Au pair?

[GrandSupreme]

Well, me and my SO in the very early process of closing the distance next year. Right now we are still only talking about our options, but agree that it would be best that I take a year out (doing some kind of work) learning both French and Dutch, although my focus will be on dutch as he resides in the Flemish region of Belgium.

I live in the UK, so visa and stuff isnt going to be too much of a hassle,compared to if I were coming from an non member state. But the thing is, that the is little to no jobs available to those who speak just English, its just seen as a bonus to knowing French and/or Dutch.

Now, I have been looking into doing au pair work for that year, as it is very advantageous. Au pairs are entitled to a pretty large amount of days off (so I could still actually spend time with my SO), decent pay, and I also am allowed to take language classes. Although I am doing it mainly for my SO, I do have experience and actually like kids, so they wont be neglected in my care

I was wondering if anybody has been an au pair before? What was it like?

[kirbycat]

I've never been an au pair, but it's an option I've always held in the back of my mind in case all my other career options should ever fall through I do know a couple people who have done it in different parts of Europe - it sounds like a pretty cushy deal (assuming you like kids and don't mind working for rich people), and a nice way to experience different parts of the world. I say go for it!

[lademoiselle]

I've considered this more than once in the past; I had an account on here and was even contacted by a couple of prospective host families. Nothing but changes in my circumstances meant I never took them up on their offers, so if you're prepared and happy to step into a role like this, I think you should go for it too

[Dziubka]

A lot of my friends have been au pairs before and they all had pretty good experiences.

You could also try the European Voluntary Service (assuming you're under 30?). I did that for my gap year after I'd finished finished school. It's pretty easy because everything is organised for you and they even pay or refund your ticket.

[snow_girl]

Oh I have a thing or two to tell you about being an aupair. I was an au pair for 12 months in Germany and I got paid the best out of all the other aupairs I knew. 400 euros a month, the standard is about 270 a month. They pay little because you get food and live with them for free. You might get lots of days off but people who hire au pairs like to use them as slave labour. I would have to work late or the weekend at the drop of a hat. There were many times I'd made plans but because bitch face decided to go out I had to cancel my plans. It makes it really hard to say no to their requests when you live with them. You can't just say I can't work and not have a good reason for it cause if you don't and you just want to read or sleep early then you might as well be watching the kids.
I can tell you more if you want but I have to eat now. I would highly recommend watching THe Nanny Diaries before deciding to do it, it paints a very realistic picture into the life of a nanny/au pair.

[lucybelle]

So I think it'll either be awesome or awful. I didn't quite au pair, but I did go on an exchange type thing where I took care of kids and cleaned during the day, and I got free room and board. It was painful. The kids were monsters who I just wanted to shake, with super over protective parents who would yell at me when I would reprimand the kids. They also never could tell when I cleaned anything because the house was such a fucking pigsty. One day I spent a full 2 hours cleaning JUST the bathroom, and the next day they asked me to clean it. They couldn't even tell all the work I put in.

My mom did an au pair job when she was 18 in Spain. And like snow_girl said, she was like the slave labor. They used to make her cut the grass with scissors. But that was back in Franco days.

[GrandSupreme]

Thank you all for your replies! I'll definitely have to re-think my options and decide if its going to be worth it. Also, thank you Dziubka, for telling me about the youth volunteering, I found some very useful information about moving from there
I will also have a look film, as I want to be fully in the know before I commit myself to anything I'll later regret!

[Dziubka]

If you have any questions about the EVS, I'll be more than happy to answer.
During my EVS I had a flatmate who did it to close the distance with his girlfriend (and they're now happily married). I had one of the best years of my life so far and I didn't even like the work I did that much. In my flat we were 6 people from 6 different countries (Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, France, Spain and Macedonia) and we had the best and worst times together and so much fun.

There's a project database online, so you can check whether there are any interesting project in your SO's area and take it from there.