Kateryna Khlystun, AU PAIR, USA

Hello! My name is Kateryna. I was an au pair in the USA for a year and a half, from 2008 to 2009. I had always dreamed of visiting America, and this wonderful programme made that dream come true!

I think I was lucky from the very beginning. I gathered the documents quickly and passed my driving test. Only about a month passed between sending my documents to the agency and meeting my family. The first family that called became my host family for the entire year and a half.

I flew to America in March. There were five of us from Ukraine. The flight lasted more than ten hours and left us with many impressions. On arriving in New York, it was hard to believe we were on American soil. My memories are a little hazy: the flight, enormous excitement and the sense that something was happening, though I could hardly grasp what! Agency representatives met us at the airport and took us to a hotel for a three-day orientation covering childcare and advice on adapting to American life. The organisation was excellent! We worried about understanding because everything was in English and we were not yet used to it. By the end of the first day my head was spinning, but things gradually fell into place.

After three days, we left for our families. Mine lived in New York, so they picked me up themselves. It was a little frightening because a new, different life was beginning, but also very exciting. I wanted that new American life to start as soon as possible.

They were wonderful people, and we immediately got along. They had hosted exchange students before, so welcoming somebody from another country was familiar to them. I looked after one little girl, aged seven months when I arrived and two years when I left. She practically grew up before my eyes. English was difficult initially: learning it at home is very different from speaking and thinking in it 24/7. After three or four months, however, when calling Ukraine I could hardly form a Russian sentence without including an English word. My host parents helped me a lot at first, taking me around the city and explaining things. My funniest adventure happened when I went for an evening walk in our neighbourhood and got lost. Coming from Ukraine, was I used to streets arranged in straight parallel or perpendicular lines? Back home, you follow any path you see, and streets wind wherever they please. Everything there was orderly! I wandered for about two hours, unable to work out which side street to take, especially because the houses looked almost identical. Fortunately, everything ended well. Three weeks later, once I understood the area, I was helping newly arrived au pairs find their houses.

Overall, I adapted quickly and painlessly. The same cannot be said about readjusting to life in Ukraine after returning home!

For the first few weeks, speaking English was difficult, and my mouth hurt from the unfamiliar articulation. For roughly four months I talked constantly but found understanding difficult. New York has people of many nationalities, each with their own accent. I was friends with a girl from Thailand, and even now I wonder how we communicated with our different accents. Eventually, understanding others was no problem. My greatest delight came one day on the subway when the conductor made an announcement. I listened, got off at what he had said was the final stop, and suddenly realised that I was taking in English almost like a second native language!

Honestly, the shops also impressed me: an enormous range of goods at very affordable prices, even in New York on an au pair's allowance. My friends and I became real shopaholics! My pocket money was enough for everything. We enjoyed cafés and restaurants and trying different cuisines. My favourites were Italian, Thai and Mexican. I went to McDonald's only once, out of curiosity about what it was like there, and concluded that it tasted better in Ukraine! I was also lucky that my host parents loved cooking. Every evening, we cooked something new together and had a family dinner. I did not have to attend every time, but I liked the tradition so much that I tried not to miss one. Before arriving, I warned them that I knew nothing about cooking. They set out to interest me and teach me, and they succeeded.

I also had time to travel. Friends in several American cities gave me wonderful opportunities to visit and see the country away from tourist routes. My first long trip was at Christmas. I flew to Los Angeles, and we drove to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. I could hardly understand how two days of driving could take us from California's summer to Utah's winter. The second time, I flew to Los Angeles again for a friend's wedding in Las Vegas. It was interesting to see that in real life rather than only in films. I also visited Disneyland and Universal Studios. Those are places where you stop feeling like an adult and can behave like a child! I laugh remembering that we went on about twelve rides at Disney in one day. By evening, we could hardly tell the sky from the ground. There were also a couple of short trips to Washington, D.C., and Connecticut.

I remembered another lovely little gift from America. We really wanted to see the musical Wicked. We stood in a long queue to register for a lottery that might let us buy tickets at one-fifth of the usual price. You wrote your name and the number of tickets you wanted on a slip of paper and put it in a box. Ten people whose names were drawn received tickets. After nine names, none mine, my friend declared that we had no chance. My joy knew no bounds when the tenth name was mine!

The perfectly decent subway surprised me too, especially that it runs 24/7, which is very convenient. Despite people's warnings about New York, in my personal experience life there turned out to be safer than in Ukraine. People were kind and welcoming.

A little about everyday life as an au pair: I spent ten hours a day with the child, but it turned out not to be difficult. I was amazed by the many activities for children of different ages organised by libraries, zoos, botanical gardens and museums. We were always visiting children's events. When it was especially hot or we did not feel like going far, we went to the nearest playground or park. We often met other au pairs and their children and walked together. It was fun for us, and the children made new friends. I also love photography, so almost every day I gave the family a photo report of what we had done.

I still keep in touch with my family, and they always invite me to visit. I just need to wait for an opportunity.

This is far from everything about my life in America, but these are probably the brightest moments. I have very fond memories of both the programme and life as an au pair. I remember not particularly wanting to live in New York, but now I think it is America's best city. For some reason, it was there that I personally felt at home.

I believe I gained invaluable experience through this wonderful programme, and it helped me see the world in a completely different way.