2 and a half weeks in!

Wow!
So much has happened since I've been here!
On August 23rd at about 10am I left America to start my Au Pair adventures!
I landed in Dublin at about 3 am the next day which was really 11 am Ireland time and it was full speed ahead since then.
I was off to Claremorris in Co Mayo Ireland. 
(we are 8 hours ahead of Cali but I no longer experience jetlag!)

The first family I was with picked me up from the airport and we were off to see a Gaelic football game. This sport uses a volleyball on a soccer field and the goal is to kick the ball into a soccer goal or a football goal post. Its a pretty intense game but the only thing I could think was "I didn't know they made men this big in Ireland," but boy did this get me excited. Its an amateur sport so no one gets paid but it is bigger than the superbowl in America and people are very territorial because you can only play for the county you live in so it was a pretty cool thing to experience on my first day here.

There was also a Spanish Au Pair next door named Maria who was finishing up her run here as an Au Pair, but before she left, she was able to show me around Claremorris a little. She took me to a local pub where a bunch of old men bought us drinks and made me sing! Then she took me out on a Sunday night and I kid you not, it was more busy than downtown Santa Barbara on a Thursday night!

The kids in that family were 10 and 13 so it was pretty rocky from the start.

The family wanted me to cook every night and clean the whole house and I was just not feeling comfortable. The 10 year old had her tonsils taken out so I was basically home alone with here for a week and it was just getting to be too much for me, so I decided to look for other options. On Friday the 5th, I called the agency and they gave me the contact information for another family who I immediately called and talked to the mom for about an hour and we decided that I would be a good fit for their household. By Sunday the 7th, I was on my way to this new home and its been amazing ever since!

The kids are Aodhan (Ay-den) who will be 6 in December, Realtin (Ree-ull-tine) who will be 3 in December and baby Cillian (Kill-eeee-un) who will be a year next month! Their dad, Joe, works in London so he's gone for weeks at a time and their mom, Sinead, is a nurse who works 2 days a week. So basically I have it pretty easy. I help Sinead with the kids when she's not working and on days she does work, its pretty hard but the kids are starting to take to me so its getting easier to get them to listen to me. 

Now I'm living about an hour outside of Dublin in Co Louth and am finally unpacked and settled in. There is a Spanish au pair down the road, named Ana, who I plan on making trips with so I will be getting time to travel soon! This new family made me feel more comfortable since the moment I stepped in the house and I feel like this is a perfect fit for me. I no longer feel like a stranger and I'm sleeping in a full bed again!

I am overwhelmed by the amount of redheads in this country and I love it! I am so excited for what this year has in store for me and I know God is watching over me! It is so green here and the countryside is beautiful. Oh and the weather has been GORGEOUS. I must have brought the Cali weather with me!

Here's to the next 12 months!

Stay tuned ya'll!

Double Decker bus in Dublin!

My New Room!

Ireland Countryside!

They eat Crepes in Ireland too!

Croke Park. This is where the Semi-Final football game was played between Mayo and Kerry and they ended up in a tie.

The streets of Dublin are as busy as San Francisco or New York!

Such a beautiful sunset.

My first friend, Maria, who went back to Spain last week.