Russian Au Pairs
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Our Russian Au Pairs placed in the U.S. have experience with
a wide variety of age groups. Over 80 percent of these Au Pairs
have experience with infants and with children over the age of
 10,
but all of our Au Pairs in the U.S. have experience with
children 2-10 years old. This comes from many of our Au
Pairs from Russia working as teachers prior to their
arrival in the U.S.
Russian Au Pairs are motivated to come to the U.S. to
improve their English as this will increase their
opportunities back home. The majority of our Au Pairs from
Russia were pursuing college degrees prior to their arrival
and the education component of the program is typically
important to these Au Pairs as well.
It is common for Au Pairs from Russia to drive prior to
their arrival in the U.S. In fact, all of our Russian Au
Pairs currently in the country already had a driver’s
license prior to their arrival.
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All information as of October, 2009 |
What
do Host Parents say about their Au Pairs from Russia?
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Kim is a Host Mom with goAUPAIR whose Au Pair, Maria, is
from Russia. Maria is the fifth Au Pair her family has
hosted.
How well did your Au Pair assimilate into your home?
"Maria assimilated very well into our home. From talking
with her before she arrived, we learned that her family is
similar to ours, meaning that her parent's parenting-style
is similar to how we parent our children. Their household is
similar to ours as well, in the sense that they each have
chores to do around the house, they attend worship services
regularly, they do not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes,
the parents are a dual-income family and are considered
middle-class. We also learned that Russia is fairly
Westernized and similar to the U.S., and Russian teenagers
and young adults are a bit similar to those here in the
U.S."
What cultural differences did you encounter?
"We have not encountered many cultural differences. We’ve
learned that some things are a little different in Russia
than here, but not drastically so. For example, in Russia,
clothing is very expensive where here, it may seem expensive
but it is cheaper than what they would pay. Jobs are more
difficult to find in Russia, and the pay is lower than what
it is here in the U.S. Housing, in terms of actual
single-family homes, is scarce and more expensive, so most
people live in apartments. They do not rely on driving
automobiles there like we do here in the U.S., they rely
more on mass transportation like busses and trains.
Education is different there in terms of how many grades
they complete before beginning what we would consider to be
college or University, and the amount of time spent in
college or University is a little different than here."
Would you ever choose another Au Pair from Russia?
"Yes, we would consider choosing another au pair
from Russia, based on the following:
1. Maria’s English was very good (although this can vary
between each person).
2. Russia in general is fairly Westernized, so there was not
a lot of culture shock for her to adjust to.
3. If needing someone who can drive, Russia has similar
driving rules as ours, and although they drive on the
opposite side of the road, it is not a big adjustment for
them to drive here in the U.S. and pass a driver’s exam."
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Hundreds of
Au Pairs available! |
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Looking for an Au Pair from Russia? Search for Russian
and other Au Pairs available now for free
in goAUPAIR's exclusive
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