Note: Don’t miss Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.
My biggest question when heading to this new job abroad was what my routine would be. I knew the gist- take care of the kids, do some English lessons, and clean the house. But what exactly was the day going to look like? When would I do what? I think that’s a common wondering for most people starting any new job. After meeting the family, we worked it out. Here is a rough itinerary of what a typical day was like au pairing for my family.
9-9:30
I wake up and spend thirty minutes resisting getting out of bed while checking social media. What are all these Americans up to? Do I have any new matches on my Bumble dating app? My Italian dating life is another blog post here, don’t you worry.
10:15
Go downstairs and have breakfast with the kids. For them, it was always milk and cookies or toast. This was new to me. Where is the protein?? So I made myself eggs from the chicken coop. This American is used to more hearty breakfasts! But how cool that I could go collect fresh eggs daily. Then I washed the dishes and asked the kids what they wanted to do that morning. The answer was almost always…
11:00
The beach!
The beach area was only a 5-minute walk from the house. We would load up towels, sunscreen, and balls. For me, I packed a book, my journal, and my old iPad for music. Some days I would swim with the kids, and other days I laid out trying to get some semblance of a tan.
On days we didn’t go to the beach, we played board games (Europoly was king), read books, or watched English TV shows. I introduced them to the Goosebumps series and the Disney Channel original TV show Even Stevens. These were some of my favorite shows from my childhood, and it felt special to share them.
1:00
After about 2 hours of swimming or playing, we would shower and get ready for lunch. I was incredibly lucky to work for a family who ran an authentic Italian restaurant where we ate almost all of our meals.
2:00- 6:00
Break time! During my break, I did a handful of different things depending on the day. The first couple of days, I explored and tried to see every nook and cranny of the small Italian seaside village. But seeing as it was a 20-minute uphill hike in the middle of the afternoon, exploring got less exciting real quick. Instead, I napped, wrote in my journal, or communicated with people now awake in Texas.
6:00
The evenings began with English lessons. Being a teacher, I brought books from my school to work on. I also made bingo games from paper. One bingo game focused on animals, other food names, etc. I created what I thought would be most useful. After enough complaints about wanting to stop English practice, Europoly made another appearance until dinnertime.
8:00
We either went down to the restaurant for dinner or ordered pizzas to bring home. I would clean up and hang out with the kids for a while after. My experience was during the World Cup, so it was pretty neat to watch some of the games with them. IN ITALIAN. Sometimes Marta and I would go for after dinner walks to work off some pasta (me) and watch the vibrant sunsets.
10:00
The day is done! Most of the time I got right into bed and fell asleep to Netflix shows I had previously downloaded.
The days were definitely longer than I thought they would be, but they were always a new experience. Each day took me out of my comfort zone while also making me feel more comfortable the more time I spent there. I wouldn’t trade it.
