Just sent away my au pair visa application on the Migrationsverket site ( http://www.migrationsverket.se ) - the fee was 1000kr, which is about $160 right now. It should take 2-3 months to process, but I've heard of them being approved within as little as three weeks! I'm so excited!
I leave next Wednesday for Reykjavik, and I'm still not all packed - ack!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Nervous!
I woke up this morning, looked around my room to see everything in boxes and bags, and proceeded to freak out. All of the nervousness I hadn't had before decided to hit me all at once! It lasted a couple of hours despite my Favourite Finn's best attempts to calm me down, and finally disappeared when a coworker and her fiancé came to kidnap me away to a morning at the beach. After a couple of hours of arcades, bodysurfing, and building mermaids in the sand, I felt much better. I'll be going back with another coworker tomorrow, to hopefully make my hide a little less snowy-white and to teach him how to bodysurf. I think the waves here are what I'll miss the most, other than my friends and family!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
But where will I put my clothes?!
Everything's all straightened out between Mr. Iceland and the family in Stockholm - I'll be leaving Reykjavik for Stockholm on the 8th of August!
I've already started packing...since I'm bringing my cello with me (I've played for about 15 years now) I can only bring two suitcases with me and a small backpack because that's all I'll be able to carry along with my cello. One of the suitcases is already most of the way full with art books and supplies! I can't leave them behind, either, because I'm in a huge comic book contest with my favourite Finn that will likely last almost six months, and I'll need the books for reference. Oh well; I'll figure something out!
I've already started packing...since I'm bringing my cello with me (I've played for about 15 years now) I can only bring two suitcases with me and a small backpack because that's all I'll be able to carry along with my cello. One of the suitcases is already most of the way full with art books and supplies! I can't leave them behind, either, because I'm in a huge comic book contest with my favourite Finn that will likely last almost six months, and I'll need the books for reference. Oh well; I'll figure something out!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Double-Going!
I'm so so so excited about Iceland - less than three weeks, now!
I'm still negotiating between Mr. Iceland and the family in Stockholm, but everything's going smoothly and I should be able to head straight from Iceland over to Sweden some time in mid-August. And on top of that, my favourite Finn is going to meet me in Stockholm on the 20th or so and will be staying in town for a week! It's going to be so fun exploring Stockholm with him!!
Some important sites I've found for visa information are swedenabroad.com (http://www.swedenabroad.com/) and migrationsverket.com (http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/159_en.html) - both have lots of information about how to get all different types of visas. SwedenAbroad has the phone numbers of the embassies, and the Washington D.C. embassy - the closest to where I live now - has been a great help every time I called them. You just have to make sure to catch them during their very limited phone hours, which can be a pain sometimes. MigrationsVerket is where I'll actually be applying for my au pair visa - you can do everything online, and only need to send a notarized copy of your passport, so you don't have to let your passport out of your possession, which is a GREAT relief to me. I'm always so nervous about losing it.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've described what an au pair is. I've never been one before, but from what I understand it is a sort of combination of nanny, housekeeper, and tutor - I would do some cooking and cleaning for the family, help the kids with their homework and to improve their English, and drop them off and pick them up from school and such. Every au pair job has different little bits and pieces about it; with the family in Iceland it will focus much more on caring for the home and I will only see the two children on weekends, and the family in Stockholm has a dog (a labradoodle!) that I'll take for walks and such a few times a day. But an au pair is not to be confused with 'hired help' - they are intended to be treated as a part of the family; an equal rather than an employee or servant.
The host family pays for all of the au pair's living expenses (food, electricity, internet, etc.) and provides them with a place to stay, and often the host family will pay for the plane ticket to and from them as well (although Iceland does not require this, so I had to buy my own ticket for there), and will also pay at least a certain amount (usually $100 or so) to the au pair every week just for pocket money. Language classes are often required, and will be paid for by the host family - I'm very excited to take Swedish classes once I get to Stockholm, as it's such a beautiful language!
Really, an au pair seems like the perfect job for me...I love to cook and clean and take care of people, and as girly as that makes me sound, it's what I really enjoy. And the fact I can do my favourite thing in my favourite place in the world...I'm so very, very lucky.
I'm still negotiating between Mr. Iceland and the family in Stockholm, but everything's going smoothly and I should be able to head straight from Iceland over to Sweden some time in mid-August. And on top of that, my favourite Finn is going to meet me in Stockholm on the 20th or so and will be staying in town for a week! It's going to be so fun exploring Stockholm with him!!
