They asked me to come to their home in the evening to help with the children while they hosted a dinner. I was a little apprehensive to accept. As I knew very little about the culture. And worried I may say or do something wrong. But I agreed to the gig, as I was planning to use the money to buy plane tickets to fly to visit my own family over the holiday break.
When I arrived I was greeted warmly by the parents and they thanked me again and again for arriving on time. I was to look after 5 school aged children while the adults had a formal dinner in the next room. I asked them what they would like to do and they grabbed me by the hands and led me into the living room. There they pleaded with me to play a game with them called "Dreidel." We giggled for over an hour spinning the top with strange (to me) symbols and divided up the "Gelt" ( which I found out were chocolate coins wrapped in golden foil) amongst ourselves.
The parents brought plates of food in and set them on the coffee table. The children explained to me that one of the food items was called "Latkes" and was made with potatoes and onions. And the other food was a type of jelly filled donut (I can't remember the name) I tried both and found both dishes were delicious.
The children chatted about what they had received as gifts for the last 6 nights of the celebration and what they hoped to get as a gift on the 7th and 8th night.
We were eating our chocolate coins when the adults came in and began telling the children it was time to clean up and go home.
They offered me a plate of food to take home. An offer I couldn't refuse! Paid me the amount we had agreed upon and asked me if I would consider coming to babysit again as they hoped to have a date night soon. To which I replied, "I would love to!"
I must say, I feel rather foolish for ever worrying about taking the job. In reality I was fortunate to be allowed to be apart of their intimate gathering and get a glimpse of a different culture.
What other job do you get the privilege to be welcomed into peoples homes, learn about their family traditions, try different foods and enjoy good company?
Have you ever worked with a family with a different cultural background?
19 comments:
hi there,
the jelly filled "donut" is called Hamantaschen! and they are fabulous!!
Here is a link to the recipe if your interested...
http://toriavey.com/how-to/2012/03/how-to-make-perfect-hamantaschen/
i want a picture of a Hamentaschen !!!!! give !!!!
i actually want a hamentaschen!! - anything!!!
Follow the link for the recipe, there is a picture there!
SS4857, No it's not. It's called sufganiot. Hamentashen are triangle-shaped cookies for Purim, in the shape of Haman's hat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufganiyah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamantash
Why was my commented deleted?....
It was a long comment about my experience working with a family that has different values.
She probably meant to delete SS4857's misinformation and made a mistake. Unfortunate :(
deleted anon: - for some reason - some posts are being deleted for no reason by no one !! I would love to read your post! I can understand not posting it again - but I hope you try - be aware it's no one with this site deleting it!! It happened to a poster yesterday for no reason and no explanation - thank you for trying!
How awesome is that! I'm glad you gave it a go. Getting such a warm welcome into a different culture is an amazing gift and honor. :)
I wish! Most of the families I work with are overly professional and barely let me in on even the most basic level. Half the time I don't even know what they do for a living. lucky for you!
I currently work for an Indian family. They have welcomed me in and I've learned so much about Hinduism. We also use a lot of Hindi words when speaking to the children, which is awesome to me, because I'm learning a new language. They are also very open to other religions and cultural norms. They are currently teaching their four year old the story of baby Jesus and Christmas. I don't ever talk about my own religion (raised very southern baptist) but when the children ask about God or Babaji, I'm happy to help them try to understand. It has definitely been an awesome experience for me, but I definitely put that on MB and DB for being accepting of me in the first place and making me part of their family.
Miss S - we love exploring ideas like this - please email me for information if you would like to submit isynblog@gmail.com
ps - I have worked with Indian and Pakistani familes also and it is very wonderful heritage and families
OP here,
Thank you for taking the time to read and reply
OP here,
Thanks anon for the read and the info on the dishes name.All I know is it was tasty! :)
OP here,
Thanks Taleia. It really was a wonderful experience and I have created a new professional relationship with more opportunities to work :)
OP here,
You are a special type of nanny anon.
I do know other nannies that can take a back seat and work for the overly professional families and those families are lucky to have you I am sure!
For me, I need to feel like a family member!
I am very fortunate to have found that with multiple families (this one includes :)
OP here,
Miss S we are the lucky ones!
This family you work with sounds wonderful!
And I love that you are so self aware that the credit of this all goes to the open acceptance MB and DB have set forth!
Thanks for sharing!
Sorry it's been so long since I posted! We've just been having so much fun, I haven't been back to ISYN in a while.
I know for a fact that if not for MB and DB being so wonderfully accepting our relationship would be on edge. They treat me as a part of their family. Which is exactly what we were both looking for when we had our first interview. I sincerely wish more nannies could experience a good working relationship with their bosses. Also since posting this, we've found out we're expecting a brand new nanny child due next spring!! And they asked me to stay on even after my original contract was up! We're all very excited :)
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