LiLi au pair aux USA

Dear Family,

As I am writing this letter, I realize that my plan to become an Au Pair in the United States is beginning to take shape, and I am very excited !

My name is Aurélie, I am a French 20-year old girl living in Velizy, a little town between Paris and Versailles. I live with my mother Chantal (50, a secretary). I really love animals, that’s why I also live with my dog Praline and my guinea-pig Caramel. My father Jean-Marc (55, he’s retired) lives in the countryside with my stepmother, about 1 hour from me, I don’t see him a lot but I am very close to him, I call him at least once a week. Then comes my sister, Murielle (33), who lives with her husband and her son, just a few miles from my mother and me so that we can see them very often and easily. Even if we don’t live together anymore, my family remains a great part of my life, as they are very important for me. They all support me in my plan to become an Au pair, thinking that it would be a fantastic experience.

I currently am a student in English Literature and Civilization and I will obtain (I hope!) my licence at the end of the term. The English language has always sounded particular to me, I know that I want to do a job implying speaking English, and I want to live abroad for one year in order to become imbued with American culture. After some research, I heard about the Au pair program and I instantly, with the agreement of my family, joined the program, because Iiving in the USA for one year as an au pair is an opportunity I can’t miss.

To perfect my English is not the only thing that made me choose the Au Pair program, the other is of course that I really love children. I have started to take care of them for about 5 years. The first children were Albéric and Inès, respectively 1 and a half and 3 and a half. I occasionally took care of them during 2 years when their parents went out at night and sometimes all the day during holidays. With them I learned how fulfilling it was to spend time with children, helping them to have their bath, to eat, to dress up, and above all playing with them and telling them stories... From that moment I realized that I was not going to stop baby-sitting before a long time.

I’ve been taking care of Lénaïc and Axelle (now 9 and 6) for 4 years. I look after these two lovely girls every Wednesday afternoon and sometimes at night. I have to bring them to the pony-club, and I really love these moments when we are the three of us in the car, singing and laughing, until we get the club, then I watch them making so much progress on their little ponies... When we go back at home, I give them the snack and while it’s time for Lénaïc to do her homework, it’s time for Axelle to play with her neighbour who often comes at home. Then we often go to the park or to take a walk in the woods when the weather is nice, or when it is not, we stay at home and play together, cook desserts, draw, paint... All kind of manual activities. I also made them love the old Walt Disney movies that I grew up with, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and I am really proud of that ! I have the chance of taking care of them since a long time, so that I saw them grow up and evolve, it is a fantastic experience and I really consider them as part of my family.

During this period, I also took care of a little girl named Emilie (almost 2 years old at the beginning) some nights to help the parents. She is a little girl very calm, always smiling and funny. Most of time I was here to put her to bed after the bath and dinner, and she literally couldn’t sleep if I didn’t tell a story, her favourite being about a blue rabbit looking for all his friends in a farm. So cute !

My best experience with babies comes from my nephew Lucas, who is going to be 3 years old in May. I have taken care of him since his birth, because my sister often wanted me to look after him on evenings and during holidays, and of course each time I jumped at the chance. I really loved these moments when we were just the two of us, while I was bottle-feeding him, then bathing him... Taking care of a baby is a particular experience, because you really feel important, and you attend every phase of his life, his first words and first steps, his discovery of what is around him. It is so special and rewarding ! Now that Lucas is older, I play with him at football, or we go to the park, as he has so much energy to spend ! I saw him growing up weeks after weeks, and I simply love him !

Finally, I also experienced teaching when I gave English lessons to a 13-year-old boy, Alexandre, who had some difficulties to understand this language. Last year I saw him once a week, during one hour. I tried to interest him to this subject, and I think I did it well because his marks increased a lot during the year !  In fact I just tried to put a link between his hobbies and the lessons, in order to make English more attractive for him : for example, together we translated in French songs that he really loved ; he put a lot of himself into it and as a consequence, he learnt very fast ! Sometimes he told me about his life at the school, his friends, love... Because indeed it was also my role, at that time, to listen to him and to give him some advice in the light of my personal experience. Once again it was an interesting experience, which made me realize that it is fulfilling to take care of any child or adolescent, no matter his age.

Now, maybe it is time for you to learn more about me ! I am a very optimistic person who thinks that life is a gift, that’s why I really want to make the most of it, and take all the opportunities to discover the world with its diversity of culture, traditions,... My family and my friends are very important for me, so I spend much time going out with them, which means going out to the cinema or to the theatre, going cycling, bowling, roller-blading, ice-skating... I can’t wait to do these same activities with your family ! All that in addition to little more calm activities like drawing, painting, cooking, doing modelling clay, playing at board games, and even why not creating our own play ! Indeed, I have done some acting for 3 years, including improvisations, and I love it, it encourages creativity and self-confidence, above all in children. About my other hobbies, I like reading, watching good films, listening to music and surfing on the Internet (when I’m alone). I am often said to be a very smiling person and always laughing. I think I am a sociable girl, open-minded, funny but responsible, and reliable. And above all, I am really motivated and impatient to spend one year in the United-States, to discover a new way of life with you and your children that I can’t wait to know ! And if you want, I will be very glad to tell you more about my culture, my traditions in my country, France !

I thank you for having read my letter, I hope that you liked it and that it made you want to know more about me. I surely want to know more about you, but until then I just want you to know that I will do my best to be a great Au pair, for you and for your children.

I hope to hear from you soon, and to become a new part of your family !

Yours sincerely,

Aurélie

Je suis assez fière de les avoir entièrement faits main ! A ce qu'il paraît, les familles y sont sensibles...

