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Speaker 1: Hi. This is Laura Vanderkam. I'm a mother of four,

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Speaker 1: an author, journalist, and speaker. And this is Sarah Hart Hunger.

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Speaker 1: I'm a mother of three, practicing physician and blogger. On

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Speaker 1: the side, we are two working parents who love our

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Speaker 1: careers and our families. Welcome to best of both worlds.

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Speaker 1: Here we talk about how real women manage work, family,

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Speaker 1: and time for fun, from figuring out childcare to mapping

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Speaker 1: out long term career goals. We want you to get

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Speaker 1: the most out of life. Welcome to best of both worlds.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. This is episode one to three. Today

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Speaker 1: we are going to be talking about the O pair option,

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Speaker 1: and that is a childcare choice that a lot of

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Speaker 1: families are curious about or have tried in the past.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to be talking with someone who's a

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Speaker 1: placement counselor at a O pair agency and hopefully we're

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Speaker 1: also talking to an O pair as well, so stay

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Speaker 1: tuned for that. We're going to be having fun with

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Speaker 1: that one. So just to quick update at Sarah nor

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Speaker 1: I have ever gone the PA route. Sarah, what's your

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Speaker 1: her current childcare setup? So we have the same nanny

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Speaker 1: that we've had since twenty thirteen, who works approximately fifty

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Speaker 1: hours per week. We also have a fairly regular date

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Speaker 1: night babysitter for most Saturdays if we're not on call,

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Speaker 1: and currently we also have a very local sitter in

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Speaker 1: her first year of college who is doing sporadic weekend mornings,

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Speaker 1: like maybe a shift on Saturday for four hours every

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Speaker 1: other weekend or so cool. Yeah, no, that's great. You's

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Speaker 1: got a couple of people on the yes. And I

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Speaker 1: will add that our nanny will also sometimes work weekends

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Speaker 1: if we both have call at the same time, so

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Speaker 1: she works a lot, but she wants to. Yeah, well

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Speaker 1: that's good. That's good. So when we went on the

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Speaker 1: nanny market the last time, which was in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: the way the schedule was set up that we were

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Speaker 1: hiring for is actually one full time in one part time,

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Speaker 1: and we had the full time was eight to eight

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Speaker 1: Monday to Thursday. And while that's a very long day,

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Speaker 1: Monday to Thursday, that's forty eight hours. And then the

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Speaker 1: person would have a three day weekend and then we'd

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Speaker 1: hire somebody eight to the evening on Friday as the

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Speaker 1: part time. And then you know, having two people, you

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Speaker 1: have different people who could potentially do weekend if that

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Speaker 1: was required, and the Monday to Thursday hire because that

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Speaker 1: was the hours. It's actually not that hard to stay

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Speaker 1: overnight if you are eight to eight you know. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: she usually winds up leaving before a to a little

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Speaker 1: earlier than that, but that's what we did. I have

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Speaker 1: the option. Yeah, and in general, like, once you get

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Speaker 1: over fifty hours, you probably want to be looking at

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Speaker 1: more than one person because it is a long week

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Speaker 1: unless the person is covering like a lot of hours

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Speaker 1: where everyone is in school or something. But you know,

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Speaker 1: it can wind up adding up, so it might be

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Speaker 1: might be good to look into that. But one of

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Speaker 1: the upsides of pairs not that they can work sixty

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Speaker 1: hours a week, because they absolutely cannot, but there's more

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Speaker 1: flexibility if, for instance, a lot of kids are in

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Speaker 1: school all day long. We've heard from a lot of

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Speaker 1: listeners that they are curious about this option. So you know,

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Speaker 1: for instance, if your kids are in school and you

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Speaker 1: need help getting them ready in the morning and then

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Speaker 1: you need someone there in the afternoon. A lot of

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Speaker 1: people who are sort of professional nannies wouldn't want to

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Speaker 1: only work an hour or two in the morning and

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Speaker 1: then come back in the after doing to work for

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Speaker 1: three or four hours. But if somebody's living with you

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Speaker 1: and doing other things like taking classes during the day,

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Speaker 1: then that's much more attractive for both of you. Some

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Speaker 1: people also need some weekend coverage, so that's an option,

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Speaker 1: and someone who lives with you can have slightly more

