Dear Granny Au Pair team,

Congratulations on your 5th Birthday! It is indeed a great achievement started by Michaela Hansen.
She is an inspiration to me.
I wish you many more successful years ahead - keep up the good work.

With good wishes,
Linda d. B.
Pretoria
South Africa

At last the time had come: a whole free year streched in front of me! The feeling is unbelievable: You know that you have a year to do things, you always wanted to do, or would have done earlier, if it had been possible. I for my part wanted to travel to England.

But not as a tourist, I wanted to experience the country in its daily life. Some time before I had heard about the possibility to live a while with a family as Granny Aupair. I knew that would be my path! ….And there were quite a lot of families looking for a Granny, not an easy decision. But then in was love at first sight – a lovely little girl smiled at me from a photo. Sent a query, skyped and everything felt right.

Naturally some things went a bit awry. Thus the mama ordered the taxi, to go to baby singing. I waited for the taxi driver in the house – but he – typically for England – waited in front of the home and drove off again! No baby singing that day :-))

Or I understood that I was supposed to give Aida pancakes for lunch, but it was the exact opposite – she wasn’t supposed to have any. But the lovely parents were able to laugh at this and I think that was very important and took away my insecurity.

Naturally communication was not without problems at the beginning, but everyone, really everyone I met was so helpful and nice; be it during a walk in the park, shopping, at  the gym – everywhere I met open and interested people.

Unfortunately I was not so courageous sometimes; I found a hiking group who went on hikes every week end; I sent them a query and they were looking forward to meeting me but I  did not find the gumption to go with them for a whole day. The next time I’ll be more daring.

And there certainly will be a next time! I now will have to work another few years until my pension, but if I feel fit enough again, there will be nothing stopping me from another Granny Aupair adventure!

For a long time I already had the wish to leave my daily life and normality for a time and get myself involved in a totally foreign culture, with other people, with a totally different life. I had already heard of Granny Aupair but still needed some time to get my teeth into the idea.
First I naturally had to talk with my husband if he would support the idea, if he had been totally against it, I would have cancelled the whole project - he was surprised but not against it. The only prerequisite was: Not longer than three months, but this had not been my intention anyway.

I contacted three families, always with the time factor in mind. My “Granny experience” was with a family in Abu Dhabi. I got to know “my family” per E-Mail and Skype We liked each other quite quickly and when the two little girls introduced me to their pets per skype the ice was broken.

End of February 2014 saw the start of my trip. The queasy feeling I had during the six-hour flight, left me very quickly when I was greeted by my host family at the airport with a welcome sign painted by the children.

I do not want to miss my time in Abu Dhabi with “my family” and my two lovely little girls. It was not hard for me to integrate myself into the family as both parents of the family welcomed me immediately as a matter of course. Already on my arrival at the airport I was able to answer the question whether I could bake the typical German “Vanillekipferl” biscuits, to general satisfaction. The Vanillekipferl were then part and parcel of every week and  following my departure Dishani from Sri Lanka is responsible for baking them.

After school in the early afternoon, I was responsible for the children until the parents came home from work. I spoke German with the girls, played, supervised homework (in English) and sewed a leopard costume sewn for a school project. I really grew very fond of the two girls I still like to think  back to the time with them.

When the children were at school, I had the opportunity to explore Abu Dhabi City by myself by bus or taxi and was overwhelmed by the sheer size, the architecture and the luxury in this desert emirate. Outside the family I had to speak English and that worked fantastically even though my English is far from perfect. I was also thrilled by the friendliness and helpfulness also of the locals.

At the weekends I joined the family at visits to their friends, visits to restaurants and there even was a weekend trip to a hotel in the desert, which was one of my absolute highlights during my stay in Abu Dhabi. In the truest sense of the word I was the temporary grandma, who joined in everywhere. I felt totally comfortable in my friendly and lovely host family.

I have to add that one should approach the Granny Aupair stay in an open and curious manner and with a willingness to become involved in whatever comes your way. It makes you more free, not fixated and it is more easy to accept unusual structures in the host family

“Granny Aupair’s info event and the subsequent workshop pleased me very much. The atmosphere was pleasant and harmonious. It was especially helpful to meet the Grannies and the perhaps future Grannies in person. I met open-minded and authentic who are honest with their feelings. Thus a workshop gives courage and joy. Also many thanks to Karoline, the workshop’s presenter. of She is a good mediator and answered all our questions with a lot of empathy and openness. At the end of our workshop, I was encouraged to break new ground."