Allright, I am Thom van Mil. 28 years ago I saw a bright fluorescent lamp from the hospital in Delft shine in my eyes and I still had the moisture behind my ears. After this I lived for 27 years in Schipluiden, a small village between Rotterdam, The Hague and Delft in the Netherlands. Many see it as a farming village, with only one supermarket and one football club and no butcher. And yes, actually this is just the case. Still, I have lived here with pleasure for many years and am part of a fantastic family and have built up a great group of friends.
My biggest hobby has always been football, which I did from the age of 5 to 27 and still do in Australia. I am a big fan of Ajax Amsterdam and I know everything about the 3rd division in Azerbaijan by heart. Even while defecating I tried to keep the ball high. Furthermore, I went to the Hague University of Applied Sciences in mid-2018 and graduated as a physical education teacher. This was just a moment that I had been looking forward to for about 10 years. School wasn’t my favorite hobby to say the least. At least the studying part itself. The fun with the people I met there is unparalleled. Because I am quite easy on myself, this has also had an impact on my school performance. For example, I once saw all the matches of the World Cup in 2006. Unfortunately, this just fell during the test week. That’s why I had to do that schoolyear all over again. After 8 years of toil at university and some wrong study choices, 2018 was my last year of going to school in my life. But what now !?
Living in the same small village for 27 years is fun, but at some point you know it all. Work Monday to Friday, play football and get drunk in the canteen on Saturday and waddle home with the shawarma hanging on your lip at 21:00. And yes, on Sundays the sofa often had bedsores.
I have never found my life at home boring, but have always had in my head not to start working full-time immediately after completing my studies. This may have to do with laziness, I also just want to see adventure and new things. The first plan was to just go backpacking in Asia. After two previous long vacations in Thailand and Malaysia I loved it here so why wouldn’t I go there for a few months?
Because of my studies, working at out-of-school care and giving football training, I enjoy working with kids. When I started thinking about Australia and discovered that you could also work here as an au pair, this was something I immediately wanted. I was thrilled to take such a step on my own and regularly wondered why I wanted this again. Still, these thoughts often ended with the idea that it would all stay the same at home and that it would be good for me to stand on my own feet.
Now I live in Australia, I have met a beautiful girlfriend, I have been in Indonesia and Hawaii, I have had a cucumber tattooed on my calf, my parents have both visited and I visit the most beautiful places in the world.
Not crazy right !?
