My hardest time as an au pair gave me the greatest time as an au pair!

During my time as an au pair, I faced some rocky times too, and I am going to share the story that turned my entire time in the USA upside down - the good kind upside down!

I was in my room with my suitcase packed, tears running down my cheeks. I had just spoken with my sister back home in Sweden. It's only two years between us but for some reason I felt like she was about ten years older with her knowledge and determination. We had just hung up the phone and the ticket home would have been only few clicks away. At that time I had spent about 6 months in the USA and this family was not working out at all for several reasons.

We had tried talking and I had been in great contact with Cultural Care Au Pair's office in Boston and maybe been a bit too blue-eyed and optimistic about my rematch. Unfortunately things do not always work out - I believe that me and the family were more like oil and water rather than a good match -- we had very different lifestyles, believes and hopes for the au pair year.

As I was sitting there on the floor and looking at all the stuff that once seemed so important to bring over I realized I would do anything, give it all away in order to be happy and stay in the USA.  I had a dream of completing my au pair year, I had a strong feeling that the time (faith if so) had bigger plans for me and going home to my hometown was not an option.

I cried a lot during this day and decided to call my contact person at Cultural Care Au Pair to say that I obviously sucked at this job and wanted to go home.

Her voice was soft and she calmed me down and the sobbing turned to single tears. We talked about my year so far, she made me think of my year from another perspective, what could/should I have done and she made me own the mistakes I had done. This was most likely the most difficult conversation I had ever had, but at the same time it was probably the call that made me to the person I am today and the reason I stayed in the States in the end. The woman on the phone finally said, "I have one more family I would like you to speak to." I remember thinking that she was crazy and that it was a waste of time. I was not good at caring for children - or that was what I at least felt like at the moment!

The call with the family, the host mom come to change my life in so many ways.
We spoke for what felt like a lifetime, about my previous experience in the program, shared interests, the children and what they were looking for.
My mentality was "I will tell her all about me, about what went wrong and she will quickly realize that I suck at this job".

When the call came to an end, she said "Can I pick you up on Wednesday?" The feeling that came along was indescribable, happiness like the prince on a white horse had just arrived (now in the shape of a blue suburban car and mom of four was the only difference!) Karen took me home and I got to meet my four new host children that was very excited to be with me. The feeling of being loved and cared for was the best feeling since I left Sweden! Pulling into the driveway in Sacramento and I knew I was finally home!

I ended up extending my time with this family and gained so much confidence that I CAN DO it and I AM a great au pair! Today I pay it forward and love to help current au pairs to reach their dreams or fulfill their dreams to be in the USA as an au pair!

I will never go hungry as an au pair!

Some call it the most important meal of the day, some just skip it and go straight to lunch but I must say, skipping breakfast is like staying home on Black Friday AND that would NEVER happen!

Breakfast, yes the meal I love the most and USA has all the options for each taste!

My host family, love them very much but I will never understand their breakfast routines --the mom never had time and ran out of the door before I had even started working, the dad, he usually just ate a granola bar (a energy bar) and a cup of hot chocolate, very strange to this day, but as long as it satisfied his belly right?

In my family back home we always have breakfast together so this was a BIG culture shock, I came to realize that this is something I can show them, something from my very ow culture - so I took on this project and decided to introduce my passion for breakfast to the four kids. I actually many times used the breakfast as a way to get them all out of their beds fast!

Many days I made them pancakes, waffles, hot cereal or bacon. Yes it took some time but what I really like about breakfast is not the fact the lovely food but the time to spend with the family together before the day starts.

I would often sit with the children when they were eating and ask them what their day would be like. My six-year-old girl would tell me about the boyfriends, it was always 5 different boys in her school at the same time.  I often was left feeling like my own dating game was kind of boring compared to hers!

My best tips for great places in the USA are:

• Crape Escape- Sacramento, CA
• I.H.O.P (International house of pancakes) Located all over the U.S.A!
• Starbucks for awesome coffee and great bagels
• Dennis Dining for cheap and great eggs
• Peeta bread café, really good sandwiches!

Enjoy your breakfast time!

The moments that change your life

High School graduation was soon on the horizon and I knew I wanted a change. I had seen a pink poster in the hallway of our school saying something along the lines of “work in the USA as an au pair.” At fist I was not too sure even what an au pair really did but somehow I could not get the pink poster out of my head. At 3:20 p.m. when school was out, I wrote down the number from the poster and once home I called.

That phone call changed my life. I went from being curious to certain that I WANTED and HAD to be an au pair!

I started my application that night and worked really hard on collecting pictures from my daily life. I knew every picture, every finished section, would be one step closer to finding my future family.

The feeling of sending in my application was better than Christmas itself: the exciting feeling that soon my email would show “one unread message” and that message would be from a family matched with me!

 The day finally came and I remember my first interview. The woman’s voice on the other line was calm, nice and warm. She told me about her family, about their life and I could just feel that this match was meant for me!

Six weeks later and I was on the plane going to the USA for the very first time. The butterflies in my stomach kept me awake most of the flight and all I could think of was “I’m glad I made that call.”

-Amanda

Feelings of being back

It has been four years since I moved out of the house and away from my  host family on the other side of the Atlantic. The family I used to be an au pair for is big – six people, three cats, two snakes, fish tank and a dog who I still hold very near and dear.

The family and I became very close and I try to go back to visit them as often as I can, but it had been almost two years ago since I saw them last.  Before I left the last time the youngest of the four children was shorter than my shoulders. Now, two years later, both younger children are well over a head taller than me. For the first time I could no longer tell my host mom Karen that I will take the “small kids” (referring to both their size and their age) for ice cream.

 In the time since I last saw them, the kids had swapped their favorite Mountain Dew soft drink for coffee and traded riding Ripsticks for cars. The funny thing is that despite all these changes, seeing my family again was as if no time passed. We picked up right where we left off. The sweet greeting extended to the always happy but now also much older dog. The black Labrador had a matching set of white gray hair to the white beard around his mouth.

As soon as I walk up the driveway I know it’s only seconds until I have my American family back in my arms. That feeling of having a second family makes me feel so rich, having a family that loves me, open up their house and who welcomes me to stay there as long as I want.

I feel truly blessed to have found my second family in the USA.