MaríaJesús R

DEAR EXCHANGE FAMILY

Hi!!
We are a couple with three children: (next summer: a fifteen year old girl, a thriteen year old boy and an a seven years old child).
We moved to a house seven years ago, big enough to host someone.


We had seven experiences hosting Aupairs these previous years and we treasure good memories.

Our daugther is interested in spend some time abroad, mostly during the next course first tremester (from september to december or so) but we are open to others possibilities as expending the summer break (from june to september).

We would be glad by hosting a student around her same age as a exchange experience. No need to be the same duration neither in the same period of time.

 

OUR FAMILY

 

We are both quantity surveyors and civil servants in Madrid. We love traveling with our van and camper. We are interested in music and crafts and arts. Miguel played basketball, and play some music instruments as an amateur. I love comic books and I'm interested in illustration and all sorts of arts. I love drawing and crafting and I’m really into biking.

Children are film buffs and love LEGO constructions, minecraft, Sims and other videogames. They practice kayak and they belong to a scout group. Kids study English, German and French at school, our daughter, the eldest, understands quite well easy sentences or conversations, and she is starting speaking a little, she is nice and helpfull. Regarding the middle sibling... he preffers remaining as a second character but he has such a great heart that one can’t help but love him. Regarding the smallest he adapts quite well and he’s so funny and open.

We are easy people and the children are very easy too althougth the olders are timids in the beginning.

We are eco food consumers as much as possible. The mother suffer of Coeliac disease, so we know how to follow a gluten free diet. Half of the Aupairs we had hosted were vegan or vegetarian so we manage quite well with this diet too.

We are involved in some family activities organized in our children’s school, like the families bike use promotion.

 

OUR HOME

 

Since 2015 summer we live in a long-standing neighborhood beside a tree area. Separated from the center of Madrid by a huge park, a "forest" called Casa de Campo. We are around 5 Km far from Madrid center. It’s a quiet place. Our house is part of a little housing complex from the seventies with a swimming pool and a playground. There are four more kids/teens living in the complex.

In the house are available a bedroom and a bathroom in the attic, just for the guest use.

In spring and summer we go cycling to work and school almost every day.


We work in the city center. The kid’s school is ten minutes cicling through the forest or twenty five minutes walking or going by subway.
In winter we use to take the subway, we take about thirty minutes to get the center of Madrid.
The house is ten minutes walking from the nearest subway station.

And fifteen minutes walking from the nearest high school.

 

OUR CITY

 

Madrid is a lively and funny city all year long.
Our house is well connetected to downtown.
Madrid is in the middle of Spain so it's possible to reach the beach in 3h30min by high speed train, for instance, or visiting other interestings Spanish cities, such a Granada, Barcelona, Sevilla, Ávila, Toledo,... and even Portugal or France. Not mencioning the shorts flights to other European capitals.

 

Madrid is a very safe city. We allow children to go out with friends but keeping us informed about their location and plans and respecting the negotiated return time.

 

OUR FREE TIME

 

We love city, walking around, play board games in a cafe or visiting some expo with our children and we love countryside as well, in fact, we try to spend our holidays in quiet places.

We love to meet with family friends as well.

 

OUR RUTINE

 

We work from monday to friday from 8:00 to 16:00. Twice a week a little longer although father and mother in alternating days. Both of us use to do telecommuting twice a week as well.
Weekends we use to visiting grandparents and friends and occasionally go on a trip. In summer time those trips are more frequents.

If the hosting period coincides with the school course we must organize the enrollment of the child in an educational center. This is problably needed to be done in advance (around march to start in september).

We hope that the family hosting our daughter will also help us with her enrollment.

We give the kids as much autonomy as they ask, always in a safe way.

 

OUR EXPECTATIONS
 

 

We just want to have a good experience with an easy and communicative cohabitation. We want everybody to be at ease with each other.

We will really appreciate the kid to be responsible and proactive.

Kid should feel free to use the kitchen the way they want. We’ll arrange the meals trying to make easy and tasty healthy plates.


We have a weekly external help to do household tasks, we make the rest by our own the best we can. We expect the kid to keep as tidy as possible their own bedroom and bathroom or the kitchen after using it.
The kid can use every appliance at home.

We’ll appreciate the kid to help at home as if they were a family member: set and unset the table, cooperate in the kitchen, dishwasher...

 

RECAP

We spect of your kid to feel like one of the family, enjoying every moment of the experience and having fun, and quality time with us and their new friends... and we spect the same for our daugther :o)