Austrian Au pairs
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Anonymous
| We recently matched with an Austrian au pair. I noticed that many Au pairs come from Austria and Germany and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with what American cultural norms were the most challenging for young people coming from this area. I want to make my new Au pair's transition a smooth one, so any insights into what things might have been appreciated by your Austrian Au pair (as compared to their home country) and/or what kinds of things were more challenging for them with respect to cultural differences. I'm not looking for cultural stereotypes, but rather what was relevant with your particular Austrian Au pair. Given the large number of Au pairs from this area, it would be interesting to see if there are any commonalities in different host parents' experiences. Again, I'm looking to make positive preparations (rather than compile "red flag" generalities about any particular culture). Thanks in advance. |
Anonymous
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Our last AP and current AP are both Austrian. They are as different as different can be personality-wise, but they are both lovely young men and great APs. Our AP from last year had a hard time adjusting to our roads - even though he had been driving four years and lived in Graz, a big city, he was simply not used to the kind of heavy congestion on four lane highways that we think is normal. Current AP had only been driving 1.5 years, but he had no adjustments related to this - he is from Vienna and was used to more traffic.
Last year's AP was more cosmopolitan than current AP is, but both have been very open to learning what they can. Last year's AP wanted to see and do everything, whereas current AP is a homebody. Last year's AP hung out with both German speakers and other nationalities. Most of his close friends were Austrian or German, and he moved in a circle of very "cool" Aps. This year's AP arrived with a chip on his shoulder vis a vis the Germans, probably because of his lower class background, but that has softened. Initially he would not be friends with any German speakers at all, but he has made friends slowly who are German. His girlfriend is French and most of their friends are other nationalities so they all speak English as a common language, unlike previous AP. I would not hesitate to host another Austrian - we have loved both of our Austrian APs and again, didn't find there was much specific to their being Austrian that they or we had to just to. I wish you a great year with your Austrian AP! |
Anonymous
| OP here: thank you for sharing your experiences! This is exactly the kind input that I was looking for (i.e. the difference in roads). Our Au pair is from Vienna. Do you think that their experience would be different from that of someone from a more rural area? Also, I've never been to Vienna, but everything I've seen in photos looks so beautiful. I wonder if our DC area would be very underwhelming by comparison. |
Anonymous
My experience is that these young adults are so accustomed to the beauty of their home, they don't even see it. Our APS have loved the choices available here. Loved that stores are open all the time. Loved thr inexpensive clothes and products, and simply love the availability of everything. |
Anonymous
I think this describes all Western European au pairs we hosted. None from Austria really. Cheap clothes, free soda refills. |
Anonymous
That's a really good point. |
Anonymous
Every new city - "city", I am not talking Poplar, Montana or Hugoton, Kansas - are exciting. New people to meet, new places to go, new sights to see, new friends to make. And you do not want an AP that only picks a HF for location. You want an AP that wants to spent their year with you. You want an AP that has made the decision that they think they can live with you and work for you for a year. You don't want your AP to match with you because you are in Hilo and all they ever dreamt of was spending a year in Hawaii, no matter what. You want your AP to match with you irrespective of your location. |
Anonymous
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Our Austrian au pair (who was great--we loved her!) would often remark how she wasn't used to how friendly people were here compared to Austria. Particularly service in restaurants she found to be much friendlier.
I know she missed the meat from home and remarked that it wasn't as good here. And that she couldn't get the type of sausage she would normally often eat at home. |
Anonymous
The food issue is interesting. I found that all of my AP's remarked about the bread and how there was "no real bread" in the U.S. because it's too sugary. |
Anonymous
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Our Austrian and German APs all have felt this way about the bread. They also thought the water tasted funny but then when they went home, they had trouble readjusting to their water after a year spent drinking ours (RO filtered).
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Anonymous
| I remarked before about our AP missing the meat. She did also miss the bread, but I am a baker. She actually bought me a recipe book with a recipe for some bread she missed from home. I would bake it sometimes, and she liked that. Of course, I could not do that every day, nor could we go to the bakery every day for artisan breads. It's true that American bread is just really lacking compared to European bread. It doesn't really fit our lifestyle. |
Anonymous
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Used to good public transportation
used to security, missing a sense of danger when walking out at night free soda refills? Does not drink soda Used to family dinner time, eating at home (not restaurant type) thrifty Compared to their way of life, thinks the American man is chauvinistic blunt no shoes in the house does not eat burgers or pizza Do not offer Hersheys chocolate. One family had Hersheys kisses in the au pairs room when she arrived. She told the host mom that the chocolates were old and stale and that she should take them back to the store |
Anonymous
To be fair, I come from a long line of American born people and I was always taught that Hershey's is shit |
Anonymous
| If you live in DC, Arlington, or Bethesda areas there will be a few Austrians and tons of Germans. We had a German AP and I swear she had more friends than we did in the area by the time she left. Two were Austrian and we could not tell the difference from Germans. In reality, there was nothing special to do for them, assuming no dietary restrictions. Finding out what kind of beer they like (normally you can find most of their beers here), or some pastries (we started making kuchen - the rolled kind of pastry and liking it). But as it was said, the meats are not available here but you can maybe find a local german grocery store for them so they know where they can maybe find something close. Also Lyon Hall in Clarendon has some trendy German food for a welcome to US meal. |
Anonymous
| We are hosting an Austrian aupair and he's fantastic. We had heard that some Austrian aupairs had a reputation for being "rigid" or "cold" but that has not been our experience at all. He's more stoic in his affectations than some of the aupairs we've met from other countries, but he's also warm and personable. |