Personal introduction

Dear Host Family, First and foremost, I want to thank you for trusting me, for allowing me into your home, and entrusting me with your most precious possession, your children. My name is Valeria Rodriguez, I am 26 years old, and I was born in a city in northern Colombia, Riohacha-La Guajira, where there are many beautiful beaches that you might fall in love with if you ever visit. I was raised in a large family, filled with many values, but above all, love. I was taught that the most important thing is to take care of each other, but the little ones are the most important. I am a responsible, organized, and very dynamic girl. I am goal-oriented and love challenges. I always live exploring outside my comfort zone and prove to myself every day how capable I am. I am very cheerful and spontaneous; I love to dance when I am happy and when I eat delicious food that I really enjoy. I love animals, and some of my hobbies include reading, dancing, listening to music, and discovering new places in my free time. In my family, there are 5 members: my dad Raul, my mom Linney, my younger brother Brayan, and our pet Susie, who is a very affectionate dog. My parents are independent and have their own businesses. They are the best family I could have had, and despite not being perfect, the love with which they raised me prevails. My family loves to go out and explore nearby towns; we often visit the coffee axis, enjoy visiting coffee farms, and learning more about Colombian culture. We also love going to the beach. But the best thing about my family is that we enjoy spending weekends together, ordering pizza, and watching movies. I am a physical therapist by profession, and the inspiration to pursue this career is that I always dreamed of specializing in pediatrics. I had many internships where I had to deal with children in different environments, such as Pediatric Intensive Care Units where there were children as young as 10 days old. I also worked in an institution where there were children with special needs from the age of 10. Overall, in my career, I have worked with many children, and besides, I have many nieces and nephews whom I have taken care of since their early days, ranging from 3 months to 7 years old. I like to listen to them, play with them, understand them, and feel a great need to protect them. Based on my training and personal experience, I know I can contribute to the education and development of your child, where I would teach them about my culture, my language, and impart my values. I also know that I can learn a lot from them, and at the same time, they will help me in my personal growth, and that's what excites me the most about being a future au pair. I have courses in complementary feeding from 6 months, courses in respectful parenting, first aid, and all this also because I dream of someday being a mother and giving the best to my children, and I want to start by giving a lot of love to your children. In my free time, I love to read, watch romantic and comedy movies while enjoying a good pizza, travel to nearby towns and discover new corners, go for walks and connect with nature and be in tranquility, but I also like to play music and dance at home, which helps me relax. Lately, I have been passionate about exercising at the gym; it makes me feel healthier and have a good physique. I love cooking; my specialties are pasta and barbecues. I love cooking for people whom I consider as my family, so I hope to cook for you sometime. I enjoy crafts; painting, drawing, and knitting are my favorites. As I mentioned earlier, my professional career has brought me closer to taking care of many children for the past 4 years. I have friends who find it difficult to take care of their children due to their jobs, so I take care of them. I have taken care of children from 1 month to 7 years old. I like to do crafts with them; if they are older, bake cookies, and with the little ones from a month old, due to my career, I have knowledge and I really enjoy doing sensory stimulation from a young age with different materials and textures. With my nieces and nephews, starting from 3 months old, I have stimulated them for each stage of their lives, and they learn to crawl much faster. With the older ones, I like to stimulate them with games that test their memory, their intelligence, and thus stimulate them from an early age. What motivates me the most to be your Au Pair is to support you with the care of your children and be part of your family; this is a big challenge for me, and I want to do it well. I am excited about the idea of being part of a new culture since over the years I have lived alone in different cities and always adapted positively, but I am even more excited that it is in a different country than mine since I am leaving for the first time. My native language is Spanish; I have a basic level of English, and I am open to continue studying or learning another language. I want to fulfill the expectations you have with me, being a great support for you, and you as a second home for me. I want more than anything to win the hearts of the children, for them to love me, and for me to love them as if they were my nieces and nephews, to give them affection, fun, company, but above all, love. I also want to improve my language skills, to be able to defend myself in a place different from mine, and to discover new places and countries that I once thought would be impossible, and that I have always dreamed of. I love animals, nature, I try to take care of my physical and emotional health; I have allergies to dust, mites, and certain animals, which does not prevent me from living with them because I love them, but I have to keep basic allergy medications. I hope to meet you soon; I am very excited to be part of your family. With love, Valeria.