Posts
Well, it has officially been decided that I will become an 'au pair' in Torino, Italy for ten months starting on October 2nd. The decision was spontaneous in that I had no inclination to head abroad so soon, though I knew that England could only keep a grasp on me for so long. The opportunity arose when I decided, on a whim, to sign up for an au pair site called Au Pair World, a non-profit organization which puts potential au pairs and families in touch. Unlike an agency, there isn't a screening process through which the site puts the au pairs and families, so any agreements made are based 90% on trust and 10% on the word of outside references. Yes, I know, potentially risky business, but I could not resist signing up.
The family that caught my eye was one that sent me a message just after I had almost decided to go to Provence to stay with a French family. (N.B. While the French family looked trustworthy, I did not like how every one of the family members were cookie cutter images of Barbie and Ken. I know it sounds shallow, but staying with them would have done nothing for my self esteem!) In the message I saw that the Italian family consisted of a mum and a dad, and three lovely children aged 2, 4 and 6 and seemed really enthusiastic about having me on board. I went through a few days debating over which country would be better, and while my head told me that French would be more worthwhile in terms of achieving a business advantage, my heart has always had a soft spot for the Italian language, even before I first took on Japanese. Not to mention that the Italian family seemed much more down to earth, and resembled out-of-proportion plastic dolls less than some. So, in my mind, it was settled - I would be going to Italy for ten months to help an Italian family with their children. And this is where I stand today!
Even I do not know what to expect from this blog, so I would hesitate to say exactly what I will be writing about, but I would figure that some of the main themes will be: my struggle with Italian, the ups and downs of looking after young children, and cultural differences. Hey, maybe I will even write down the occasional Italian recipe I pick up! Either way, it should be a real adventure, and I hope you will decide to join me along the way. :-)
The family that caught my eye was one that sent me a message just after I had almost decided to go to Provence to stay with a French family. (N.B. While the French family looked trustworthy, I did not like how every one of the family members were cookie cutter images of Barbie and Ken. I know it sounds shallow, but staying with them would have done nothing for my self esteem!) In the message I saw that the Italian family consisted of a mum and a dad, and three lovely children aged 2, 4 and 6 and seemed really enthusiastic about having me on board. I went through a few days debating over which country would be better, and while my head told me that French would be more worthwhile in terms of achieving a business advantage, my heart has always had a soft spot for the Italian language, even before I first took on Japanese. Not to mention that the Italian family seemed much more down to earth, and resembled out-of-proportion plastic dolls less than some. So, in my mind, it was settled - I would be going to Italy for ten months to help an Italian family with their children. And this is where I stand today!
Even I do not know what to expect from this blog, so I would hesitate to say exactly what I will be writing about, but I would figure that some of the main themes will be: my struggle with Italian, the ups and downs of looking after young children, and cultural differences. Hey, maybe I will even write down the occasional Italian recipe I pick up! Either way, it should be a real adventure, and I hope you will decide to join me along the way. :-)
2 comments:
That sounds so exciting! Thanks for linking me to your blog. I'll definitely follow it as you detail your adventures. I'm already a fan. I'd actually read an article awhile ago about the prof who wanted to accept misspellings. I'm glad I'm not the only one who disagrees ;) . And I learned about the "ye" thing in an Old English course I'd taken, but I'd never connected the Old English "y[e]" with our modern pronunciation of "ye". That's kind of funny. I'm completely guilty of calling it "ye" instead of "thee". Anyway, bon voyage! I hope it's an incredible experience for you!
Thanks so much Tara! That's interesting that you covered the pronunciation of "ye" in your English class. Did your prof explain why the word "this" is sometimes written with a "y" and sometimes not? I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. *sigh!* Are you back at school or have you entered the work world? :)
Post a Comment