A world of homes

Ok I just walked into this sandwich shop of sorts. I mean you can also buy cooked meat their too. I don't it's like a deli but only has like 3 types of meat. Anyways the smell there was beyond acceptable. It literally smelled of vomit. I was completely disgusted. 

The thing that concerns me is I am in the process of getting a visa for china. Beijing to be exact and the smell of the deli disgusted me. I hear that the smells in china are like nothing I have ever smelt. 

Things such as smells and manners ESPECIALLY when eating are EXTREMELY important to me. From what I hear my kind if manners are not at all important to people in china.

It was funny I was talking about going to china to my friend Lucy. She lived un china, the capital for a year. She told me that people don't just spit but the hawk luggies.  Like you hear the noise and everything. And I mean in public and worst yet inside. How disgusting!!!! I really might die in china. Ohh the things I do for the dollar. Hahahhaaaa or any other spendable currency that is hahahaaaaaa 

So I was having visa issues, something I am quite accustom to. I needed to leave the Schegan countries for a few days. My friend Emeri, a Mexican girl I met in Argentina who is studying in Spain (I know it's difficult to keep track) said she would come with me. Well there were 2 options (otherwise emeri wasn't coming) London or Dublin. Now I have several friends in London and emeri herself had studied English there for 3mobths so London seemed to be the choice. Well after some looking for tickets and hotels (yes I said hotel, I am so over hostels) it's just seemed to be too much money. So a qucik change of dates and we were going to dublin. 

Our plans for Dublin were simple, drink, rest and drink. Emeri fully speaks English. Im not saying her English is perfect but homegirl can fully express herself. Well Dublin or Ireland for that matter is nothing like I have ever expected. The people are incredibly nice. I mean genuinely nice. Me being black and Em being Mexican caused some stirs. People everywhere were fully interested where we are from. We constantly were asked. The funniest part  was trying to explain how we met and where we live currently (neither of which is our place of origin).

We spent 4 days sleeping in, it takes Emeri 3 hours to get ready, and going out drinking. The first day we hit it hard. I was fully drunk. So on the second day I was incredibly hungover. That afternoon we went to the Guinness brewery. We signed up for a tour and before the tour I proceeded to throw up in the bathroom. The tour was the most boring self guided tour I have ever been on. 5 minutes into the tour emeri says " Que es esto mireda? To quiero mi Guiness!" At the end we got a free Guiness and went to the top of the factory which had an amazing view of the city. Unfortunately I wasnt feeling the best so we left early. Thankfully Emeri is the amazing easy going person who likes to sleep. 

We hit a few clubs the next couple of days, met up with my friend Aodhan and hung out with his friends and family, oh and I met a boy. 

The entire trip proved to be incredibly fun. But it was that simple fun. We never really went too far from the hotel because the cold was no joke and our blood can not handle that. I mean culturally we don't deal with cold Emeri being from Mexico, where it's very hot, and me being African America, my peps being from africa another hot place. At times Emeri and I literally thought we might freeze to death hahahahahaaaa. No but I'm serious, it was damn cold. 

Ohhh FYI and this is coming from a girl who really isn't the biggest fan of Guinness, you have never had a Guinness until you have one in Ireland!!! Fact. 

Well I can first say this is not what I had imagined. That is both good and bad. Ok so I'm a teacher. In the states I taught preschool for over 5 years so I like kids.

Ok here's the set up. I'm living with a family in Rome. The family is made up of the mom who is an anesthesiologist, the dad is a pharmacist a 4year old boy and a 1 year old boy. Now let's be honest here. The children are fully and completely spoiled. When the 4 year old wants something he yells and screams and kicks and spits (yes spits) till he gets it. This could be for even you attention. I'm sure this is for several reasons. These children mean the world to thief parents. Everything they do and think about is for or about the children. The family tried for many years to have children and now they have 2 and another on the way so I believe they spend everyday thankful for them.

Ok so the kids are adorable. They are loving and very sweet but spoiled. My schedule is as follows I wake up (very early) take the kids to school (usually one stays with grandma for whatever reason) I come back clean a little then am free till 330. Now because of whatever reason (fever, a very regular occurrence for Marco the baby, something at the kindergarten, whatever) one of then will stay and grandma's who lives a block away. So at 130 the 4 years old is done with school. I either pick him up or the baby. I play with them and help set up dinner. Of course bathing and all that is a shared responsibility. On the weekends I'm free. For this I live in their house, eat their food and they pay me 500 euros a month.

I also teach English on the side for extra cash. This is a good situation in general. The family is so very nice. They have a little bit of enlarged egos but nothing bad. Actually from some of the stories I heard from some of the other au pairs I know this is the best situation out there. some of my friend share a room, don't have 2 consecutive days off, have to work a crazy amount, lots of rules. Now wait here there are a ton if stupid preferences. For example, no cold water for the 4 years old. He use to eat baby food until about a month ago, because I insisted that stop immediately. Weird things that I'm sure all parents have.

Am happy here? Well let me say that because I eat their food and they are so welcoming to me I am always feeling indebted to them. And the micromanaging is incredibly annoying, they do that a lot about really really stupid stuff. But its nice and a great learning experience. I have learned about biting my tongue which is something there in the past I never did.

Over all if you get a nice family like mine, I'd recommend this job. But be careful I have heard some horrid horror stories.

Hello, hola, ciao. My name is Nicole. Currently, I am living in Rome, Italy. Well to be completely honest I am living in a very small town 5 minutes from Rome. I am au pairing (as I call it). I work for a family who have 2 little boys. More about them later.

I have been traveling for several years now. I started off in Uruguay. I was there for a few weeks then headed off to Argentina. There in Argentina I took my TEFL class. I planned on being there for 2 months I stayed for almost 2 years. Ohhh yeah Argentina is that great. I got engaged twice (2 separate guys) while I was there. I learned a little spanish. I moved over 9 times, lol, I'm serious. I worked for several different companies. I taught, I traveled, I laughed, I loved, I drank... a lot!! Ohh Argentina!!

After Argentina, I headed north with a friend to Colombia. We of course stopped in Bolivia (that was my second time there), Ecuador, and Peru. While in Colombia, I worked in a hostel and lived there. I stayed with friends, changed hostels, taught English (again), gave unofficial tours, worked as a madam/translator, ohh and I learned more Spanish.

Well that brings me to now. After Colombia I came to Italy. How long am I going to be here? Well I'm thinking that because of visa issues (OMG) I will be leaving at the end of December and unable to return. So what's next? Well, I am going to sell out and head to China.