Featured Host Family: The Gupta Family

We love celebrating our au pairs here at AuPairCare. Every year we hold an Ultimate Host Family Contest that celebrates participants who embody the spirit of the au pair cultural change program. Our au pairs, however, aren’t the only ones who make this program great – amazing host families across the country are highlighted as nominees for our Ultimate Host Family contest! Latin Au pair Jhesica from Colombia submitted a moving story about her host family, the Gupta family. Read on for more!

Why do you have the Ultimate Host Family?

I nominate my Host Family Gupta as the Ultimate Host Family, because they have really been my family far from home, by always loving me and giving me all of their comprehension and support in all aspects of my life. To be honest, the Gupta family don´t treat me as an Au Pair but as another family member.

They always show me their love with actions, they care about me, about my education and about my personal and professional development.

In fact, they are helping me to plan my next steps once the Au Pair program is over. During these last 28 months as an Au Pair, our communication has been clear and positive, and the mutual respect has become the core of our relationship. They have also respected my time with the kids, which has been useful to make our relationship stronger.

What special moments can you share?

The Gupta family is Indian-American, which has allowed me to know more about both Indian and American cultures, and they´ve always been interested in knowing about my culture: the little girl and I are truly fans of Shakira, and the little boy enjoys watching Latin shows such as "El Chavo del Ocho".

My host mom usually cooks typical food from India, and sometimes I also cook some Colombian dishes. We truly enjoy watching Indian and American movie marathons: as an example, we enjoyed watching all of the Marvel movies just during this quarantine. The kids and I share a lot of time together by riding our bikes, practicing tennis, playing UNO, walking, cooking and exploring all of the Hot Chocolate places in the city. We love Asian food: our favorite spot is located in Chinatown, where we usually enjoy the best bubble tea in Chicago. The kids love Spanish, so they´ve expanded their vocabulary and are very excited to go to some Spanish boot camps once the lockdown is over. Occasionally, they teach me English and I do the same with Spanish, on top of that, I'm their mentor in Duolingo which is an app that they use to learn Spanish.

The family has always made me feel very special. They also respect my personal life and time off, they also respect my friends, they are always looking after my well-being, same ways I look after theirs, which has allowed us to be together during this lockdown.