Where do you want to go as Au pair?

Now, for Au pair Canada this is a fairly important one. I want to travel to about 40 places and I have a little list of where those places are. I decided I didn’t care which one I started with as Au pair and Au pair Canada was the best option so far, so I took the first place with the first job that appealed to me with Au pair Canada. My best advice that I learned the hard way is, if you are going to go to many places, start off with an English speaking place. It’s very difficult learning to adjust to a new family, new country, new lifestyle and new job all at the same time. It’s even harder with the burden of it all happening in a strange language.

I did intend on learning the language but that’s easier said than done. They will speak their native tongue at the table regardless of if you’re there or not. Obviously they will speak to you in English but you will be left out of the conversation very frequently. This gets especially difficult when you’re a little homesick.

This happened to me over Christmas. I was surrounded by a family that wasn’t my own, about 20 people and they were all chatting and happy to see each other and I was just there, essentially, by myself because I couldn’t engage in their conversations. They would, occasionally try include me and translate what they had just discussed but it really isn’t the same and can make you feel quite insecure if you’re not used to it.

So if you can, try start off in a place where you are understood and can understand. This will be helpful in a lot of situations.

Often families will decide something in their language and forget to translate to you, catching you by surprise when they say “okay, let’s go.” And you have no idea where to or if you’re even invited. This is not intentional, but it happens.