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Speaker 1: flexibility in terms of start and stop times or last

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Speaker 1: minute stop versus somebody who'd have to come to your

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Speaker 1: house to do that. It can also be a more

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Speaker 1: affordable option, as the pairs who sign up to do

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Speaker 1: this are generally doing it as sort of an educational

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Speaker 1: cultural exchange and only for a year or two, so

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Speaker 1: the expectation is not the same as, say, you know,

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Speaker 1: older professional adult nanny who's looking to make a professional

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Speaker 1: adult salary. So we're very interested in hearing from Amy

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Speaker 1: about this, and we will be back with more on that. Well,

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Speaker 1: we are very excited to welcome Amy Hall of a

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Speaker 1: Cultural Care. She's going to talk a little bit about

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Speaker 1: the whole O pair concept in general, and then we're

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Speaker 1: going to hear from Felix, who is an O pair

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Speaker 1: in the DC area. So first Amy, can you go

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Speaker 1: ahead and introduce yourself to our listeners. Sure, my name

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Speaker 1: is Amy Hall. I am a local childcare consultant with

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Speaker 1: Cultural Care O care based here in d C. I've

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Speaker 1: worked a cultural care for about almost four years now

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Speaker 1: this summer, and I've been in DC for and I

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Speaker 1: think I figured out the other day I really love

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Speaker 1: working with cultural care because I studied abroad when I

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Speaker 1: was in high school and in college, and I wished

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Speaker 1: that I had someone like my role as an elzec

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Speaker 1: that was there just support Mary during those years and

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Speaker 1: helped me understand English culture. It's very similar to American culture,

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Speaker 1: but there's some big differences. So I love working with

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Speaker 1: cultural care. Yeah. And for what are sort of the

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Speaker 1: benefits of an O pair childcare solution? I mean, what

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Speaker 1: are what are the upsides of looking at this option?

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Speaker 1: So you have an O pair is going to be

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Speaker 1: an eighteen twenty six year old that lives with you

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Speaker 1: for a year, and we get that benefit of someone

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Speaker 1: who's living in your house and gets to know your family,

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Speaker 1: gets in sync with what your family's needs are. You're

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Speaker 1: also getting the chance to expose your child to another culture,

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Speaker 1: another language, kind of broadens their world. A lot of

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Speaker 1: my host families also stay in touch with their former

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Speaker 1: O peers and go to visit them for weddings and

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Speaker 1: funerals or just to see them. And so it feelds

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Speaker 1: this kind of global family that you're connected to. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and what kind of families does this wind up working

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Speaker 1: best for? Like, what is the ideal family for hosting

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Speaker 1: an O pair. So the ideal family is a family

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Speaker 1: that's interested in the cultural exchange portion of it and

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Speaker 1: helping someone learn about American culture. And a lot of

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Speaker 1: my families are dual career people that need that forty

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Speaker 1: five hours or childcare that's kind of flexible. They're not

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Speaker 1: going to get charged an a root fee if they're

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Speaker 1: stuck in traffic. Happens a lot in DC. So I

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Speaker 1: don't think there's any real typical family. I have all

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Speaker 1: kinds of different families. I have entrepreneurs, I have government workers,

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Speaker 1: just all kinds of families that need a little bit

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Speaker 1: of flexibility and want to expose their kids to some

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Speaker 1: culture in that process in along with you out here,

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Speaker 1: and this is a question for both you and perhaps

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Speaker 1: are a pair guests, But do you find that different

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Speaker 1: age kids are better fits? I mean, I just have

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Speaker 1: a little bit of trouble imagining you know, like a

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Speaker 1: young infant and an eighteen year old, although maybe there

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Speaker 1: are eighteen year olds that are ready and excited to

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Speaker 1: do that kind of a thing. Does this work more

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Speaker 1: with school age children or is there an ideal age setup.

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Speaker 1: I don't think there's any ideal age setup. I have

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Speaker 1: families that have one year olds, and I have families

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Speaker 1: that have fourteen year olds. So it's just a matter

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Speaker 1: of finding the rite of pare for you and your family.

