One week of language course with my English teacher Kate 

Following my three months as Granny in a family with two adorable little girls in Wollongong (near Sydney), I was able to take a three weeks holiday. As it was July I wanted to go North to Cairns - sun, Great Barrier Reef and then to the Kakadu National Park via Darwin. At the same time I had the wish to improve my English and had already booked one week of language course in Cairns via the Language Club in Germany. To find the right teacher for me, Ms Dörwaldt questioned me about my interests, preferences and wishes, and soon Kate was found, where we both had the feeling that we would match. This impression was strengthened during the week, we liked eachother from the start and I had a wonderful time with her.

Kate lives near Cairns in Kurunda in the rain forest, she owns an acre of "garden", the wallabees always came to visit us, when we were involved with grammar, syntax, auxilary verby and prepositions on the veranda. I had booked four hours of lessons daily and was coached two to three hours in the morning and then we spent the rest of the time on outings.

It was exciting to discover the surroundings with her and to watch the animals unknown to me. At the same time she was able to convey the feeling for the language intonation and it was up to me how much vocabulary I was able to learn and to use actively. Kate invited friends twice for the evening so that I could participate in interesting Australian conversation. It was great, to be without children just this once and the week flew by! I lived in a lovely room, was served delicious food and am very happy to have treated myself to this luxury!

Now I am continuing my travels, have an even better understanding of Australian life and feel more secure in the English language.

Hello dear Granny-Aupairteam in Hamburg,

now I want to send you a few warm greetings from America with the best experiences I could undergo in the last months !!! This time last year I was not really sure if I should start this adventure as a Granny Aupair.

You have to have a certain amount of courage and inner willingness to overcome one's weaker self to take these steps.

Eventually your workshop and especially your great book fascinated me so much that there were no holds barred any more.

I quickly compiled my profile, it was made accessible and my adventure began.....Kurzerhand habe ich mein Profil erstellt, es wurde freigestellt und mein Abenteuer begann...

  A family of five from California contacted me (even though America was not really on my list of favourites) and we got on very well from the first Skype talk :-)) The flights were booked an an English course taken (I should have started two years earlier!!).

Im März ging mein Flug über den großen Teich nach Kalifornien.
Die Eindrücke, die mich von diesem Moment an so emotional beeindruckt haben, waren unbeschreiblich.

In March my flight crossed the " big pond" to California. The impressons that impressed me so emotionally from this moment onward were incredible.

My lovely host family with their enchanting children and the family dog Willy were very likeable from the beginning.

My job was solely to speak German with the children, to drive the older ones to school and to their afternoon activities.

I spent most of my time with the youngest and the large dog was happy about every walk.

I lived in my own poolhouse, it was very large and with a comfortable interior. It was like paradise.

San Francisco was not far away and a fascinating city for me.

As a resumee I can say that it was such an indescribably lovely experience to travel to America as a Granny Aupair, with new interesting tasks given to me.

It was pure pleasure to have dared to take this step in my life!

....THANK YOU for your fanstatic organisation .......


Anke

Dear Granny- Aupair-Team,

Many greetings once again from the Far East!
Shanghai is one of the most extraordinary and fascinating stay of all in my life as an aupair. This is why I have flown here for a fourth time and will be staying with Sophia up to the summer holidays.

From Frankfurt the flight takes 12 hours. The luggage holds everything I was asked for even simple things like baking yeast, vanilla sugar, pudding, clear broth, salad mix and tins of sausages. Up to today I do not know if this kind of import is allowed.

I was always fascinated by the oriental with its abundance of colurs. In my former dreams I already saw myself running after s flag waving guide inmidst a hord of tourists. Unfortunately that kind of holiday would not have been my thing at all. I am all the more happy to have been able to get to know this piece of Earth in a very unusual way aided by the family on site.

This way you can experience things, you would never have experienced otherwise but also very emotional things.

You discover Shanghai from quite another side. And sometimes you have to be quite "hard-boiled".

For instance regarding the cuisine:
It takes some getting used to for a European. You see animals boiling in a steaming pot, which you would prefer not to see there and suddenly a duck's head looks at you from the soup. In another bowl you see cooked or cold breaded chicken feet to gnaw.

There are always at least 8 dishes to choose from standing on a turning disc on the table, even if only three people are sitting at table. Some are totally delicious. The small bowl of rice is just a side issue in this case.

Or the many homeless dogs on the street, which touch my heart every day. There are supposed to be one million of these furry friends in Shanghai alone. Thus I always have some dog food in my bag next to my personal things.

The Chinese families have very high expectations of their children. Sophia was born in Germany during her mother’s university studies and when she was 4 years old they returned to her Chinese family to Shanghai

Here she is learning English and Chinese in addition to German in the third form of the German School. Moreover she visits a Chinese School every Friday afternoon, when she is fetched by her parents, to learn more Chinese characters. The Saturday is filled with ballet and painting lessons before I can welcome her for another week on Sunday evenings. To crown everything there is a piano in the flat, where she has to practise for at least half an hour daily to meet the expectations of the external piano lessons in the school. Before they go to bed tired out in the evening, the children mostly have a ten hour learning day behind them.

This was another small glimpse into the life of a Shanghai family, which normally remains hidden to a tourist.

With its variety of symbols, with its lucky and unlucky numbers, the color symbols, traditional teachings (Feng Shui), acupuncture and so on, China enjoys a high reputation.
A proverb says: "When Chinese culture flew as a bird in the sky, other cultures were just learning to move their wings".
And I think this proverb is by no means based on arrogance.

Many warm greetings from Evelyn and Sophia

Dear Granny au Pair,

I signed out with you in November 2016. It has been a thrill to become a Granny au Pair and have so many wonderful opportunities knowing so many people, lovely children, new places, etc!
I have all 2017 busy and I will be traveling to Denver, Honolulu, San Juan PR, Peoria Illinois, and White Plains NY!
I have been enjoying lovely Herisau Appenzell, Switzerland since the 1st of the year! I wanted to visit the famous Library in St. Gallen, the very famous Paracelsus Clinic as I am a naturopath myself, and I have been traveling quite a bit all over this part of Switzerland and also Locarno, the Italian side! I have improved greatly my German and I just do not have enough words to thank you for having this wonderful organization!
I will certainly sign up again should I want to travel some more and meet more wonderful people. In the meantime I wish you the best in this new year for Granny au Pair!

Best regards,
Teresa from Ecuador!