Aupairia Review

Aupairia is such a professional, supportive and a friendly company.

The programme is very interactive since there's Chinese culture classes which take place in and outside the office. For example we went to the Great Wall together.

The classes give you great awareness of Chinese culture. Additionally, there are Mandarin classes and you have the opportunity to do HSK 1 exam. I passed the exam with flying thanks to my hard work and Cicy who is a fantastic, experienced Chinese teacher. My host family were so nice,adorable and very respectful of my culture. They took me to so many delicious restaurants and sights around Beijing. My relationship with the kids grew and grew and the family made me feel so welcome. Another great thing about Aupairia is that you get to meet and spend time with Au pairs from various countries who are doing the same programme as you. We had Mandarin and culture classes together.

Its cost effective. Because you only have to pay for the visa and insurance. The family provide you with food & accommodation while Aupairia provide you things you would need whilst your living there, the subway card etc.

If you have any problems with your host family or any general questions Aupairia will always be there for you. For example I've asked about black barbers and a running club. They gave me links. As a result, the black barbers was fantastic and the running club called Beijing Hash House Harriers was the craziest and an absolutely fun experience.

However, being an Aupair is tiring with the children and it is demanding and can be pressured since you have to demonstrate that the kids English or any other language that they are learning from the Aupair is improving.

The relationship between the host Mum was strained for 4 days which was due to stress and the host Mum felt that I wasn't working enough hours. However, I spoke to Aupairia and the host Mum and I resolved our issues. I found it hard to balance teaching the kids English,going to Chinese culture classes, going to Chinese exams and revising for my HSK exam, but I adapted and kept more of a closer eye on reaching as close to 30 hours as possible. And Aupairia made it more clearer on what counts as the 30 hours with the children since the Aupairs and I had questions about this throughout our time in China.

Without realising until Aupairia told me. I couldn't speak Chinese in front of the children. So I tried to speak to the family members who didn't know much English. I would have loved to have organise a language exchange with a native speaker. Aupairia helped me with this but in the end because of limited time.

When I was alone with the kids and the family wasn't there it wasn't always easy to discipline the children. The children were well behaved overall but still they would still do some naughty things because they are children just like we were once upon a time. But I spoke to Aupairia and the au pairs who gave me useful advice.

Overall, I recommend this company to anyone that wants to know about Chinese culture and the true experience of what it's like to live in China.