Program Reviews

Living in a family or community without any direct communication between the people was the biggest challenge in my gap year in China. I had to get used to the fact that my hostfamily didn't tell me anything. 'We are going on vacation.' 'When?' 'NOW! Pack your bag, we are leaving in 5 minutes.' Yes, Chinese people are not talking and they are very, very spontaneous. One time my host brother woke me up at 6 o'clock in the morning to tell me that we are going on vacation. There even wasn't enough time for me to take a shower. Of course they planned the trip a few days before, but it wasn't necessary for them to tell me, not even the evening before, so I could have got up earlier. But however, after a while you get used to it. They don't want to be mean, that's just their way of life, their way of behavior. It was one of my biggest challenges in China, because they always seemed so inflexible even when they were spontaneous, but it made me a lot more open-minded to an other way of life. Yes, I do a lot of things different at home, but that doesn't mean my way is the right one. Trying to live different for a certain amount of time is the challenge of a gap year and now, after living for six months in China, I can say that this challenge and new thinking made me a better person.

I lived 6 Months in a Chinese Family. They have two Children and live in a cool place called Ningbo. I was hired as an Au Pair, which was quite a lot of fun and a cool experience. Most Host Family was awesome. Before i went to China we had several Skype talks to make sure that we are a good match, LoPair helped a lot to find a good Host Family and in the End they found the perfect one for me.
Under the week I mostly had to take care of the little daughter. She is 8 years old and a really lovely kid. In the morning we only did study related things, which means one Chapter in her English book, Math, Chinese writing (my host sister insisted that I always have to write the characters too, so it was a challenge for both of us) and often we also did some homework for her Pinyin class. Than we had lunch together, which was prepared by our amazing ayí who cooks very well. After lunch we always had time to do some fun stuff outside. On the weekend we always had some cool adventures, my host parents always planed some interesting things. They are very outgoing people, which I liked a lot. I have really seen a lot of China. My host family showed me many places. I have never imagined that I will see so much of China in this time. A big thanks to my host family for this! I think we saw almost all the interesting things around Ningbo and we had two big trips. In January we went to Sanya, which was absolutely amazing and over the Spring Festival we went to Beijing, which was really cold but still an amazing place to visit. We also went to Hangzhou and Taizhou. My Host grandparents live in Beilun, and I stayed with my host sisters their for a few days. It was a very interesting experience to see the „older“ Chinese way of living.
I think the sentence that helped me the most to life in a Chinese family is „ just flow with it“. Don´t overthink things. Be prepared to be spontaneous and to meet a lot of different people who will not understand you and you will not understand them either. But it doesn’t matter. Appreciate the difficult communication; it can be a lot of fun!
And most important! Be patient and Relax. It can’t be always sunny and smiley. Sometimes you have a bad day or your host parents or your host siblings. It´s normal. And it is normal if some days you don’t really have something to talk about. Don’t stress yourself about this. It happens. You can’t talk all the time. If you think about your own family, sometimes you have quiet dinners too. And the next day everything is all right again. If you worry too much you just see things that are not there, or if something really bothers you just ask if everything is all right. Only talking people can be helped.

This program gives you the chance to explore China, chinese culture, chinese language, the beautiful cities; but the most important aspect is that after this program you can say that you have two families. My chinese parents treated me like their own daughter, my chinese sisters as their sister. I created a lifelong bound with my host family and now that I'm back in my home country I totally miss them. If you choose this program, be ready to fall in love with the Middle Kingdom.

For nearly five months I've been an au pair in Beijing the wonderful and always busy capital of China. You soon realize, that in a country as big as this distance is quite relative! But back to the beginning: I came to China in the end of July and even though my home country, Germany, gets pretty hot in the summer is no comparison to China's tropical humidity. After a seemingly endless flight to Shanghai, another German and one Australian girl went on another pretty long bus ride. The driving style left us pretty much praying to reach our destination Hangzhou alive. Finally there we had three nice days with the wonderful people in the LoPair office. Over all time of my stay, whenever there was a problem, there would always be someone to take care of you! Even though in the first few weeks our biggest fear was getting run over, I personally am now even more reckless than some locals. Of course the first time in your host family is a bit awkward but for me everything turned out fine and I'm enjoying every minute with my host kids! Some time we spend learning and often we go out to the park, do sports or cook and bake. But whatever we do it's always fun and I can't believe that there will come a day I have to leave. China itself has become home for me, the people are warm, welcoming, helpful and sometimes a little too impressed by seeing a foreigner and make the best food in the world! I fell in love with the beautiful landscapes and vibrant cities and would advise everyone to have this experience themselves! I for my part have decided to extend my program in this wonderful country! Good luck to everyone who wants to start their own experience abroad!

This is definitely the best experience I've had so far. I didn't expect I would be so happy in China since I'd already been an au pair in USA .

Living in Beijing is amazing and I all can say is that you can't be bored in this city. There are so many things to do and so many different places to visit and even though I have been here for 6 months, I still discovering new places to go. Plus all the amazing people I have met here who I will never forget.

Visiting the great wall or the temple of heaven, the summer palace of the forbidden city are experiences that you will never forget. All the history this country has,its culture and how amazing the people is in this country is just unbelievable.

