Great Ocean Road, Holidays and Many Fines

Alright, so maybe I won't be writing a blog post every week as it has been several weeks since my last post. Things got really busy. I am training for a 10k so during the week my life consists of an hour run or going to the gym, watching the boys, then dinner and bed. So, about the 10k I signed up for it because I have gotten into running big time here and I think its a good incentive. It is at the end of February which is good because it gives me plenty of time to train. Other than that though life in Australia couldn't be better. Alex just got his tonsils out about a month ago so that was definitely tough for me and for everyone in this house. He was in a lot of pain and trying to get him to takes his meds was probably the worst thing I have had to do here except that toilet training him has been a close second. So, we are now living in the new house which is very nice. There isn't  a pool which I am sad about, but it is much closer to the city which makes life so much easier. So far for trips I have planned: New Zealand, Great Barrier Reef, and Sydney. I am going to New Zealand to stay with a friend from the summer camp I work at. I have planned skydiving, jungle ziplining and diving trips while I am at the reef. I am regretting the skydiving choice after someone just died skydiving about a 100km from where I live here. It is sad I am thinking in km now and not miles. The reef will be absolutely amazing and pretty much my last trip before I return home. I just got back from my second trip to the Great Ocean Road. It is so beautiful. The first time Jenna and I drove it, but this time I went with a tour. By far coolest tour I have ever been on. You leave Saturday morning and go surfing for awhile (surfing couldn't be more fun) and then you camp at night. Which was also a lot of fun. You see loads of pretty amazing things along the way. I would recommend this tour to anyone in Aus! Its called Offthebeatentrack Journeys you can find their page on Facebook and tag along one weekend.

Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road Tour

Christmas was very strange here. It was my second christmas away from home and I decided I'm done with tropical christmases. I am away from Maine a lot and normally that doesn't bug me at all, but around christmas time I am always wishing to be back in Maine. I want nothing more than to be with my family and have a white christmas with a real tree. Christmas was fun here though just very different. A few days after christmas my family here, my friend Tasha, and I went up to a beach in a place called Sorrento. We had a great time the weather was awesome. Tasha and I ended up driving home for  New Years because she was going to Sydney and my Australian friends from Sydney and Adelaide were coming to visit. Just my luck I got a speeding fine on the way home without even knowing. First speeding fine in my life. I was going 10k over which is about 6mph in America and in America I most likely I wouldn't of gotten one for going 6 over. I am blaming this fine on the culture difference ;) I also got a parking fine for parking in a no parking zone. If you know me you know I am spacey and can zone out a lot. Definitely did not notice the sign haha. That one I have no excuse for.  The last fine I got this month was a train fine. Which this is so dumb. I had something they call a concession card which is apparently only for people in college and I am clearly not, but I had no idea. I am writing a letter to try and pull the foreign card and if that doesn't work 200$ down the drain :( Anyways, New Years was great. Aus gets New Years second I think and Fiji is the first. Which is so cool! It was strange knowing America still had 16 hours to go before it was 2014.

Me and my German Friend Lisa on New Years

So, after New Years I drove back to Sorrento to be with the family (didn't get a fine that time) haha. Monday I began watching the boys again which believe or not I missed them heaps and couldn't wait to be with them again. It got tougher later on in the week just because they are out of routine with it still being holidays and not having much to do. and the HEAT. It was pretty much 108 everyday that week. I was a Mainer in huge shock because I really can't think of a time Maine hit more than like 95. That Thursday, I left for Sydney to visit Liam my Aussie friend from my Summer camp job in Maine. It was so nice to be reunited and see what his life in Aus is like. Sydney was amazing, very beautiful.

The Opera House in Sydney 

Originally, I wanted to live in Sydney when I was searching for Au Pair jobs, but I couldn't be happier here in Melbourne. Melbourne has been voted the most livable city in the world for three years now and I definitely understand why. This weekend on Sunday, it is a holiday. This holiday is called Australian day basically like 4th of July I am guessing, so lots of partying this weekend around Melbourne! Anyways, I will stop slacking so much on my blog posts and I hope you all are still enjoying the posts! Lucy the owner of the program I came through/ the mum of the kids I watch, is interviewing someone from Brunswick, Maine tomorrow (my hometown) guess this shows I am inspiring some people :)

