What a long day, had a Au pair meeting in downtown San Francisco. My host parents dropped me off at Bart this morning and they also picked me up this evening, didn't start driving yet. It was a scavenger haunt, actually pretty cool, I didn't know it was gonna be so much fun. I met Sophie there, a friend from Virginia. She moved her like 6 weeks ago, was great seeing her again. Me Sophie and Denise went to Miami on vacation together and we didn't live far from each other in VA. Now we have around 1,5 hour distance but we can easily meet up downtown.

We where in a group off four, so today I also met to other girls one from Brazil and the other girl from Germany. The scavenger haunt went pretty well but we were like 45 min late to come back so we missed the prises. We did out best though! After we had lunch at Chipotle (Mexican food) and then shopping, all together a amazing day.


I've noticed a lot off differences from Virginia and off course from Sweden. I think that people here are way more relaxed, also about childcare. My oldest host kid is 11 yrs, he walks back and forth from school it's like a 15 min walk, sometimes even to his tennis practise which means he needs to walk in the dark. The 6 year old kid I take care off walked alone to the neighbour the other day to ask if he wanted to come swim in the pool.

In Virginia my host kids could never be anywhere at anytime with out a adult watching them, not even go outside the door or be on the upstairs area alone they where 8 and 10 yrs old. I mean I don't know to much about how other people do here but It's just interesting. I wouldn't say one way or another is better. In Sweden I walked or took my bicycle to school and there was not always an adult watching me, but Sweden and US is very different in a lot of ways.

People also seems to be more aware about how they dress, eat (a lot off organic food) and working out. Recycling seems to be a thing people do as well, I think there's even a law to recycle in some city's in Sweden. When I first came to VA I was surprised how you just throw plastic, batteries and food in the same trashcan. Off course people do recycle in VA too but here it's something that seems to be a little more. I also seems a lot off gay-couples, I don't have any problem with that at all, just something that Ï experienced walking around.

The time difference now between here and Sweden is as much as 9hours. I didn't think those 3 extra hours when I moved would make a big change but It really did. When I'm about to go to bed my family goes up to get ready for work. It's better now cause I can for example skype with my mom when she gets ready in the morning.

The weather is probably the biggest thing. Just between Oakland where I'm not and downtown is a 10 degrees colder difference. I had to wear my coat today to not freeze. People said to me before I moved to it's cooler her but this is more then I expect. Daytime in Oakland is not to bad, you can have shorts and a t-shirt as long as u dress warmer early morning and evening. It's also less humid comparing to VA. I can never really explain what kind off weather it was in VA cause it constantly changed from super hot like 110 some days this summer to tornado's and lots off rain. Didn't have to deal with a lot off snow this winter so that was pretty nice. Finally, I said it before, there is lots off palm trees, I love them!! Makes me feel like I'm on vacation.

That was some things I've been thinking about, just been here a couple off days yet so have a lot more to learn and experience.

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First real workday tomorrow, I'll start at 7.30am get kids ready for school, make lunch, pack backpacks and walk them to school. Off work between around 10am-2.45pm. Then I help with homework, laundry, cleaning up kids stuff around the house, make some dinner, might go to the pool then bedtime for twins. Will get off around 8pm and that's pretty much my rough schedule during the hole week. Very similar to my old host family so feels good. Can walk the kids most places so that's a great thing.

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Mormor
Hoppas allt är bra med dig förresten, inte skypat på ett tag!

Det rullar på rätt gött faktiskt, hade mitt första au pair möte idag i downtown San Francisco. Träffade en kompis som jag kände ifrån Virginia. Var på skattjakt och fick lov att ta reda på fakta och samla ihop saker som kvitton, servetter osv, var jättekul. Träffade även två andra tjejer som var i samma grupp en från Tyskland och den andra från Brasilen.

Har märkt en del skillnader här
gör en liten lista:

barnomsorg, mindre strikt här
miljömetvetna, fler sopsorterar
stil, folk klär sig annorlunda, ser genomtänkt ut
motion, viktigt!!!
mat, mer ekologiskt
vädret, kallare än jag trodde
tidskillnaden till Sverige är stor ( 9timmar)

I morgon har jag min första riktiga jobbdag. Upp på morgonen och hjälpa barnen att göra sig redo för skolan, sen ska vi prommenera till dit. Ledig lite under dagen och sen blir det läxläsning, middag, tvätt, plocka undan, stoppa tvillingar i sängen och slutar vid kl 20.00. Väldigt likt mitt gamla schema.

Nu blir det till att sova!

Sophie, Hanna

SMILE

Sophie, Hanna, Denise in Miami Beach!

 

 

Life is goooood