My Dream Experience as an Au Pair in Canada
By: Aline Mory
Part 3:
Working through a pandemic
Even if the corona virus has been changing so much in the world it didn’t change that much in my life as an Au Pair. I mean of course my thoughts changed from “I’ll stay for another year” to “maybe I have to leave tomorrow” but luckily I could stay and work as planned until the end of June 2020. My host family was again very kind to me and gave me time to decide about staying or leaving but I didn’t want to leave at all and they still needed me so I stayed – which was the best decision of my life!
“Even if I had to cancel my travel plans for Canada, I’m still very grateful for the time
I spent with my host family during the lock down.”
Now I only had to work for 32 hours per week, from 9 am to 3 pm during the week and since school was closed and the classes were on hold I took care of both children playing inside or enjoying the spring and summer in our beautiful neighbourhood exploring bird’s nests etc. until 11:30 am. Both parents were working from home which was wonderful even though the situation with the “closed” office door wasn’t that easy all the time. After lunch, my tasks changed a little bit. I didn’t have to do bath and nap time with the kids anymore because my host parents were doing it. So I just had more time to walk Chewie around the block and do my household chores.
Even if I had to cancel my travel plans for Canada, I’m still very grateful for the time I spent with my host family during the lock down because I finally had a lot of time playing with Audrey too and we were all growing even more together going for a lot of hikes on weekends and discovering the beauty of London’s parks and forests.
Life lessons and experiences I took away from my time as an Au Pair
To be honest, I took away so many life lessons from my time as an au pair that I don’t even know if I can name them all. I definitely increased my English skills to a level I didn’t even dream of, I learned to love the Canadian culture (without losing my love for the German one), I learned some important things about education like how important love languages and time are for a child, I did have the opportunity to travel to Niagara Falls and New York just before corona and even though I couldn’t travel within Canada as planned between June and August 2020 I realized that you don’t fail if things don’t go as planned. I found some very close (Canadian!) friends and a second loving family and as my host aunt texted me “I’ve just grown and matured so much!” I found myself in different aspects and I finally knew what I want to study and how I want to live my life. I gained a lot of healthy confidence and of course I’ve learnt that communication and listening to your intuition are the most important steps to a happy and successful life! All in all my time as an Au Pair in Canada was perfect in every way and completely worth it even if some things didn’t go as planned!
I hope I could help you with my long blog post and if you’re interested in being an Au Pair yourself, don’t hesitate! Take the chance to develop your personality in a foreign culture and loving environment and try to be picky about the connection you have to your potential host family instead of their location. And even if the application process sounds tough for you, remember that you can do anything if you want, trust me!
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A big thank you to Aline and her wonderful host family for sharing their experience! Don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2 of the blog. To learn more about the Au Pair program, visit us online at www.adanacaupair.com
