Update

Hello!

So just an update of what's going on now!:-) 

At the minute there's not much to do to be honest, as I don't go for another 12 weeks, so it's just keeping in touch with the family and making sure that everything is ready to go! My CRB certificate came through, so I just need to upload that, and my visa papers will be arriving tomorrow so hopefully soon I can get my visa sorted!! I'm also looking into renewing my passport - it is valid for 27 months from the date I depart and it needs to be valid for at least 30 if I want to consider extending, so if I renew it then if the family want me to extend then at least I've got the opportunity!

My future host mom, Nancy emailed me today just to check in, see how I'm doing and to tell me about how Luke scored his first ever goal in football/soccer over ther weekend (he usually plays in defence, so it's a big deal!) coming from a family with a big brother and nephew into football, I know how great this news is!

Also, I've written Luke, Drew and Caroline a letter to explain a bit more about me, so that they feel they know me better when I join them in the summer - Nancy and Andy already know a bit about me, so it'll be cool for the kids to as well! I've also put in some photos of me and my friends and family, so they can see a bit of my life:-)

That's it for now, will write again when I go to the US Embassy for my Visa!

Much Love, 

Jodie xo

I'VE BEEN MATCHED!!😊🎉🇺🇸

So, yesterday was finally the day I have been waiting for the past few months... I have been matched with a family and am officially going to the states!!!😄

So the matching process was pretty cool actually - I was talking to two families; one from New York and the other from Ohio. The first family was Liz and David Barr and their twin boy/girl, Rachel and Jacob. Now this was so weird that they were the first family to be interested in me, seeing as I am a boy/girl twin, and we also have the initials J and R (my brothers name is Ryan). So I emailed Liz and we set up a time to Skype so I could meet her and talk to her and she was absolutely lovely! We got on so well and I thought she would be a great hostmom.

The second family I was talking to was Nancy and Andrew Hagerman, and their children, twin boys Luke and Drew, and their daughter Caroline. I skyped then also and although it wasn't as casual as Liz had been, they did ask me lots of questions which was great and I got on so well with both of them! 

The same day that I skyped Nancy & Andrew, I also skyped the Barr family and met the children, they were so adorable and cute and I was so in love with them! But then a few days later I skyped the Hagerman family and they also were adorable and funny and cute, which made my decision soo much harder!!

Not only did I Skype the families, but I also talked to the current au pair of the Barr family - Megan. She was really helpful in giving me an insight of not only the family, but the APiA programme and what it was like to be an au pair! 

So eventually, it came down to decision making. I got an email from the Hagerman family asking me to be their au pair, and I was so pleased as they are an amazing family! I just had to wait on the Barr family for a decision so that I could make my decision on which family to choose. Thankfully - in a way - my decision was made for me as the Barr family decide to match with someone else as it would have been easier for ye other au pair to go on their car insurance. To be honest, I'm kinda glad they turned me down because if they had asked me to be their au pair also, I really don't know what I would have done!!

Anyway - it's official. As of the 21st of July 2014 I will be leaving the UK to join the Hagerman family in Cincinatti, Ohio as their new au pair, and honestly I couldn't be happier! The children are funny, bright and cute and the parents are so lovely and friendly, I'm so happy and excited to be joining them and looking forward to seeing what the year brings!!

Much Love,

Jodie xo

"You have been accepted onto the Au Pair in America Program..."

I literally cannot believe it.. today I have FINALLY been accepted onto the APiA program! I thought that I had to wait for my CRB form to arrive and for me to upload it, but that hasn't happened yet, so either they don't necessarily need it right away, or they have it, I'm not sure but I am over the moon!!

I had just finished work when I receivers the email, and as I have an iphone, the email popped up with the subject "your au pair application" so I was really worried that there was something wrong with my application, but it was actually an acceptance email!!

I am so happy - now my application is being circulated so host families can look at my application and hopefully I will have a host family soon! 

Will write the next blog when I have family - excited!!

Much Love,

Jodie xo

My APiA page with the acceptance and my acceptance email.

APiA - THE INTERVIEW!

Now, if you're like me and get really nervous about interviews - I promise you, this is nothing like any interview you've ever had! It's more of a relaxed, casual chat than anything:)

So, I travelled by train from Norwich to Elstree and Borehamwood in Hertfordshire for my 12pm interview. I arrived at the offices and was extremely nervous! I chat to the lady at reception and she soon told me where to go. Hesitantly, I knocked on the door and entered, quite surprised to see a small office with only 4 ladies in there - one of them being my interviewer Brenda! Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, which soon eased my nerves!! 

