32. Oh, you clueless Au Pair

It is Friday and my au-pair orientation finally comes to an end. It is the day when our host families are supposed to come pick us up. Mark is picked up early in the day and leaves. 

“Bye, Mousey, good luck!” He blows me a kiss. We say our goodbyes and promise to keep in touch. We exchange our host families’ phone numbers. I am really going to miss him and our goofiness together. I will miss his friendship. His support. His good heart.

In the past couple of days, we also became friends with Claudia, the girl who found Mark for me and found me for Mark, the girl who matched us based on our language similarities. She is placed in a family in New Jersey as well and she will actually live pretty close to me. About 20 minutes away. I exchange numbers with her too. I hope I get to see both of them over the next year.

We all sit in a huge conference room, waiting. I see everyone getting united with their new families. All the au-pairs are now departing one by one. A young woman enters the room, looks around, scanning all of us remaining girls. She has a sign with my name on it. She is beautiful, she has long brown hair and a sweet face. I quickly stand up and walk towards her. I point at her sign and say, “I am Jarka. Are you Julie?”

I ask her this, knowing there is no way she could be Julie, she is so young. Also it would be impossible for this young woman to have 3 children, one of them being 13.

The pretty girl laughs, her sweet laughter ringing in my ears. “No, I am Alice.” She extends her hand in greeting.

She sees my puzzled face and quickly adds. “I am the current au-pair with the family. I will be leaving in a week. Going back home to Sweden.” 

Alice quickly senses that my English is poor. Her face softens. She repeats once again what she just told me, but enunciates her words more carefully. I understand the essence of what she is telling me, even though I don’t know what every single word means. 

“Dave is waiting for us in the car and he will drive us home. You will meet Julie and the kids later.”

We drive to a little town in New Jersey. I watch the huge city of New York slowly transforming into a countryside with lots of large trees. Large trees and small towns. We drive through a neighborhood with huge houses and then we stop on a hill with the biggest mansions I have ever seen. I am mesmerized by it all.

Dave parks his car in a garage which is attached to the house. The garage looks like a little house on its own! It has room for three cars. I have never seen anything like this. There is an empty spot in the middle and there is another car on the opposite side. Buick Skylark. Alice sees me eyeing the car and she explains. 

“That is your car. You will drive little Dave to and from preschool and also Kate and Lucy have some activities after school you will need to take them to. Horseback riding, taekwondo,  and some tutoring.”

I follow Dave into the house but he quickly grabs his briefcase that is sitting in a chair. He looks at me and says, “Jarka, welcome home. I am so glad you are here. Make yourself comfortable. I have to run.” Then he turns around, waves at me, and leaves. 

Alice is smiling at me. “He is nice, you will like him, but he works a lot” she announces as soon as the door closes behind Dave. “We have a few hours before we have to pick up little Dave from preschool, so let me show you around. She then proceeds to show me the kids rooms, the library, the living room, and her room. She shows me the contents of the fridge which is stuffed with lots of unfamiliar packages of food. She is explaining everything to me very patiently.  Because of her friendly, inviting nature, I feel comfortable enough to stop her when I don’t understand what she is saying. And I am grateful for it.

At 2pm we get in “my” Buick Skylark and go pick up little Dave from preschool. Alice is showing me the town on the way and trying to tell me the directions. 

“The best way you learn, Jarka, is if you actually do it and drive yourself. Don’t worry, you won’t get lost, I am with you,” Alice looks at me while we are stopped at a red light. She sees the horrified look on my face but chuckles. “You will be fine! I promise. It’s an automatic, not a stick shift.”

Martin was right. Americans drive automatic transmission cars, it should be easy…. I hope.”