Voici donc mes collages :

Et again, merci à Jo qui a coupé et collé l'arbre du collage "Famille", et merci à mon homme qui a retouché la photo de mon neveu (pour faire apparaître un fond bleu) dans le collage "Enfants".

Le 14 mai, mon dossier est ENFIN en ligne sur le site américain. Autrement dit, il est visible par les familles américaines. Dès cet instant, les familles intéressées nous sélectionnent pour une "interview", elles ont alors accès à nos adresses mail et numéros de téléphone, et sont censées nous appeler (ou du moins entrer en contact avec nous) dans les 48h suivant la sélection sur le site. C'est de la théorie car en pratique, elles peuvent ne jamais donner signe de vie comme j'ai pu le constater...

Quand on est sélectionné, on reçoit un petit mail d'AuPairCare qui nous dit que telle famille est intéressée : on sait leur adresse mail, où elle habite, le nombre d'enfants, et on peut lire la lettre que la famille adresse à l'au pair.

Ainsi, dès l'acceptation du dossier aux States, autant le dire clairement, on devient complètement cinglé et on vérifie ses mails toutes les 5 minutes dans l'espoir de voir le tant attendu "Aurélie - Important notification from AuPairCare".

Voici la liste des familles qui m'ont sélectionnés, avec en gras celles qui m'auront directement contacté, et entre parenthèse pourquoi ça n'a pas abouti :

- 15 mai : Famille G***, 3 enfants, Los Angeles en Californie (jamais eu de nouvelles)

- 18 mai : Famille H***, 2 enfants, New York City à New York (enfants trop jeunes)

- 19 mai : Famille N***, 3 enfants, Perkasie en Pennsylvanie (père taxidermiste et fervent chasseur )

- 23 mai : Famille T***, 3 enfants, Alpharetta en Géorgie (chat, je suis allergique^^)

- 25 mai : Famille N***, 2 enfants, Atlantic Beach à New York (jamais eu de nouvelles)

- 25 mai : Famille A***, 2 enfants, Alexandria en Virginie (super famille, mais j'ai dû choisir...)

- 28 mai : Famille T***, 2 enfants, Redmond à Washington (2 jumeaux de 1 an, trop dur pour moi^^)

- 29 mai : Famille K***, 3 enfants, Scituate dans le Massachusetts (dispo qu'à partir de septembre, et je veux partir le 10 août exactement pour être avec ma Jo dans le gros navion)

- 1er juin : Famille H***, 3 enfants, Greenwood Village dans le Colorado (rien à redire  )

Comme on peut le constater à travers toutes ces péripéties et toutes ces démarches, le maitre-mot qu'il faut retenir quand on veut être au pair, c'est la patience !!

Le 1er juin donc, une famille du Colorado m'envoie un mail, très intéressée, et m'appelle le soir même. C'est la mère qui m'appelle, Tiphaine, elle est française et on reste plus d'1h30 au téléphone ! (sachant qu'un appel moyen dure 30 minutes). On parle de tout et de rien, de mes expériences, de ses enfants... Elle a des jeunes filles au pair depuis 6 ans, donc elle est calée sur le sujet ! lol

Le lendemain, j'ai le mari au téléphone, Jack (il a l'air rigolo lol) pendant que Tiphaine appelle une de mes références, ma maman, et enfin moi, pour me dire que ce qu'elle pensait de moi s'était avéré vrai, et donc que je l'intéressais beaucoup. Elle me donne l'adresse mail de son au pair actuelle pour que je lui parle un peu, et me dit qu'elle me rappellera le vendredi 5 pour la décision finale.

Le jeudi je parle donc avec Charlotte, l'au pair, très sympa, elle m'assure que la famille est très gentille et que les enfants sont adorables. A partir de là je n'ai plus vraiment d'hésitation, si ils veulent de moi je dirai un grand OUI !!

Tiphaine me rappelle donc vendredi soir comme convenu, et vient la question tant attendue : "Veux-tu être notre au pair ?" "OUIII !!!!" 

Ainsi donc, me voilà la future au pair de Méliane (8 ans), Aveline (5 ans) et Jaiden (1 an) !

Je préparerai les filles pour l'école le matin, je m'occuperai du petit bout toute la journée et des filles quand elles rentreront de l'école vers 15h45, et ce jusqu'à environ 18h. Voili, voilou !!!

Je pars le 10 août de Paris, fais un stage à New York de 3 jours (passage obligé des au pairs, on y retrouve de toutes les nationalités, c'est assez sympa apparemment ) puis arrive dans ma famille, à Greenwood Village  dans le Colorado (à quelques miles de Denver la capitale, rassurez-vous je ne serai pas dans la campagne profonde, car c'est ce que tout le monde pense quand je dis que je vais dans le Colorado... On n'est plus à l'époque du Docteur Quinn donc quand on ne sait pas, on se tait ), le 13 août, pour une année complète !

Et on récapitule !

- 10 février : envoi du bulletin d'inscription

- 22 février : entretien

- 26 février : entretien accepté, je commence le dossier !

- 17 avril : envoi du dossier papier

- 5 mai : soumission du dossier "online"

- 14 mai : dossier accepté, je suis en ligne !

- 8 juin : match avec la famille du Colorado !

Ce qui fait un total de 4 mois, c'est la moyenne, ça peut prendre moins de temps comme beaucoup plus ! Car en effet, j'ai eu la chance d'avoir quand même pas mal de familles intéressées sur AuPairCare, et j'ai pu constater sur le forum que ce n'était pas aussi simple pour tout le monde.

Donc bon courage à tous ceux qui se lancent dans l'aventure, comme je l'ai dit précédemment, tout est une question de patience