They sat me down, we had some basic small talk "how are you?" "how was the journey?" etc, and then we soon got down to business. Firstly, she checked through my references and the information I had given on my childcare experience to make sure they matched up - I had to change one of the dates on mine, I got the months mixed up haha! Also with us in the interview was another lady - I can't remember her name :( - who although was from Germany had a brilliant American accent, it wasn't until Brenda had pointed out the fact she wasn't American that I knew, she had spent 2 years as an Au Pair in the States, so having her there was really helpful to answer any questions about the actual experience. So, the questions that were asked were all very similar, "what do you think makes a good au pair?" "why do you think you would be a good au pair?" "what are your strengths?" questions like that - about the job and what you think makes a good applicant. Also, a lot of questions were about my personality, so my hobbies and what I liked doing, and also about some of the experiences I had with children, so what activities I liked doing with the kids I worked with and so forth.. as I said it really didn't feel like an interview! The only thing is that it was weird having to say really positive things about myself and my strengths, I didn't want to seem too big headed or cocky haha! But generally, the interview was good and pretty much as expected for an au pair interview :)

Also what I had to do was a personality test - to make sure I wasn't crazy or anything. That comprised of me sitting on a computer, which had scenario questions and personal questions that you had to say whether or not you thought they related to you - or 'don't know' if they were somewhere in between. An example of one of the questions is "you cope with situations calmy and efficiently" and then you either said if it applied to you or not - or 'don't know' if somewhere in-between :) Thankfully, I passed the test so I'm not a complete loon, which then went onto the application! Don't worry - there are no right or wrong answers, it's just the host families need to know what you're like in different situations and your general personality.. you'll be fine!

By the way, if anyone ever wants to contact me or anything to ask questions or whatever, you can either email me at: jodie_armstrong95@hotmail.co.uk or tweet me - @jodiesuzanne_

Thanks again for reading - will update soon!

Much love,

Jodie xo

Au Pair in America - application

Hello again! :)

So basically, I had a friend from work who decided to become an Au Pair in Australia and I thought it was an amazing idea and I knew it would be something that I loved but I loved the USA so decided to go there instead! I then went home, googled 'au pair in america' and that's where I found the company (conveniently named) Au Pair in America. I looked at the website and read through all of the information given online, requested a brochure and then once that had come through, started the application process. They looked like such a friendly, helpful company who just wanted to make sure that you had the most amazing experience ever, and from my experience so far with them - everyone I have deal with have just been exactly that!

APPLYING!

Now, applying for anything, whether that be for a job or university can be very boring and time consuming, but not with this. It's a simple online application form in which you basically tell all about yourself. There are 10 sections on the actual application form plus you have a seperate section for your childcare experience. It may seem like a lot, but really it isn't! You have your own page which you can log into and make sure all the information is good, and change it as and when needed. One of the great things about APiA is that there is someone from the onset helping you out. You get assigned an interviewer who checks your application and lets you know where you need to make any changes to your application- for example, if you need to add more references to your childcare experience - and they are the person that you go to when you do have your interview. Although the actual application was fairly straighforward, there are some things that make the process longer. For example, I only passed my driving test in October, whereas I began applying in August, so I had to wait until I had my license to fill everything else in! Also, getting a medical form can be a bit of a pain (depending on your country/doctor), I never had a vaccination for tuberculosis, so I then had to go for a chest X-Ray which obviously took time. Getting all of the childcare and character references also took a while, but it wasn't that bad! Once everything is done it's so good! If i was to give any advice - try and get everything out of the way as quickly as possible!

Thankfully now I'm pretty much done - I've had my interview with my interviewer Brenda at the offices in Hertfordshire, so all I need to do now is wait for my CRB check to come through, upload that onto my site and then hopefully my site will become 'live' so host families can start to find me! Fingers crossed!

Check my next post to read about the interview :)

Much love,

Jodie xo

 A screenshot of my APiA application site :)

Blogging!

Hellooo!

So I decided to do this blog so that my family and friends can keep updated with my goings on over the next year or so without sending loads and loads of emails!

SO, just to explain a bit about myself and this blog...

My name is Jodie and I am 18 years old living in England. The reason I am doing this blog is because I am currently in the process of applying to become an Au Pair in America! I've found that reading other people's blogs who have gone through the same things has been really helpful in the application process and knowing what to expect - so I'm hoping my blog can do the same! I'll write about how far I'm at in the process and how easy/hard everything was and hopefully it'll be of some use!

So yeah, thanks for reading this and read my next entry to read more about au pair in america and the application process :)

Much love,

Jodie xo