Ok, I think it’s finally time to write a new post. I’m sorry that I went completely radio silent, but a lot has happened the last few weeks…
The reason for that is that I left my host family to find a new one.
As you may remember I sometimes wrote about me not connecting with the boys properly. That wasn’t so much of a problem, but I sometimes felt like they don’t even want me there.
Being an Au Pair can be quite a challenge. You live with people together who are supposed to be your new family, but in the same time you have to work for them and get paid by them.
Some Au Pairs get really lucky and find a new family in their host family and feel like it’s their new home, but others – like me – are just hosted so it’s easier for them to work for the family. At least that’s what it felt like for me.
But it wasn’t only that I didn’t find a connection with the boys, I also had the feeling that the mother had expectations that I would never be able to fulfill and I didn’t know of before, or I may have never had chosen this family.
I had some ‘nice’ conversations with my host mum from time to time where she would ask me why I’m not connecting with the boys. During this talks I always had the feeling she made it out to be my fault only, while I had the impressions that the boys just don’t want to do things with me and therefore I could try as much as I want.
Often I also had to put up with a 11-year-old boy scolding me for things I haven’t done. Or he would tell me that what I’ve said is wrong. I know I came here to improve my english, but the things he corrected weren’t even wrong but rather something he didn’t like personally.
At one point it just all was enough. I’ve been there two months and at the beginning everything was looking fine, but soon the first problems arose. Back then I thought it’s not that bad and you can go through with it a whole year. However, it didn’t stopped with these few things but more came along. Things started to pile up and then I started thinking if I really want to put up with all this for another 10 months.
The answer was: NO!
So I had to think about what to do… I was pretty sure that no matter what I’m trying to tell the mother, nothing would change. The only option that sounded as if it would work, was changing the family. But I was so happy when I found a family and I also didn’t want to let the one family down, so I didn’t just want to make this life-changing decision without thinking about it thoroughly.
Because I also had a big Au Pair meet-up coming up and knew some people from my agency would be there, I decided to talk to them in person. Tell them the problems I’m facing, how I feel with all of this and then ask them what I can do in this situation.
As I hoped the talk went well and they told me that I would have to tell the family that I want to leave and then the two weeks notice would start and they would start looking for a new family for me.
But they also told me that they can understand my trouble and my wish to change.
A big help in all of this was not only my family, but also the previous Au Pair of my host family. After a long talk on the phone we realised that we had all the same problems.
Not only the same problems, but also the same conversations with my host mum.
Sadly she was too afraid that she wouldn’t find a new family in the two weeks notice and therefore she stayed with the family.
On Sunday, 2nd October I then finally told my host mum my decision. Even though she said she couldn’t understand why, she would just have to accept the fact, since I’m grown up and old enough to make my own decisions and also because she can see that I already made up my mind.
We agreed that I won’t tell the boys anything and that we’ll talk to the agency the next day to get everything started.
Th next day I was asked if it would be ok for me to work two more days after the two weeks notice and then would leave either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.
The agency started to look for new families for me straight away, but sadly there weren’t that many. Even though I had quite a lot Skype calls with families and also met with two personally, I still hadn’t found a new family.
After week 1 of my two weeks my german agency sent my profile to all their other english partners and I signed up on aupairworld.com, but that also didn’t helped to find something new.
On Wednesday, 19th October I then had to leave the family. Sadly I haven’t had the chance to say goodbye to the boys.
After my host mum dropped me off at the tube station I took the tube to Finchley Central where I went to my language school to meet a friend from my class who offered me a bed for one night.
The next day I went to my ex host family’s cleaner. She also offered me a place to stay. And even though I could have stayed with her for longer, I didn’t want to bother her too much. But I really enjoyed being with her, especially because she has two really sweet children!
On Saturday morning I then took a MegaBus+ to Scunthorpe to stay with friends of my family for a while.
Originally I never planned to stay in Lincolnshire that long, but in the end I stayed there for nearly a month.
It took me all this time to find a new family and even though I found my new host family at the beginning of November I had to stay there a bit longer since I can’t start there until the end of November.
After being away from London for nearly a month I felt the need to finally go back to London.
So on Monday, 14th November, I packed my bags and went on my way back to London.
After looking into different options, I found a family who was happy to host me until I can move to my new family.
They have a 1-year-old girl they asked me to help look after. When I arrived at St.Pancras National Train Station I changed to King’s Cross and took the Piccadilly line to Oakwood where the family collected me.
On Monday evening they just introduced me to most of the things I had to know and let me settle in. I then had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday morning the family left to visit friends and family in Poland. Luckily I was allowed to stay alone at their house and therefore had enough time for myself. On some days I just stayed home and on other days I went to central London.
Tuesday night they came back from Poland and I was back to work on Wednesday. After just three days of work another week was over and I off for the weekend again.
Yesterday was then my last day of work with this family and after I’ve packed all my things I left the family this morning and travelled to my new family.
Finally, after such a long time, I can start with my new family! Fingers crossed that everything will work out this time around and I will have a good time!
You may wonder what this family is like… I can just share some facts with you as I don’t know the family that well yet.
They are a dutch family with three boys from the age of 3, 6 and 8. They live in Fulham, a nice area quite close to central London (Zone 2).
The family seems really lovely from the chats we had and also from getting to know them and finally meeting them on my first day.
But also the things the previous Au Pair had to say about them, helped to choose this family. She told me that she haven’t had any problems with them and they accepted her as a new family member and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye.
It gives me hope and confidence that this time everything will be different!
But it already feels different to my first family – in a completely positive way!
When I met the second oldest, he first introduced himself in a proper way and not only a minute later he hugged me and told me that I’m nice. And that wasn’t the last time that happened.
With all this being said I want to say goodbye for now, but a lot more is to come!
Another chapter begins and hopefully you all want to come along!
Sorry again for keeping you waiting for so long and thank you to all the people who checked on me because I haven’t posted for so long! You’re the best!!
And also a very big thank you for all the people who helped me out, either by taking me in or just storing a big part of my belongings! THANK YOU!
See you again soon!
Vicky Xx
Vicky's London 