CIRCE, 26 YEARS

My name is Circe, 21 years old who is living in the Philippines. Kind, compassionate, and adventurous are the three things I can basically describe myself. I have a deep admiration for nature and ancient architecture. I like to read, write, and watch movies during my leisure time. For almost 7 years, I lived in a small northern city in the Philippines called Baguio City for my studies, and now I'm back living in my hometown (Tabuk City) in the countryside. I graduated on 2017 in a university with a degree in Business Administration. Then, I enrolled for a semester in MBA but as I was going through the classes, I realized I don’t want to pursue it yet. From then, I planned to take some time out of academics to have a different life experience, and to have time to calmly reflect on my future academic/professional orientation. Right now I am busy working for my sister's small business, and at the same time, undergoing a caregiving training that will end on July 2019. In caregiving, we are being trained how to provide care and support for young children, elder people as well as persons with disabilities while promoting their safety, privacy and dignity. I will have my first-aid training in a couple of months. (For Germany/Austria, I already have passed the A1 exam at Goethe on March 2019). 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 and work for them for at least 9 months starting July/August 2019. I would also prefer looking after children as young as 6 months and older. Lastly, although I am quite flexible, I would prefer to have working hours that would allow me to attend a language class.

I would like to become an Au Pair because I want to share my passion with kids. I may be the youngest in the family but that doesn't mean I don't have anything to do with children. In fact, that is the main reason why I love spending time with children. The companionship brought by them overwhelms me. It gives me joy and fulfillment to look through their eyes and see laughter, curiosity, playfulness, imagination and above all, positivity. The world isn't as cruel as we think it is because we have these children just spreads positivity.

As far as I can remember, I was in high school when I found myself drawn into their ever-animated company. I have gained "unpaid" childcare experience through babysitting my nephews and cousins whose parents were either busy with work or business. My main responsibilities for the children were basically to promote their safety by being watchful at whatever they do, and to ensure that all their needs are being attended to. For the infants (1-2 y/o), my other duties were to feed, bathe, and put the children to sleep or play with them. For my pre-school cousin, he would love to listen to stories when I'm just about to finish helping him with his homeworks. Of course, I also help in housekeeping. I can help with doing the laundry, cleaning, and other things.

I know that the things I learned from these children and through my caregiving classes can be something I can start with being an Au Pair. One day I would be a mother myself, and I believe that being an Au Pair would be a way to mold me on the basic how-tos of how to become a parent. The experience from it will make me grow as an individual and teach me a lot that I don’t know yet about myself.

Aside from that, I want to be an Au Pair to discover new culture and learn about the history of a place. I know I can learn more about a culture through learning its language. I only know basic German but I am very challenged to learn more about it and be fluent at it in a spoken or written manner. I would also want to learn a new language so I'm also open to other opportunities outside German-speaking countries.