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Speaker 1: You know, one year old, that family is going to

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Speaker 1: need the forty five hours of care, and you need

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Speaker 1: someone who's good with infants. And for the state department

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Speaker 1: guidelines for the program, any okay, this place with a

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Speaker 1: family that has a child under two has to have

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Speaker 1: an infant qualified or pair and that isn't okay that

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Speaker 1: has two hundred hours of working with kids that are

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Speaker 1: under two. So you're gonna have someone that's used to

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Speaker 1: taking care of an infant if you have a one

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Speaker 1: year old. On the other end of the spectrum, my

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Speaker 1: families that have twelve, thirteen, fourteen year olds, they have

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Speaker 1: all their actor school activities and sports meets and things,

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Speaker 1: and so they need someone that can drive the pair

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Speaker 1: around in the afternoon one schools out. So I don't

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Speaker 1: think there's any ideal that it works for. It can

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Speaker 1: work for a lot of different things. And also it's

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Speaker 1: mostly for the your pair, Like we have to feel

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Speaker 1: comfortable as well, and then at least some are more

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Speaker 1: comfortable with small children and others are better with I know,

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Speaker 1: teenagers almost so I know it usually fits yeah, because

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Speaker 1: as part of the process of placing people, you get

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Speaker 1: to know both the families and the O pairs right

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Speaker 1: amy and figure out what would match well and what

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Speaker 1: kinds of people would work well together. How does that

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Speaker 1: process work. I've heard a lot of things about Skype interviews,

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Speaker 1: which I guess makes sense, but how do the matchups happen?

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Speaker 1: So once a family registers with Cultural Care of Pairs,

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Speaker 1: they get access to our pool and they can look

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Speaker 1: at the old pairs profiles. All the OL pairs have

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Speaker 1: screaming in their home countries. They have to have two

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Speaker 1: hundred hours of care of childcare, three references, kind of

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Speaker 1: the equivalent of a background check. And then once the

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Speaker 1: families joined the program, they can look at the old

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Speaker 1: pairs profiles, find some that are interested in they're interested in,

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Speaker 1: send a connection request and then they'll do a skype

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Speaker 1: interview or what's that interview? I usually recommend doing a

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Speaker 1: couple of those interviews because you are inviting someone to

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Speaker 1: live in your house for a year, so you want

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Speaker 1: to make sure you're talking to them a lot and

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Speaker 1: making sure that they're comfortable coming to your family as

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Speaker 1: well and needed to know your family. So once you've

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Speaker 1: done at least one skype interview and you feel like

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Speaker 1: you want to match with that a pair, you send

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Speaker 1: the match request. Our office in Boston will confirm with

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Speaker 1: the old pair that they want to match with you.

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Speaker 1: The cultural care we have something called a placement manager

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Speaker 1: that helps the family through this whole process and kind

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Speaker 1: of guide them in what to look for on a pair, profiles,

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Speaker 1: types of questions to ask, and the placement manager is

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Speaker 1: the one that will confirm the match with the pair

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Speaker 1: when the family feels like they're ready to match with them. Okay,

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Speaker 1: So there's a lot of getting to know each other

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Speaker 1: going on through the process. Okay, And I mean are

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Speaker 1: there sort of families where this is generally not a

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Speaker 1: good setup? I mean, obviously families that would need more

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Speaker 1: than forty five hours of care a week, that's probably

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Speaker 1: one where you know that would be an issue. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that can be an issue. I do have families that

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Speaker 1: will stack the old pair with other types of childcare.

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Speaker 1: In DC, we're really lucky and pre K starts at

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Speaker 1: three and it's free. So a lot of my families

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Speaker 1: have an no pair in addition to a three K,

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Speaker 1: so it's in a pair to help them out in

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Speaker 1: the morning and getting the kids out the door and

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Speaker 1: then help them pick up. I would say it can

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Speaker 1: be challenging for families that need more than forty five

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Speaker 1: hours to other families. If you're not really interested in

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Speaker 1: getting to know someone, or you have a lot of

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Speaker 1: hang ups about someone else living in your household, become

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Speaker 1: a good program for you. I think if you're not

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Speaker 1: to if you want someone who is like an absolute

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Speaker 1: professional and has years and years and years of childcare experience,

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Speaker 1: probably also not the right program for you. They are

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Speaker 1: eighteen to twenty six year olds, and some like Felix

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Speaker 1: are wonderfully responsible, responsible and amazing summer eighteen to twenty six,

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I think it would be a little bit possible.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, what kind of when you're recruiting,

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Speaker 1: oh pairs on from other countries to come here. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what do you look for in terms of making sure

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Speaker 1: somebody will have the maturity to be able to go

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Speaker 1: live away from home for a year and do okay

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Speaker 1: with this situation like this. Yeah, So with Cultural Care,

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Speaker 1: all of yours have to have two hundred hours of

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Speaker 1: childcare experience. We do criminal background check, we verify their education.

