It's funny, I keep promising myself that I won't get new nannying jobs and that the only babysitting I'll ever do are for the two families I've nannied/babysat for a few years. However, I became so poor that I started having to borrow money from my dad and avoided looking at my bank account cause it was just too depressing to see my checking balance as $0.16 and my savings as $0.05 (true story).
Nanny jobs are just super easy for me to get, mainly for my years of experience. I've always gotten hired right on the spot so I knew it'd be no problem. And guess what! I got hired right then and there.
So, I nanny three kids! This is the most I've ever done, other than the four kids I temporarily babysat every now and then in Switzerland when "in between jobs."
It's not too bad, three kids. They're older, so it's easier since they can take care of themselves mostly. Elena is 11, Alexander just turned 9, and James is 6. Elena is very creative, loves to read books, and is writing a book herself right now. She also loves art and is very good at it. She loves to draw dragons and cats. Alexander is very active. He loves reading Elena's new book that she's working on (which is probably THE cutest thing ever), jumping on the trampoline, and drawing cartoons. James is VERY active. He loves sports and is very lovable and cuddly. He also says pretty much the cutest things ever.
It's been really good so far. They really tried to test me the first couple weeks, that's for sure. But it's not the worst testing I've had, so I didn't really mind. It was tough getting used to each other and the schedule and rules, so we had a few tiffs and I got in trouble for a few things they did behind my back. But hey, that's the life of a nanny. The family is really forgiving though, so I consider them great!
They go to year round school and they were off track, so I had to watch them for about 10 hours every day. The days were pretty long, especially when I didn't get any sleep the night before. But now they are on track and today is the first day I haven't had to wake up at 6 AM. It feels kind of weird. However, I'll be working about 13 hours a week instead of 50. Talk about a HUGE pay cut! So, I'm going to be getting up at 7:30 anyway to start my "Work Day." One hour of exercise, breakfast, then "work," which will consist of basically painting all day until I have to leave to my now "helper" job. I don't consider it a nanny job when I'm working 13 hours a week, since I just go and have the kids do homework, feed them a snack, drive them to lessons, then fix dinner, and go home.
Other than my nannying job, I went to Moab with some friends. It was a completely spontaneous trip. My friend Amy and I decided that we'd just spend the weekend bumming it out in South Utah. We went to hang out with a couple friends of mine Friday night and slept over on their couch. When we were at the apartment, one of the roommates got drunk trying to impress Amy and ended up passing out. We colored his face... I've seriously always wanted to do that. But he woke up and Amy felt way bad for him so she took him to his room so he could sleep it off and he ended up throwing up on her. Then we took him to the shower so he could clean himself off and he ended up passing out in the shower. This is pretty much the first time I've ever witnessed someone being shitfaced drunk this close up and it definitely makes me never ever wanna drink.
On Saturday, we drove four hours to Moab in my non air conditioned car. However, it was so fun just chatting and going on an adventure together. We camped by a river and just chilled all Saturday in the city and at our campsite. The night was miserably cold though. That's the Utah desert for you.
Sunday, we took the route to Slick Rock bike trail, where we diverted off the bike path and hiked to this waterfall and swimming hole. It was absolutely gorgeous but the water was way too cold to swim in! Some people were completely insane and jumped into the water hole without knowing how deep it was. Dumb. I just enjoyed the view. We were all exhausted by the end of the hike because we had a crappy night of sleep so we headed home after the hike. I had my friend AJ drive the entire time because I was so sick of driving! It was nice to just chat to my friend in the backseat for three hours!
I was sad we couldn't stay in Moab for longer. That's what happens when you have a job I guess! I have tons of fun plans for the summer though. Well not TONS, but... so far, I'm going to visit my biological family in Washington for a week and to see my sister graduate high school. Then, I've got a friend from Switzerland visiting America and she's going to stop by in SLC for a little bit and stay with me and I'll get to show her around. In August, I'm going to Havasupai Falls for the Peach Festival, which should be AMAAAAAAAZING! Then, hopefully in the fall, I'll be able to get that backpacking guide job that I've been DYING for. We shall see how life plays out.
I believe that is all for now. So far, this year has been full of ups and downs. The downs include having to withdraw from school when I was halfway over, having a sucky dating life, being completely broke, and getting sick! But the ups include starting a new year, getting my life back, spending time with my family, getting a job, starting to increase my strength, and looking forward to some new travels this summer. I really don't know what's going to happen this year. I have a simple plan of what I'll be doing, but the wind could blow me in a different direction. Life can be pretty unpredictable sometimes!
