Friday 19 August 2011

Time flies when your having fun!!!

Wow!!! I can't believe I've not written here since the end of May!! oh well the saying time flies when your having fun must be right then!!
so I left Pax Lodge on the 4 of June after an emotional farewell followed by a trip to tinsel town (an awesome milkshake place in Hampstead heath, if you ever visit Pax Lodge it's worth a visit), and the following afternoon  I moved to my new place near Greenwich to become a live in Au pair for a girl aged 6 and a Boy aged 9 who have welcomed me into the family with open arms.  The job is awesome and I have settled in really well and can't believe how fast the time has gone and that the summer holidays will be over with, in less than 2 weeks it's crazy!!! I spent the first 4 weeks of the holidays with the children and we had various outings which included picnics in the park, swimming, a trip to the science museum and natural history museum, the cinema and lots of bike rides, Ice cream and baking!! I will miss the kids when the go back to school as it has been an enjoyable summer holidays  and I've got to know them a lot better even if we did sometimes have disagreements!!
I have also found an awesome guide unit with great leaders, it took me a while to find the right unit then two guide units come along at once so I now guide on  Tuesday and a Friday and I love it and the other leaders are awesome and have made me feel very welcome!! just what I love about the guiding family, And  I can't wait to go camping with them next month!!. I have also made friends with a few other Nanny's and Au pairs and we regularly meet up with the children. I have also kept in contact with everyone at Pax Lodge, and was very grateful to them during the time that the riots took place in London. I  have also  had some great days and nights out with them especially going to Nottingham with Katie for the weekend and brick lane and camden nights out with Paula and Andrea!!
It's also a sad time as a lot of the volunteers I  have made great friends with are also leaving Pax Lodge or have already left I will for sure miss them especially Eugenia and Paula my co office volunteers, I will also miss Hannah and Emily and the other Volunteers but I know it's not goodbye but see you soon as the guiding world is so small I  know I will see them all again someday. But Emma who worked at Pax Lodge is now back in London and I am looking forward to spending time with her again now she has returned from her summer teaching job.
I am also currently at home in North Wales and cant relive it's nearly a year just short of two weeks since I was last her properly and things have changed so much. All my friends children have grown and even more scary is that my little brother has got engaged and my mother has had a complete change of career which is good. We also have new kitten who is adorable but very noisy and is only now 13 weeks old and is called tigger a suitable name for the bouncy cat he is chosen by the little girl I Au pair for. Lets just hope he calms down soon. I think that's all I have to say for now and will defiantly right more frequently from now on,

Cat :-) xx

Friday 20 May 2011

Well my time here at Pax Lodge is coming to an end very soon when I depart on the 5th of June to begin my new Job, as Most of you are aware Pax Lodge was not meant to happen but it did  with thanks to the Indian embassy!!!!! and I am truly thankful and happy that it did, the past 3 months here have opened so many doors for me and helped me move on and decided what I want to do with my life. the past three months haven't been easy and I am not afraid to say it. I am really scared to be leaving pax lodge in less than 2 weeks time, but I know I have the support of everyone I have meet here and other people I know. And I am very grateful to them for everything, As I have had an amazing time here and will never forget it. I have had some great times here wich include being part of YWWF, Pax Lodge's 20th birthday and staff and volunteer reunion, but one of the most memorable experiences for me will always be the DIFC superhero run which I took part in on the 15th of may dressed as Batgirl. The run was a great way for me to give something back to WAGGGS for everything I have received off them, I managed to run it in under 35 minutes with not having had any type of training schedule but it was all down to the encouragement I got off Emma who works here at Pax Lodge with me and is  from New Zealand, she ran beside me and we supported each other through out the whole race and the rest off the pax lodge and  World Bureau staff who joined in or supported us along the way. My new job is going to be in London with a lovely family as a live in Au pair who have two lovely children and I am really looking forward to working with children again and getting to know the family whilst living in london. I am also looking forward to exploring more of the city life and getting to know new people. Who knows what my next adventure will be???  Cat x

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Life at Pax

Well today was meant to be the day I arrived back from India but as many of you know it all went completely wrong when my time in India was cut short because of Visa Issue's.  But I have been very lucky and Instead of returning home I was offered a volunteer position at Pax Lodge in London, I hate to think what Id be doing otherwise!!! the past 7 weeks have been amazing, but I've had my ups and downs but I expected it, I never imagined the transit back to the UK would have been easy and It hasn't everyday I think of my Sangam Family and I really miss them all especially the random trips to coffee shops and material buying and all the cultural things I saw, visited and learnt about. But I am also really enjoying my time here at Pax Lodge volunteering in the office, exploring London and the crazy, Fun nights in Finland!!. I am very grateful to all the girls for making me feel so welcome and listen to all my tails of Sangam, and Think my experience here at Pax Lodge is going to be truly amazing!!! C xx

Monday 11 April 2011

I thought it was about time.

Well I have been thinking of writing a blog for a few months now as everybody wanted to know what Id been up to in India and how things where going!! Well my time in India came to and end 7 weeks ago and I am now currently Volunteering a Pax Lodge A world centre for WAGGGS (world association of girl guides and girl scouts for those of you who don't know). My time out in India was an amazing life changing experience for me, it has made me realise that life is worthy living to the full and each challenge that you face is there for a reason, the challenges I came across in India where life changing for me. sometimes they were just simple things and other times they where a lot harder to overcome and it was these challenges that made me realise things always didn't go my way .I had to do things other people wanted me to do and it was not all about me. the thing that struck me most about India was No matter who you are, where your from, what religion, colour race or creed you are people always welcomed you with a smile and how hospitable people where and you were always greeted with the word Namaste which means Welcome. I have some very beautiful memories of India that I shall treasure for ever and some amazing friendships I made out there with some awesome people! you know who you are. But also some sad ones which I know will also stick with me :-(  But I know myself i shall return there one day and see the country all over again.