„Why becoming an Au Pair in China was the best decision ever“

Frederica, Au Pair in China, wurde von unseren Partnern vor Ort zum „Au pair of the quarter“ ernannt. Mit Recht! Voller Liebe und Enthusiasmus erzählt sie (diesmal auf englisch) von ihrer Zeit im Reich der Mitte, ihrem Alltag und wie sie ihre Freizeit verbringt. Sowas von lesenswert!

When I applied last summer for becoming an au pair in China, I only had a vague idea of what it exacltly means to be an au pair here. I was grabbed by wanderlust and I’ve always loved children, so this program seemed ideal for me. And now I can say, that it’s way more than that. But before I get more into raptures, I should try to give you an impression of how my daily live here looks like.

I’m living in a chinese family with two children – a sugar-sweet 6-year old girl, Coco, and an alert 9-year old boy, Benjamin. Beside the parents, the mothers parents live with us together. We live in a flat in the centre of Shenzhen, so that it’s easy to get to any place.

A typical day looks like this for me

I wake up my little boy and before he has to leave our house for going to school, we read english books for half an hour. As soon as the children both are at school, I usually do sport, read books, chat with friends or learn Chinese. At lunchtime Benjamin comes home, so we can eat together. Sometimes I additionally prepare a little salad or something else ‚western‘, in the beginning he ogled it critically, but now he tries it more often.

After lunch it’s time for English again – I support him to built sentences with new forms of grammar he had learned, he learns new vocabulary in short role playings, etc. (he loves the vocabulary ‚box‘ that I had ‚built‘ 😀 ). In the early afternoon I have time to meet friends or my chinese teacher (the best one I ever had! <3 ) or I explore the city.

Depending on how long the children have to go to school and if they have afterschool-courses, I start working at different times in the afternoon. In the evening I accompany my two cuties to sport courses, supervise them doing their homework and we have time to play and to read bedtime-stories.

I’m here now since 3 months – halftime

And the last 3 month really changed my life and my perspective about live. I don’t only live in a ‚host‘ family – this family became a part of my family. I’m not only a teacher for my sweet children here, but their big sister, an adventure-storyteller, a playfellow and someone they entrust little secrets and ideas to, I try to help them explore and open their minds.

I already have tears in my eyes, when I think about the fact, that in 3 months I have to leave my chinese family and especially my two lovely little siblings here. But I know that, no matter what, I can visit them anytime and that I will always be their big german sister.

But not only with my host family I have found friends for live. Also to chinese natives and other au pairs from all over the world, the collective experience here unites us and on our vacation days we explore together the diversity and beauty of China (last month I’ve visited Shanghai with one of my best friends here in Shenzhen. And we’re already planning trips to Hongkong and Beijing. <3).

The time here broadens the mind from everyone of us – we grow with every new experience and new friendships, we gain independence, we learn a total new way of intercultural competence and find a new perspective of the world. I learn and love the chinese culture and language. And I didn’t expect before I came here, that I would also improve my English – now it’s absolute normal form me to think and dream in English.

And here in China I’ve found myself a bit more. I can recommend this experience to everyone who loves children and wants to open their mind and gain new experiences in a way you can’t even imagine. I share this experience of how my personality and perspective grows with my new family and friends from all over the world that I‘ve found here in China. And I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be here right now in exactly this family. <3

Wenn du auch an unserem Au Pair Programm in China interessiert bist, klicke hier.