afternoon, we said our goodbyes and gave our last hugs and told Stuwart and Bill we'd be back next Sunday to join them... maybe even bring our own signs.

TRY GIVING FREE HUGS
it was honestly one the greatest experiences

Finally after being over an hour late and the WORST FRIENDS EVER, Matilda and I met up with Kylie for the festival. Once again me loving the drinking rules in the city, for the festival you were aloud bringing your OWN alcohol in, they just gave you the plastic glasses for it! We spent about an hour there listening to the live music and then head out to find Nancy's, a pub with a sign that said "Gorgous People this Way" hahaha and we just thought it was calling our names! We ended up spending upwards of 4 hours here talking to James and Nancy the owners, and James was teaching us all these different things about alcohol, and was letting us try different kinds, and gave us drinks for cheaper. It was a very cool locals pub, well locals and cool immigrants (thats us!) However, I didn't get home until like 11, and I am sorry to all those people I was suppose to have online dates with but I was pretty inebriated by the end of it all!

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY ALL!

KING OF POP

IM GOING TO SEE MICHEAL JACKSON
LIVE AT THE 02
THRUSDAY JULY 16TH

YOU CAN START BEING JEALOUS... NOW.
that is all,
have a great day, nothing can bring me down.
xoxo

Meet the Girls

Staying on the blog train I have come to realize that I only usually write about my weekend and really that is only 2 days out of my week, so this is an entire to fill you in on the other 5 days of the week... my working days. Its actually quite sad haha that I have have neglected to write about the girls at all in the blog lately seeing that I spend a solid 12 hrs on and off with them daily; feeding them, waking them, playing, homework, punishments and bed yup that sums of my job in a nut shell, its a definately love hate more love relationship.

ISABELLA JACK (a.k.a. Bella, Izzy, Bell)

Currently if you call Isabella any thing other than one of her real names i.e. cheeky, goofy, silly or any thing along those lines she will say in her firmest voice "I NOT _____ I'M ISABELLA JACK". Isabella and I have the smoothest relationship, partly because shes only 2 1/2 and doesn't hold a grudge and partly because she is just always happy and thus we get along better. We spend our quailty time together having dance parties, turning scrabble pieces into magic and eatting. She brings Daniel, Cassie and Rita into everyday conversation and I feel like she was a TRIBES leader in another life because she can express her feelings threw her words so well for a 2 yr old. She is very smart already, last Friday we were talking about Ritas birthday and so I explained that everyone has one birthday a year and that hers is in April, and then at the table Monday I asked her when her birthday was and she said April! She is working on the days of the week, and believes that everyday is Tuesday and she will blurt out into song at any hour of the day or night! Bell definately beats to her own drum and thats noticeable in all she does, whether it be wearing sunglasses in the snow, or a pumkin outfit to school. She is also very bossy right now and will not be scared to point her finger in your face, or embrass me by yelling at pedestirans on the street and saying "NO LADY, you not coming to my house" or any other command that a 2 year old can think of. However, now that she is turning 3 she is very independant and wants to to it all by herself, she is a brave little girl!

OLIVIA JACK (a.k.a. Pops, Livy)

Olivia is a tomboy and won't let you forget it, she hates all things she thinks are girly not even just pink it goes as far as bobby pins. She is very determined and will never forget anything you say to her. She has saved her pocket money for a year and a half and has now spent 39 pounds on a brand new skateboard and helmet. Her memory skills astonish me... she remembers all little facts and dates, and she loves learning. We have a secret handshake and even thought she pretends to be embarassed to kiss and hug me goodbye she loves when we do our special kiss routine. Her mood can go from good to bad in a second and once its bad it takes a while to let go... even thought be buttheads we are the best of friends. She likes learning boy tips from me, I've taught her flirty eyes, the hair flip and a solid wink. Olivia also enjoys a good shoulder shimmy. Olivia and I have our best times once Isabella is in bed and she gets to have big girl time with me which is usually spend having staring contest, giving rasberries or coming up with songs and handshakes. Olivia is so gullable and still to this day believes that I have cameras hidden threwout the house. She has a lying face, when her mouth and eyes look very widened, and she say she doesnt think im cool... but totally does.

Hope that helps you get to know my job a little more... at the end of the day I love it.

DUBLIN, IRELAND

The long awaited Ireland trip has come and gone and (almost) everything about it was great: the weather, the pubs and the times! I'll get to the (almost part later... thats what us writers call anticipation!)

FRIDAY:
Friday night we arrived at our hostel at about 11pm so we still had TONS of time to party... hahaha and since we were located right in the centre of Dublin we had tons of bars and pubs around us. The first place we went was called Fitzgeralds, it was exactly what you would picture an Irish pub to be... banners, fireplace and live music. We loved it, we found a spot close to the music and enjoyed it, it was one sole man with a guitar and he played all pub classics until about 12:30. After he finished we moved across the street (and rivier) to another bar called Panama. This was more of a club scene, it was two floors and the first floor had a light up bridge that you could cross and lood over the basement floor. The roof was also curved and made of brick it was awesome. Rita and I had a dance party here, we also met 3 guys from Boston and hung out with them for a little. Sadly we learnt to quickly that Irish boys don't general hang out in central Dublin (kinda like it is in London too); we had both dreamt that there would be swarms of Irish chaps waiting to swarm us (equilicant to how the American girls swarmed the English guy in Love Actually) but we were sadly mistake, FOULED!

me in the park that was at the end of Grafton St.

