All posts filed under: Au Pairing

Warning Signs You’re not Ready to be an Au Pair

  This post contains some of my most valuable knowledge about au pairing. It addresses you. The following needs to be considered with real thought and honesty. Your answers are critical to finding a compatible family. Happy au pair, happy kids, happier home. What is my time commitment? Consider things like upcoming academic endeavors, how long the host nation will permit you to work for and how long you can afford to go for. Be realistic about how long you would like to be abroad. Be firm. If you don’t want to commit to a full year then don’t! It is a long time to be somewhere when you don’t necessarily want to be in that somewhere for that long.  Your time commitment should be a deal breaker. There are plenty of families to choose from. It’s kind of like dating and this is certainly one aspect of (in)compatibility. Conversely, if you are looking for a 1+ year placement then leverage that commitment. I’ve never met an au pair who was crazy enough remained with one …

How to Find the Perfect Au Pair Host Family

  You’ve decided you want to au pair! How exciting.  Family hunting is really exciting. When in your life have you ever decided to so drastically change your lifestyle? Savour the experience, be picky and communicate with a lot of families, and frequently. Real communication too. Don’t just email; you need to make telephone calls or Skype at least twice before departing. But before you even start liaising with host parents take ten minutes to seriously consider the following. Trust me, once you know your parameters you can better search for compatible families. 12 Things to Consider Before Picking an Au Pair Host Family Kids |Too many, too young, too close in age to you? Timing | How long do they want you there for and does this mesh with your commitment? When do they want you to start? Is this possible? Visas | Some families prefer EU citizens for visa purposes. Nationality  | Some families actively seek au pairs from a certain nation or region so that their children learn a certain language (which you are expected …

Au Pairing: How to Travel the World for Free

Up until my early twenties all of my independent travel sprang from au pairing. My first experience was in 2007 during the gap year between high school and university. It was the first time I travelled internationally and I did it alone at that. Touching down in Zurich I was hoping that the whole thing wasn’t a cruel joke and that indeed there would be a family at the gate to greet me. And there they were. My second au pair experience was a four month contract in 2010 in northern Germany. Yet another positive experience. Living overseas has had a fundamental impact on my personal growth and au pairing made it possible. I would absolutely recommend it to young adults looking to travel internationally.  Among a wealth of learning, I no doubt attribute my present day domestication to the fact that I was preparing mid-day meals for a family of four at age 18. When I graduated high school many girls in my community were arranging au pair gigs in Europe, which is how I …

I Don’t Get It: Hand-Holding Cyclists

On multiple occasions I’ve seen couples (of all ages) cycling next to one another, holding hands. 1. I would never see this in Canada. Then again, people there rarely ride bicycles let alone in Prince George. Could you imagine if one of them went to swerve a pothole? 1.5 A more pressing question is, is this remotely possible in Amsterdam? (Reference my last post.) I can just see it now: ‘Couples Dies in Tragic Death-By-Tram Accident.’ 2. These couples must be head-over-heels, this is hardly a casual act. I’m imagining that classic scene where the a couple sits in a movie theatre and He yawn/stretches and whoops! His arm is around his lady friend. There’s no whoops-I-swerved-in-close-enough-and-caught-your-hand, gotcha! No sir, this is a mutually executed display of affection. 3. Do they get extra points for going further distances? Nonetheless, very sweet I suppose.

My Apologies! I Know I’ve Been AWOL Lately

 I was too exhausted to even try to order food in German and just sat at a table and tried to stay awake long enough for my food to arrive. Best doener of my life. I probably ended up spilling ¼ of it and made a terrible mess, rather fitting for the hot mess I had become. I know, I know, I know!  I’ve been totally AWOL in the last little while.  For about a week and a half I sincerely did not have much to write about or was just lacking inspiration.  Plus, the weather was grey and depressing, sigh. And then things got a little busy and then well…this weekend “happened.”  Quotations are denoting the magnitude of my ‘night’ in HanGover. Good lord. I’ve run into quite the posse of fantastic people in Hanover.  Networking through facebook, ex-patriot social sites, friends of friends, we have created quite the conglomerate of international young adults. Most of us girls are au pairs, with the exception being Lorna, now an ex-au-pair but dating a great German guy and …

I’m an Expat and I can’t Stop Thinking About German Packages

…I mean packaging…portions. Within the first few days of commencing my au pair duties here in Germany, I went grocery shopping with HostdDad. My primary observation was the packaging of foodstuff. Had I eaten a slice of Dutch Space cake that had caused me to grow, and subsequently my environment to shrink? [http://www.amsterdamlogue.com/space-cakes-a-5-hour-mental-party.html] Rice in 500 gram packages…Muesli, 1/4 the size of a generic Canadian box of cereal, milk sold (only) by the litre. Why? Was there literally less shelf space in European grocery stores? Had Ikea placed a quota on the size of refrigerators?  Or is this a relic of a world war- a former strategy for rationing food? With an arsenal of unanswered questions, I was later confronted with some very conflicting observations. A couple days later HostDad served me an Erdinger Weissbier dinner.  What a legitimate beer. “Okay, the rice is sold in 500 gram packages and this bottle of beer is at least twice the size of a Canadian beer. Passing judgement, I can conclude that at least Germans have their …