OK I'm telephone interviewing an aupair this evening after she passed Uwila's List of Questions with flying colours... what do I have left to talk to her about?

[PrincessPeaNips]

Never done the whole au pair thing
She is almost 20, Californian, has done lots of babysitting work, and scored 100% on Uwila's long list of hideous questions. I've mentally hired her already. Just hiring her for max 10 weeks (summer) to be an extra pair of hands while I wait for new FT nanny to be free to start with us at the end of Sept.
Problem is - I have now run out of things to ask her.
Please help! What should I say? And should I talk to her parents? And how many referees? And should those be babysitting parents or academic or one of each or what?

I'm much better at hiring nannies.

What is this amazing list of uwila's? Would be really interested to see it, as am looking for someone for September.

will you maanage to enunciate the H in HERBS

LOL at Cod
Is she like, totally vegan? I have a friend who recently had to get rid of an au pair as nothing she ate was compatible with what was in their fridge.

her favourite food is chicken, pasta, salads, and mediterranean/lebanese cuisine

COULDN'T be more compatible with what we eat on a daily basis chez moi

she is a bit scared of squishy seafood and we couldn't pay her enough to eat an oyster

couldn't agree with her more, frankly

also I've googled her and she appears to have been a bit of an athletics star at her high school and recipient of several academic awards etc, none of which she has mentioned such is her modesty (although she says she is sporty and loves running around which is clearly TRUE!)

right, I'm off to phone her NOW, will report back on accent and etc etc etc
wish me luck!

I wouldn't worry too much about a criminal record, as it's unlikely that she has one. Especially since anything she has as a minor will be sealed anyway and wouldn't show up in a search. My guess is that she is from a lebanese family. I think that the driving will be the biggest issue, espcially if you only have a manual for her to drive. Even if she gets some practice on a manual, she will be shifting with the other hand. American washing machines are totally different from European ones, so even if she knows how to do laundry, it's unlikely that she will be able to figure out an english washing machine (though I seem to remember that maybe you have american style ones?)....I still have trouble with the uk ones.
It's very possible that her American insurance may cover her to drive your car and even if they don't do so automatically, they will cover her with only a small additional rider/charge. American car insurance tends to allow more scenarios than the uk insurance. And if by some miracle she is covered by USAA (insurance for military and ex dependents of military) you will be totally set!!
Underage drinking is a very big issue in the usa and is treated much more seriously here than in the rest of the world. I would absolutely make a point of communicating with her parents and asking them how they feel about her drinking in the uk where she is legal to do so.
Your kids are not going to pick up an accent from her. I had a peruvian nanny growing up who spoke broken english with a strong accent and an italian mother who speaks perfect english with a strong accent and neither my brother, nor I picked up any accent from either.
La Jolla is a fairly wealthy community and she probably comes from and upper middle class family. Her parents may well be academics or scientists as there are a lot of both there.

I was joking with the accent thing btw, she sounds fab

which nanny did you go for in the end, last I read there was a 21 year old...?

That stuff about the driving licence - is she allowed to drive a manual car here?

One of the mums at school is from the US and she is only allowed to drive an automatic she was saying just the other day. She's lived here for years but passed in the US in an automatic and has exchanged for an automatic-only licence over here.

don't need an aupair but curious what is Uwilas? Excuse my ignorance! Muchos Gracias!

You can only have my list if you stop calling me Uwila. And if you promise not to refer to it as "hideous". I get no respect round here! humpf!

By the way, my questions are geared more to a nanny, but you could quite easilt adapt them to an au pair.

