Program Reviews

After years of wanting to visit China, I’m so thankful to Mars and Global Youth Au Pair for helping make my dream come true! They assisted me with my visa application, collected me on arrival at the airport and provided constant support during my four month stay.

My host family were so kind, respectful of my privacy but always inclusive. After several au pair experiences in Europe, it was a challenge to take on a teaching role this time instead of just childcare, but a great learning experience!

Wow, where do I even begin? My au pair program started off quite well, but the first family I was paired with had some issues that were beyond my understanding. I reached out to my agent, and he quickly found me a better-suited family, and it’s safe to say I had the best four months of my life in Beijing.

My host family consisted of four people: mom, dad, their son Lucas, and an aunt who took care of everyone. I spent most of my time with Lucas and aunty since the parents often traveled for business. From the moment I arrived, they welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like part of the family. They gave me a cozy room, shared their culture with me, and filled the house with warmth and laughter.

Lucas and I became like real siblings (we even turned The Lion King’s “I Always Wanted a Brother” song into our own little anthem with a twist). We bonded over our shared interests, exchanged knowledge, and taught each other things that went beyond books. His maturity and kindness were far beyond his years, and he had this adorable habit of leaving little “I love you” notes around the house for me to find.

I gave him English lessons, watched his confidence grow, and felt so proud seeing his progress. I also introduced him to some Western dishes — and now he prefers homemade pizza over store-bought ones! 🍕🤣

Leaving home to cross oceans into the unknown isn’t easy. Fear creeps in. But with the right host family and support, you’ll always find comfort, even when things get confusing or difficult. Some days were perfect, others a bit tough, but I never felt alone.

On my days off, I explored Beijing, traveled around China, met amazing people, learned Chinese, and tried every kind of food I could find (everything’s so affordable and convenient!). This experience wasn’t just about being an au pair; it was about self-discovery. I learned who I am, what I want, and even found a new path for my future. With the agency’s help, I landed a teaching job and decided to stay in China longer as an English teacher.

To anyone feeling uncertain about their future, take that leap. Find that family and that child who will change your life in ways you never imagined. ❤️

Thank you, Global Youth Au Pairs

I spent 1 month in Hangzhou, China as an au pair. It was a wonderful experience and this agency and Mars helped me from the start until the end. It was a life changing experience getting to experience the life in China from the perspective of a native. Getting to teach English was a rewarding experience as it also showed me what I needed to improve on as well. I would recommend this agency as they were so lovely to me the entire time, for instance from helping me set up mobile apps to the visa application.

This au pair was an undeniably wonderful and life-changing experience. It enabled me to greatly develop my Chinese, truly understand on a personal level the lifestyle and culture of Chinese people, and get to know a whole bunch of new people and new opportunities in China. I developed such a strong and caring relationship with the family and especially the children, which I will definitely cherish forever. Global Youth and their team never failed to help me when an issue arose, and always did so very quickly and always with the utmost compassion and empathy.

This was my first time au pairing, so I was nervous, and looking for an agency to not only try and find a match but to find a match perfect for both me and the host family. Luckily I found Global Youth- Mars was so helpful, always available if I needed anything. I immediately felt very comfortable, even though I was living long-term in a new country. This was all thanks to the support from global youth, and also the wonderful family they found me. I got the opportunity to try so many new things, and I had so much fun. I am very happy that I chose Global Youth for my first au pair experience. I would definitely recommend!

My time with Global Youth has been incredibly transformative. Going into the program, I already had years of experience with the Chinese language, but living in China has really allowed me to be fully immersed in the culture. I’ve learned so much more than I could’ve ever learned from just a textbook. Not only that, but I’ve also grown a lot and matured as a person, as working with kids challenges you to be patient and understanding. Living with a host family gives you a look into what life in China is like, while also giving you the freedom to explore this beautiful country on your own. Mars has also been such an important part of this journey. He is always available to help when I have any questions at all, and I’ve felt supported since before I even arrived here. He even treated me and a few friends to Haidilao! The generosity and hospitality is unmatched, the memories are priceless and I would really recommend becoming an Au Pair through Global Youth.

I'll start by saying this was my first time au pairing, so I can't speak on how Global Youth differs from its competition, but I can say that I had an incredible experience.

I mean, I hardly even knew if I wanted to be an au pair when I first got into contact with Mars, the agent who worked with me before and during my stay. I was coming off some extended time away from home, and I was realizing I wasn't ready to be home long-term yet and I wasn't ready to go back to school. That's how I found myself applying to an au pair website, and it was actually Mars that got into contact with me. He's an efficient man, and it wasn't soon after we got into contact that I had my first video interview with a family.

