The Cleaver/ Dunkley Family is a whole lot of fun! With their two little red haired kids, Hannah (nearly 3 years) and Callen (1 ½ years) I am having new adventures every day.

I love to hear what Hannah wants to do next. She is a clever little girl who always wants to learn something new. No wonder that she already sang a German song a few weeks after I started to be their Au Pair.

Callen is a clever little boy too. He loves to play by himself but he also loves to get big cuddles. His favourite thing is to go on adventures even though it can be risky.

It felt like the kids trusted me from the first second on. But not only are the kids like that their parents, my Host parents, are the same. I was welcomed even before I came to New Zealand and when I finally arrived in the family it was an even bigger welcome and it never stopped.

We have many funny moments together and they gave me enough time to join the family. There is nothing I can't ask them. We talk about so many different things and if we have to we together try to find solutions. They are always there for me and sometimes it felt like they worried more about me than my parents at home in Germany.

If my Host family want to go somewhere as a family I am always welcome to come with them. It doesn't matter if it was to visit Santa in the Shopping Centre although it was the first time for Callen to meet Santa or to join their first Family Holiday as a Family of four. They always were happy that I was part of it.

I am so glad that I could be a part of the development of Hannah and Callen for one year and that I was able to learn a lot about the everyday life, culture and people especially of New Zealand but also a bit of Australia.

I, Jenny, the German Au Pair of the Cleaver/ Dunkley Family, am now nearly 10 months in this family and I feel so lucky that we chose each other. But my time is nearly over and I have no idea how I will be able to leave them. I am so glad that my parents were able to meet my Host family last month so they could see what a good and funny time I have as a part of the Cleaver/ Dunkley Family. I feel as if I have a second home.

Jenny