My name is Alena Hartmann, I'm 19 years old, I'm from Germany
and I was in New Zealand with Au Pair Link for 9 months.
After I finished school, I didn´t really know what to do with my
life, so I decided to visit another country and to do what I still
love to do, take care of children.
But being so young and leaving your home country to go to a
place on the other side of the world, where no one knows you and
you don´t know anyone, is frightening!
In more appropriate words, I was really concerned. What if my
host family doesn´t like me? What if I don´t come along with the
children? What if I don´t understand a word? What if I get
homesick? Will I make friends? Will I get bored taking care of
children for 9 months?
Honestly, it will take a little time until you settle in and get
to know your host family. But Au Pair Link is a huge support with
that. My Programme Manager was Morgan, I loved her from the first
time I met her. The first thing you notice is that she has a really
husky voice and she talks heaps but what´s more important, she
listens. You have no other choice than feeling comfortable when she
is around. She loves her job so much and she´s such a happy person,
I couldn´t help but smile the whole time she visited. Morgan came
to check on Lulu (my host child) and me every month and asked me if
there were any problems with my host family or my host child or if
I was homesick. And I wasn´t the only one being happy to see
Morgan, Lulu loves her, too (one of the reasons could be that
Morgan brought new toys to play with every month).
Morgan helped me to get in contact with other au pairs nearby
and there are playgroups (like kindergarten but for au pairs and
their children) where you meet so many other au pairs, so it´s
nearly impossible to not make friends. Apart from that, Au Pair
Link organizes things like zoo trips or picnics for you and your
host child. So there´s pretty much no space to get bored.
And if you need a little distance from your children, Au Pair
Link also plans day trips for the weekend just for you and your au
pair friends, like bungee jumping or paddle boarding. I visited a
coffee group once a week where all the au pairs living around me
came to, it was super fun (thank you to Maddie for that).
I have to admit, I don´t really know how it is to not come along
with your host children or your host family, mine was awesome. But
what I know is that if there´s a problem going on with that, your
Programme Manager will be there for you to help you with all kind
of trouble and if there´s no way out they will help you to find
another family. But even having the perfect host family, there
probably will be a time when you get homesick and that´s normal.
And when that happens it´s nice to have support, support Au Pair
Link gives you through your Programme Manager and through your
friends you made with Au Pair Link.
Big thank you to Au Pair Link, to my friends, to my host family
and especially to Morgan for being such a great support!
Alena