1. who we are The Family: our daughter Sasha (4.5 years old), Ulrike and Christian (mid 40s). We live in a bright, friendly 4-room flat with a large balcony right next to the park. Our residential area is quiet and safe on the outskirts of Berlin (Bernau bei Berlin). We live in a renovated historical industrial complex, where many nice families and neighbours live. You can walk to the centre of Berlin every 15-20 minutes by city train. We also regularly use a small weekend property near Berlin. Our daughter Sasha usually goes to kindergarten from about 8-15:30 and attends leisure activities or has playdates with friends about two afternoons a week. She is uncomplicated, open and has a wide range of interests and currently enjoys music, books and arts and crafts. She finds English exciting from our travels and from songs and already knows two or three words. We parents both work in the country's civil service. Since our studies and until about 6 years ago, we have both lived in shared flats in various constellations and have always liked this form of cohabitation very much. 2. what we offer Our Au Pair has her own room of approx. 14 square metres and we have a separate small shower room. We only use the washing machine in the bathroom, otherwise it is at the au pair's disposal. What costs do we bear? - Free board and lodging - monthly pocket money of 280,- € /320 US Dollar (the cost of living in Germany, especially in B, is significantly lower than in the USA) - We cover the necessary insurance costs (health, accident and liability insurance) - Assumption of the costs for a language course - Provision of a bicycle - Shared use of a car by arrangement - Germany ticket for public transport and local public transport Of course, we will assist you in dealing with the necessary authorities and in going to the immigration office to obtain au pair status, and we will also support you in networking with au pair networks in and around Berlin. 3. our ideas about the au pair model We would like our Au Pair to support us in looking after Sasha from Monday to Friday. This includes starting the day in the morning on working days and travelling to kindergarten, preparing a snack box for the afternoon and picking her up from kindergarten in the afternoon, driving her to leisure activities or looking after her / playing together in the afternoon and preparing dinner. From then on, we usually take over the childcare. Occasionally, the care includes the evening programme including putting the child to bed, e.g. when we are on a business trip. About twice a month, we are happy get additional support to look after Sasha in the evening so that we can both have some free time as parents. Everyone does their share of the usual household tasks (cleaning, shopping, laundry), no additional household chores for the family are expected. Depending on availability, the flat will be cleaned by a domestic help every second week at our expense. 4. who are we looking for and what is important to us We are looking for a child-loving, warm-hearted, responsible person who would like to get involved with us as a family, our culture and our country for a year. We are very open-minded, both speak fluent English and are quite happy for English to sit alongside German and for Sasha to pick up some English or other language too. It is important to us that people do not smoke at our home, drink alcohol or take drugs in the flat or in the presence of Sasha. Unfortunately, we are also unable to keep pets and do not have any animals in our flat. We also believe that manners, polite behaviour, consideration and a tolerant view of people and the world are important. The main educational issues are of course up to us as parents and the au pair is welcome to 'mess around' with Sasha from time to time, but overall it would be good if the Au Pair is also a kind of role model for her in the main character issues. We are happy to enable the au pair to learn the language in the form of a language course and to explore the country and culture. Of course, we always prioritise looking after Sasha within the agreed time frame. We respect the needs of our Au Pair and are happy to accommodate how much privacy or participation in family activities is desired in addition to caring for her. Living together in such a constellation is intensive and both sides should be able to help shape it as equals. We are happy when it doesn't feel 'like a job' for both sides, when living together is pleasant for everyone and also fun.