Some important sites I've found for visa information are swedenabroad.com (http://www.swedenabroad.com/) and migrationsverket.com (http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/159_en.html) - both have lots of information about how to get all different types of visas. SwedenAbroad has the phone numbers of the embassies, and the Washington D.C. embassy - the closest to where I live now - has been a great help every time I called them. You just have to make sure to catch them during their very limited phone hours, which can be a pain sometimes. MigrationsVerket is where I'll actually be applying for my au pair visa - you can do everything online, and only need to send a notarized copy of your passport, so you don't have to let your passport out of your possession, which is a GREAT relief to me. I'm always so nervous about losing it.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've described what an au pair is. I've never been one before, but from what I understand it is a sort of combination of nanny, housekeeper, and tutor - I would do some cooking and cleaning for the family, help the kids with their homework and to improve their English, and drop them off and pick them up from school and such. Every au pair job has different little bits and pieces about it; with the family in Iceland it will focus much more on caring for the home and I will only see the two children on weekends, and the family in Stockholm has a dog (a labradoodle!) that I'll take for walks and such a few times a day. But an au pair is not to be confused with 'hired help' - they are intended to be treated as a part of the family; an equal rather than an employee or servant.
The host family pays for all of the au pair's living expenses (food, electricity, internet, etc.) and provides them with a place to stay, and often the host family will pay for the plane ticket to and from them as well (although Iceland does not require this, so I had to buy my own ticket for there), and will also pay at least a certain amount (usually $100 or so) to the au pair every week just for pocket money. Language classes are often required, and will be paid for by the host family - I'm very excited to take Swedish classes once I get to Stockholm, as it's such a beautiful language!
Really, an au pair seems like the perfect job for me...I love to cook and clean and take care of people, and as girly as that makes me sound, it's what I really enjoy. And the fact I can do my favourite thing in my favourite place in the world...I'm so very, very lucky.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Going!
Bought the ticket to go to Iceland, the other day - June 1st to August 29th! and naturally, almost the next day I got in contact with a wonderful woman in Stockholm who wants me there in early-mid August. Augh! of course! Everything is always like this. We're still talking, though, and she says she can be a little flexible, so after I get my references to her to confirm that I'm awesome - haha oh I'm so pompous - and get a little more solidity on her wanting me there, I'll talk to Mr. Iceland to see about me leaving a little early. Maybe we can meet in the middle; I'm SO ok with meeting in the middle. If it means me getting to be in Stockholm again, I'd meet her all the way at her end.
I talked to my uncle for the first time in two and a half years today; he just called out of the blue! We had a little falling-out back then, so I'm very glad that we're ok again. He's a pilot, and while we were talking I told him about Iceland and Sweden and it turns out he flies out there sometimes! He was very excited about maybe getting to visit me some time while I was over there, and it'll be so nice to see him again. He's a great guy and I've missed him terribly.
I'm so so so busy with a million art projects right now. There's a huge craft show a few towns over this weekend and I'm not ready for it at ALL, I've still barely started painting the illustrations for the children's book I'm making with a friend, and it's only just yesterday that my favourite Finn and I finished the script for the comic book contest we're entering together - we've hardly even begun drawing it, and it's due on June 1st! I want to have the children's book done before I go, too - and I've still got so much to do just to move, too! I'm not stressing too badly yet, but I know I will be soon if I don't get my butt in gear!
Time to go get to work, then!
I talked to my uncle for the first time in two and a half years today; he just called out of the blue! We had a little falling-out back then, so I'm very glad that we're ok again. He's a pilot, and while we were talking I told him about Iceland and Sweden and it turns out he flies out there sometimes! He was very excited about maybe getting to visit me some time while I was over there, and it'll be so nice to see him again. He's a great guy and I've missed him terribly.
I'm so so so busy with a million art projects right now. There's a huge craft show a few towns over this weekend and I'm not ready for it at ALL, I've still barely started painting the illustrations for the children's book I'm making with a friend, and it's only just yesterday that my favourite Finn and I finished the script for the comic book contest we're entering together - we've hardly even begun drawing it, and it's due on June 1st! I want to have the children's book done before I go, too - and I've still got so much to do just to move, too! I'm not stressing too badly yet, but I know I will be soon if I don't get my butt in gear!
Time to go get to work, then!
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