Wanderlust Cultural Homestay Tutoring (Au Pair in China) Program

I am writing this in my final week as an Au Pair in Shanghai, China. I have spent 3 months here, with Wanderlust Au Pair Agency China (WAC).
My decision to come to China was based on my desire to learn Mandarin Chinese and experience Chinese culture, before going to university. This I have certainly achieved!
As an au pair, you are immersed, often overwhelmingly, in culture. Living with a host family provides a unique insight into life in China, an experience that you just cannot get any other way!
Of course there are difficulties, and points where culture shock really hits hard. The important part is to view it all as a learning experience, and come through stronger. One example of this was that in my host family/household, I had to sleep in the kid's room (the kid slept with the mother). This presented certain issues, but in the end it was fine and it brought me closer to the family. One thing also to note is that in China Au Pairs are not viewed traditionally, and rather more as just English Teachers. You are likely to be expected to teach up to 6 hours of proper lessons each working day. However, if you are lucky (as I was), these days will be flexible and you will be able to negotiate breaks. My host family took me with them on trips to see the countryside and other outings.
In regards to language learning, this was the highlight of my trip. As part of the programme, you get 2 lessons of Mandarin Chinese (1.5hr each) a week. Albeit the school was very far away (took almost 2 hours to get there every time- this is just part of living in Shanghai) but it was worth it.
The school and teachers are great, and we learnt very fast.
Socially, I was lucky to share my Chinese lessons with another au pair on the WAC programme, which was great. You also get to have monthly socials with all the au pairs, including taiji and trips to cultural towns. Shanghai also has a large expat community so there are lots of other opportunities to make friends who are in the same boat.
The WAC team was extremely helpful during my entire experience. Hazel, the leader, in particular is very kind, she was happy to help and liaise in any issue, and provide any advice I needed. The visa process was tricky but Hazel managed to sort it out with no problem. It was very comforting to know I had the WAC team for help and backup during this experience, I cannot imagine doing it without them.
I recommend this programme to anyone who has a thirst to experience something completely new and different, to learn Chinese, or who loves kids and providing childcare.

I found WAC through a website called apupair.com. I had not decided on the country I wanted to au pair in, nor had I planned to go through an agency. But after chatting with the WAC team I decided to give it a try. I skyped with two families before I found my match. I was so nervous and clueless about what to expect from the culture, the family and as an au pair. What I read online was mostly people with bad experiences from au pairing in China. But when I arrived I was pleasantly surprised. My host family and I got along very well and I was included in most family activities. It took a while for the kids to warm up to me, but we had a blast once they did.

Looking back I am so happy I chose to go through an agency. I have heard of people who opt not to, but it was very nice having someone to help with the visa application, the language barrier, and so may other things. I'm also happy I chose WAC, simply due to the support I got from Hazel as well as the personal feel to it all. Shanghai is a great city and although it is not like the rest of china, it is a great place to start. It was nice having such a large expat community in the city, especially when you get a little homesick or miss western food :)

I would highly recommend anyone considering au pairing in China to do so. It didn't always run smoothly or as planed, but it was an amazing experience. The culture shock is real, so be prepared for some weird, annoying and funny moments. Also, one thing that I was not prepared for was the fact that you are more of an English teacher than a traditional au pair. In no way was this a bad thing, it was just not entirely what I expected.

I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and travel to China during the summer before my last year at university. Instead of pursuing a typical summer internship in my hometown, I wanted to try something completely new and immerse myself in a culture much different from my own. I was very nervous at first and not sure what exactly to expect, but I am so glad I took this leap of faith and lived with a host family in Shanghai, teaching a little 4 year old boy English.
While it is not always easy being so far away from home in a completely new environment, I feel that Wanderlust did everything possible to make me feel comfortable and confident during my stay. I felt a personal investment from the WAC team, and that they really got to know me and my situation while I was in China, instead of treating me like a "client". The WAC program provides many helpful things that not all other organizations of this kind do--they organize cultural activities with fellow au pairs which are both fun and educational, they enroll you in a Mandarin class to enhance language skills, and provide a helpful orientation when you first arrive.
You cannot come into this experience expecting everything to go smoothly and things to be perfect. There were definitely unexpected challenges and hard days, but thanks to the 24/7 support I received I was able to resolve any problems. It is important to keep an open-mind when doing something like this, and also to remain patient and understanding. No matter how much you prepare, culture shock is a real thing! Thankfully, WAC will be there whenever you need any help or just someone to listen to you.

After working in a different industry in Australia and Hong Kong for three years, I was planning to move to Shanghai in late 2016 to commence studying Chinese language in university. In early 2016 I decided that I wanted to move to China earlier to accelerate my Chinese learning by immersing myself in the local culture. I considered a few options such as English teaching or staying in my previous industry but I decided to apply to be an Au Pair because I thought living with a family would be an excellent way to improve my Chinese language and cultural understanding while doing something I really enjoy - teaching and looking after children.

I'm currently in the middle of my program and I am really happy. Being an Au Pair has indeed been challenging at times, but also very rewarding. You may be helping a family with children and parents that speak limited English. This can be hard at first but with the support of Hazel (Wanderlust Program Director) and building the relationship with the host family I am now confident that any challenge can be overcome. I have seen improvement with the language learning of the host family's child that I have been looking after which is very rewarding to me.

