Wanderlust Cultural Homestay Tutoring (Au Pair in China) Program

I was looking for an Au Pair job for the summer before my enrolling at University and was deciding between a family in Geneva and a family that was introduced to me by a different Au Pair agency. Then I was, fortunately, contacted by one of the workers from Wanderlust, and within 2 days, they found me the best family I could have ever wished for. As opposed to the other Chinese family and the other agency, Wanderlust and this family were very open-minded, talkative, sympathetic and kind so that I decided for them right on the spot. Wanderlust provided me with assistance every step of the way - gathering all kinds of documents - which was much appreciated since I have not yet traveled outside of Europe and, therefore, never needed a visa.
I was to teach English to a 7-year-old girl and I have to say that the start was a bit rocky because we didn't understand each other's languages at all... But now, after more than a month, she can speak in full sentences and has a truly vast vocabulary, especially of food and animals - we are all so proud of her!
I, on the other hand, am having difficulties speaking Chinese because of its tones but I like it very much! Although Tianjin is a big city, the program there does not have Chinese teachers experienced enough, so I needed to take Skype lessons via Mandarin house while also having lessons with my lovely coordinator and, occasionally, with the family members which was a lot of fun.
I learned how to make Chinese potstickers and dumplings (my new favorite food) and also attended calligraphy lessons - a truly wonderful experience. I visited many amazing places with my family (Beijing Picasso exhibition, The Great Wall) or with my coordinator (Binhai Library and other Tianjin sights). There was always a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and for that, I am very grateful.
I hope that it's obvious how excited this stay has made me, I could go on forever talking about every little detail... But I will not because I would like you to try and go to China with this agency so that you can experience it on your own. It is truly worth it.

I decided to spend my gap months between high school and university as an Au Pair with Wanderlust. They helped me to find the perfect match family and provided me with a lot of information about the culture. They will help you in each step of your experience. I spend most of the time with the kids and explored with them the chinese culture and traditions. Meanwhile I was learning Chinese language and also explored the city by myself. Especially the food was quit the opposite of what I was used to but if you are brave enough to try some food you can be suprised by the taste. I had a lot of fun and would recommend this program to everyone who is planning to travel abroad and want to get to know a different culture and lifestyle on a normal basis.

I´ve been placed in a wonderful family and spent lovely 3 months there.
The insight in the culture, the language, food, life and everything else was amazing. I learned so much more about China in my time there, than I would have any other way.

I´ve been picked up at the airport and me and some other Au-Pairs spent an introduction day in Shanghai. It was great to have this information day before everyone headed off to their families. My new family welcomed me warmly and it was really relaxed as they were already used to Au-Pairs. I had flexible working times and I had lots of fun spending time with the whole family. In my free time I´ve been able to try out Tai Chi and Chinese Painting and Chinese cooking through some Expats I got to know by chance.

Anyway I think this Program is not for everyone. You should really love kids and expect to spend most of your time with them. If that´s what you want this is perfect for you!

I chose this program and I would choose it again because it got me the chance to stay in a foreign country as beautiful as China by living with a lovely chinese family.
I had the chance to explore Shaoxing and Shanghai, eat local food and meet new friends. Chinese culture surprised me and got me to fall in love with this country!
I love spending time with my host family child, I can help her with homework and teach her some English as well as playing sports and doing fun activities together.
Not only Wanderlust got me the chance to participate in this program helping me in every step, but they were there for me during my stay as well.
This was not the first experience of living abroad for me, but it was the most fulfilling and I have to thank Wanderlust team for that!

I was in a very interesting place in my life where I didn’t know what I wanted to do next, I just knew I wanted to travel. But I wanted there to be purpose to my travel! This program sounded perfect. I was placed with an amazing family, they went out of their way to make me a part of the family, and living with a family is the best way to immerse yourself in a new culture. I think this program is for responsible girls who really want to grow and challenge themselves. This is not a study abroad, not a party abroad, it is working, so be sure to evaluate yourself and your readiness for this experience! I grew a lot and found out a lot about myself, and I got to experience a new culture and find new direction in my life! I was able to travel shanghai, and I recommend everyone to plan on traveling Asia before they head back home!

Hi! I am Zoé from France.
I work as an au pair in Wuhu city.
I only have 2 weeks left before going back to my country and I already know it will be so hard to leaving the life I've build last 3 months. Everything was amazing. I loved the girl I was taking care of but I also met so many friends from all around the world. It was a crazy experience and I am already thinking about coming back to study!
I taaake the chance here to thanks Wanderlust exchange program to gave me the chance to make a dream come true but also my amazing Chinese host mother that truly became my friend.
I only have two advices for next au pair : get ready for the food, cause not everyone like it and learn some Chinese because you won't find English speaker very easily!
I hope your experience will be aas good as mine!

