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MERIT - an Au Pair in America
(article in AE)

Ever wanted to be an au pair in the USA? Merit Kachig was one. She told HHS writer Beth Demain what it was like.

Merit Kaschig wants to warn you that America is not dominated by horseback riding and Hollywood stars. If you get the chance to go to the United States you should not expect to lead a glamorous life like in the movies.
Merit worked as an au pair with two families for 16 months. It is not "pure fun", she says. You would probably have to work hard sometimes and have some difficult times, especially with feeling homesick. But these problems are minor compared to all the fantastic adventures you can have during a year in America. Going to the States, Merit says, "turned out to be the greatest thing I ever did!"

In high school Merit already knew that she wanted to go to the USA or Canada. She wanted to get to know different places and cultures, learn more English and experience "the American way of life". She waited until graduation, though. Then she had to make it through a complicated application process for a program with an agency specializing in placing au pairs with families.
Merit learned about ITS (Internationale Sprach- und Studienreisen) from flyers at school. The process included writing letters to her future host family, designing a photo collage, organizing recommendations for work in child care and proving that she did not have a criminal record. After that, she had to get "tons of inoculations" and pick up her visa. The au-pair agency took care of everything else.

Finally, in August 1996, she left Berlin and flew to America, where she spent 13 months living with a family in Delaware, Ohio and three months with a family in south-eastern Pennsylvania.

From the minute she boarded the plane, Merit says, "I had a real culture shock. I was confronted with so many things I was not expecting to be different... America was unlike everything I expected it to be!" People in America have a different way of looking at things, Merit thinks. She says that it's hard to explain how, but that a person has to go and experience it for herself or himself. To do it, she recommends trying to mingle with Americans as much as possible while you're there - which is also a good cure for homesickness. Establishing good relationships with people there is also important because the counselors for some programs don't give au pairs much support if they have problems.

But Merit had some great experiences. She says that she has "always been a very adventurous person", and she certainly did have some adventures while she was there. During a skiing trip to British Columbia, Canada, for example, she had two encounters with black bears. Some of her other favorite memories are of going camping in Chesapeake Bay with the Girl Scouts and visiting Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. On the 4th of July, she also got to go camping in Lake Placid, in upstate New York.

She misses a lot of other things she got to know in the States, too, like the food, independence, mobility, speaking English, watching "stupid" TV shows when she didn't have anything else to do (although that didn't happen too often!), cars, movies, popcorn with salt, Girl Scouts and "the feeling of being a part of it".

Merit also misses her "family" in America now, especially her first host family in Delaware. She felt like a real member of the family, and they treated her like one, too, instead of like an employee. They still keep in touch. Her time with them and with other American friends also disproved to Merit the prejudices about Americans being superficial. "Some are, others are not," Merit says. But overall, she met some great people. She felt she could really talk about things with her American family as she can with her family at home in Berlin, even if it was not as often as she would have liked, since her American family worked every day from 6a.m. until 6:30p.m.

When I asked her if she plans to go back, she said,"YES! As soon as possible!" (Merit lives in Atlanta now.) To German high school students who are considering going to the States as an au pair, Merit recommends being flexible. Also, she says, "Expect it to be very different - culture shock!" And to those who might feel hesitant, Merit says, "Definitely do it! It broadens your horizons! "