New Au Pair Arrives Today-wish me luck!

[whooosh]

She is Romanian (have been warned about this),speaks very good English and I really hope it works.
Our previous 2 nannies were so much part of the family they will be a hard act to beat.

Anyone else had the transition from nanny to AuPair?

Just been to the station to pick her up and she wasn't there so texted her-she missed the train.....not the best start.

Good luck Whooosh!

My au pair has just gone off on the bus to her first English lesson - she's been lovely but not very adventurous about doing things by herself (not much previous experience of foreign travel!) so I'm glad she's finally having to - but she has a stinking cold today, poor love!

Well she is here-did apologise for missing the train which is no big deal as station is so close to us.

DD gave her a bar of chocolate and a toiletries gift set and AP geve DD a pink,girly hair accessories kit.Very sweet as I know she has had very little money for the last few weeks.

I do remember Jura!

Have already lowered my expectations and DD has been told that AP will be like her big sister.

Will keep you updated.

Good Luck Whooosh!

We went from nanny to au pair at the end of the summer, and I agree with the low expectations thing (and then you can get pleasantly surprised if they are good), and with the being very clear how to do things (and how to act with the children if they are cheeky etc).

I've just started the search for our next au pair since wonderful current au pair has got to go back to Uni in the new year. She was our first AP and has been/is fantastic so she's going to be a hard act to follow

Good luck Whooosh - I posted on your earlier thread when you had concerns. Hope it all works out well.

Badpups-I do remember-you were very helpful

Thanks Millarkie-I have done the house rules etc and she is unlikely to be alone with DD for any lenght of time until at least Xmas hols.

Have a slight concern on the personal hygiene front though.She didn't bath or shower yesterday and she is due down in 5 mins and not a squeak from her bedroom let alone a trip to the bathroom.

Oh well it gets worse.....so she made it down for 8am-I asked if she slept OK,got a grunt as a reply,dd went all shy but I though Ok.

So whilst I am emptying the dishwasher she says "I have some problems and I need to talk to you" Yay,I think-fire away.....

I will summarise because the ensuing conversation took an hour.

She is in love with the 37 yr old whom she was renting a house from.
They have spoken about being together always.
He cried when she went on holiday for a week and continuously calls and texts.
He smokes dope every night and when she spoke to him about spending the weekend with him he didn't seem to be bothered-"Chill out,we have forever" I think was the quote.

Most of her stuff is still with him-she doesn't even have shampoo here (well she does now).

Anyway,it went on and on and round in circles.

DP has agreed to drive her to the place where her suitcase is (bless her as it is over an hour away) to rescue her suitcase.I overheard AP tell DP that this guy hid her shoes the day she came to us-which was why she was late.

If you have read this far and kept up you are doing well!

So,I hope that psycho man doesn't flip out when DP takes AP to get her stuff and that she sees how weird his behaviour is and falls out of love with him immediately.

Aaaaargh

I see the storm clouds gathering....

I can help with one thing though - havign gone through the insurance nightmare just a few weeks ago I found that Tesco Value car insurance (only found via the tesco website - NOT via any of the compare and contrast sites that I tried) is almost bearable - I think our base quote was around 600-ish.

Ohh Whooosh, this does not bode well...

So, come on, Whoooosh, how did DP & AP get on extricating the suitcase??

On the far more mundane issue of car insurance: current AP is 18, but has had full driving licence over a year. I added her to my insurance - £400 for the year. She's only staying 6 months, so we SHOULD get a rebate when we cancel her from the policy, but no-one will say this for definite! The main downside is that the excess goes up to £500 if she's driving when the car's in an accident, whereas if I'm driving it's £200.

whooosh am on tenderhooks... whats happened now?

Whooosh - hope things have worked out and she has sorted out her true feelings.

We got insurance for our 19 year old German AP from Elephant and it was an extra £350(ish) to include her on a VW Touran - she's had a full licence for just over a year. Higher XS than us though.

Our Romanian AP didn't seem to shower/bath every day either when she was here so maybe it's a cultural thing.

Well........

DP took her to 37yr old to pick up suitcases and AP went in for 20 mins (DP too soft,I would have said you have 5 mins to get your stuff).After 20 mins she came out with suitcases and said that blokey wanted her to stay.
So,softy of a DP said OK-probably a good thing and proceeded to chauffeur AP luggage back to our home.It only took 2.5 hrs to get home due to traffic issues.....

We talked last night and the more we talk about things and rationalise the situation we think DP or I will be delivering her bags back to Northolt today or tomorrow.

I feel bad because she is basically a lovely girl but when DP asked her to hoover yesterday am she said"I don't know where the plug is"-I found that slightly worrying.....

She also told us the day she arrived she was going to an open day at Middlesex Uni today to try and sign up for an intensive course.News to us as Middx uni is a good 40 min drive and the potential for her getting stuck in traffic is huge.God forbid we would need her to pick up DD from school and she was stuck in traffic in Hendon.

So,I think we will be driving to Northolt this weekend-anyone got any ideas about stuff to do round there is we go en famille?

Thanks so much for the insurance tips-I know I will be needing them as the hunt for new AP will continue.........but not in Romania.

Thank you....it is sooooo wearing!

oh dear whooosh............sorry to hear. Think you are better off without.

I would echo what squiffy says.....Tesco's value car insuranve is fab. 250 a year fully comp for our scenic............would be a lot more with an au pair as our nanny is 39 and has a uk licence but I know when I added our german au pair to it a few years back it was not too bad at all.

God! After reading stories like that I can't believe anyone could/would ever contemplate an au pair - on the off chance you might step into a disaster like that.

You are all extremely brave.

Oh blimey Whooosh! Where did you get her from, agency or web? I lived in Northolt once (pre-kids) and am racking my brians for stuff to do as a family round there but apart from climbing the Northolt Pyramids (just off the 'target' roundabout) can't think of anything.
Are you expecting to take her back and leave her there tomorrow?
Good luck in finding the next one.

Well done and dusted!

Got a cab to take her luggage to her just to avoid any pleading (and us caving in)or unpleasantness from the weed-smoker.

She was fine about it-am guessing she wants to be with her "true love" after all.

I tell you that beats my record of Monday 10pm 'til Sat 9am into a cocked hat!

yes im feeling very out done. My quickest was 3 weeks.............i can feel a christmas competition coming on...........
!