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. 

Fortnight of au pair hell begins

This Monday morning I got up, dressed and went to breakfast. Unlike most mornings, I was not greeted with the sound of fighting over cereal, or the microwave pinging as it churns out porridge. The kitchen was dark, and the dad was getting ready for work without being harassed for apple juice or goodbye kisses. But do not be fooled by this illusion of calm, dear reader. The children were asleep, and as I write this are STILL asleep, but they are merely resting in preservation of the two weeks of hell that is about to descend on all the au pairs in Paris today.

A beautiful sunrise to start the week

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.