LoPair Au Pair China: Learn. Care. Explore.

I'm currently completing the 6th month of my Au Pair in China, Shanghai.
I had a great time here. Of course there were good times as well as bad times. I was lucky I got a family where everyone could speak English. Means less misunderstandings because of different languages. But there were still a few things I had to get used to due to the cultural differences.
The highlight of the Au Pair were definitely the mandarin classes. I had a wonderful teacher who has a lot of patience. Of course the classes are challenging but my Chinese improved fast. The school is a great way to meet other people and get some social life going on even with a busy schedule.
My local coordinator, Yvonne, and the other lopair staffs always tried their best to help me when I had troubles. Yvonne is always very sweet.
My advice for people who consider doing an au pair:
Be 100% sure that this is what you want. You'll probably sacrifice a lot of your time for the family. Even if you like kids you need to understand that it means living with and being around kids most of the time. It's a difficult task and sometimes you also have to alter your own viewpoints on education/parenting to meet the standards of the host family (as for me, my host mom handles a lot of situations differently than I would've done if I had my own kids). You have to be mentally flexible

Soon I'll finish my Au Pair Program in Beijing. I started with a 6-month program and along the way I decided to stay 3 more months Chinas capital. China was my first time leaving and living abroad on my own and although it was scaring and different in the beginning, I adjusted pretty fast and well to the country and culture.
Throughout the program there were definitely a lot of ups and downs. Half way through the first part I decided to leave the family because of several issues with the children that weren't solvable. It took some time to get the rematch into motion, but once it happened I got a new family super-fast. After moving, things got much better for me and I started to get the feeling of family, even so much that I decided to extend my program (most people declared me crazy at that point) but I really enjoyed the time with my family. They took me to many places and cities in my 6 months with them and I'm grateful for all their effort.
During my time in China I also got to meet a lot of people and made friends from several countries. We had classes together and spent a lot of our free time visiting places around the city. Hopefully the contact lasts for a long time and opportunities for some trips to each others home countries will occur.
There were times when I was about to lose my head over some things because they are just very different from the western world, but that’s what you should expect when you go to a country like China. Stay open-minded, compromise and be flexible, that makes things a lot easier and if not, take a deep breath and remind yourself that it won’t be forever.
It’s been an exciting time here in China that helped shaping my personality further, as well as my knowledge and understanding. I got to love a lot of things around this country and I will definitely miss it a lot when I return home, but I'm also looking forward to go back to my family again.

I spent 6 months with a family in Beijing. I experienced winter and summer (sort of), ups and downs. It was my task to care for two children (3 and 4 years old). Through many obstacles I've had to face I not only learned a lot, but also improved myself. On one hand it was very hard communicating, as many Chinese families don't speak English and in the end I would say communication was the biggest problem. On the other hand I had to learn and speak Chinese faster and more because of that. The program is great for making friends, but I was never able to do my Chinese homework due to the work. I had to bring the kids to Kindergarten in the morning, then pick them up in the afternoon and play/ study with them until bedtime. I definetly went through a cultureshock phase while living in a Chinese family. It is more like adapting to a new culture than culture exchange. It was hard but very rewarding to me.

Hi everyone,
I'm actually completing my 8th months in the beautiful city of Hangzhou as an au pair and I'm proud to say that I did it. Thanks to this opportunity i was able to discover fully the life in a chinese family and to improve my Chinese very fast. Being an au pair in this country is an experience full of surprises. You learn things every day about yourself and about the world you live in. I belive that the qualities of a person who can be an au pair in china are : full of energy, adaptable and curious. I won't lie to you it can be very difficult. You can feel a bit lonely sometimes and don't understand everything about your life environment but it's fine because you will make a lot of friends through lopair. They will understand you more than anyone and you will have the love of your host kid. You need to cherish this friendship more than everything, because this kid will be your best friend and best ally.I hope you will enjoy China. Have a nice trip and be ready for this adventure that will change you forever.

For me working as a au pair was really a bless. I got a super nice host family. And don't really had problems. But nevertheless it was tiring working as a au pair. I mean after some time you get tired of it, you don't know what you want to do with the child, but for something like this the organisation lopair is there. They helped me developing new ideas etc.

Actually they prepare you well for the work as a au pair, so you don't really need to worry.

But If you want to work as a au pair in China, keep in mind, you need to choose your family wisely! Ask for a actual schedule, what they think about clubbing! Because if you are in shanghai or beijing YOU NEED TO VISIT A CLUB AT LEAST 1 TIME. Ask them how it works with your free time and also how your room looks like!! And as a au pair you will definitley work more than 30 hours keep that in mind. You never know when the child is sleeping etc.

After the first 6 months I feel so excited to extent four more months. The time being here us great as we make new friends, learn the Chinese culture and finally the language.
For everyone who us looking for an adventure, for something new and an unforgettable life experience...
I'd definitely recommend China as your gap year destination...
This great great great life exper3inc is for everyone who wants to have a great great great life experience.
So don't hesitate to apply for this great great great life experience programme and extent your own horizon. Becaue if there is something I can tell you then the following which I will mention in the following one or two paragraphs...(Maybe just one):
This opportunity going abroad and enriching oneself with a lot of different experiences won't be available in ones whole life. Bring young and free means enjoying ones life the best we can.
So apply now and safe even some money for applying in advance...who knows

I certainly got a lot of value out of 6 months in the Lopair Au Pair Programme and would certainly recommend it to any young person who excels but more importantly enjoys working with children.

As an 18 year old, coming to China has been my first adventure as a fully fledged adult and for that is has been perfect. You are still very much dependant for food and living and have to follow a strict schedule that may impact your social life but there is also a gain in responsibilities as you care for and mentor a child. I found living with my host family nothing like a work contract but instead I was very much integrated as one of them. Granted, living in a foreign country does involve certain obsticales but the family and my local coordinator were very caring in helping to overcome anything.

Before coming to Beijing, I was wondering how hard it would be to meet people. Turns out, five minutes after saying goodbye to my parents at the airport, I met another British boy headed for China with LoPair and since then we've become good friends despite the fact that we've been in different cities. I've made some friends for life while I've been in China and now it gives me an excuse to book a holiday and visit them some day.

To any person considering this opportunity, I believe the three most important characteristics you need to show in order to gain the most as an au pair is patience, open-mindedness and friendliness. In the end, your time spent here is a luck of the draw when you are matching with a host family so I can't emphasize enough to consider carefully when choosing. Some au pairs really hit it off with their families, some can be left a little in the rain. Luckily, I was one of the fortunate ones and got on very well with my host family. I look forward to keeping in touch as I go on to other adventures!

I am going to finish my 6 months program and I am so happy to feel how much my host kids have learnt during these months but also so sad to say goobye to my host family. I am very lucky to call them family now because they really make me feel part of them.

Hangzhou is an amazing city with a lot of history and nature. If you really take avantage of your days-off you can travel a lot around China and discover their amazing culture.

You also go twice a week to chinese course, the teachers are awesome and it is the best way to improve your chinese, but if you really want to learn you must study by yourself.

Finally you will meet a lot of people that will become a big support for you and make your time more enjoyable!

Now that is almost over I am so happy I went through the bad days but also through amazing moments that I will keep forever. I feel grateful for this opportunity.

If you decide to come to China do your best and enjoy every second here. Good luck!