Little Dave is a super cute little boy. He has blond, almost white hair, and big blue eyes. He is a chatterbox and won’t stop talking. Alice is very sweet and loving towards him, answering his questions with patience. I have a feeling his questions are about me. But I feel mute. I don’t know how to participate in this conversation. I am also nervous about driving. I am behind the wheel of this unfamiliar car which feels gigantic to drive around. I drive very slowly, scared to mess up if I press the gas pedal even more. All of a sudden there are red and blue lights flashing behind me. I panic. What do I do now? I desperately look at Alice who says calmly to me. “Pull over, you are fine.” I do as she says and roll my window down. A police officer approaches the car and looks down at me. He is saying something and I, once again, don't know what it is. I am trembling and shaking in my seat, not knowing what to do. Thankfully, Alice takes over and explains that it is my first time driving in the US and she grabs my international driver’s license from my hand and gives it to him. The officer nods, then motions me to step out of the car and then motions to me once again to get in the passenger seat. He asks Alice to drive instead of me. Then he gets in his police car and leaves.

I am still shaken up. I don’t know what I did wrong. I don’t know if I can do this. At this moment, I regret this dumbest decision I have ever made. Coming to America was a mistake. I can’t eat anything here, I can’t speak, and now I probably can’t even drive. I don’t see how I can take care of some American kids here. Alice sees the turmoil that is clearly displayed on my face. She touches my hand with compassion in her eyes. “Jarka, we won’t tell Dave or Julie about this ok? Don’t worry about it. He didn’t give you a ticket or anything. He just said you were driving slowly, that’s all.” 

Alice is true to her word and doesn’t tell anyone about our police incident. 

Later that day, I get to meet the girls, 13 yr old Kate and 9 yr old Lucy. I also meet Julie, who is all smiles and welcomes. Julie is a career woman, dressed in a nice pantsuit, with a blond hair bob. Just like in the movies.  She has a busy job in New York. Dave has an important job as well and is even busier. They clearly need an au pair.  

Julie is very nice but what strikes me about her the most are her exaggerated facial expressions and her overly “singy” voice. When she is in a good mood, she is so very sweet she practically melts. She is mostly like that with her children. “Honey, tell me how school was today?” She asks Lucy. Lucy tells her she did very well on her assignment. Julie is beaming to the moon. “Oh my gooooooosh, reaaallllyyyy? That is ahhhh-maaaaazing. I am soooo very proud of you, baby girl.” Her voice is high pitched and that’s why I can’t stop staring at her. 13 year old Kate chimes in and now talks about her teacher she doesn’t like very much. Julie’s expression changes within seconds from a huge smile to disapproval. Her eyebrows curl into a frown and she screams “Oh noooooo! That is not ok!!! I will have to talk to your teacher.” 

I am very puzzled by this as her emotions seem to be all over the place and are very outwardly expressed. She sounds so…..so…over the top….so….squeaky! Yes, squeaky. I am doubtful that her demeanor and reactions are even genuine. But what do I know? I come from a country of frowns and stone faces where feelings are to be hidden on the inside. 

Julie finally pays attention to me again and motions to the phone that is hanging on the wall. She offers me to call my mother. 

“5 minutes, Jarka, is that ok? It’s expensive.”

“Yes!” I am so happy that I literally run to call my mom. Hearing her voice means everything to me. 

Later on, in the evening, Peter calls me too. Thankfully, I am not limited to 2 or 5 minutes for  this call with him, and I am so happy to hear his voice. “I miss you! It’s been months since we saw each other,” Peter says with apparent sadness. “Tim gave me a few days off at the furniture store between the holidays. Do you think it would be possible for me to come see you? Or if you by any chance don’t have to work then, I can even bring you to Georgia. You’d get to meet Tim and Silvia!”

Oh my gosh, that would be amazing. “I will find out. I miss you too! I want to see you!!!” I sigh. But I am so excited about this possibility. 

I can hear the smile in his tone. “I will email you. I am sure your family has a computer and internet too,” Peter reassures me. “Make sure to check your email.”

I lay in bed smiling with a renewed outlook on my  life. I fall asleep in my hopeful thoughts and optimistic dreams. I may see Peter soon. Yay!