Making Plans.

I've been thinking a bit the past few weeks. I thought it would be nice to spend all of 2013 abroad. A year is a long time to commit to one family in one place without knowing how the situation is going to play out. You can only get to know a family so well over email and Skype  Maybe I'm just being too cautious because of last time but I've heard other girls say the same. You can't really know until you get there. 

I thought it would be really nice to spend the year in a few different places. Most countries allow 90 days at a time. I'm going to start off in Istanbul and go from there. See where it takes me and how far I can go. I bought a one way ticket to encourage myself to make it happen (it was also half the price, but) 

Yesterday I had a lovely chat on Skype with an Italian family who lives in Varese. We got along so well and by the end of the call we ended up agreeing I would come stay with them in March, when my 90 days in Istanbul are over. They seem so nice and genuine, we laughed a lot which was great. I am already looking forward to staying with them. 

So there is 6 out of 12 months. half way there :)

Booked the Ticket.

I'll be leaving from Detroit on Friday, December 28th and arriving in Istanbul Saturday morning.


:)

My books came~

Getting pretty excited flipping through the pages and reading about the city :)

Istanbul it is.

Had a skype call Sunday with the family with the 2 older kids (it happened to be the daughters birthday, she turned 9) They were so nice. Very warm and inviting. I talked with the mom mostly and a tiny bit with the kids. The boy is almost fluent in English and the girl needs to improve a little the mom said.
Not only do the kids speak Turkish and English, they are learning German in school!

It was a quick call (15 minutes) but it went so well and she said they would love to have me come au pair for them. We've exchanged a few emails between last night and this morning.

So, off to Istanbul I go :) I'll leave a few days after Christmas. I'll stay at least 3 months, possibly longer depending on a few things.

pretty confident I've found a host family

:)

Istanbul.

I've been wanting to go there for a long time, so as of a few days ago, I'm just focusing on finding a HF there.

I've been talking a lot with 3 different families.
Fam 1 has a 2 month old baby girl.
Fam 2 has an 18 month old boy 
and Fam 3 has a 3 year old boy and an 8 month old girl.
*edit* also a 4th family with a 12 year old boy and 9 year old girl.
I was originally talking with them at the same time I was talking with my HF in Italy in the very beginning ..they've just sent me an email asking if i'm still interested. we'll see where it goes :)

Last night I ordered two touristy~ guide books just for the heck of it.
I checked airfare to see how much it would be.... it's so cheap. 

Istanbul it is then ;)

Fam #1 who I liked so well, has had to pass. For family reasons I was told and are 100% understandable. I'm so bummed. It would've been such a wonderful opportunity. I told her (HM) if the situation changes, she knows where to find me. Back to searching.

A short little video about what it's like to be an au pair, from the perspective of a German girl living in Sweden.  She hits the nail on the head. I liked the video so much I had to share :)