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Speaker 1: We also do a personality profile on all of our

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Speaker 1: pairs and collect three personal and profiitional references on each

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Speaker 1: of them. With Cultural Care in particular, we have overseas

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Speaker 1: offices in all of the countries that we recruit from,

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Speaker 1: and the staff in those offices will interview each O

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Speaker 1: pair before they're introduced to our matching pool. Okay, but

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Speaker 1: I mean, is it ever an issue? I've imagined some

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Speaker 1: people do get homesick and go home. Then it does

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Speaker 1: happen sometimes. I think a lot of it is in

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Speaker 1: the interviewing process of talking to the old pair, and

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Speaker 1: it's also partly the hostingly knowing what their personality is

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Speaker 1: and what their like as a family. There are some

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Speaker 1: families that want a super independent of pair is maybe

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Speaker 1: lived away from home before, and that can just kind

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Speaker 1: of rock and roll and other families, like in a

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Speaker 1: pair that's a little more immature and can feel more

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Speaker 1: like a big brother big sister, and they can do

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Speaker 1: more guidance on you know, here's how you catch a

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Speaker 1: bus and those kind of things. So it's partly knowing

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Speaker 1: yourself as a family and partly interviewing. And then once

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Speaker 1: you have pair that are here in the country and

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Speaker 1: homesickness does happen, and that's one of the things where

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Speaker 1: the LCC is there to help introduce them to other

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Speaker 1: peers in their area, show them, caep you you want

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Speaker 1: to add anything on there about their homesickness. No, you're right,

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Speaker 1: Lots of lots of pairs get home again the first

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks, just because it's a whole new family.

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Speaker 1: You're in a whole new country, it's a whole new

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Speaker 1: culture that you get to know, and it's just like

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Speaker 1: in the beginning, it's a lot. So then the only

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Speaker 1: thing that you like how you can get through it

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Speaker 1: is like if you get to know people, if you

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Speaker 1: if you kind of make it feel at home here

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Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, yeah, So what did you do in

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Speaker 1: your first few weeks, Felix, In order to get get

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Speaker 1: used to the US and you know, feel at home here. Well,

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Speaker 1: I'm at tons of pairs. I just tried to get

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Speaker 1: as comfortable with my family as well as I could

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Speaker 1: to make them feel as a new family as they

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Speaker 1: what they are now pretty much. And yeah, and then

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Speaker 1: I get really just very comfortable living in DC as well.

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Speaker 1: So then just kind of worked off. What's been your

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Speaker 1: favorite thing to do with DC? I don't know, just everything,

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Speaker 1: because you have so much to do here and I

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Speaker 1: have friends all over and just like hanging out with them,

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Speaker 1: like I know, all the DC is just I know,

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Speaker 1: it's great. It is a good town. I was. I

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Speaker 1: was there when I was twenty two and have fond

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Speaker 1: memories of all that. I mean, it was just like

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Speaker 1: free stuff to do and also you know a lot

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Speaker 1: of good you know, bar and restaurant scene and all

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Speaker 1: that fun stuff. Like what what are some I mean,

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Speaker 1: do you have any particular activities that were really fun

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Speaker 1: you did with your family? Felix, Well, I mean we

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Speaker 1: went back to some beaches that are like kind of

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Speaker 1: close by to some amusement parks or so or they

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Speaker 1: just like small stuff like just go into a pool

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Speaker 1: party of some trends or something that's actually the best part.

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Speaker 1: I think, like when you do something with a family

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Speaker 1: and like friends out theirs and all and yeah that's

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Speaker 1: pretty cool. Yeah yeah, Well let's pause for a minute

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Speaker 1: best of All. Right, well we are back with our guests. Amy.

