It's been a rollercoaster ride

I am about to finish my 8 months as an Aupair in Hangzhou and I have to say there were lots of ups and downs.
I had the luck to have an awesome hostfamily. My hostmom and I got along so so well and in the 8 months I spend here I can really say that she has become one of my best friends. Everybody in that family really cared for me as if I was a real family member. In the end it even felt like Grandma is my real Grandma and not just my Hostgrandma.
But of course being an Aupair isn't always rainbows and sunshine. Working with kids can always be really difficult and straining, especially because chinese kids are different. There were days that were amazing. My hostchild listened to me and we had a fun time. But there were also lots of times where sentences like „JieJie I don't want to play with you“ and „JieJie you are useless“ were on the menue.
You have to keep in mind that the chinese mentality is really different from what you are used to and the kids being spoiled and lots of pressure on their education is often normal.

In my time as an Aupair I grew alot. I've personally been through a hard time but it made me grow and I wouldn't want to take that back.
I made lots of new friends that grew important to me in a really short time and let alone the fact that I decided to extent my stay shows that I did enjoy my time here.
Now that I approach the end of my stay I have to say that I am indeed happy to go home but I am also happy that I decided to spend my time as an Aupair.
I am proud that I finished the program even though I don't think I would do it again. Being an Aupair once in your life is enough.

I'm also thankful for my Local Coordinator Yvonne because even if I didn't really have problems with my hostfamily Yvonne was always there to help. Also she was more like a friend to me than a person of authority which made talking to her about Problems a lot easier.