The Spartz Family Makes My Heart Spark!
My name is Kristel Maulhardt and I am from Guatemala City, I’m currently an au pair in Minnesota. ‘Why did you choose to come to Minnesota?’ is the normal question I get from EVERY person here, and is weird because I had no idea how crazy the weather was going to be, or that I was going to miss my family and friends so much. So, every time someone asks what I´m doing here I think about this family, the Spartz family.
To understand why becoming an Au Pair changed my life I should start telling a short story of myself. The problem here is that I hate to talk about me, I think how sometimes I would love to change everything in the past to tell a happy story instead of what still hurts inside me. In resume, my dad is a cancer survivor, and he survived a heart attack too. I had a boyfriend who helped me going through these things and I loved him so much, but two years ago he had cancer and after 6 months sick and 4 years of being with me he left us and going through his death was harder than I thought. I was not happy with my life and I knew I was never going to be the same.
When I decided to be an Au Pair, I was happy again, and wondering how this was going to work. The first week my profile was active I didn’t expect anything until the Spartz family send me their profile. I was completely excited and from the beginning, I thought this is it, I like this family a lot. The agency that was helping me with all this recommended me to wait for other families to contact me, so I did but I kept in touch with the Spartz and after other offers, I got and some time to think, and I matched with them. The day I came to Minnesota it was crazy cold, the coldest weather I experienced all my life till then. I was a little lost in the airport, but when I saw that family waiting for me with a “welcome Kristel” poster, I never felt so warm in my entire life. The first days were crazy, but I got used to everything quick, I liked these people and I felt the connection with them, I was at home. A lot of things have happened, but every day I’m gladder I choose this family.
“I just wanted to hug her.”
When I try to think about the AHA moment when I realized that this family changed my life it is hard for me because there are a lot of memories I´m carrying in my heart forever. But one of my favorite one was one time I lost my camera.
We were in a theme park and then I realized my little camera was not in my backpack. I looked for it in all the park and I started crying, I was a little dramatic with that, but it really meant a lot to me. When I came back with my hosts with my red eyes and my sunglasses on, my host kids hugged me, and my host parents told me that everything was going to be alright and I just felt better. It was nice to feel understood, and with people that was worried about me, even if it was because not that important. Then I found the camera and it was funny but my hosts where happy for me. Back in the hotel, we were packing, and I was almost done but the camera was still in the table. So, my host mom came to me very serious and said: “Kristel Elizabeth Maulhardt Slowing, don’t forget your camera” and I was just amazed, I laughed but I just wanted to hug her because in that moment with that crazy and weird experience I realized how much they loved me and how much I loved them.
I’m not a very talkative girl, but every time something happens to me, I want to tell them, I want to know how their day was. The weekends I go out I miss them and every time I see them again, I just feel complete. Thanks to them now I am more confident about myself, now I know that I can make everything. I am completely thankful because I thought I would never be happy again and now I feel in home and with the best version of me. thank you Spartz family for being this big support, I love them so much.
