CHARMAINE, 30 YEARS

Dear host family, I am already very excited about getting to know you. But, before anything else, I would like to take this opportunity of introducing myself. My name is Charmaine P. Velarde and I am 28 years old. I come from a highland city, named Baguio City, which is also known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Compared to other cities in our country, Baguio City is surrounded with tall pine trees and also serves as a home to people coming from different cultural groups who values respect, unity, and peace. I am the eldest daughter in my family and I am currently living with my mom, sister, and two younger brothers with our two adorable dogs. The way of our living is simple and not that perfect, but still, it is full of happiness. I would describe myself as an introvert kind of person, but I do enjoy talking with people and in getting to know others. Most people around me would say that I am very quiet, but I am actually a loud and noisy person who has a lot of stories to tell. I am also a hardworking and optimistic person, who tries to make the best out of every situation. At a very young age, I was taught on how to take good care of my younger siblings, especially during the times that my mother has to go to work as a health worker in our community-based health center. This experience of mine had taught me a lot to become a reliable and caring person, especially to young children. While I was a university student, to earn some additional allowance to support my studies, I had the chance to worked as a baby sitter for my cousin’s children. It was a wonderful experience for me since it gave me the opportunity to spend a wonderful time and to learn how to interact with young kids. Until now, I enjoy being with children, they bring so much happiness to me whenever I talk, laugh and play with them. During my free time, I usually take pleasure in the simple things in life. I enjoy a lot of outdoor activities such as hiking, visiting places I haven’t been to, and catching up with my friends while going for walks around the parks in the city. Reading novels while drinking a cup of tea is also one of my favorite past time activities. I also do paintings as one of my favorite hobbies. Most of the time, I do it together with the children of my relatives or kids in our neighborhood. Since one of the things I love to do is eating, I also like to explore different varieties of food which I also try to cook for my family. I also like singing even though I’m not good at it- my younger siblings usually thinks that it is quite annoying and would destroy their ear drums. At the moment, I work as a University instructor teaching subjects in General Sciences to different courses. You may wonder why I suddenly decided to become an Au Pair despite of the fact that I have a teaching position. Well, these past months has brought radical changes in the lives of people in general, and it made me realize some important things in this life that books can’t teach us. I have read a quote saying, “If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is.” This quote hit me so hard and made me realized that there is more to learn outside the four walls of the classroom, and that there is more to learn aside from the different concepts written in academic books. This also made me understand that there are a lot of things that I need to discover about myself and the people around me. So I decided to take a break from the teaching profession in order to give myself a chance to broaden my horizon and explore a new corner of the world. And I want to start it by understanding the “way of life” of other cultures. Most importantly, since children have a special place in my heart, it would be a great chance to spend time taking care of children. It would be also a great opportunity for me as well to learn other languages aside from English and in improving my communication skills with other people. I believe that whatever experiences that I will learn from this opportunity would help me to improve myself and in shaping me to become a better person. By the time that I will go back to my teaching career, I hope to share someday the experiences that I will gain from being an Au Pair to my students in order for them to understand better the other cultures as well. Being an Au Pair is one of the biggest decision I have made in this lifetime and I am very happy that my family is giving me their support. I would be happy to have the opportunity to speak with you and to answer whatever questions you may have about me and to learn more about your family. Thank you very much for your interest in my application! I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Charmaine Velarde