I've always liked spending time with kids and teaching and thought that the best way to truly get to know a country is by living with a family there, so being an au pair seemed perfect for me. I think that it has definitely lived up to my expectations so far! Becoming part of a Chinese family is pretty much just what I'd hoped for. For my family in particular, I've really enjoyed regularly visiting the grandparents apartment and eating altogether with them. I don't have grandparents, so seeing and being part of that family dynamic is really interesting and fun for me - even if I don't understand most of what's being said.
China is becoming increasingly more important in world affairs today, so I thought it would be good to see firsthand what China is like and how Chinese people think and act in everyday life. Also, Chinese culture is very interesting as it combines thousands of years of civilization with very abrupt changes from modern history. In the news, I've heard many negative things about China relating to political topics, and while I still think these are mostly true and disagree with many policies, I think it's important to see the Chinese perspective and that the system seems to work quite well for most people here.
I settled on Wanderlust as my agency of choice because based on online reviews I found them to be the most trustworthy agency. I read quite a few horror stories about other agencies and was kind of scared about doing this, but all the reviews about Wanderlust gave me the impression that they truly cared about the continual well-being of the families and au pairs that they matched. The fact that they ensure that each family has a member that can at least speak some English is extremely important. They also check in with both au pair and family regularly just in case there are communication issues. The main draw for me was probably the Mandarin lessons. Wanderlust helps you every step of the way in video chatting with potential host families beforehand, assisting with visas, helping with logistics for Mandrin lessons, and even organizing events for the au pairs to help you make new friends while here! Aside from this, I haven't needed much assistance from them, but I'll mention that another au pair I know had trouble with her family and they were very quick in helping her find and move to a new family.
My first impression was that Shanghai is a very busy and fast paced city. If you take the subway during rush hour, you will understand exactly what I mean. There are also countless events happening at any one time and people are here from all over the world. If you're into history I'd recommend checking out the Shanghai Museum. It's definitely worth the wait and it's free! Another nice place is Century Park, which has a small entry fee. There are also plenty of concerts and other performances to go to.
There are definitely a lot of cultural differences in China, but I think with an open mind you can find a lot in common with life at home. Some things I can think of off the top of my head: if you get sick, expect to be forbidden from drinking cold water and perhaps given a bunch of random traditional Chinese medicines or strange dietary restrictions (no meat until your fever is gone!); while you should try to be polite to everyone, be especially polite to elders cause they may judge you hard otherwise; while it's fine not to answer, you may be asked personal questions that make you uncomfortable as there is much less privacy than I'm accustomed to. I think that especially for the first few days, it's worth making it clear to your family that if you do anything offensive they should let you know right away so you can learn social norms here.
I'll quickly introduce my host family, but it's important to emphasize that every family is different. I hope this can give an idea though of what a family might be like. My host family has its quirks, but I quickly grew to like them a lot. Both parents are self-employed (fyi, this generally means fairly well off), and I'm still not 100% sure how their whole income situation works, but I'm not the type to ask for details. The mom speaks decent English and is super chill, the 11 year old boy knows some English and is a lot of fun, and the dad doesn't speak any English but from my interactions with him seems pretty cool and obviously loves his kid. My responsibilities are usually doing the dishes, talking as much as I can in English with the boy, reading with him, exercising with him (his parents want him to lose weight), and accompanying him to a few activities. Since it's his summer vacation right now, my schedule is pretty variable and I have to be flexible about when I spend time with him. A typical day might go something like this: wake up at 6:30 and talk to the boy for a bit, eat breakfast all together, do the dishes, talk some more, go to Mandarin class, come back to find that he's in class and study or relax for the next few hours, when he gets back talk some more and maybe read an English book with him, exercise with him a bit, shower and sleep. If he doesn't have class, we might prepare some food together since he likes cooking, watch a TV show with mom, go play basketball, or just study side by side. For me it's like having a sibling that you always have to be nice to, which honestly I'm enjoying a lot. When I ask if I can go meet friends or disappear for a day, my host mom is super accommodating. During the school year, I bet my schedule would be a lot more fixed with free time clustered more around the school day whereas right now, freetime is unpredictable but plentiful.
The first two days were definitely the hardest. When I first met the kid, I could barely get him to talk which is totally understandable given that he didn't know me and hadn't spoken much English to a native speaker before. I'd ask him questions and talk at him, but for all I could tell he was ignoring me. I honestly felt kind of hurt and I was worried that he would continue to act that way. Eventually, though, with enough smiling and talking, he got the message that I was friendly and started talking. Since then, we've become pretty close and have a lot of fun together!

In 2016 I graduated from university and decided to leave my comfort zone and do something abnormal that I had never done before. I signed up with wanderlust and used au pairing in China as a base camp for my travels. However , the 6 months I was in Shanghai proved to be an incredible experience where I made some great friends, had some amazing experiences and fell in love with this fantastic city to the point where it remains one of my favourite cities in the world. After my time in China , I got a train and then a bus into Vietnam where I started my three months of backpacking. 2017 was a good year. Would recommend to anyone, the programme offers security, for example me and my first family had a falling out (wasn’t my fault) but wanderlust helped me move to another family who I got on amazingly with, they offer monthly activities to allow you to experience the Chinese culture, and they also put you in mandarin school with other au pairs which is such a rare opportunity to have.