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Speaker 1: I have a question because when you and I talked

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Speaker 1: earlier about this, I learned something, which is that one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest challenges and the things that can cause

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Speaker 1: sort of the most difficulties for families and O pairs

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Speaker 1: and placements in general. Is driving, which I wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: thought was going to be the issue, but discover what

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Speaker 1: happens with driving and why this can be a challenge. Well, so,

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Speaker 1: I think America is a very car centered culture and

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Speaker 1: not every other culture is, and they're just different standards

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Speaker 1: in different countries for what it requires to get your

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Speaker 1: driver's license. So Felix is from Germany, it's pretty expensive

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Speaker 1: to get your driver's license from there. It requires hours

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Speaker 1: and hours of practice. There are other countries that are

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Speaker 1: a little more relaxed about what the rules are. That

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that pairs from those countries Colombia and Brazil

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Speaker 1: aren't great drivers. That have lots of great A pairs

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Speaker 1: from Brazil and Columbia who are great drivers. It's just

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Speaker 1: that you'll want to think through the process when you're

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Speaker 1: interviewing O pairs and ask good questions about are they

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Speaker 1: driving their own car every day or are they borrowing

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Speaker 1: a friend's car once a week to practice. Have they

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Speaker 1: had their license for three years or two months to

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Speaker 1: kind of get an assessment of the quality. I think

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Speaker 1: some of this also goes back to your temperament as

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Speaker 1: a host family and your preparation for that. So I

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Speaker 1: never recommend whose families buy a new car when you're there,

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Speaker 1: get an older car that you're not going to mind

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Speaker 1: if we get some dings on it. And then just

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Speaker 1: remember that they are eighteen to twenty six and they

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily have, you know, twenty years of driving experience

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Speaker 1: like you do. And sometimes they'll make the wrong judgment call,

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Speaker 1: and it doesn't mean they're not a safe driver. Usually

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Speaker 1: they are safe drivers. It's just like you know, a

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Speaker 1: tiny parking accident when the first month they hit the

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Speaker 1: brake in the gas instead of the brake kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: So understanding is EPO's family that they are eighteen to

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Speaker 1: twenty six and sometimes they might make a different judgment

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Speaker 1: call than you would make. I have some double logistics

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Speaker 1: questions really d related to that. Do they have to

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Speaker 1: take a driver's test in the US, So it depends

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Speaker 1: on the state and what the states require. In DC,

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Speaker 1: the O pairs just have to take their home country

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Speaker 1: license and do their written examination and they can usually

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Speaker 1: get a DC driver's license with just the written exam

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Speaker 1: unless they fail the written exam three times and then

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Speaker 1: they have to do the road skills test, but there

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Speaker 1: are other states like Virginia and Maryland where the O

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Speaker 1: pairs do have to do a road skills test, unless

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Speaker 1: I think in Virginia, I think French and German repairs

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Speaker 1: are exempted from the road skills test. Very interesting, I

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Speaker 1: think to quote me on that, but that's one of

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Speaker 1: the things that as an LCCI helped families with Lewson

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Speaker 1: and detailed instructions for how their road pair can get

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Speaker 1: their driver's license when they first get here. Is that

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Speaker 1: something you wind up doing a lot of for your family? Felix?

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Speaker 1: There you are you doing? Yeah? Yeah, every morning. I

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Speaker 1: drive into school, every often when I picked them up

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Speaker 1: from school, driving to all the activities and all so

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Speaker 1: I got every day. Yeah, yeah, So I can imagine

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Speaker 1: that that's something that a lot of families of school

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00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,119
Speaker 1: aged children definitely need the most. Yeah, it is a

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00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:06,960
Speaker 1: good driver. So sorry, I was just on a logistics

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Speaker 1: event and I want to know it's okay. Space rooms

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00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 1: to me, like, is there specific requirements of how much

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Speaker 1: of their own space the O par needs? I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously they're not gonna be bunking up with your ten

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Speaker 1: year old, but can they stay in a smaller room

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Speaker 1: in the basement. Are there, like, you know, very good

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Speaker 1: because I feel like that's the right limiting thing for

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Speaker 1: a lot of friends and colleagues that I have, is

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00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,800
Speaker 1: that they don't have like a dedicated extra room. Yeah,

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00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 1: and that is you know, I'm in DC, so a

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00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,120
Speaker 1: lot of people live in smaller homes. So the State

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Speaker 1: Department requires that the O pair have their own room

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Speaker 1: and it be a private room for the O pairs

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Speaker 1: use only during that year. You can't be putting it

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Speaker 1: on Airbnb while you guys aren't vacation or anything like that.

