Hey!
A lot have happened since the last time a made an update here. I didn’t have the greatest time with the host family. I loved the baby girl Amelia and I liked to work with her. Her mom Sara was very special and I think we were different - too different. She was very private and I felt like I was disturbing her. One of the reasons why I wanted to be an Au Pair was that I could be a part of another family then my own, a family with other traditions, rules, culture and more. But to experience those things I have to be welcomed or invited to do things together with them. I had my own flat downstairs and I made myself lunch and diner if I wasn’t working and making Amelia food. So I ate most of the times alone.
Every time the farther to Amelia, Leslie, came to visit from England it was a bit more fun, because he wanted me there, he invited me to diner and we could sit and talk in the couch after eating. It was nice. But I can’t stay because once a month it is good and I am a bit more like a family member. That is not enough out of a whole year!
I was thinking things like: Is it I? Do I not know what ‘Au Pair’ means? Should I be grateful for what I have? It is not like they are treating me bad or anything - they are good people.
We have had 2 conversations about how the last month has been for all of us and we talked about the things that did not work as well as it could have. I told them that I didn’t feel like I was a part of the family and that I felt like Sara, the host mom, had some difficulties letting me in. So we had discussed that it might not work.
Randomly I see a comment on an Au Pair facebook group where an Au Pair need a new Au Pair for her family because she has to go home (she got in to the university). I texted her, because what she told about the family sounded so good - like I have imagined a Au Pair job to be like!
I asked a lot of questions to the Au Pair because I wanted to know everything about the family, what they expected from the Au Pair, my duties, the place etc.
They didn’t live far away so I met them Tuesday afternoon and they liked me and wanted me to start Friday (This Friday)! That was a bit fast, because I didn’t wanted to end anything badly with my host family (The English one). But I really wanted to move because I was unhappy. I told Sara and Leslie Wednesday that I didn’t think it was going to work - not even with time, and I had got an offer from another family, who wanted me to start Friday but I wanted to close the door without any bad feelings, so if they needed me throughout the weekend or anything I could talk to the new family about that. Sara said that I had made my decision and walked away. An hour later she texted me that I had to leave clean the flat and leave the place before 3pm (15:00). I called my new host family and told what happened and they were so kind to let me come a day before, so they had 2 au pairs for one day ;)
Now I am sitting in my new room in my new flat and I am happier already!
I live in Antibes now, on the other side of Nice then where I lived before (Villefrance)
I take care of 2 boys: William (14 years old) and Nicholas (9 years old). They go to school so I work from 7 - 10 in the morning and then I pick them up at school and help with their homework, play with them and more from 4-20/21pm. I am off in the weekends.
The mom, Fabienne, is a housemother so she is at home together with me and the farther, Dominique, works in Switzerland from Monday to Friday and is home in the weekends.
The mom speaks French and a small amount of English and the dad knows how to speak English. The boys understand English if I speak slowly and they can speak if they know the words, so I am here to teach them English as well and to expand their vocabulary J
It is very hard for my head because I really have to listen and they speak French most of the time so it is very exhausting but it will be better with time!
That was a lot to write and try to explain and it is difficult to explain!
Xoxo
Beksi