A week of wonders!

Exciting things have been happening this week. Most of you will know all these things already (due to good old Facebook), but I thought it would be nice to have a record of things making me happy at the moment :)

I have a job! Eeeeeep! I spoke to the girls last Friday night - they were friendly and personable with the most adorable german accents and spoke such proper english in such a careful manner - I fell in love with them instantly! 

I also got my 21st / graduation present from David's mum - a 3rd generation iPhone! Ohhhh yeah baby! I named her Eve .. cause she's an Apple .. geddit? :D :D *cough cough* Anyway!!

I am like a child, and keep excitedly discovering new tricks which I then want to share with my less than enthusiastic family :( Curse them and their iPhone/iTouch veteranship!

The coastguard helped us get some of our stuff back from the flat!! After seven weeks in the middle of Colombo St, having weathered four storms and numerous days of rain and wind and sun and dust and digger claws I thought that we were a tad overoptimistic when we brought a couple of bags of my clothes back with us. However, of the four loads of washing we put through, only three garments had to be thrown. THREE!! I still can't believe it! 

Here are all my babies home safe - don't they look pretty :)

And Garry and Barry! Not a scratch between them! So lovely to have them back. 

I had dinner with my gorgeous friend Emma (who is going to kill me for posting this) at the Governors Bay Hotel on Thursday night. 

It was a wonderful night out - one of the last we will have together before the birth of my goddaughter! She's due any day now, and I can't wait! 

Gemma and I spent last night hunkered in front of the telly (in our pjs, with copious amounts of food and drink) while we watched the Royal Wedding. 

I spent the three hour build up stressing on her behalf and then there was plenty of squealing at William's awkwardness and Harry's hotness :) And who can say no to a horse-drawn carriage?! Especially one which holds Prince Harry and three adorable children! :) But Kate's smiles were so genuine and gorgeous that overall I was really touched by the whole thing. 

May they have a long and happy life together.

I downloaded a couple of Learn German / German Phrasebook Apps onto Eve this week and have started listening to them on my way to and from work. I haven't done any active learning as of yet, just trying to familiarise myself with the sound and structure of the language. I am excited about learning a new language though, and hope it doesn't turn out to be too much of a challenge. 

Other than that I'm just trying to plough my way through my ginormous "To Do" list .. knocked off a number of account / membership cancellations this week, which feels good! Stress levels are steadily growing, leading to a frazzled Caitlin :S As Gram said to me "Make sure you get lots of sleep!" ... so that is what I intend to do! 

Love to all, hope you are happy and healthy!

xxox

This is really happening!

So much can happen in two weeks. Turns out all you need to do is give it a little tap to start the ball rolling. Without wanting to jinx it (touch wood!!), I am in the middle of finalising a 12 month nanny job .. in Switzerland!! 

I would be living here ...

and looking after two girls of 9 and 11. They live in a small village called Uitikon, which is 25 minutes away from Zurich (!) by train (!!!) and have a holiday home in the mountains. 

I have spoken to the mother twice, and from the moment we said 'Hello' I felt like I have known her all my life. Very good sign. I had a chance to speak to their old nanny who lives in Wellington, and she and I got on ridiculously well. She had lovely things to say about them, and was honest with me about what to expect (which I really appreciated). She said I was more than welcome to give her a bell anytime if I wanted to talk to someone who had 'been there, done that'. 

So, Zurich, for a year. Wow. Looks like said year will involve lots of chocolate eating (:P), learning German (:O), and copious amounts of travel (:D). Super excited! All very real and scary though. I fly in two months. Eeeeeep! 

Job doesn't start till mid/late August .. so June till then is going to involve Helsinborg, Glasgow, Paris, and a bus tour of Northern Europe. Ohhhh yeah! Can't wait! And with weekends and at least 5 weeks of holiday during that year there will be plenty of opportunities to visit friends and family in other exciting places. Plus six months next year to au pair in Spain (I would hate for two years of uni study to go to waste!) The possibilities are endless!!! One very overwhelmed but happy ginger :)

Job confirmation on Tuesday .. wish me luck!!

xxox

Flights are booked!

I am a very lucky girl. For my 21st birthday Mummy and David said that they would pay for either my trip to Europe (or my trip home) with their frequent flyer points. Deciding that it was more sensible to have as much cash with me as possible when I left I opted for the "free" option to kick-off my travels. So yesterday we jumped online to see when Qantas was flying to Copenhagen (closest airport to Helsinborg, Sweden) in June.

My only restraints were wanting to be in Sweden for Midsummer and to stay in New Zealand as long as possible (to earn more spending money!) As I am flying into Northern Hemisphere summer our options were limited. Sydney to London was almost impossible, while British Airways were the only Qantas partner to fly to Denmark. So we played around with a couple of options before we found a combination that worked.

Subsequently my adventure begins as follows:

Tuesday 14th June 6.35am - Christchurch to Melbourne - arrive 8.35am

Tuesday 14th June 11am - Melbourne to Singapore - arrive 4.50pm

Wednesday 15th June 12am - Singapore to London - arrive 6.35am

Wednesday 15th June 2.30pm - London to Copenhagen - arrive 5.25pm

46 hours later and I will finally see the lovely Gutestam-Nermark family (or, as known by my family, "The Swedes") for the first time in nearly ten years!! I will be staying with them for a couple of weeks at the start of summer and simply cannot wait!

My To Do List is far too monstrous to post here but this seems as good a place as any to list the things I have done! Hopefully I will have remembered/done everything come June!

Have Done List:

• British Passport

• Email Overseas Friends/Family

• Create Au-Pair Profiles

• Book Arrival Flight

Now off to continue mapping out the rest of my summer trip before I have to settle into a job!

Hasta luego!

xxox