Hi welcome to my new blogpost, 
I have to tell you all a lot…..
The children had a half term holiday so they were at home for 2 weeks.
On the 2th the Au Pair: Paulina from last year was here. We played outside with the girls and in the evening Seema made a traditional English dish: ‘’Toad in the hole’’.
Graham planned a photoshoot 2 days after this. He writes reviews about cars for the website www.autoexpress.co.uk
This time a new type of car came out and he had to write an article about the children’s opinion. So there was a photographer, editor, and they brought their children. The photographer made some pictures of Isla and Erin and 3 other children while they were sitting in the car. It was really interesting to see. It was hard for the photographer because all the children had to look into the camera.
On the 5th I was at home with the girls. We went to the new library, to the park and we went to the hairdresser. Seema wrote down how many inches the hairdresser had to cut off. This was my first experience with hairdressers and children but they behaved very well and they were happy with their new coupe.
The day after I joined a Zumba class at ‘’Pure gym’’ for the first time. When I came there I saw that there was a male Zumba teacher. At the beginning I didn’t really know what to think about this but he was energetic and friendly. It was a bit strange to see a man shaking his body. I still don’t know his name but I think the name ‘Alejandro’ would fit him. He was wearing a tank top so when he shook his body his nipples came out of his tank top. I can imagine that there are people who think that this is attractive but I’m not a part of this category.
I think that this was the most exhausting Zumba class I have ever joined. At one point we had to dance on a song and the singer sang the whole song: squat, squat, squat, squat… so we had to do squats, my legs were burning and my face looked like a tomato.
On the 8th I went to Primrose Hill with Lara (German Au Pair). We had a beautiful view of the city and the sun was shining so we had a lovely day!
The next day I went with Marieke, Amelie and Farina to the centre. This day was beautiful either so we did some sunbathing.
I went with Alexandra to St. James park on the 10th. I wanted to make a video about myself to send with my job applications. We were standing on a bridge with the London Eye on the background. I felt a bit like a BBC news reporter, it was very busy at the park so people were curiously and had a look what we were doing. We tried different locations and after 1,5 hour the job was finally done.
It was Isla’s first day at her new school on the 18th. This was a big deal of course but she did great! Over the last 3 weeks she made some new friends. In the evening we had dinner at a restaurant because of Isla’s first day of school.
On the 22nd my parents and sister arrived in London. They came by car and rented a flat for 11 days at a 5 minute drive from my house so it was perfect. In the evening my mother made her delicious pasta saus and later my sister and I did some typical things that you only can do with your sister: screaming a long with songs while you’re holding a deodorant bottle in your hand, crazy dancing and a lot of chatting of course.
The day after it was time for the Marathon of London. It was a big event with 40.000 participants. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to see.
On Tuesday the 25th I had to work during the day but when Isla was at school my parents, sister and I made a short car trip to the countryside. We went to Hertford and we had some lunch in a pub called: The Old Barge.
On Wednesday I spent the day with my sister at my house. She made some homework, I did some laundry and we picked up Isla from school. I automatically wanted to take my sister’s hand when we crossed the street. 10 minutes later we asked Isla how her day at school was and she told us that she learned were different types of vegetables come from. I asked her if she knew where bananas come from and she said I think it was somewhere near India and it’s starts with a ‘V’. When I answered: ‘’Do you mean Venezuela?’’ four eyes looked at me in a way of: are you seriously. My geographical knowledge isn’t that great so Isla and my sister started laughing and Isla said: Ennelain, Venezuela is in South America even I know that…..
Friday was a day full of shopping with my sister and food: Jamie’s Italian.
Saturday I went with my family for lunch at the house of my host family. Seema made a delicious chicken pie. After dinner we played football. It was Holland against Arsenal (English football club). It was so funny to see my real dad and host dad playing football with each other. It’s really nice when these 2 different worlds come together but at the same time it’s a bit strange.
In the evening I celebrated the 50th birthday of our Dutch King in a Dutch pub. In the beginning we ate some typical Dutch food and after this we danced and screamed a long with Dutch songs. At one point the DJ played a famous childish dance called: ‘De kabouter Plop dans’. All the Dutch people started dancing and all the English people who were at the pub were looking like: what is happening?….
Sunday we went to the Imperial War museum and in the evening we went to Zizzi Italian restaurant and we had a beautiful view of St. Pauls Cathedral and the Thames.
The 1st of May doesn’t really belong here but I would love to tell you about this. It was my sisters 17th birthday on this day. We went for a traditional afternoon tea at the Ham Yard hotel and after this we did some shopping (again I know ;)). In the evening we said goodbye. This was a bit hard but after a few minutes it was fine.
Some funny or nice things that has happened:
- One day I was at home with the girls and we did some dancing and singing so at the end the girls were so crazy so I thought let’s calm down and do some yoga. I’ve never joined a Yoga class but I just made up some moves. On the background the music installation played some relaxing yoga music. At one point I just made up some funny exercises with a serious expression on my face. The girls just followed me like it was very normal but it wasn’t of course. After a few minutes I started laughing and I had to tell them that I played a joke on them.
- I went with Alexandra to the movie Beauty and the beast and we went to a dance show called: ‘’Smother’’. It was a love story between 2 boys. One of them was good looking so it was nice to watch 😉
- Seema ordered the Google home. This is an audio installation made by Google. It’s really cool because you can ask several questions and the Google home will answer. For example: ‘’Okay Google can you please play Shape of you by Ed Sheeran? Okay Google what’s the weather like today?’’ One night we were having dinner with the 5 of us and Erin was a bit naughty so Graham said: ‘’Okay Google can I please put Erin in the bin?’’. Google home answered: ‘’I’m sorry but I’m afraid I can’t help you with that’’……
- One evening I was in a restaurant and I wanted to ask: ‘’Sir can we pay please’’. But my mouth accidentally said this: ‘’Sir can we play please’’. The waiter came closer because he didn’t understand this weird question #awkward.
- When I was in the centre with my parents, we sometimes crossed the street when we had a red light. My mother always had her doubts about this so at the point when my father, sister and I were across the street, my mother decided to cross the street but every time when she decided to do this a taxi or red bus came followed by a hysterical run of my mother.
This month was amazing!
Thank you for reading and see you next time.
Lots of love,
Annelein (Ennelain)
The weather in London…
My Au pair life in London 