I chose Wanderlust over other Au Pair organisations as I was very impressed with the application experience, communication with Hazel was very direct, clear and timely. This good support continued once I arrived, she helped me with my visa, communication with my host family and orientation to Shanghai (bank account setup, SIM card etc.) and induction to how to be an effective teacher / Au Pair with children who are learning English as Foreign Language.

What I really love about being an Au Pair is that every day is very different. I may be doing some English teaching, helping with mathematics homework, completing puzzles or building Lego, playing sports or going outside on various activities. Along with the day to day activities with the host family, Wanderlust also organises monthly cultural activities which are fun - we recently visited Wuzhen on a day trip with my fellow Au Pairs.

I've been really impressed with the program so far as I see it as a win-win for the host families and the Au Pairs. The children will get support for their English learning, will get a new big brother or sister and the family gets an experience interacting with a foreigner every day - helping to bridge the cultural divide. For me, I get a lot of satisfaction of seeing my host child improve his language ability, I get to have a lot of fun and get to live in a new city (Shanghai is amazing by the way!) without many of the challenges I would normally have as the host family and Wanderlust helped me get setup in Shanghai.

Mhhh... China. I have been for very long time dreaming of discovering its land. Shanghai is the city that I decided to choose.

A warm host family that I had the chance to be with, a charming 4 years old gentlemen, delicious food everywhere, a bit of language barrier, some culture shock experience and have a very colourfull fried dumplings that you enjoy at every new bite (Shanghainese specialty is fried dumpling).

With the very complete welcoming and sightseeing days (two days) a good communication was yet well established, the help and advice needed to make plannings adapted and multiple exemples for how to make activities with the kids is provided from Wanderlust at the first week, and all along the stay with the family if needed.

I really feel that the Au Pairs' interest is taken seriously and that I could count on Wanderlust if any difficulties are encoutered.

Neverthless, to fully enjoy my experience, I had to be open-minded and often go out of my comfort zone, either at the house with my host family and outside during my free time. I also had to be very organised all the time as the families can be spontaneous and you are asked to be flexible.

I consider myself a foodie and was blessed with my host family as the grandparents were cooking almost every evening home made Chinese dishes.

The agency was very fast in answering my e-mail (24h). I unfortunatly had never been in China before and had no experience as Au Pair, but totally recommend Wanderlust and for those who are still hesitating... Take your chances, there is everything and anything that you could imagine here (beside skydiving at this very moment I am writing this post).

Activities for the Au Pairs are plannend and tailored to have as many Au Pairs as possible in a monthly basis. It goes from town visits to tai chi or kung fu classes.

Helpfull information:

Public trasportation has Nothing to envy to others big cities (Mexico City, Moscow, London) and with a simple card you can travel with public trasportation and officials taxis for a very resonable pricing (this card cost at this very moment 20 yuan deposit plus the amount you want to charge, I recommend 100 yuan)

Other recommandations. If you are too used to have Google (gmail as well) to help you anythime or you are addicted to Facebook, or Instagram etc... (you can find on internet all the websites blocked in China) you have the fallowing choices:

VPN: Either free (not sure that you will have the data flow you are use to having) or to pay for a VPN, this will not guarentee you to have access 24/7 (as for the free VPN), the acces can be very slow (very very very slow, forget about streaming) and the "great fire wall" of China can block your VPN as it is constantly beeing update. (Please acknowledge that I am not expert and I am giving my experience to be use at free will, you are very wellcome to do your own research befor arriving in China)

Get use to chinese app: (I give you here a list of apps you can get before arriving in China)

Baidu which is the chinese Google, or if your chinese level is not good inof you can also use Bing.cn as search engin.

Wechat, this app does almost everything, it is the chinese WhatsApp, Facebook, can send your exact location or activate the GPS to apears in someone else device in realtime (very useful when you are meeting someone because here it is very crowded and huge), you can also connect your bank account and make any payment in almost every place, even sometimes for some street food (but take you wallet with you anyways) and much more, but I let you the joy of discovering all its secrets.

Pleco, which is a very helpful app to learn chinese for english speakers.

Baidu map, the Chinese Google map

Baidu music store, you guessed it!

After finishing my degree in education, I decided to do something exciting and different. My parents told me about their friends' daughter who had gone to China as an au pair and the daughter had great things to say about her experience. I had always wanted to visit China and experience its culture. This seemed like as good a time as any and so I started looking for au pair positions online. One of the organizations I came across was Wanderlust Au Pair China. After talking with Hazel, the program director I felt really confident about choosing her organization. She prepared everything for me, including the visa and all the information I needed. Throughout my stay with the host family she helped me when I had questions. The family was very courteous and I really felt appreciated while with them. Their child, a boy of 7 was full of energy and I helped him with his homework and prepared some English exercises for him that we practised together to improve his English. I got to live in Shanghai, a vibrant and metropolitan city. Like the oriental New York I suppose..... but much more exotic. I got to learn Mandarin in weekly Mandarin classes that were part of the program. I'm hoping to return to China in the future to see the friends I made there and maybe live there for a year. Anyways, a great experience and unforgettable.