I’m Luz from Ecuador, I love spending time with children and I would like to have an au pair cultural exchange experience with a host family. I would love to help take care of their kids. I live in a small city but big at heart, located at the edge of a magnificent volcano and a beautiful lagoon. Its name is Otavalo, known for its crafts, kind people and hospitality.

I am a patient, respectful, and above all responsible person. I like order and cleanliness. I am a calm girl and I enjoy spending time with the house pets. I consider myself an explorer; I like discovering new things despite my fears and stepping out of my comfort zone. I am also able to stay calm in diverse situations and make quick decisions when necessary.

My family consists of my mom Hortencia, my dad Milton, my nephew Dylan, my siblings Lizeth, Israel and Nelly. I am the youngest. We also have pets: Milo and Chess, our cats, and Bobi, our dog. At home we don’t spend a lot of time together due to studies and work in distant cities, but whenever there is an opportunity, we gladly spend time together. We enjoy playing board games while eating homemade cake and healthy snacks. Maybe we aren’t the perfect family, but when one needs the other we are there despite the distance.

I am currently taking a pedagogy course to gain information about child development so I can do my au pair job in the best possible way. I also completed a course in pediatric CPR/DEA, and first aid for adults, children, and babies. In addition, I have a university degree in chemical engineering and I want to continue my training in the teaching field.

I enjoy reading self-help books and also some fantasy and romance. Sometimes I connect more with books than with films. I also like baking banana bread with walnuts; it’s really delicious. I enjoy running in the park while listening to music, sometimes with my brother or alone. I like discovering new places, climbing mountains, and connecting with nature, but I also love going to the mall with my sister and hanging out with friends.

I’ve had the fortune of caring for my nephew since he was small, which taught me how to prepare his milk, bathe him, and attend to his meals. Now he is 13, and we still spend time together and I help him with his homework. I also cared for the children of a friend of my mother: the Miller siblings, aged 1 and 2 (Valentina). We played in the living room, I sang children’s songs, read stories during nap time, prepared their meals, and taught them to use the appropriate bib and utensils. I cared for them for two years; it was a very beautiful and enriching experience. I also cared for a 6-year-old boy named Sebastián, the son of a neighbor. With him, I prepared breakfast, organized his lunch box, took him to school, prepared his lunch, and washed his clothes. I taught him to tidy his bedroom and play area, helped him with his homework, and, above all, enjoyed teaching him mathematics. We did crafts like paper dolls and Christmas decorations, painted pictures with a variety of colors, and went to the park to bike and play tag and hide-and-seek with his school friends. We exercised and had a lot of fun. It was a very rewarding experience and helped me learn and grow alongside him; I cared for him for 9 months. I also did community internships at a foundation that helps children with cancer. I participated in making wigs for the children and in recreational activities to make them feel more comfortable on special dates like Christmas and Children’s Day, such as painting on canvas, playing makeup with the girls, reading stories, doing crafts, etc. I also had the opportunity to teach them mathematics.

One of my expectations is to get along well with the host family, treating them with the respect and attention they deserve. I also want to build a good relationship with the children, earn their trust, and be a real help to them. My goal is to fulfill dreams and goals, perfect the language, visit many places, and learn from every experience to grow personally and professionally, to face new challenges and overcome them, to learn so I can return to my country and apply everything I have learned to contribute to my community. In short, I want to make the most of the experience, learn about other cultures, broaden my horizons, and return with useful tools to keep advancing.

My motivation to become an au pair is to closely collaborate with the host family in the care of their children, to be of great help to them, and to live a culturally enriching exchange experience. I am very excited about the possibility of adding value to the home and learning with the family during this experience. I am also highly motivated by the idea of continuing to improve my language skills, not only communication but also personal growth, adaptability, and continuous learning.

My native language is Spanish and I am studying English and French in an online course. I practice the language on the Duolingo app, I also challen