Be an Au Pair in America

We had a forward email among au pair, just for au pair.
I had modified it according to my own feeling and experience.
Just a little sharing with you, about my life being an Au Pair in US.
* in case you don't know, Au Pair = Nanny = Babysitter

May 2007

...everybody is greeting you with, "Hi, how are you?" and you can't respond fast enough, so you say it first!
(Actually they not really want to know "How are you?" This is just how they start the conversation. And even live in the same house, when I receive phone call from my host parents, they always start with "Hi, how are you?")

...the worst thing is, when the host dad is working from home.
(My host dad started to work from home couple months ago, it is totally annoying, cos his office near my room, his always woke me up from my nap when his on business call.)

...you know about Dora, The Wiggles and Thomas.
(The youngest girl that I taking care love all the cartoons.)

...you go to PLAYDATES.
(Playdate is the mother among 2 kids, they agree a time for their children gather together, for playing, it can held in either of their house. I like they have playdates, so that I can free from them. hehe... In Malaysia, we can just go to friends house, but here everything need to make appointment before!)

...you only have other Au Pairs as your friends.
(Luckily I go to Buddhist Temple whenever I free, so I also have friends from temple, and we speak Mandarin.)

...you can make bacon, and you eat bagel.
(I never know bacon and bagel when I was in Malaysia. At here, I have to make them everyday, cos 2 of my kids love to eat bacon with bagel as a breakfast. At the end, I also love bacon and bagel.)

...someone has asked you stupid questions.
Such as:
"Where is your country?" (not much American know Malaysia)
"You don't have Valentine's day?" (at here, Valentine's day is not only for couples, it's included kids)
"Do you have __ in your country?" (the things they asked normally we also have them in Malaysia, but they thought we don't have it, so sometime I wonder, izzit they thought that we live in the jungle =.=''' )

...you park as close to the store as possible so you don't have to walk even one yard too far.

March 2008

...you cherish moments of silence more than ever before.

...you notice yourself saying 'GOOD JOB' a hundred times a day.
(American always praise the children, even thought they no really done something very good.)

...you feel exhausted after working, because the kids like monkeys, you use a lot of energy to deal with them.
(That's why I usually go to bed very early, around 11pm.)

... you need to be creative to find new punishments because a time-out doesn't work anymore.

...you're sure you don't want own kids within the next 100 years.
(for me, I still want to have my own kids, but I had delay the years for pregnant :p )

...you know now exactly how difficult it was for your parents to have little kids and you feel like saying thanks for all you've done to your mum and dad every day.

...you're ready to drink anytime of the day.

...you start to love Disney movies again and can copy every passage of them.

...you've learned what it means to be PATIENT.

...you know that you should never SHAKE A BABY!!!
(For Chinese, we shake a baby when they are crying, to calm them down. But in US, you not allow shake a baby, because it was a case that a baby died from the babysitter that tried to stop the cried baby by shaking.)

June 2008

...you take a nap, after you dropped of the kids at school. (after being up for just 2 hours.)
(At weekday I start to work at 6.35am, wake up the kids, feed them breakfast, then drop them off to school, after everything done is around 8am, I usually have a nap right after that or anytime in the middle of the day, so that I have more energy to deal with the kids when they come home from school.)

...you are DRIVING to everywhere, even though is 200 meters from your house.

...the kids call you mummy cause you spend too much time with them.
(The youngest kids that I taking care call me Mummy Kikey.)

...you think USD$177 per week for all responsibilities that you have is RIDICULOUS.
(I am a nanny, a driver, a private tutor, a chef, a cleaning lady, even a "MOM" and etc.. in Hokkien we say it as "bao shua bao hai" 包山包海)

...instead of singing the latest song from the radio, your sing the children songs.

... one cup of coffee doesn't make you awake anymore, it just makes you ALIVE.
(I started to NEED coffee.)

...you ask the waiter to wrap the leftover foods, and take it home from restaurant!!!
(We never do that in Malaysia, but in US, this behavior is common)

...you use drive-thru instead of walk in.
Such as:
1. Bank have drive-thru ATM machine and drive-thru window that has bank officer to serve you
2. Drive-thru fast food for KFC, McD, Wendy...
3. Drive-thru Starbuck, Dunkin' Donuts!!! (I don't think we have it in Malaysia)

...you use Purell instead of washing your hands


actually is the endless lists....
but I will just stop here...