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00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 1: It has to be the O pairs room. And there's

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00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,520
Speaker 1: no real limitation on the size. It does have to

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00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,360
Speaker 1: meet like fire safety code. So if it's in a basement,

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00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 1: are there two ways to get out of it? Have

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Speaker 1: a window or second door that exits in a different place.

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Speaker 1: But as long as there's a private room for them,

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00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,120
Speaker 1: it can be small. I have families that live in

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00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,560
Speaker 1: you know, nineteen thirty rowhouses that have come a small bedroom.

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00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:16,480
Speaker 1: But they're also in Georgetown, so right, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: maybe not as you know some one of my other pairs,

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00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 1: but you're also really close logging distance to other stuff. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and generally they need a car, I mean, especially if

427
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 1: the whole thing is you're having them drive around, they

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00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:31,080
Speaker 1: would need a car available for their use. Yes, and

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00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,399
Speaker 1: that can be asher car. Again, I'm in DC, so

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00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: a lot of my host families will can mute buy

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00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 1: like metro bus or some other waste or bike, and

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Speaker 1: so the a pair uses the car more than the

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Speaker 1: host family does. As long as that if you're having

434
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:45,560
Speaker 1: them drive you, do you need to provide an a

435
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 1: vehicle and add these to your car insurance as well, Yes,

436
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:54,000
Speaker 1: of course, and then you know what's what's sort of

437
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:55,880
Speaker 1: the assumption is also that you're going to take them

438
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,520
Speaker 1: with you on any sort of family weekend, like I mean,

439
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 1: because the whole point is cultural exchange, right like that.

440
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: But then they also are supposed to have certain time

441
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:10,359
Speaker 1: off as well, so I'm curious how that works. Yeah,

442
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,680
Speaker 1: So they can work up to forty five hours a

443
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: week and then more than ten hours a day, and

444
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,480
Speaker 1: then they need a day and a half off every

445
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:22,040
Speaker 1: week and one full weekend off every month. Okay, because

446
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:24,479
Speaker 1: you're living with a post family, there's kind of a

447
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,640
Speaker 1: great area and I do usually recommend in the beginning

448
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,880
Speaker 1: like the first month or two, while the O pairs

449
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 1: are getting accimated to the US, that you do invite

450
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,439
Speaker 1: them to any activities you're doing as a family for

451
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: those first couple of months and even past that, and

452
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,400
Speaker 1: just being clear about when they're on duty versus off

453
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:47,040
Speaker 1: duty in those situations. But I think, like Potix is

454
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,040
Speaker 1: saying earlier about the pool party, a lot of them

455
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,679
Speaker 1: really enjoy getting to meet other Americans and seeing what

456
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 1: an American family does. Some of my family seek there

457
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 1: are a pairs on vacation with them, and the kers

458
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,920
Speaker 1: really enjoy that especially. It's like, but there are also

459
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 1: families that like, they're going to see Grandma in San Francisco,

460
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 1: and Gurma doesn't have a spare bedroom that can be

461
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 1: dedicated just to the old pair. And so as long

462
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,280
Speaker 1: as they're telling the you pair in advance, you know,

463
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,040
Speaker 1: two or three months, they can make travel plans that

464
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 1: could be the O pairs week of vacation because they

465
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: get up two weeks of vacation minimum every year. Cool. Well, so, Felix,

466
00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,400
Speaker 1: I mean, with the people listening to this, are are

467
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: probably a lot of families who are considering having an

468
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,280
Speaker 1: O pair at some point what sort of advice do

469
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 1: you have for host families that would would make the

470
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,920
Speaker 1: whole process go Well, Well, probably like first of all,

471
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: to so they should treat the pair like I know,

472
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 1: one of their older childs or something children, just because

473
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 1: it's like it is another person in your house and

474
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,120
Speaker 1: you have to treat him or her in a nice way.

