My first week with my hostfamily was really special, they asked me a lot about my culture and traditions and they were very interested in my eating habits. My hostparents english is not the best, but they always tried to explain everything of the chinese culture to me. My hostchild was not that happy during the first month to have a new AuPair at home, so we had some problems. I talked a lot about this topic with my hostmum and she was very nice. She told me that she trusts me that I will do the right thing with their daughter. That was a really nice thing she said to me, because I was so scared that she would think that it is my fault that there are some problems. After a few weeks I really started building a relationship with May, my hostchild (I think she started to realize that I am not that awful ).
My hostmum is very interested in learning english together with her daughter, so she likes to join us from time to time with our english homework. Also she always tries to explain something to me, even though she needs some time for it. Its very important for her that her family is doing great. She is a really caring and lovely woman! She also asks me all the time if I am feeling good, if I'm hungry and so on.
My hostdad's english is a little bit better so we have the chance to talk more, for example when we drive to school together to pick up my hostchild. He always wants me to feel like a family member at home, when we met new people he introduced me as "my german daughter".
Both work hard for their company, but you can see that the family is always at the first place for them! During my first month I was really sick for three days and my family, the whole one, was so worried about me. My chinese grandmother always checked on me to make sure if I need something and our Aye even offered to sleep in my room so I can wake her up if there is a problem in the night!
Our Aye is a really nice woman. She cannot speak english (and my chinese is not good), but we understand each other. She knows exactly what food I like and on christmas she made a Christmas tree out of mashed potatoes and vegetables, so amazing! She also tries to tell me a lot about the chinese culture. Sometimes she walks into my room and shows me what new things she bought and she is also very interested when I buy something. Its possible for us to talk about such things and I really feel that she is interested in my life.
My chinese grandmother and I have a really nice connection. We cannot really talk to each other, because she only knows a few english words, but she likes to ask me questions about Germany. There was a time where we watched a chinese documentation about Germany together and she was so cute while asking questions!
Also a part of this amazing family is my hostbrother. He is studying in America but comes home for holidays sometimes. He helped me a lot when I was very sick, like to communicate with the doctor, but also he was always there when I needed some help here in China.
My little chinese sister, May, is a really special girl. She is so smart and likes to learn english with me. Like I said at the beginning, our start was not the best, but I have the feeling that she likes me alot now. Her english is very good, even though she is only eight years old. Sometimes I tried to talk with my hostmum and May recognized, that its too hard for me to say it in chinese, so she always asked "Do you need my help, I can translate it for you!". May likes to sing english songs with me and to hear me reading english books to her. We like to laugh a lot together. Last week she told me for the first time, that she will miss me and that I should stay in China. Everytime we talked about that I will leave soon she switched to another topic, so this was the first time she really talked about this.
I also know the whole family, because they let me join every family activity. We had a lot of dinner-party's together and I was allowed to plan a part of May's birthday party!
I think this family should be the host family of 2017, because they are so open-minded and accept you as a real family member. They care about you and how you feel and you always hear a "thank you" for everything you do, even if it is really not necessary.
I had a really great time here in Ningbo and a big part of my happiness here is my beautiful host family. I will leave this family in five days but I already planed to visit them at the end of this year and I hope that we can stay in touch.