"The most important thing is to adapt to the family. I, for example, had problems at first. I knew German poorly, so to any attempts to start a conversation I just smiled sweetly and tried to slip into my room. But it turned out the family really wanted to communicate: to find out how people live in Ukraine, what I had already seen in Hamburg, just to chat. After two months, in the evenings we all watched TV together, went to various little restaurants, to the cinema, in short, we communicated quite openly."
"It's better to state right away what age child you can handle. I, for example, have nephews aged five and eight, and I had no experience with babies at all. So when I first saw one-year-old Lisa and three-month-old Sigurd, I panicked. At first I didn't know how to approach them at all; luckily their mother took it calmly and just gradually taught me. But I truly got the hang of it only after three weeks. By the way, Swedes don't tend to fuss over children. Or beg them to eat, either..."
"And I had to teach three-year-old Laura to ask to go potty, can you imagine? With my level of language... And her mom didn't seem to worry about it. Then the little girl and I started figuring out how to say 'number two' and 'number one.' Sorry for the piquant details, but I think au pairs need to be prepared for all sorts of life situations. In short, on the household level you'll thoroughly learn the language!"
"For me, the most important thing when choosing the Au Pair program was that it’s not 'do-it-yourself.' There is a program coordinator, and if any problems arise, you can turn to him. You are in the country legally, the au pair job is recognized and respected. I’m not saying you should run to complain about every little thing, but, you’ll agree, it’s nice to feel you can always ask for help."
"Don’t constantly compare your family with other au pairs’ families. Somewhere something is worse, something is better. I, for example, had problems with food. My whole family lived on sandwiches (breakfast and dinner). During the day I gave the kids chips, milk, and sausages (that was the 'instruction' from their mom). I was embarrassed to cook just for myself, so at first I ate whatever was around. What and where the parents ate, I don’t know—I didn’t see. They worked a lot and came home very late. On weekends the whole family, including me, ate at fast food. Later at home, in Poltava, I couldn’t get enough of borscht... By the way, I talked about this with the other girls. It’s a common problem. One had a vegetarian family, others ate organic food and bran, and so on. In short, their food situation is pretty hopeless..."
"Food is nothing! But heating... I returned from Ireland so hardened that at home I’m now always hot. They still have the habit of turning off the heaters at night (whatever the temperature outside) and putting hot water bottles in bed. But of course, there are no serious frosts there, so you can get used to it. On the other hand, people are very friendly and cordial, even though my family was terribly careless."
The stories of Au Pair program participants could go on forever: they’re girls, after all, so gossiping is expected. Something else is important: all au pairs say in one voice that it’s an amazing feeling—independent life, and in another country at that. Shall we believe them?