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Aug. 7th, 2012 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lesmisloonyGot an au pair offer today.
The family lives between the PDS and Montparnasse (one of my favorite little neighborhoods for obvious reasons and because there are three multiplexes on the same corner and there are cheap shoes)... like, REALLY close to the PDS. Three tram stops plus one métro stop away from the PDS.
As for the living situation, it's a private room and bathroom on the first floor of the three-story family house. SIGH. I guess I can live with that. It wasn't pure hell last year.
Four kids... I forget the exact ages, but there are two little ones in the 5/6-ish neighborhood (a boy and girl), and two big ones that are 11 and 13 (also a boy and girl). I'll be mostly playing with the little ones and reminding the big ones to do their homework.
NO LAUNDRY. I just need to straighten the kids' rooms and, if the mom isn't there, deal with dinner for the kids (but NEVER for the parents... or for extended family members... or for dinner parties).
I will be responsible for two lunches a week, but from what I understood there are no early mornings involved. I kinda enjoy cooking. The kids are taken care of Wednesday mornings, but Wednesday afternoons they're with me. I can agree to take care of them Wednesday nights, too, with the knowledge that the mom is willing to pay me extra (I need MONEY) or, if not, she has a sitter on standby. Weekends free, obviously. €100 a week for 35 hours.
There's no piano, but the six-year-old has been asking to learn (sound familiar?) and when I said I played since I was seven the mom sounded really impressed and interested. Fingers crossed.
The mom and dad are both lawyers, and the mom seemed to know a lot about the paperwork for the visa. She said I can have friends stay over in my room as long as they don't interfere with the job and as long as it's not a boyfriend. NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT ONE MA'AM.
The only reserve I have is about the housing issue--not getting that separate apartment I want--but everything else seems like it'll be good. I'm SO wary. We're going to skype about it soon so I can "meet" the kids.
The thing about the apartment is... well, my goal is life is to have a job that pays me enough to have my own place in Paris. I want a permanent place that's really mine where I can have a piano and a sewing machine and a Venus flytrap. And maybe one of those hot pink cacti. Yeah. But if I get a separate apartment this year, yeah it'll be amazing and make my au pair experience much easier on me, but on the other hand... next year I'll downgrade to a worse living situation (probably) and I don't want the place I finally find on my own to be *worse* than what I was dealing with as an au pair. I want my success to be a huge relief. So yeah, that's how I've rationalized the housing thing.
Hmmmmmm yep. I had a long conversation with the lady and she seemed pretty nice. I think we were both very cautious as it's the first time for both of us that we've broken free of agencies that weren't doing their job. I'm really concerned that I'll end up in another bad situation.
The family lives between the PDS and Montparnasse (one of my favorite little neighborhoods for obvious reasons and because there are three multiplexes on the same corner and there are cheap shoes)... like, REALLY close to the PDS. Three tram stops plus one métro stop away from the PDS.
As for the living situation, it's a private room and bathroom on the first floor of the three-story family house. SIGH. I guess I can live with that. It wasn't pure hell last year.
Four kids... I forget the exact ages, but there are two little ones in the 5/6-ish neighborhood (a boy and girl), and two big ones that are 11 and 13 (also a boy and girl). I'll be mostly playing with the little ones and reminding the big ones to do their homework.
NO LAUNDRY. I just need to straighten the kids' rooms and, if the mom isn't there, deal with dinner for the kids (but NEVER for the parents... or for extended family members... or for dinner parties).
I will be responsible for two lunches a week, but from what I understood there are no early mornings involved. I kinda enjoy cooking. The kids are taken care of Wednesday mornings, but Wednesday afternoons they're with me. I can agree to take care of them Wednesday nights, too, with the knowledge that the mom is willing to pay me extra (I need MONEY) or, if not, she has a sitter on standby. Weekends free, obviously. €100 a week for 35 hours.
There's no piano, but the six-year-old has been asking to learn (sound familiar?) and when I said I played since I was seven the mom sounded really impressed and interested. Fingers crossed.
The mom and dad are both lawyers, and the mom seemed to know a lot about the paperwork for the visa. She said I can have friends stay over in my room as long as they don't interfere with the job and as long as it's not a boyfriend. NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT ONE MA'AM.
The only reserve I have is about the housing issue--not getting that separate apartment I want--but everything else seems like it'll be good. I'm SO wary. We're going to skype about it soon so I can "meet" the kids.
The thing about the apartment is... well, my goal is life is to have a job that pays me enough to have my own place in Paris. I want a permanent place that's really mine where I can have a piano and a sewing machine and a Venus flytrap. And maybe one of those hot pink cacti. Yeah. But if I get a separate apartment this year, yeah it'll be amazing and make my au pair experience much easier on me, but on the other hand... next year I'll downgrade to a worse living situation (probably) and I don't want the place I finally find on my own to be *worse* than what I was dealing with as an au pair. I want my success to be a huge relief. So yeah, that's how I've rationalized the housing thing.
Hmmmmmm yep. I had a long conversation with the lady and she seemed pretty nice. I think we were both very cautious as it's the first time for both of us that we've broken free of agencies that weren't doing their job. I'm really concerned that I'll end up in another bad situation.
