While I have been vaguely considering job hunting since we moved here, I never really put any effort into it until school and college apps calmed down. Now that that's happened (I only really have two more weeks of school before I don't have to go to any of my AP classes!!), I decided making some money might actually be a good idea.
However, the process for a non-citizen to get a job permit in Switzerland is apparently pretty nasty (think a combination of drivers' ed and wisdom teeth removal... or something equally unpleasant), not to mention lengthy. So I decided to turn to my fall back of babysitting, which doesn't require a permit.
Now, I kinda just assumed that babysitting in Switzerland wouldn't be different then babysitting in Menlo Park... kids are kids no matter where you go, right? What I didn't anticipate was that I might find myself babysitting a four year old who is fluent in French and Italian... and not English.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely made sure the mom knew that my French language skills are still minimal, but she didn't seem to care. And to tell the truth, it didn't actually make that much of a difference. The first ten minutes of having a hyperactive toddler yelling in Italian was a little disconcerting, but once he realized that I understood him much better in French, he calmed down and promptly gave me a tour of his house with in depth descriptions of everything.
I managed to get through the night surprisingly easily. He spoke mostly in French, and I used a combination of French, English and random gesturing (which he found pretty amusing). I'm actually really pleased to have this job, because I think it will be really helpful with improving my French!
And luckily for me, when my poor French just doesn't cut it, Playdough is a universal language.
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