Brief an die Gastfamilie
Dear host family,
My name is Amber (she/her/hers). I am 28 years old and I'm from Roosendaal, The Netherlands. I'm currently working as a KYC Analyst but I used to be an au pair/Nanny in Toronto, ON Canada. I looked after 2 lovely 5 and 7 year old boys and stayed with this family until August/September 2023. After my time in Toronto I worked and lived in Dublin, Ireland for 10 months. I’m currently back in the Netherlands.
I have 5 younger brothers which meant that I had to babysit my brothers quite a lot when we were younger. I loved it so much that I started babysitting other children as well. At 13 I started mostly looking after our neighbor’s kids. When I was a couple of years older I signed up for a babysitting program and looked after other kids too. The kids from those family's were various ages, all the way from newborns to teenagers. After I turned 19 I also tutored primary and secondary students as well as college students.
About 2,5 years ago I decided to give up my full-time job and finally fulfilled my dream of becoming an au pair/nanny abroad. From February until August 2022 I stayed with a lovely family in Belgium, taking care of 3 children. A girl (8 years old) and 2 boys (5 and 6 years old). Because their cousins didn’t have an au pair for quite some time I also looked after both of them pretty often. The boys were 5/11 and 16/22 months old. In September 2022 I started in Toronto. So I have experience with all ages and both looking after kids as well as tutoring.
In my free time I like to read, write, draw, play soccer, tennis, paddle tennis or ski. I love to go out with my friends and family, especially to dinner, the movies or a museum of some kind. I listen to music as much as I can, and I also enjoy a night in with a (board/card) game or a good tv-show. I also study Screenwriting and TEFL at the moment. Which are 2 other hobbies of mine (filmmaking and English).
I come from a big, warm and close family with whom I love to do things. We always make things as fun, comfortable and cozy as possible for everyone involved. All this 'Gezelligheid', as we say in Dutch, is a big part of my upbringing and me as a person. I'm used to having meals and tea time with the entire family or going out on the weekend to do all sort of activities (sports, movie, hiking, dinner, etc.) together.
5 years ago I graduated from university and got my BSc in Criminology and a minor in (developmental) Psychology. Right after I graduated I found a job as a CDD/KYC analyst for a Dutch bank (Rabobank) and between then an my life as an au pair I was working as a financial investigator for the FIOD (the Dutch financial crime investigations organization). Even though it was a great job, it was not the job for me. I missed a genuine connection with other people as well as helping others directly. There also wasn’t an outlet for my creativity and I realized I wouldn’t be happy if I did that job for much longer.
I have my drivers license (with experience), 4 swimming diploma's, can ride a bike and have been trained as an emergency response officer within/for our library back home, for which I have a certificate. I do not have a separate first aid certificate but am more than willing to get one.
I have wanted to become an au pair/Nanny for years, but never had or saw the opportunity to actually go for it until a year ago. Now that I've experienced it, I love it even more than I thought I would and I would really like it to be a nanny in another country as well.
I would love to tell you more about me and hear more about your family.
Kind regards, Amber