Au pair in Deutschland

April 22, 2012

Verein für Internationale Jugendarbeit                                                                               http://www.au-pair-vij.org/

Dear Mr. To whom it may concern

I am a student of translation and interpretation from Ricardo Palma University. Actually, the languages that I’m learning are French and German. That’s why I’m interested in the au pair program. Moreover, I hope you will be kind to answer a few questions about the program.

The first thing I would like to know is whether or not the family, which I’m going to live with, is going to afford my German classes. Also, could you tell me if I will have a medical insurance?

I have many friends from the university that are curious to know whether the family accepts the au pair as a member of them or not. In addition, since traveling alone is a little bit dangerous, I will like to ask if your enterprise guarantee my security.

I also have to ask whether I will be able to visit neighbor countries that of course belong to the European Union. Could you please tell me if the visa that I’m going to get permits me to move around?

To know a little bit more about the job. Can you please tell me how many hours do I have to work? Also, I would like to know if I can go wherever I want in my free time, of course with the permission of my new family.

Finally, I’m curious to know whether the family picks me or I pick the family. Also, could you tell me, please if I have to pay the agency after I get the job formally?

Thanks sincerely for your time; I will be waiting your response. You can mail me at gabyroxana4@hotmail.com.

Sincerely yours,

Gaby Fuentes

Abortion =(

This is not a nice topic; many people don’t like to talk about it; especially me. We can’t deny that abortion is a very controversial worldwide topic; although it has been approved in many countries, there still are people who are against this practice. In my opinion, although there are some reason to be against it, there are other good reasons very well explained that make me feel in favor of this practice.

The first card on the table of this group of people to defend their believes is the religious moral part; they say that the holy bible doesn’t support this idea because it means not to let the nature does its job. In addition, it means to fight with God’s volition. If they start talking about religion, nobody will pay attention to it; the majority of people don’t care too much about it. Moreover, it sound hypocrite when they talk about the nature and God’s volition because they do not respect it at all. Everybody notice this. That’s why many people doubt of church; generally speaking. I mean, all the bad things they have done and its bad reputation.

Second of all, abortion means kill a human being, who is not guilty of parents’ mistakes. Parents are responsible for not to take precaution when they had intercourse, so they have to assume the consequences. Good point, parents are responsible. There are alternatives that can be used in this circumstance. For example, a couple that didn’t protect themselves can use a pill before is too late. Although, many people think that this pill is equal to practice an abortion, it’s not true, actually. This pill avoids sperms to get to the egg, that’s all. Furthermore, to rebut this thing about killing a human being, using the logic and the philosophy, we have to ask, what a human being is. Everybody will say that humans are rational beings that think and feel. A 2 or 3 month old baby is none of them because it can’t think or feel. If it’s no rational, it’s not a human.

Finally, practice an abortion can be dangerous for the mother, physically and emotionally. Because the people who practice it are not doctors, mothers put their life at risk. Unfortunately, this is true. But, it could be more dangerous when a woman is force to do it. In contrast, a woman who is for sure that she want to do it and accepts the risks will not suffer a huge damage. If the government legalizes abortion, they also should provide women information and a psychologist in order to make the mother think about it very well before taking the decision. She has to know that there are other options like adoption.

Like I said at the beginning, this is not a nice topic; sometimes, I prefer to avoid it, but that in this time I couldn’t. Well, reasons to be against or in favor are immense. I just can say that if a woman decide to practice an abortion or not; it’s up to her, and nobody can say or do something about it. We are supposed to be free to take our own decisions no matter if it’s a wrong one. That’s how we grow and become better people.

It's all uniforms

When we were teenagers, we thought that school rules were silly. In my opinion, some of them are, but there are few rules that are not. It doesn’t mean that we figured it out in that moment because as everybody knows at that age all rules are just careless. We had to grown up to see the importance of them. For example, wearing uniforms has become a little problem in the society. Although majority of school students think that wearing uniforms is not important, I believe that it helps a lot to improve conscious in our life while growing up.

Students think that wearing uniforms is really uncomfortable in class because it get dirty quickly and they break easily; especially, when you play in the break and also it’s boring to wear the same every day. I don’t remember if I had though the same way, probably I do, but now I realized that follow this rule help me to be organized in every possible way. For example, keep my clothes clean and wear it properly. Moreover, a grown up worker sometimes has to get used to wear as much elegant as the position in the work environment requires. It will be awful if you arrive at your office wearing jeans and sandals. A person always should take care of their aspect because it says too much about the personality.

Another reason of students against uniforms is that it is just a custom and they add that in this time of modernization things from the past have to change to grown. Talk about modernization helps my point of view about wearing uniforms. Organized and responsible people are the ones who have made the society grow. If we permit teenagers do what they want to do, values will be lost because of lack of organization and responsibility. This “custom” has a purpose that is take care of students. In that way, we won’t see students avoiding classes, walking in the street putting their life and future at risk instead of being educated to be the motor of the society.

Finally, they say that nobody cares about the essence of uniforms and it has turned a dirty business that makes educational institutions fill their pockets with cash. I really hate when sometimes they are right; unfortunately, there are people that do that. But, this is a problem that has solution and not an excused to not wear uniforms. It’s true that every school wants develop their own uniform different from others and force students to buy it. In that circumstance, we should be the ones who must force institutions to get used to not to do what they want to. Instead complaining about uniform, we should complain about profit organizations. To avoid this, we should develop one unique uniform to be available to all students.

To sum up, uniforms are not as bad as we thought; it has a purpose and nobody came with the idea to wear uniforms for nothing. It’s not about material; it’s about to find a meaning that help us to be a better person.