The Surf Tour

Aussie Shenanigans

Alex and the Sheep

           So, here is the end of my first week alone with the boys. Let me tell you... god bless anyone who has twins especially boys haha. Totally kidding, well kind of. I love the boys we have such a great time and they really have adjusted well to a new Au Pair just all the sudden showing up and taking care of them 5 days a week, 9 hours each day. The best feeling though is that they have already formed an attachment to me. Today, when I brought them to Kindergarten Lachlan held on to my leg and literally would not let me leave. I had to quickly leave and he cried, but in the end he had a great day at kinder.  OR when the boys get in a screaming fight about who I am going to let sit on my lap or carry to the car. It is a really great feeling to see it. We have great days together they love when I read book to them and they love animals even more than that. Our big excursion this week was to the Children's farm. Wow, I think I was more fascinated by the animals then them... well not quite, but close. I saw a peacock for the first time. Unfortunately, there was no Koalas or Kangaroos I still have yet to see either. No worries though its definitely on the priority list. Anyways, the farm wasn't all rainbows and unicorns either because getting there was as difficult as nailing jelly to a tree. Seriously, I had typed the address in the GPS, I was so excited so were the boys and a few Kilometers from the house the GPS decided to S*** the bed (excuse my language, but it was so stressful). Okay, so driving on the left side of the road whatever thats super easy, but driving in a place you are not familiar with without a GPS is not easy. I didn't know what to do so I drove back to the house, at this point Alex was asleep thank god because it probably would of been a meltdown and Lachlan was awake, but he was very patient about it. He simply asked "Jayne, why are we lost? Why don't you know where to go? Why do you live in another country?" Because none of my answers seemed to cure his curiosity. Anyways, at the house I typed it into my iPhone and my iPhone didn't have a international sim card at the time. I used the wifi at the house to get the route, but if I took one wrong turn I would of been in trouble because it wouldn't of been able to reroute me without wifi. So, I finally made it to the farm and spent a bit of time there. I can't wait till I know my way around better. When it was time to make the trek home I had to ask the front office at the farm how to get back to North Balwyn. It was actually embarrassing because I just hate to seem like such a stupid tourist who gets lost. This really nice guy helped me out buy sharing his wifi password to give me wifi to get me back home.  The worst part is though, I took a wrong turn on the way home so I had to figure out on my own how to get back on the route and at the same time Alex is screaming for a granola bar. I pulled over helped Alex and found my way back, let me tell you I was never as excited as I was to be at the house when we arrived. That was my huge adventure this week. It has been really nice they boys are hard work, but don't get me wrong I already love them and their teacher at kinder told me they have a new level of energy and she believed it was because of me. So nice to hear promising words like that.  I am spending 6 months with these boys they really will do a lot of growing up in that time and I cannot wait to be apart of it. It seems stupid, but already this week I think I have done a lot of changing as well. You have to grow up fast when you are looking after two, three year old boys and having the responsibility of driving them places, entertaining them all day, and thinking on the spot. Thinking on the spot is HUGE. You have to be creative, very creative especially when you are trying to get them to eat. I have worked with a lot of different kinds of children, but no children this young. It is a different experience. In conclusion though I love the boys, anyone would tell you they are so funny and creative. Seeing them together is adorable. I don't wish for any other family to be an Au Pair for, I love the boys, Lucy and Adrian a lot.

