Au Pair in Shanghai

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!