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| Au pairing - the easiest way to see the world on a dime! |
Tyzana is a 24 year old vagabond who was excited to explore the world before settling down. She ended up having some positive and negatives experiences in Canada and the USA that have helped her to discover more about herself and become the person she is today!
"I'm from South Africa, Cape Town to be more specific. I always wanted to visit America and I loved kids so I thought an au pair year would be great especially since I had no idea what I wanted to study after high school. My first experience was both good and bad - I had a crazy family at first. I was 19, had never left my country before, in fact had never been on a plane before. I was terrified and got very little help from the agency but I went into rematch and was extremely blessed. I ended up with a family in Oahu, Hawaii for 9 months. This was truly the most amazing place I've ever been. It allowed me to become who I really was. I discovered my love for hiking and surfing here. Even though I'm from Cape Town and we have all these amazing things I was stuck in a comfort zone that i didn't want to leave. When I returned home I was a new person.
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| Flexible schedules make travelling easy peasy |
I got restless after 2 years and wanted to Travel again. I picked Canada because I heard how nice everyone is and how beautiful the country is. Bare in mind it doesn't get below 0 Celsius in Cape Town - EVER! I ended up in a tiny town called Fort McMurray - my first mistake. The people in this town were not your typical Canadians. They were all rude and money hungry. It is an oil town and everyone works a crazy Schedule. I felt very taken advantage of living here and had little freedom because there was nothing and nowhere to go for hours. My host kids were my life. I still think about them every day. Winter was brutal, -40 Celsius but I got to see snow for the first time and go sledding which was incredible. I made a decision while there that Canada was not for me and that I wanted to go back to America one last time.
With the au pair program in America you cannot come back after the age of 26 so this would be my last year or 2. I'm extremely happy I made this decision. I have travelled extensively this time round. I've visited around 19 States and have a road trip coming up that will take me through another 9! I've lived in San Francisco and currently in Los Angeles. I couldn't picture my life any other way. I'd love to keep doing this, and pick a different country next time.
This experience has taught me so much; how to stand up for myself if I'm not happy with something, how to make friends more easily, be more adventurous, try things that scare me and most importantly it showed me who I really am."
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