Good evening Blogosphere!
So, as you already know, I am in London for the next 16 months (minimum). Since I've arrived, I've been trying to get settled in and allow my body to adjust to the time difference, however, my body seems to have a mind of it's own and has not taken well to the time shift. I am constantly tired during the day because back home in Canada, I would be sleeping when it is 12 noon here. It's frustrating as I started working officially on the monday after I arrived which means that I've been struggling with getting my body in order while watching four children.
Now don't get me wrong, they are the cutest things ever and can be really polite and nice. With that being said though, like all children, they have their bad moments and then we're in a tizzy. As they aren't my family or my own children, disciplining them becomes difficult because they do not want to listen to me. I'm the new girl in the house which means I don't pull much rank with them. They are learning pretty quickly though that I do in fact, pull some rank as I will be their caregiver for the next year and a half so that is a massive plus. As long as they'll listen, we'll have no problems.
For the most part, I absolutely love the family I've chosen to au pair with. The parents are amazing to me and I can actually talk to them about things that are going on in my life. They definitely have made me feel as though I'm part of the family and for that, I will be eternally grateful.
Moving on to the second part of this post, banking woes. I had such a horrible time trying to open an account. Every bank I went to kept telling me that I couldn't open an account for reason x, y, or z. It was extremely frustrating! Especially since I know that Livs was able to open hers with just her passport as were a few other people I knew who came here for a few years. For some reason, it was not happening for me. I was being told about 100 different things from the tellers, online and over the phone when I phoned. Finally, Joanna (the kids' mum) went on her own and spoke to somebody else in the bank (a teller and bank manager) who told her I would be fine with just my passport.
Keep in mind, we had been trying all week to open an account for me and get everything sorted so I'd have a way of being able to save and put money away. So she had gone on Thursday to speak to both those people at her home bank and they told her the same thing about me being able to open up an account using just my passport. So, off I went on Friday back to the bank to open the account.
We ran into some trouble as the system would not let the application go through at first because I am not registered at the address. I asked what that meant exactly and the manager told me that it just meant I hadn't registered to vote. Okay then. I told him I don't plan on registering as I won't be here once my visa is up and he said okay and to let him try one last thing. He typed away and finally (FINALLY!) we got some where and I now have a bank account.
Opening a bank account never used to seem like a major deal for me until now. Over here, you need to have a bank account in order to sign up for a mobile phone contract. So without having an account I've been screwed with not being able to use my phone. I have to wait 7 to 10 business days to actually receive my card and THEN I can go get my phone sorted. For now, I'm using a sim that allows me to make international calls back home to my family on a pay as you go basis but let me tell you, it is costing me an arm and a leg. I'm having to top-up often as I also use it to text and such within the UK but everything costs unless the person I'm contacting is on the same network as me. Very frustrating as well. I cannot wait to have my cell up and running properly now that I finally have a bank account.
Well, that is all for my recap about the first week of living in the UK. I'm off to spend some time with my family.
Cheers! xx
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