SATURDAY:
Saturday Rita and I started our day by heading to Blackrock in hopes to find a sweet market we saw online... however upon arrival it looked less sweet and more ghetto, but who would have known the pictures looked sweet online lol. But good did come from this because Blackrock was a small town on the seaside... so we had a chance to see that! From there we went shopping on Grafton St., which had tons of buskers and street stands, this is were we found a park. It was so beautiful like a little oasis in the center of the hussle and bussle. From there we went to the Cathedral District and visiting St. Patricks Cathedral and Christ Church... the weather we had on the trip was very nice consideratably. We had mainly clear skies and the only time it rained was when we left Sunday which we loved because it was suppose to rain all weekend (what can I say mother nature loves us!)
After we visited the churches and asked God for our forgivness we obvious went to the Guinness Storehouse! Not before stopping at a pub for some grub (this is where the bad part of the weekend takes place I think). After eatting I felt like crap, and for the rest of the night my stomach was very unsettled... and it hindered our night but we made the best of it. We took the tour of the Guinness Brewery which was cool but a little over played I thought, It was 7 floors and it could have been done nicely in about 3 or 4, and it was very do it yourself where as other brewerys and distillarys have tours and guides. But not the less it was cool, the building was decided in the shape of a pint glass... and when Mr. Guinness bought the building 250 years ago he signed a 9000 year lease for 45 pounds a YEAR! Crazy facts you learn eh!


We called it quicks earlier than we wished Saturday night because I was being horrible company because I feel like I was being eatten from the insideout, but we still managed to hit up a few more local pubs before heading back to our hostel (where should I mentioned we had a lovely time sharing our bedroom with 2 lovely gentlemen who had saved heads with barcodes tattooed to them!)

SUNDAY:
First thing we headed to Malihide Park and Castle, which was also another town outside of the city centre. We walked for about 20 mins threw this forest to get to the Castle and it was the best way I could think about spending a sunday.


We arrived at the Castle before it openned and had a nice chat with the people infront of us and then went for our tour. When we entered the castle it was raining but when we left it was beautiful so we retook all our pictures so we had a nice pretty blue sky in the background!

After that we went to the Old Jameson Distillary... the leading Irish Whisky. My stomach was feeling much better by this point so I got to enjoy a nice whisky/ginerale which I actually really liked considering I haven't drank whisky since I was in grade 10/11 (thank you Mark Kelders!). It was really nice tasting it had a hint of vanilla because the barrels they use have been used previously to make scotch (i think) so the taste is left behind. From there we ended our trip in Irelands oldest pub it was made in 1198! We took part in a great sunday session... they had a live group of men playing the fiddle and other string insturments, and it had a real fireplace as well.

Sunday was a great Irish Day and a great end to a trip that flew by to quickly, it made me really want to go to other parts of Ireland and see what the country side is like!

Cheers

Celebrity to Cinderella Overnight

Oh how I USUALLY live for my weekend... except for that is when I have to babysit, but lets start off on a positive note shall we.

This week was hell haha and come Friday night at 7:30 I was so ready to get out of this house and get drunk, and that I did! Rita, Leah (Rita's co-worker), some of her friends and I went out in BANK. Now BANK isn't in Central London but real Londoner's don't go out in Central London, and we are now REAL LONDONER'S! We started at a bar called Digress but no one was having fun so we moved to Abacus, which was awesome!
We got to Abacus at like 9:55 and cover was starting at 10... but the line was long and we didn't want to pay a ten'er to get in so we chatted up the security and they put on in the guest list line and we walked in right away (note: thus the celebrity in the blog title!) Abacus was sweet, it was 2 floors with 3 different rooms: top 40/modern rock/trance. Of course you could find us in the top 4o/hip hop room. There were so many 'yardies' hahaha I was loving it... hahaha they even graced my ears with the sweet tunes of lyrical genious Will Smith's - Gettin Giggy Wit It!
Finally my ego went sky rocketing when a real Londoner said that....

I LOOKED TRENDY!!!

Saturday Rita and I went for a walk in Hyde Park and then headed back to my house for some Ireland planning (which we leave for on Friday!). We went to my house because I was booked to babysit so Sara and David could go out for the night. So Rita and I planned to have a nice night in making dinner and watching Sienfeld (Rita was under a false impression that if she just could get me to give it a chance it would change my life... didn't happpen). This is also were my weekend was tanted (hahaha can you feel the anamosity). Let just say I realized once again why I leave the house on weekend... if I dont get the away time I can't give myself time to get into a possitive mindset for the week to come. Since Rita and I are going to Ireland next weekend we wanted to have a low key weekend so today we just went to Punch and Judy. Punch and Judy is a very famous/old pub in Covent Garden's. It was established in 1787, and we also met Matilda, Ebba, Julie and Anna there. It was a nice end to the weekend and now I am working on becoming a stronger/bigger person and not letting little things get under my skin...

im RISING ABOVE!

... now I know I didn't go into details about the Cinderella aspect but it's because I'm trying to let it go so sorry in advance, but just know I am happy and I couldn't be strong with out all your support!

CHEERS and LOVE