I'm an au pair, not a mother in training

What I am about to say may surprise you. It may even offend some of you. But I think it's worth being honest about, as it perhaps goes against many of the stereotypes of being an au pair.

I'm not really interested in being a mother. I'm not even that interested in children.

Ok, I can almost hear the gasps and angry comments being thrashed out on poor unsuspecting keyboards - let me explain.

I'm just looking forward to the day when my handbag isn't full of compote.

When things go wrong

If you read a lot of au pair blogs you may well have the impression that working as an au pair in France involves a lot of sitting in cafes, drinking cafés noisettes and occasionally swanning around a museum looking profound. Certainly, this is true to an extent, we do get to do this. But we also work really hard and, as far as jobs go, it can vary wildly from life enriching experience to a living nightmare. Just like any other job, how bad it gets will vary depending on your office (the house), your boss (the Host Parents), your coworkers (the kids), and your contract. However, suffice to say, when it gets bad it can get really bad.

You may have noticed that the blog has not been updated much recently. That is because my experience has been going through one of these difficult times. Consequently I have not felt motivated enough to write much and I have felt even less motivated to go out and experience things in a worth writing about. But this blog is meant to be an honest account of my time as an au pair, and I guess the best and most honest thing to do is tell you about how bad things have been.

Turning 26 - I'm an old au pair.

So yesterday I turned 26. Yes, the slow descent to 30 has begun. With the vast majority of au pairs being in their late teens and early 20s, I find myself firmly in the category of older au pairs. There's not much in life that you can be 'too old for' at 26, but au pairing can sometimes feel like one of them.

I have no sarcastic comment - this was a genuinely nice cake made for me by the kids.

Money Matters - How much is an au pair worth?

Money. No-one likes talking about it.

No-one ever said that being an au pair was a way to get rich quick. Yes you are paid, but part of your payment comes in the form of your bed, food, and use of the washing machine. While this is amazing and incredibly generous on behalf of the family, it is difficult to convert into cold hard cash. In a city like Paris, where life is pretty expensive, that can be a problem for a young person who wants to see it all. I was getting by on my payments, not seeing everything, but seeing at least one interesting thing a week, when I got a shock.

On one of my last blog posts, someone mentioned that they felt I was being underpaid for the amount of work I do. A quick survey of other au pair friends and colleagues on my French course confirmed that I was being paid at least 5€ less a week than anyone else, in some cases 10€ less. That's when I finally sat back and thought about money seriously.

Holiday Hell and the frustrations of being an Au Pair.

So by now most of you have been au pairs for at least 1 month. You dealt with La Rentrée and you've finally sussed out what the kids like and do not like to eat. You've got your Navigo, and you've finally mastered enough french to get what you need. You have perfected the Parisian street style (black trainers, dark jeans, trench coat, scarf) and can walk with enough speed and confidence for people to believe you're local, or at least not try to drag you into their restaurant. You think you have it sussed. But now you are halfway through the first set of holidays, you have been working a 60 hour week entertaining the children while the parents are at work, and you've definitely caught some kind of illness from one of the kids. You are ready to scream. What has happened? Get ready for the rant...

This week I am feeling a lot of sympathy with the horses on the carrousel at the Jardins d'Acclimitation - going round and round in circles. 

My first month as an au pair - What I have learnt.

So my first month with the family is up. It's been a mad month, and I have learned a lot. To recap what has happened, here is a list of the 30 things I have learned during my first 30 days as an au pair

Coffee is BAE

So you've come down with the Au Pair Rhume...

1 month into your stay with the family, and you feel a bit tired. The initial adrenaline rush of living in a new city and a new country is starting wear off. Every morning you get up early to prepare breakfast. You hate rushing to school, and the weather has been changeable so you've been caught in more rain showers than you can count. The kids have been at school and mixing with other children, and have had a few sniffles or tousse. You've been running yourself ragged trying to pick up toys and get out to see Paris through the day. You must be feeling pretty tired right now, like you could go to bed and sleep for a full 24hrs... and is that a tickle in your throat?

You might have caught le rhume d'au pair!

Sources (i.e. facebook, Whatsapp, twitter, and word of mouth) reveal that several au pairs in Paris have succumbed to the condition and so here is your guide to surviving this unfortunate (but almost unavoidable) condition.

Where did the time go?

Alors! Bonjour! Ça fait longtemps!

Well I'm sorry for the lack of updates. It turns out that looking after children is incredibly time consuming. So is trying to adjust to a new country.

So what has happened since I last checked in?

Well, I've stepped on this about 100 times for a start....

La Rentrée

Bonjour from Paris! I am finally here! I hope you understand the lack of updates over the last fortnight - you can probably guess I was very busy!

I arrived last Friday at Charles de Gaulle airport just outside Paris where my new family was waiting to meet me (with a home-made banner - how cute). Despite a horribly early start, there were no problems during travel, and I managed to unpack a year's worth of clothes in one afternoon. I immediately took photographs of the Kitchen, because you can see la tour Eiffel from the window. After 3 nights the light show late at night is still beautiful to me.

La tour Eiffel from the kitchen

I have spent my time here so far out in Paris with the family, enjoying the last few days of the summer holiday. This has been accompanied by a heatwave in Paris - temperatures reaching above 30 degrees celsius. Considering I mostly packed for the upcoming Autumn, I not only found myself short on chic floaty dresses, but have also treated the Parisians to the sight of a very red-faced, overheated Brit who has spent the summer in Wales and the English countryside where the temperature barely made it over 20 degrees. How nice for them.

Hiding from the heat on the balcony - not a bad view.

However, last night it rained and this morning there are grey clouds over la tour Eiffel. There is a slight chill in the air, and the streets that had been mostly deserted except for some very tanned teenagers and a few old ladies with dogs are now filled with business men in suits and chic women with portfolios and silk scarves. This is the beginning of La Rentrée.

La Rentrée is the name given to the 'back to school period' in France, though it is much more than that. In August, many parts of France shut down almost entirely. Not only are the schools and government AWOL (as they are in the UK), but many shops, businesses and restaurants close as well. This means that some parts of Paris can feel a little bit dead, as not only are the businesses closed but many families leave the oppressive heat of the city for family homes in the countryside. Paris si mostly left to a few families, some pigeons, and a lot of hot and sweaty tourists.

This morning, my family's mum and dad (Teresa & Marc) have left for work. However, the children do not start back at school until tomorrow, so my first official day of work is going to be pretty intense! The eldest (Nina) has a music exam at 18:00, but the rest of the day I have to entertain them without giving in to their demands to watch the television.

Wish me luck!

x