Turkish food

[Daisy]

GM - how interesting it must have been being an au pair in Turkey. What made you choose to go there?

[Grauntie Mag]

Always been one for the different option Daisy. It was there or Sicily, and my Pa was concerned about the Mafia. Both courtesy of The Lady magazine.😉

[Glammanana]

GM,Sicily has always seemed such a romantic place to me I have never been there and would love to visit some time I have seen clips of the scenery and villages and they seem so beautiful I think I shall put it on my "bucket list" for when I finish working.Thats a plan.

[Daisy]

GM - was it a huge culture shock or did you take it in your stride. Were there language problems? I'm fascinated, as you can probably tell.

[ZIZI]

I also au paired via "The Lady" I went to Brussels but didn't stick at it long. Didn't enjoy it at all but it did give me a starting point to do a lot of travel around Europe and eventually the states where I met my first husband.

[Shemadee]

I was an au pair to a couple who had a 6 bedroom "cottage" in the country and a bungalow in the smart part of Bexhill. The mother was a nightmare and couldn't bear to see me doing nothing. She even gave me name tapes to sew on at 10pm one night! Probably one of the saddest families I've come across. Until then I thought if people had money they were happy. I didn't stay long but felt awful leaving the children.

[Grauntie Mag]

I didn't stay long either. I became really unwell and was moved to the 'summer residence' on the Bosporus with the servant boy for company! I must have had something nasty as the Mother was very nice to me all of a sudden.It was so very different Daisy. The children were evil but the grand parents were very kind. They spoke no English, (every one else did, including the children) but we got along. In the Istanbul apartment there was only hot water on Thursday and that was when the washing machine came out. I had to wash the children's clothes by hand.
My abiding memory of the Mother was that she had many pairs of shoes all the same colours.😳 I don't think I ever got paid. Perhaps I would have fared better in Sicily. 😉

[Daisy]

Zizi, Shem and GM - it sounds as though none of you had lovely, normal families to work with. I suppose you think all families are like your own - until you go and live with another family. I do't think I could have done it - I'd have been too lippy!