Me and the Boys

Me and Anika 

Me at the Melbourne Cup

      Anyways, for my life aside from the boys here..hmmm. Well, the other day at the playground in a matter of two minutes of just talking to the boys this guy picked up on my accent and instantly knew I was from the states. He comes up to me and goes " So, where in the states are you from?" Crazy to think my accent is that noticeable to them. Also, just bought my ticket to Sydney to visit my friend Liam for his birthday which is very exciting. I am in the travel mood being here. I am going to see a travel agent Sunday to book a trip to the Great Barrier Reef in April. I'm thinking about making it out to New Zealand at some point. I have a friend there who offered me a place to stay. Thats always nice. I met my first set of other Au Pairs Sunday, one from Arkansas and the other from Sweden. We had a plan to go to the Melbourne Zoo, but of course it started to rain. Tomorrow, I am meeting up with them again to go to a museum and then at night go out. Its just a little bit exciting to be legal to drink here. Just being offered wine at dinner and being able to say yes is so different. It feels like I'm doing something wrong because in the U.S I am not at all legal. So tomorrow will be a good night out in the city, hopefully a good blog story will come out of it. OH MY GOSH, I almost forgot to write about the biggest part of my week.. the Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne cup is like the Kentucky Derby... I think honestly I just know that the Kentucky derby also has horse racing. The Melbourne cup almost seemed like it was more about the fashion/drinking more than the horse racing. Literally, best part of being there was looking at what everyone was wearing.  The uniform is an old fashioned looking hat or hairpiece and a black dress.It was such a hot day 27C and 80F, I wanted to bet on a horse but honestly had no idea how. Its such a big deal here and I am so glad I went. It was a ton of fun. The Melbourne Cup is such a big deal here it is actually considered a Holiday. No one goes to work, how insane is that. By the way we are moving this month too. So, I asked Lucy and Adrian why we were moving... "oh because we are bored with the house" haha. It is like the nicest house. By the way, I am going to introduce thanksgiving to Australia. We are planning feast here at the Brennan household on Thanksgiving. We are going to the store and I am finding everything Thanksgiving-like and we are cooking it up. Hallelujah, I am not missing one more Thanksgiving :)  Back on track though, we are just moving close by and Alex has to get his tonsils and adenoids out in the beginning of December. A lot of changes are about to happen and I think it will be tough for the boys, but we shall see. Summer is just beginning so really no complaints here. That is all I have for this week, just loving my life in a land down under called Aus <3

Horse Racing

Left Side Driving, Vegemite and Other Aussie Things

        My journey has just begun and week one of my 7 month adventure is coming to an end. This will probably be the most overwhelming week I have during these 7 months. So, as I was trying to kill the 6 hours I had in LA I met a ton of cool people. First, I met an Australian guy who was on holiday (yes, holiday instead of vacation... I have already started using Australian lingo). He was very nice and was telling me everything I needed to do in Melbourne and most importantly teaching me how to say Melbourne correctly.. Not MEL-BORN its more like MEL-BIN and Brisbane isn't BRIS-BANE its BRIS-BIN. Anyways, the second person I met was at the phone charging station at my gate. We sat there for a few minutes in silence then he asked me what I was doing and where I was from. I explained I was from Maine and going to Melbourne to be an Au Pair, I then asked his story because I knew he was definitely American too. He was from Pennsylvania and he was going to Australia for 5 months to do mission work through a group program.  It seemed like such a small world to me when I met another person from a State close to Maine who also has an adventurous personality and is leaving on the same day as me to begin the journey. We instantly became friends and promised to keep in touch on Facebook about our travels. I saw him meet other people for the first time that were in the same mission program as him; he had already started to talk to them through a Facebook group before this day. This made me very jealous to see them meet because I remember meeting all the other exchange students in Miami on our way to live in Ecuador, it was so exciting. Shout out to all the exchange students I love you guys and miss you very much :) Anyways, I met many more people along the way who were so friendly and loved hearing my travel plans, but really the details are boring. The bottom line is Australians are very welcoming and I instantly made friends with  many Australians beginning in Los Angeles. The flight was a drag. It was long and you just feel disgusting eating food without really moving after, but it was definitely worth it now that I get to enjoy 7 months in this amazing country filled with even more amazing people.

