We are happy to announce that the winner of Host Family of The Year 2015 goes to Yang’s family from Beijing district. They have been get along with Deborah, from German, for 5 months. The Au pair feels like she was in her own home.

”I have been staying with my host family for three months now and I can say that I am very lucky. We always have a lot of fun together and the child has become like a little brother to me! When there is no school, we use the mornings to play, draw or bake. I have been included in all kinds of activities, they even took me to a trip to the Dinosaur Resort in Changzhou which was a lot of fun. In the evenings we read English stories and play the piano together. I think the key for both au pairs and host families is to stop thinking that the way you have always done things has to be the right way and to have fun exploring new things. A while ago we discovered that cinnamon can be delicious in all kinds of foods, not just in sweet ones (as I thought) or in savory ones (as my host family thought)! If you are open to new ways of doing things and willing to share your own culture you can definitely make this program a worthwhile experience.
Myhost parents have been extremely welcoming and they are doing their best to make me feel at home. They are helping me learn Chinese and taking me on tripsto different places. The grandparents have also been incredibly nice to me and I look forward to seeing them again when I come back to China someday.“—— Deborah

And we are also glad to announce that the runner-up of “Host Family of The Year” goes to Zhou’s family from Ningbo district. They have lived with Valentina, from Italy, for 3 months. She said the Au pair experience was most amazing of her life.

”Being an Au Pair in China has been the mostamazing experience of my entire life! My host family has twins, two girls of 9 years old. Everyday we had so much fun, we usually woke up together, had breakfast and then prepared to go to school.During school time I had enough free time to enjoy the city, sometimes meetother au pairs, and have chinese classes. My host mum was an housewife so manydays she spent time with me and let me see so many different typical chinese spots, China is definitly a fascinating country.  After school we went to the Grandmother's house to have dinner. After dinner and their homework we had the 'EnglishTime', we did  role-plays, read books,sang songs, saw movies; I truly believe that learning by having fun is the mosteffective way for a child to pick up a new language. On weekends it was alwaysa surprise! We did so many different trips, I am really thankful for everythingthat they did for me. They treated me like a family member, little by little the girls opened their hearts to me, they really became my little sisters, they were lovely and really sweet. Now that I'm back in my country I really miss them, we use Wechat to see each other and keep in touch.“——Valentina