The family and I immediately hit it off from the start. The sort of connection where any worries I may have had about moving halfway across the world to China disappeared. It was especially easy when Mars was able to make the whole visa process as painless as possible (I'm from the middle of nowhere in Northern Canada, so getting to the Chinese Embassy was honestly the hardest part haha).

Before I knew it I was arriving in Chengdu, which felt a bit insane at the time. Grace, my host mom, greeted me at the airport with her daughter, and Mars, but I was honestly in such a shock that I don't think I said hardly a thing the whole drive home.

I say home because it really does feel like a home to me now. I have bonded so much with Grace's entire family, even her extended family, despite the clear language barrier. Many members of her family only speak Sichuanese or Mandarin. Grace herself speaks quite good English, and her daughter spoke enough when I arrived that we weren't starting on square one, but her son, only a year and a half years old at the time, hardly wanted anything to do with someone he couldn't understand or speak to haha. He's a pretty shy kid, but now he loves spending time with me and we've both learned a lot of each other's languages in the process. In general, I'd say my Chinese is still terrible haha, but I now can tell you the names of every construction vehicle and car brand in the language. I'm not even sure I could have told you what a backhoe loader was in English before I was faced with this child's exuberant interest in vehicles.

Grace really wanted the kids to practice English organically, so we had no lesson plans. I just acted as an older sibling essentially, something that was quite natural to me as the oldest of three. I followed the family to wherever the family went, and Grace was a very enthusiastic tour guide. She knows so much history and takes so much pride in her culture that I learned so much in her company. We travelled a lot of Sichuan Province, I got to see Chongqing (a long-time dream of mine), Guangxi Province (the karsts are actually insane), and Guangdong Province as well. We spent the entire month of July in Thailand which was absolutely amazing.

And while I had of course expected to grow close to the children, I hadn't thought Grace and I would have so much in common. We like the same books and the same genres of tv shows, so often after the kids went to bed, we stayed up chatting and reading or watching something. Normally this was accompanied by a "midnight snack" which was actually more like a gigantic bucket of crayfish or enough shaokao to feed five.

The connections I have made here are lifelong. I could truly speak about my experience here for days.

Throughout all of this, Mars has always been there. I think we've even become pretty good friends. I went to see Gladiator II with him and his girlfriend right before I left. China is hardly foreigner-friendly, and there is a lot of bureaucracy to get through to be able to exist legally in the country. Fortunately, I never really had to worry if I was doing something wrong or if I was missing some part of the process because Mars knew it all. It was a huge comfort when even something as simple as setting up a phone plan requires an advanced level of Mandarin and knowledge of Chinese contracts.

Mars did set me up with Chinese classes at one of the universities in Chengdu which was a huge help. Everything in China requires an app, and that app is never in English and never familiar. The day I was finally able to navigate AMap with ease was a truly wonderful day. I think I was just only barely getting confident at speaking though when I had to leave. However, it's not something I'm too worried about because I know I'll be back.

Would definitely reccomend. I was met at the airport and supported settleing into china. Global youth where swift to assist me in any issues that I had during my time and have regular check ups to ensure that I am ok. I couldn't feel any more comfortable in china thanks to them.
Mars is very friendly and approachable. I have had meals and friendly meet ups, it really feels like I already had a friend in china as soon as I got there. Due to the friendly relationship, I am confident that global youth have my back during my stay.

Would definitely recommend it. I was met at the airport and supported settling into china. Global Youth was swift to assist me with any issues that I had during my time and had regular check ups to ensure that I was ok. I couldn't feel any more comfortable in China thanks to them.

Mars is very friendly and approachable. I have had meals and friendly meet-ups, it really feels like I already had a friend in China as soon as I got there. Due to the friendly relationship, I am confident that global youth have my back during my stay.

I had a fantastic experience with my au pair agency, thanks to the incredible support from my agent Mars . He was always kind, helpful, and there whenever I needed assistance, he even helped my mother surprise me by coming to China for my birthday. From the visa application to making my travel arrangements smooth and stress-free, he guided me and supported which made the entire process so much easier, especially as it was my first time and I was super nervous I enjoyed my time so much that I decided to extend my stay, and he continued to be supportive and helpful every step of the way. He also went above and beyond by organizing dinners for the au pairs and taking us to a famous tourist attraction in Beijing. Thanks to him, I met more people, including other au pairs, which made my experience even better. I highly recommend this agency for their professionalism and kindness!