My time as an au pair was generally positive. My host family was nice and seemed to be very accepting. They were joyful, relatively open minded people who accepted me into their house and made me feel welcome and at home.

One highlight of my experience was my host brother. He was 5 years old and a blast to be around. He was funny and energetic and had a full happy spirit. He is a great kid. His English still needs work, and I think I helped him a little. He was a little stubborn when it came to learning English, though.

My host family was also a highlight. They were so generous to me and always made sure I had everything I needed. They brought me with them on an overnight trip to a beach, and they brought me to Hong Kong to eat at a famous restaurant. They also bought me countless meals. I am so thankful to them for being so accommodating and amazingly friendly to me.

The only small problem with my host family stemmed from me not knowing if I was doing a good job; my host family was not always very communicative. I did ask them on different occasions if I was doing ok, and they told me yes and that they would tell me directly if something was wrong.

Still in some moments I felt like the family was unhappy with me, and I could understand some of the Chinese they were saying and it seemed like sometimes they were talking about me, but not including me in the conversation. Although personally, I also could have been more proactive in finding out if something was wrong as well.

The Lopair orientation in Hangzhou was only a little helpful for me because my host family did not follow the lopair guidelines very strictly, and many of the issues mentioned never came up during my stay. I did enjoy the sightseeing aspect though. Joey is very friendly. Also it is worth mentioning that in Futian district in Shenzhen you cannot use your metro card to rent a bike, which I was told at the orientation.

My Chinese Teacher Rena was very nice. She helped us get around Shenzhen and find things to do. I wish there was a more official guide to being a foreigner in Shenzhen though. Me and the other au pairs had to find most things ourselves using websites like shenzhenparty and meetup.com. I think instead of having to ask old au pairs and finding things out ourselves, there should already be a list of fun things to do on the Lopair site. Like how to rent bikes for example, or when/where foreigner meet ups happen. And the best parks, hikes, and bars etc.

There was not frequent checking in from Lopair staff, which was not a problem for me, but it could have for others who were struggling more. Shenzhen only had 2 other au pairs, and I feel like because of that it was lonely sometimes. Having the other au pairs from Guangzhou come for culture class was not a good experience though. They really wanted their long trip to be "worth it" and were let down because they did not have a good time. They thought we were being rude, but in reality we were just tired and did not have much in common with them.

I do like how it feels like a family here. Me and the two other au pairs and Rena had a special bond and it was nice. Being friends with them was a highlight of my experience.

One other challenge of my experience was my 12 year old host sister. She would never speak to me in English and only in Chinese, even though her English was pretty good when she did speak. I found it a little rude when she would always say "你猜啊” when I did not understand her. But she is a 12 year old girl so this is probably just normal behavior for that age. Overall this was not a big problem, but a small one that was sometimes a little frustrating.

All in all it was a good time here in SZ and I feel like I have grown into a more independent person. I feel more confident being thrown into a completely new situation than I did before I came here, and I have learned about myself and China tremendously. I have also met some really cool people and hopefully also made some life-long friends.

I have learnt so much being an Au Pair in China. It's an unbelievable experience if you're open to it. Sometimes the language barrier is hard when you're on your own exploring, but it helps you to grow and learn to think on your feet. The cultural differences are also a challenge to get used to, and can become a little bit grating at times, but you get the most amazing pay off, you get to join amazing families, and watch/help the kids learn and grow in spectacular ways.

This program is a truly fascinating and unique experience! You get to experience how people in China actually live and get first-hand experience with the language and the culture. Everyone that I have met has been very nice and supportive, when asking for directions or when I try to speak Chinese. As long as you put the effort into the program it turns out well. Of course there are challenges with language barriers etc... but they can be managed and never get to be to much of a problem.

Facing an entirely different culture, particularly one as different as the Chinese, requires a total change of perspectives. The help and guidance by Lopair in this setting was fantastic and with the language lessons it was possible to quickly adapt to the culture.

Most days followed a similar format with the first part of the day free and then spending the afternoon with the children. This allowed exploration of the city I was in and to enjoy what China had to offer. I had a fantastic time getting to know people and also getting to know the family I was with. Meeting other people when out with the children was a wonderful experience. Also being accepted as one of the family and travelling to places with them was a fantastic thing to do.

My experience as an Au Pair in China has completely changed my life in terms of academics and personal growth. The full immersion into Chinese culture cannot be understood until it is experienced and has provided me with the insight useful for my career goals. As an international business student, the Chinese economy is extremely appealing at the moment and now I have the extra knowledge most of my fellow peers do not. I spent most of my days teaching the children basic words and action words, playing games and creating games that would help them learn English without realizing they were learning. The mandarin classes were very helpful in getting around the country when traveling on my own. I got the chance to travel all over the country and my host family even took me to Malaysia. Since doing this exchange I have returned to Hong Kong to study and I have kept in touch with my host family. I will go and visit them very soon and I know I have made friends for life. I did go through culture shock, but I learned to embrace it and learn from it. Many people struggle with the overwhelming amount of culture shock associated with the au pairing experience, however, it is important to continue on because it gets much better and you end up with an experience that changes the way you see the world. I would recommend and exchange like this to any student looking to learn more about asian culture and seeking a character building experience.