ALAN, 30 ÅR

Dear Family,

My name is Alan. I am a 24 year-old (male) Mexican student . Although I currently live in Puebla, where I am one year and a half of completing my postgraduate studies in financial engienering at the IBERO University of Puebla, I actually come from Veracruz. Compared to Puebla, (which is Mexico's 4th largest city), Veracruz is a small beach city (approximately 428,000 inhabitants), and is situated on the gulf of Mexico.

I come from a family of 4: My parents, are self employed and run a small restaurant chain in Puebla. I have 1 sister and one dog. My sister, is 18 years old and is a senior highschool student.

In about a year or two after I finish the masters degree, Meanwhile I am yet to make up my mind concerning my future area of specialization for our family company. So, at the moment, I would like to take some time out of academics to have a different life experience, and to have time to calmly reflect on my future professional orientation. To this end, I think spending December holidays abroad would be particularly interesting.

My first language is, of course, Spanish, and I am also fluent in English. I started learning English in primary school, and it was also the language of instruction in the secondary school I attended. I have in addition been taking courses taught in English at university.
I speak an intermediate level of French. I begun learning it in University and have been taking individual French language classes for the last 3 years. All in all, I have learnt French for 4 years.
I am nevertheless aware that learning a language within a classroom context is by itself, incomplete. So, in order to really be at ease in French, I feel that a cultural immersion would do me a lot of good. Through my language teachers, travels & friends I have learnt a lot about European countries, and life over there. Hence my desire to have a new experience of European life with locals. I am particularly interested in experiencing family life, since it offers a cultural context that is undoubtedly different from mine. For this reason, I would very much like to find a nice family to live with and work for.

When it comes to child care experience, I have looked after children in both formal and informal contexts. 3 years ago, as part of my Rotary International activities, I spent a six month period working in a children's school in Cholula. Among others, I provided after-school tuition to children aged between 4 to 7 years. I also organized for them and took part in recreational indoor and outdoor activities: we sang, danced, played games, role played, drew, painted, and narrated stories. We also visited the public library, the local animal park, went out on picnics and a camping trip.

I have helped my parents look after my sister since birth. I was nevertheless much more involved in caring for her on a daily basis. I can comfortably say that I sincerely enjoy spending time with children.

When it comes to leisure, I take pleasure in the simple things in life. I enjoy reading, being with my friends, playing tennis, visiting places I have not been to, and watching a good movie. I also enjoy the beach during warm days, I often propose outdoor activities to my sister whenever she come for company. Did I already mention that I love to dance? At my family company, I implemented a recycling system, for the large amount of daily garbage.

As far as preferences are concerned, I am looking for a live-in arrangement with a host family, that would be happy to have me stay with and work for them for at least 1 month. I would also prefer looking after children aged between 6 to 10 years. Lastly, although I am quite flexible, I would prefer to have working hours that would allow me to attend French language classes.

I would be happy to have the opportunity to speak with you: to answer whatever questions you may have about me or my childcare experiences; to learn more about your family; your interests and to know more about what you expect from the au pair arrangement.

Thank you very much for your interest in my application!
I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,
Alan Guerrero Borja.