I spy Australia for the First Time

First Time in the City

       When I arrived in Melbourne Lucy and Anika were right outside my gate waiting for me. It was so nice to finally meet them after Skyping them both and waiting for this day for a long time. The first thing that happened that really made me realize I wasn't in America anymore was when I tried to get on the drivers side on the way home from the airport. The most exciting part though was finally arriving at my new home. I was so incredibly tired, but I stayed up until 9pm to start my sleep schedule off right. My jetlag was very minor after the day I arrived.The house is amazing, I have my own room and bathroom. A very nice pool and an even nicer car to drive. Most Importantly though I met Alex and Lachlan. They seemed very confused at first why I was there, but they quickly warmed up to me. They are both very cute and although they have their three year old bratty moments I can already tell I will become very attached to them both as well as Lucy and Adrian. They definitely make me feel like part of the family. Sunday, we went out to dinner and I met Lucy's parents, her brother and his partner.  Which, by the way I ordered a pizza called the Aussie.. I felt like I needed to begin my cultural eating right away.The family is all very amazing, I really feel like I am at my second home. Going back to my cultural eating though, I ate vegemite...not for the first time, but for the first time actually in Australia. It is very good my one and only tip is put very little its strong. So, basically this week Anika has been showing me everything; how to get places, cool places to bring the boys, and just everything you would need to know to live in Melbourne and be an Au Pair. I am very thankful she is here for my first week. She is also very amazing, it sucks that I can only spend this week with her because she is my first friend that I have made in Melbourne. She is great with the boys and has really taught me a lot of tricks for working with the boys. So far I have only been to the city once because I live in a suburb of Melbourne, but I already really enjoy it. There is plenty of shopping (yayyyyy!) and things to do there. Anika and I ate sushi and she tried to explain how to use the tram. It is so difficult being from Brunswick, Maine where public transportation is very simple and coming here to a tram system. Anyways, its only the first week and I know things will all get easier. 

My new Pool

         Today, Its halloween and you would not even know it. No one really cares. Trick or treating happens, but not often. Its more about going to a club and partying. Kids are not taught what halloween is or anything like that. Although this is sad to me, the red sox just won the world series! I hate baseball, but I am very happy for Boston because it has been a tough year there. BOSTON STRONG! Last thing I wanted to share this week is  how my driving lessons went. The driving on the other side is really not that hard once you try it. You just always have to tell yourself you need to be on the left side of the road, I would say the hardest part is remembering to look the other way for approaching cars. Again though, being from Brunswick, Maine then coming here and driving is hard. It may be a suburb where I live, but there is roundabouts and things I have never experienced in Maine. It will all come with time and practice though. I am looking forward to the next few weeks when I will start to handle the boys on my own and really become familiar with everything. There is a lot of changes from living in Brunswick to living here, but they are all exciting. I am already loving it. I am so excited to live and travel in this country for the next 7 months, it is only just the beginning <3

The Boys; Alex in red, Lachlan in blue  

And so it Begins...

Today is the day, the day I have been waiting for.  If you have ever heard anyone talking about having the “travel bug” this bug is real. I am talking from experience. I began my journey to Ecuador August 30^th, 2012 and returned in January 2013. I lived with a host family in Quito, the capital city and went to school like a normal Ecuadorian 17 year old would. I met other Exchange students from America and Europe that embarked on the journey with me and I met Ecuadorians that welcomed me into their country.  Every single person I met was amazing. You would think after spending 5 months away from home I would be ready to stay home for more than a year, but no. I had an amazing time and I wanted to travel more. I could bore you with details about my trip to Ecuador, but really this blog is about my trip to Australia. As I was getting ready to depart for Australia the common question people asked me was how you go about becoming an Au Pair in Australia. When I decided I wanted to travel again I knew I wanted to have a working holiday because of the expenses traveling includes. This obviously means I’m living in another country, but I am still working. I soon realized the best job for me was to be an Au Pair because I love working with children, it is a very rewarding job especially when you really get to know the kids. In the near future I hope to pursue a career in elementary education. Knowing ahead of time I wanted to go to Australia (who wouldn’t?) I searched online “Au Pair in Australia”. Au Pair is a French word that basically means an exchange. I am watching a families kid’s and they are providing me with a place to stay, food to eat, and a car to drive. I got lucky. I picked a newer program and immediately set up a date to Skype Lucy (the founder of the program aupairtoyou) and this was all very exciting. The night we Skyped I told Lucy I wanted to come in January so I could make a fair amount of money before going, she said okay and explained she would be searching for a family for me. 10 minutes after the interview ended I received an email from the owner of the program, Lucy. She stated she had two 3-year-old twin boys and that they needed an Au Pair by the end of next month and that she would like me to be their Au Pair. I thought about it for a few days and decided I would be dumb if I turned this opportunity down and I quickly emailed her back telling her I was in! Now, here I am sitting on the plane to LA from Philly (I'm sitting near two Mainers) and I began my journey in Boston. I started off my trip by almost making an attractive man miss his flight because my bag had to get searched (oh boy its going to be a long trip). I am very tired from waking up at 5am, but I am very excited to meet my little munchkins, Alex and Lachlan. It is only hour 4 out of 38, good luck to me! 

Lots and lots of waiting today.