Settling In

Exactly one year ago on this day, I made it home from my last ultimate adventure. I could never have imagined that one year later I would be merely beginning possibly one of the greatest escapades yet! For some reason I’m finding it a bit difficult to write this particular blog, there are so many things I would like to share, but the question is. . . where to start?

First of all, I need to read up on my Swedish. Not only the language, but also aspects of the culture here. I am trying to understand how differently people might view things compared to me. I am lucky enough to have a great tool for making the transition from American to Swedish- and that is a book, “CULTURE SHOCK! A guide to Customs and Etiquette- Sweden”. If you are ever moving somewhere for a long time, or feel like you need help understanding a foreign country, you should look up the series; they have a book for nearly everywhere- from Nepal to USA-The South. (I thought it was hysterical that they had to have a whole separate book just for the Southern United States – HA!)

I have already started my job as an au pair. I had a few days in the beginning to learn the ropes- what goes where, what happens when, etc. Then when Mira and Maya (the two girls I am au pairing for) started school, that was my day of starting work.

My basic duties (on a normal week) are to sort and take out the trash (This deserves a paragraph on it’s own, Swedes are so stingy when it comes to getting rid of waste. You have to make sure that anything that could POSSIBLY be re-used is put in the proper bin in the trash house. There is a bin for every kind of trash you could think of! Just not something I’m used to but I kind of like it), fold and sort laundry when needed, vacuum every other week downstairs, clean when needed, pick up Mira from school at 2:30, and if needed, help making dinner. Those duties will fluctuate from time to time, depending on if the parents will be traveling a lot or whatever the case may be. I typically stop working at 6:30p.m., and I have the weekends off. It’s a very nice situation to be in, I have to say!

I love the family that I am working for. They are great! And I think we are a perfect fit. Last night I got to spend the evening hanging out with my new “sister” Maja. We had a girl’s night, we got pizza, we watched Killers (which has not only my favorite actor of all time, Tom Selleck, in it but also Ashton Kutcher) and we baked cookies! It was a wonderful night!

Helsingborg is such a beautiful city, and I am very happy to be able to spend a year exploring it and learning everything I can about this part of the world! I also lucked out because Helsingborg is quite an international city as well. Not only is Denmark only fifteen minutes of ferrying away, but lots of ethnicities come through here, for whatever reason I’ll find out!

That’s enough for now, it’s Saturday so we’ll see what kind of trouble I can get myself into today. ‘Till Next time!