Au Revoir to Au Pairs

International Au Pairs are becoming a rare commodity in New Zealand as the closed borders mean the outgoing nannies can't be replaced. Liz Garton finds out more in this episode of Voices. Luise Kreisel and Jule Riggers made New Zealand home in 2020, but they could be some of the last international au pairs to do so for some time. Subscribe to Voices for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Radio Public and iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Twenty-five year old Jule Riggers has been with her host family for just over a year."Highlights are definitely the beaches and the ocean," Jule said of her time here in New Zealand, "I love the water. I got my diving certificate here. Everything's so close together, like you have snow and beach just an hour away basically. That's great."But she said it was difficult being here when the pandemic first hit."The first time we went into lockdown, I didn't know it was that serious and then it all came down and I was like 'Oh no, I need to go home. I'm so far away.' But you can't go home. So that was kind of weird." she said. Jule's received a short extension on her visa. But she wants to be home in Germany for Christmas."As much as I like it here and I really, really like my family, we got really attached to each other and they're like my second family now. But I miss my family too. It's just time."Luise Kreisel was in New Zealand looking after a four-year-old and a two-year-old as the Covid19 pandemic took over the world."I was spending much more time with my host family than I did before," she said. "I can't catch up with friends. I just can't travel as much anymore."And being stuck at home with the two children during lockdown came with its own challenges."Because my boy, he's going to school, so he has to do school work at home. And my little girl, she's not doing school. So she's playing around. It's a little bit tricky to entertain them both at the same time."Luise did a camper trip with friends between the two lockdowns, something her friends back home in Germany could only dream of."Jealousy is a hard word, but I think they are a little bit more jealous of me than I am of them. They were all stuck at home and had summer."But she says all her friends are travelling now and relaxed about the virus."I think they're actually doing quite well," she said, "I have a lot of friends in Spain and Italy at the moment. And they still all work and go to school.They have to wear masks and everything, but not as much as here."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details