IRC-Galleria

If you are or have been an Au Pair in the US, then you will find yoursel in that :

You know you are an Au Pair in the US when...

...you always introduce yourself with "hi, my name is (your name), I'm from (country) and I have (amount of children you are taking care of) children!

...everybody is greeting you with a "Hi! How are you?" and you can't respond fast enough. So, say it first!

...the worst thing is when the dad works from home

...you spend all your money at the Mall and you still have nothing to wear

...you hate Dora, Hannah Montana and SpongeBob

...you say "silly" instead of "stupid"

...You go to PLAYDATES

...you've seen more movies in one month than in your whole life at home

...you drive over 30 minutes to a friend's house and you think it's not far

...you only have other Au Pairs as your friends

...you can make bacon

...you say 'like' and 'totally' every three words

...someone ask you stupid questions like "Do you have cars in your country?" or " You don't have Valentine's day??" or "Where is your country?"

...you don't think it's wrong to have cake AND ice cream

...you park as close as possible from the store so that you don't have to walk even one yard, too far

...you cherish moments of silence more than ever before

...you say 'GOOD JOB' a hundred times per day

...you wonder why you slept so bad all night long and you notice the next morning that you slept on a barbie, sandtoys, etc...

...your host parents wake you up at 8.30 on a sunday morning to empty the dishwasher!

...you need to be creative to find new punishments because time-outs don't work anymore ;-)

...you're sure you don't want to have kids within the next 100 years!

...you're ready to drink anytime of the day

...you start to love Disney movies again

...you've learnt what being patient means

...you know what a LCC is

...you know you should never SHAKE A BABY!!!

...you take a nap after dropping the kids at school (even though you woke up only 2 hours ago :-D )

...you have to watch your host parents' dog while they're on vacation to the Carribean

...you are driving to the busstop to pick up your kids, even if it's only 200 meters away from your house!

...the kids call you mom cause you spend too much time with them

...you think $157.95 (or $160 for the luckiests) per week for all the reponsabilities you have is ridiculous

...your host parents leave you a note of the schedule of the day/week with really important stuff to do, like 'sharpen some pencils', 'cut some carrots' or 'organize the daughter's hair accessories'

...one cup of coffee doesn't make you awake anymore, it just makes you alive

...you use Purell instead of washing your hands

...you are the waitress (waiter) when your host parents have people over for dinner

...you miss the good ol' days when you could go to the bakery and get real bread and real butter (not that American shit they call bread...hahaha)

...you don't WALK to the bank, but DRIVE to get your money

...you sing children songs instead of songs from the radio

...you forgot what sleeping on a sunday morning means