475
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: And the better you treat him or her, they're going

476
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,560
Speaker 1: to treat your kids as well, just because they feel

477
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: happy and then they're well, they treat their kids to

478
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: be happy as well. I don't know, but that they

479
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 1: have a life as well, and that they should enjoy

480
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,640
Speaker 1: it as well, because that's what they hear. It's all

481
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: cultural exchange and they should enjoy it as well and

482
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 1: get to know a whole different country and all. So yeah,

483
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,400
Speaker 1: and you're at the end of two years here, right, Felix,

484
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,919
Speaker 1: So what's what's next for you? Well, I go on

485
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 1: my twelve month actually in about less than a month

486
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,040
Speaker 1: I think, and then I go back home to Germany

487
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:36,399
Speaker 1: and study. Okay, going going to school. Then awesome. Do

488
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,439
Speaker 1: you feel like you've been able to impart some German

489
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:42,400
Speaker 1: culture on the family they're with, Well, I mean they're

490
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 1: partly German. So okay, it is quite easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

491
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:52,680
Speaker 1: as I said, do you do you have you taught

492
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 1: the kids of German? Although I guess they're partly German anyway,

493
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 1: so yeah, they already knew quite a bit of German

494
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 1: when I came to begin with. But yeah, now they

495
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 1: are pretty affluent. Yeah, talk to them a lot in German.

496
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 1: I do it like half half, kind of like I

497
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,440
Speaker 1: switched all the time and like oh, I'm like, okay,

498
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: this day, I'm sorry, only German and the next day, okay,

499
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,959
Speaker 1: only English or something. So just that they I know

500
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,359
Speaker 1: that we kind of have like some chrondles for the

501
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: day or something, and they then it's only German, so

502
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 1: they practice that German and the next day is like

503
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 1: the fun day where they can only talk in English,

504
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,920
Speaker 1: which they only want to do anyways. So of course, awesome,

505
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: Well thank you guys so much. We always end with

506
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: a love of the week. So this is just something

507
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: that's fun in your life right now. It can be

508
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,639
Speaker 1: a thing, it can be a place, an event, anything

509
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 1: along those lines. In Sarah and I can go first,

510
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: just so we can, uh you know, these are these

511
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 1: are sort of summer things we've been thinking of this

512
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 1: because we'll at air in midsummer. I'm a big fan.

513
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 1: We just got back from a lake trip that our

514
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: hosts had this giant float that was called a lily pad,

515
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,119
Speaker 1: and it's like a very flat kind of float, but

516
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: it's big, and so the kids are climbing on and

517
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:10,119
Speaker 1: off of it all the time. It kind of rolls

518
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: over the waves, and so you can imagine the sort

519
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 1: of fun that the kids have trying to roll each

520
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: other off of it and roll with the waves and

521
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 1: jumping on and off this thing. So they had a

522
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: great time with it. Sarah, how about you? Sorry, I

523
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: was thinking about lakes. I don't like lakes, right, but

524
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,119
Speaker 1: it does sound very cool maybe for a giant pool

525
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: in my case. No, My level of the week is

526
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: I got the kids bathing suits from Mini Boden and

527
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,440
Speaker 1: I just think they have the cutest ones, especially their

528
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,640
Speaker 1: little rash guard combos. So if you're looking for some fun,

529
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 1: very high quality youth patterns, yeah, Mini Boden Kids means

530
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,919
Speaker 1: suits all right. Amy, how about you? What's fun for

531
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 1: you this week? What's fun for me this week is

532
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: enjoying the free DC public pools and all the free

533
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,480
Speaker 1: movies in DC. There's sons of free out door screens

534
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 1: all around to the district, Maryland and Virginia. Those are

535
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:05,560
Speaker 1: my loves of the week. It's very easy to be

536
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 1: fruital in DC in the summer. Yeah, yeah, no, there's

537
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,960
Speaker 1: so much free cool stuff and in the museums and everything. Yeah,

538
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: and Felix, how about you, what's awesome for you this week? Well,

539
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: since I'm going to leave soon, I met tons of

540
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: people that I have to say goodbye to. And we

541
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 1: had like pancake mornings branches every single day and went

542
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 1: to tons of movies and had ice cream like I

543
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,399
Speaker 1: don't know, twenty for seven pretty much, So that've been

544
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Yeah, ice cream twenty four to seven is

545
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:37,160
Speaker 1: definitely the way to do an American soccer please. All right, Well,

546
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much. We appreciate you taking the

