A few years ago I – Natali – was still living in Russia and had never dreamt of living in a foreign country. On a beautiful sunny day, back in 1996, when I worked as a kindergarden-teacher, we were given notice that our kindergarden was about to be closed down.Two months later I was out of work.
Totally by chance – as it happens often – I discovered an ad in the newspaper, where a company offered work for AuPair girls abroad. It seemed quite interesting and tempting, so I went to see this company right away.Being unemployed, what did I have to lose? My experience in working with children and also my language skills (so I thought then) where quite good. However, the company wasnt able to find a job for me. Since I dont like to leave my projects unaccomplished, I continued my search by sending an ad and a photopgraph to several AuPair agencies, waiting for offers.
After a while I started receiving letters. To my surprise I wasnt offered jobs but – dates! I thought “Why not?” and chose the candidates I liked best. There were quite a few of them. One day I received a particularly nice and interesting letter and I just knew:...