I certainly got a lot of value out of 6 months in the Lopair Au Pair Programme and would certainly recommend it to any young person who excels but more importantly enjoys working with children.

As an 18 year old, coming to China has been my first adventure as a fully fledged adult and for that is has been perfect. You are still very much dependant for food and living and have to follow a strict schedule that may impact your social life but there is also a gain in responsibilities as you care for and mentor a child. I found living with my host family nothing like a work contract but instead I was very much integrated as one of them. Granted, living in a foreign country does involve certain obsticales but the family and my local coordinator were very caring in helping to overcome anything.

Before coming to Beijing, I was wondering how hard it would be to meet people. Turns out, five minutes after saying goodbye to my parents at the airport, I met another British boy headed for China with LoPair and since then we've become good friends despite the fact that we've been in different cities. I've made some friends for life while I've been in China and now it gives me an excuse to book a holiday and visit them some day.

To any person considering this opportunity, I believe the three most important characteristics you need to show in order to gain the most as an au pair is patience, open-mindedness and friendliness. In the end, your time spent here is a luck of the draw when you are matching with a host family so I can't emphasize enough to consider carefully when choosing. Some au pairs really hit it off with their families, some can be left a little in the rain. Luckily, I was one of the fortunate ones and got on very well with my host family. I look forward to keeping in touch as I go on to other adventures!

I am going to finish my 6 months program and I am so happy to feel how much my host kids have learnt during these months but also so sad to say goobye to my host family. I am very lucky to call them family now because they really make me feel part of them.

Hangzhou is an amazing city with a lot of history and nature. If you really take avantage of your days-off you can travel a lot around China and discover their amazing culture.

You also go twice a week to chinese course, the teachers are awesome and it is the best way to improve your chinese, but if you really want to learn you must study by yourself.

Finally you will meet a lot of people that will become a big support for you and make your time more enjoyable!

Now that is almost over I am so happy I went through the bad days but also through amazing moments that I will keep forever. I feel grateful for this opportunity.

If you decide to come to China do your best and enjoy every second here. Good luck!

This program is a great way of experiencing China! You will see parts of China that you would never see as a tourist. Hangzhou’s local coordinator is AWESOME!! She helps with everything and is always there for you!! Come to Hangzhou!! Here is beautiful landscape, lake, temples, tea fields and also super convinient to travel from!! I strongly recommend to come first for only 3 months and then extend if you would like. I have seen too many cases where au pairs were going to stay for longer (6-9 months) but had to/wanted to go home earlier and therefor had to cancel the program and pay a lot of money... also, don’t go through an agency in your own country because they will charge you a lot of money! If you go through lopair directly you pay so little it’s rediciolous. So don’t make the same mistake like I did! Good luck!!

I think the enjoyment of your programme will definitely come down to the family you are matched with as this is where you will spend the majority of your time. From my own personal experience whilst my original family was somewhat welcoming the language barrier was extremely difficult at times and from hearing stories of other au pairs family I felt like this family lacked the cultural exchange aspect and the sense of being part of their family. Luckily though for the last month of my stay I was able to swap families which I was so thankful for. My second host family was so amazing and the host father was fluent in English so this much communication between the family so much easier. I will genuinely miss my second host family.

By far my favourite part of the programme was making friends from all over the world. Honestly it made the time in China so much more enjoyable. The chinese lessons twice a week were also excellent. My chinese teacher Mango at the language school was an excellent teacher!

As for the staff at Lopair everyone is so friendly! I cannot thank my local coordinator Yvonne enough. No matter what time of the day it was I was able to message Yvonne for help and she would reply straight away and was always happy to help!

Although this experience was challenging at times I am so thankful I decided to partake in this programme. You will definetly gain invaluable skills of independence and personal growth from your time in China.

I am about to finish my six month program in Hangzhou in a few days.

I was lucky to get a wonderful and welcoming family with two lovely children. Compared to a lot of the other aupairs I had a big advantage, because my family was able to speak both English and German, which made the communication very easy.

Hangzhou is a beautiful city if you are looking for something completely different. It isn’t as crowded as Shanghai or Beijing and there is still plenty of nature surrounding the city center.

The best part of the whole experience was meeting all the other aupairs and getting to know so many people from all around the world. I made a lot of new friends and I am even going to visit some after my stay in China is over. I would definitely recommend the program.

During my 6 months in China I’ve been able to experience so much, some things bad but overall good.

I’ve been living in Beijing but also gotten the chance to visit Sanya, Harbin and Shanghai.
I’ve got to try all kinds of food, some I didn’t even know you could eat.
I’ve made friends from all over the world.
I’ve seen amazing things, such as the Great Wall (but don’t walk up, that’ll hurt the next morning...)

There are two things that will make your experience in China great, your family and yourself. Choose your family wisely and make sure you can communicate well. Families in China are different so being able to adapt will make it easier for both of you. Talk about how they like to educate and take care of children and how you like to do it and come to an agreement on how to do it.

There’s a lot of things I can say but most importantly: if you come with and open mind and give and take you’ll probably have a great experience like me.

The past 6 month that I got to spend in Beijing were some of the best in my life. I experienced a strange culture with their ancient traditions and odd manners. Although I can’t speak Chinese it was easy to make new friend, get around and discover new places.

If you like working with kids and enjoy discovering a new culture then this Programm is probably one of the best options to choose from. The agency and of course your future host family will take good care of you and help you in every situation. Therefore you should be communicative and outgoing.

The agency also offers culture classes and family activities to make it easier for you to find new friends. And the mandarin classes you will attend are fun too. Besides learning the language it is another opportunity for you to hang out with your mates.

I was comming to China to challenge myself and as a gap-year before university (also learning the language isn't to bad).
But what I found was not a challenge at all.

I was always very welcome in my host family and got treated as a member of the family.
I got a connection to the kids quite fast and could communicate to my host parents very easily, due to their good English, which made my stay alot easier.

I think the biggest problems for aupairs is, that they have to little time going out (Curfew/working time) and that sometimes they are being viewed more as a worker than as a family member.

I count myself as very lucky and my time here was definitely worth it.
I had a great experience in china and would recommend it for people that look for something different.