547
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: time to talk to us. Yeah, thank you, yeah, thank you. Well,

548
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: that was fascinating, And now we have our question from

549
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 1: a blog reader of Sarah's. She says, I hope you're

550
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: doing well. I'm a big fan of the blog and

551
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: had an idea for a post that I think some

552
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: other people may also appreciate. But hey, we're doing it

553
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 1: as a podcast. I'm trying to plan for my planner

554
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 1: next year, and I'd love to get a deeper look

555
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 1: at the HOBINICCI you use prior to them going on

556
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 1: sale this fall, what accessories you have, What do you

557
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: think is necessary versus unnecessary for some context. I've been

558
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: in a life planner since I finished grad school five

559
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 1: years ago, and it's just not working for me anymore.

560
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,479
Speaker 1: I end up with a few auxiliary notebooks and I

561
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 1: still have to do lists strewn on random pieces of paper.

562
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:25,560
Speaker 1: I know some people who use them for their personal

563
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: life have a separate planner for work, but at this

564
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 1: point I can't really see that working for me either.

565
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 1: The only other option I'm really considering is the new EC.

566
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,360
Speaker 1: I guess that's Aaron Condron right on the Gofolio, which

567
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: is basically structured bullet journaling. All right, so what should

568
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: our listener? So I was just super excited that someone's

569
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 1: bringing up planner ideas in July, and I'm assuming she's

570
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,479
Speaker 1: not on an academic year, although maybe she is a planner.

571
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 1: Maybe she's just planning a couple months ahead versus six

572
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: months ahead. Who knows, but you know, I'm always excited

573
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 1: to talk about them. I will say, however, that I

574
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: am all for having everything in one and I know

575
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: Laura is too. So finding something that works for both

576
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 1: your work and personal life I think is essential. That

577
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 1: maybe the Gofolio, I haven't seen that product. For me,

578
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: I still love that Hoboonichi Techo cousin. I do not

579
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: earn a commission from them, but maybe I should, because

580
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 1: the number of people told me they've gotten one because

581
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 1: of me is rising steeply. But no, all I use

582
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 1: is that and then a little notebook with very thin

583
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,239
Speaker 1: pages that they make that I tuck inside that has

584
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 1: about fifty pages, and for me, that's been enough. Everything's

585
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,360
Speaker 1: in one place. I have In terms of accessories, I mean,

586
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 1: I have a pen that it comes with. I have

587
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:38,400
Speaker 1: a cover that it comes with, But I don't really

588
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: use a bunch of fancy stickers or tapes or really

589
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 1: anything that exciting. I will say I have just added

590
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: a very low tech accessory. It is currently the end

591
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: of June and I'm already getting invites for all kinds

592
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 1: of events in early twenty twenty, mostly work stuff, but

593
00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 1: some other stuff too. And so MyH does not have

594
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,760
Speaker 1: a great yearly layout that it gives you no space

595
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: to kind of future plan those things. So I just

596
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 1: went real low tech printed out one of those free

597
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 1: PDF calendars with one I think I have two months

598
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,240
Speaker 1: on each page, so the boxes are big enough to

599
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 1: write in, and I tucked them the back, and I've

600
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 1: already added the school calendar dates that I need to

601
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 1: in holidays, and I have work meetings on there already,

602
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: so I think it'll be nice and seamless when I

603
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,040
Speaker 1: go ahead and have to add them to my actual planner.

604
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 1: Plus I shouldn't run into problems where you know, twenty

605
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,240
Speaker 1: twenty seems so far away. Of course I have time

606
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: in January. Well, actually I don't. I already book something

607
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 1: and I can see that. So again, the phone or

608
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,800
Speaker 1: Google calendar would certainly work as well. But if you

609
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: are someone who likes to visually see things, this trick

610
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: has worked very nicely. Sounds awesome, all right, Well, this

611
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: has been best of both worlds. We've been talking about

612
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: O pairs as a childcare option, and we'll be back

613
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 1: next week with more on making work in life fit together.

614
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the

615
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 1: shoe Box dot com or at the Underscore shoe Box

616
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 1: on Instagram and you can find me Laura at Laura

617
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. This has been the best of both

618
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 1: worlds podcasts. Please join us next time for more on

619
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 1: making work and life work together