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.