Once again, I have landed on my feet.

A week has passed since my Irish adventure has closed and now that I have caught up on much needed sleep and am feeling back to normal again, I can write about it.

I've had such an adventure these past seven and a bit months in Ireland and I am just devastated that they have come to a close. It has been such a challenging yet joyous experience to be an aupair and I just feel incredibly heart broken that it is all over and I have had to say goodbye to the lovely family I was working for.  
At the beginning I found being an aupair challenging. Not because I had naughty children, a language barrier or difficult host parents but because I myself had to change, I had to adapt to another lifestyle and find a new awareness. Being the youngest in my family and never really having had much experience with children I've never really had the pressure of being responsible for someone else nor too thoughtful in the way in which I conduct myself. So, you can imagine pressure I felt when I realized I was responsible for three young souls and not just responsible for entertaining them, but for feeding them and teaching them. For nourishing their curiosity and for keeping them safe. Suddenly when the activity or game said 'Adult supervision required', I was the adult and it was me who was responsible. However, as time progresses everything gets easier, everything gets routine and as I built a relationship with the children and learnt their lifestyle, I felt calm and in control. As the children grew, I grew too. It was a job where I learnt something everyday. One day it would be to remember to squash my competitiveness when it came to games because children like to win. One day it would be to approach with caution in the morning because you never knew what you were going to get or one day it would be that simply, finger food would be the easiest way to get to the 2 year old to eat the healthier food. I learnt to pick my battles and that even though it looks horrible to put your child on a leash, there is a reason someone thought to invent it because those things are magical!
The girls I minded are pure gems and I enjoyed so much being a part of their lives. They were my daily joy and I'm so thankful to them for the happiness, patience and open arms. It must be hard for them to have different people come into their lives and be such a part of it, only to leave again. I can only hope in the future that this experience with aupairs from different cultures enriches them.
I'll be forever grateful for my wonderful host parents, you hear horror stories but this was not and I don't have a bad thing to say about them. I was truly lucky and my aupairing experience has been 100% positive.

I will miss my wee village in county Meath and I will miss beautiful Ireland and all the joy that it has brought to me.