Oh, and there is one license in America, and you can drive any kind of transmission you so choose. That doesn't mean she knows how to drive a standard. But her license won't be the problem. I think you can drive on your American license over here for a year. Tell her to go by AAA and get an international license which she can do for a fee of about $10 or so. I did this years ago when I went to Korea so I might be out of date. But, certainly worth checking with AAA.

he he eleusis (is that better)

she isn't lebanese - she is from a catholic family with a very european surname and her parents are called Tom and Marie! she lives in la jolla while at univ and is actually from bakersfield. not so wealthy I don't think!
she sounds very nice. She didn't say "like" once, and she didn't sound at all like a valley girl. she's been to england three times (including a 4 week course in oxford by herself two years ago) and she's been to france, scotland, germany and austria as well - so amazingly well travelled for a 19yr old californian I think. she was pretty good at thinking up things to do with 4 children on a wet afternoon in the countryside, etc.
she's very bright, I'm sure she'll manage to work a washing machine.
top tip about using HER car insurance sofiaames, that is fabulous info
she's given me her parents no, I'll speak to them too. also about the alcohol, it is a good point

Could still be lebanese and catholic....1/2 of them are I think...isn't that part of the reason they are fighting?? No bakersfield isn't necessarily so wealthy. Unusual for her to be that traveled though unless she is 1st generation american and her parents have ties to europe. Sounds like a wonderful person to ahve around your children for a summer. I'm sure she'll pick up the washer....just that it's unlikely she will know how to use it without instructions. Actually I think there might be a lot of military in bakersfield, so USAA might be a possibility. Sounds like fun summer for her and for you and your kids.

Okay, Eleusis , please may I CAT you for your list? [hopeful emoticon]

Of course you can.

Eleusis-did you go for the Canadian in the end?
When does she arrive?

I'd like to CAT you for the list too, please Eleusis. [another hopeful emoticon here] The CAT message may take a day or two to arrive as I'll need to pay for the service first.

I hope the rest of the process goes well and she turns out to be a good au pair for you, PPN.

I've just paid to be able to use the CAT but won't CAT you until (unless?) you say on this thread that it is okay for me to do so, Eleusis. After all, you might know frogs pretty well and have never noticed me around. I don't want to be pushy.

Oh, good grief. You don't need permission to CAT me. I talk to virtually anybody.

CAT away...

Yep, on Candian nanny arriving in July. I'm looking froward to it.

But, the depaarture of current nanny is very

DD asked me last week if I was going to leave and go back to Chicago. I think she worked out that if nanny could go back where she came from, that I too might return (I am from Chicago). I have her a big hug and told her that if ever I did return she would be going with me.

You can also find some books on Amazon. You might do a search for al anon. If you are feeling uncomfortable about going to a meeting or you have trouble finding the time, then reading up on it might be a good place to start.

Okay.... THAT was a post on the wrong thread. Damn. Sorry.

I hate when that happens.

I did wonder.....

Anyway-can you Canadian speak 6 languages becasue if not-your children will suffer!

Well, spoke to au pair's "mom" today - she sounds very nice, educated, intelligent, very close to her daughter, clearly checking me out. all of which is good, I feel. Her dad is in the oil industry in some form, I understand.
She raised the alcohol issue - asked if I knew the drinking age in the US was 21, said she didn't really know why she was asking, because her dd was sensible, and an adult, and she trusted her to be sensible, but she had heard a lot about a real drinking culture among europeans and wondered what our attitudes were to it. I assured her we weren't alcoholics, or even heavy drinkers! I then asked her if she would NOT want us to offer her a glass of wine with a meal if we were having some, and she very sensibly said "you know what, I'll leave that up to dd, I trust her with that". Which is just as well, she IS almost 20 and needs to work that out for herself.
Anyway.
So speaking to 2 refs tonight, and I anticipate her being here in a couple of weeks until mid sept! hoorah.

I have used Eleusis's questions too!! and found a lot of them very useful.

Hi Eleusis.

PPH - best of luck - our current ap leaves end July - been her 12 months and our new ap arrives 25th July.

Thanks Eleusis for that list. I've changed a few place names and have saved it to use if we do decide to have an au pair.

I think she sounds really good, mintywhateveryournameisnow. Ah, the oil industry. That is perhaps how she became well travelled. Sounds like she comes from a nice family.

When does she arrive?