Ich fliege nach Deutschland!

As you all know, I am soon going to Germany for an extended stay. I'm quite sure I don't know what I'm getting myself into, and that's why I'm going. I thought I would let you all know a little bit about the family I will be staying with. Here is the letter they emailed me before we made the agreement for me to come out, complete so-cute errors of which I know I will be making many in German:


Dear Aupair,

Thank you very much for your application which we have received from the Almondbury Aupair Agency. Please let me introduce ourselves to you have an idea of who we are and if you would like to become a part of our family.

We are a German family of four living in the German city Düsseldorf close to the river Rhine.

My husband Arno is a Director of an industrial company and due to his job he has to travel a lot. We have a daugher called Laura
who is 9 years old and her brother Karl who is 6 years old. Both children attend an English school in the neighbour-hood and they both speak fluent English.








At home we do speak German. But wouldn’t mind to have a girl with us who does not speak German as we are all able to communicate in English very well. We would like to find a native English speaker who will speak English with the children and will be able to help them with their homework after school. We are doing this with our current Au-Pair and it works very well. She is very nice and of course she will talk to you on the phone if you like, to give you more detailed information about us from her point of view.



Last but not least there is me. My name is Silke,

I’m the mother and I run my own consulting business and I’m more or less able to set down my working hours as I wish.

Not to forget our two dogs. There is Bautz who is a Labrador and Fritz who is a Jack Russell. They are very nice dogs and love to go for a walk.

We live in the countryside on the outskirts of the city centre, which is only about 20 minutes by tram. The public transport to our house is very practical. We live in a big old house that is built in the style of an old English stately home and now has been turned into flats. We have a 6 bedroom flat and our Au-Pair has her own room and bathroom. The room is fully equipped with all necessary features. We have had Au-Pairs before and are used to involving them in daily family life.
Our nature is open-minded and we are a lively and happy – sometimes a bit loud – family. We also love to have dinner with friends etc.

We are looking for a girl who wants to go to school in the morning and starts with her duties at about lunchtime, after her own language school. There may also be an opportunity to spend time helping at our children’s school if perhaps you are interested in a career in teaching.

An ordinary day in our family looks as follows:
First you need to go out with the dogs for a little walk. You will have some household tasks (not cleaning, just general tidying up) and helping with the family’s ironing (we do give the shirts and bedding away to a service).
We have a housekeeper who comes twice a week and she takes care or the “bigger” things. Normally you have to work from Monday to Friday and the weekend is off. Sometimes we ask for babysitting at the weekend.

When the children come home (4o’clock in the afternoon) you need to help them with their homework and afterwards they play. Once a week Laura is doing horse riding (if possible she tries to go more often) and Karl wants to start in a football club after this summer.

We are looking for a girl who loves family life and animals. She should be creative and responsible in working with the children. Our family is happy and nice and we made a lot of friendships with our former Au-Pairs. They still visit us a lot.

The payment terms need to be negotiated and depend on the “aupair+” system of the agency. It is generally higher than the asked recommendation.

We are looking forward to hearing from you

Best regards
Silke Alberty + Family

Now you know almost as much about them as I do. I have spoken with Silke on the phone and she is very charming. I have also spoken with their current au pair, Emma, who said that Silke is an excellent cook, so perhaps I can pick up a thing or two from her. I am getting ready to buy my ticket! Wish me luck.