She didn't know how to respond. She knew his opinion on her dream. She had managed to save a little money from her pocket money for her dream trip.After she paid for her food and other personal expenses, she put her pocket money aside.But how did her host father know that Lisa saved money? She hid the money in one of her books underneath the underwear in her suitcase. How could her host father check how much money she had? Only if she was not at home. Did he rummage through my underwear?
And with the camera in the kitchen and perhaps even in her room (once she heard strange noises from her lamp), she could never feel relaxed and unobserved.
"For my trip," Lisa explained.
"Yes, but first you need to book a return ticket! The later you book it, the more expensive it is. Then you have to save even more money and for that you have to spend four months with us. I can tell you pages where you can book. You can write them down."
"Thanks for your help," Lisa politely answered.
"You have six hundred and fifty-five dollars. What could you possibly need it for?" he asked soon after. Lisa was shocked. How did he know how much money she had saved? Had he opened her suitcase? Had he been rummaging through her personal belongings? Was she allowed to have no privacy?
By the way, your visa will be running out soon," he added, changing the subject. She nodded, staying quiet. She knew that her visa was running out. She already booked her flight home.
"You should book your return ticket now," he added.
Again, she nodded.
"Or, would you like to hide under the bed in the basement instead?" he joked.
She shook her head.
Of course, Lisa saved money for her return ticket. But beforehand, she wanted to fulfill her only dream of seeing Paris.
"By the way, the money you are saving can be put into an account for you. I can also transfer your pocket money directly to the account," he continued.
"Thank you," Lisa said. She wasn't sure if this was in her best interest or not.
"I will open a bank account for you. Of course, it will have to be in Ben‘s name, since you cannot have a bank account here," he explained.
Lisa wasn't comfortable with the idea of putting her money into an account that wasn't even in her own name. How was she going to prove the money was hers if the family tried to keep it from her? She already knew she couldn't trust her host family. If she had any doubts, the situation with Ben's helmet confirmed that for her. There was no trust. The family even had a camera set up in the kitchen. There was another one in the family room. She also had her own suspicions that there was a camera in her personal bedroom as well. She was sure she heard noises coming from the lamp one night. She couldn't ask the family if this was true. Instead, she did her best to ignore her lack of privacy. She could never truly feel relaxed when she knew she was always under observation.
"Thank you for dinner, " Lisa said. "Tomorrow is gonna be a long day."
"Good night, Lisa. Think about our suggestions," they said. They exchanged a glance.
Lisa went downstairsto her room in the basement, and saw her host family smiling at her.
That night, lying in her little bed in the basement room, Lisa was pondering her au pair life. With false promises, she was lured. A perfect au pair would probably be a girl who always cooks, cleans, loves children and educates, completely waives her private life, does not speak and understand the native language so that she cannot read even her own contract, hardly eating anything and paying for her food and language courses herself.
The girl would live in the constantly cold basement with no windows (and with furniture that you would otherwise throw away) and would be so grateful for serving her host famillies.
Unfortunately, Lisa had high expectations. Eating, contract terms, etc. are not for a maid. The au pair program is a lottery. But the only people winning in this lottery were the host families, saving money.
Lisa should still have called herself a lucky person. She did not have to spend hours cleaning, like some other au pair girls she knew.With these thoughts, she fell asleep.
31
Next day Lisa had picked Ben up and taken him home. They rode their bicycles home. Lisa didn’t notice his helmet was missing until the host father got home from work.
"Where is the helmet, Lisa?" the father asked.
Lisa shook her head. "I guess he left it in the kindergarten."
The host mother left the room, shouting that her husband was to deal with the au pair.
Theywere furious with her.
"You should have noticed that Ben left without it. It was your job to watch out," he yelled.
"Ben was so fast. I just didn't notice it was missing. I am sorry," Lisa apologized. She hadn't meant to create such a tension in the household.
The host mother was hysterical and shouting at the host father about the cost of the helmet.
"This helmet cost us 260 dollars. It's the same as your monthly salary," hHe continued.
Lisa nodded. "I understand."
He kept moving aggressively. She understood the importance of the helmet and the value of money. She didn't understand how it was going to be her fault that Ben misplaced his own helmet.
"If the helmet is not there tomorrow, you will not get your salary this month," he barked.
Lisa agreed.
The next morning, Lisa went into the kindergarten to look for the helmet. She found it easily, behind a desk at the front of the classroom. Ben had left without his helmet because one of the other children decided to hide it from him. One of the children thought it would be funny and give him a scare.
That night, Lisa looked up the helmet on Amazon. There were many different kinds, but she looked up the exact brand that Ben had. It would have been 17 dollars to replace. It wasn't even a good brand, but it was good enough to last.
This host family thought Lisa was a naive foreigner who new nothing about the world they lived in. The same way the previous host family had treated her. They believed she knew nothing about the way the world worked. She didn't know how to figure out the true cost of something. She was just some naive little girl with big dreams that she would never be able to follow.
32
"What do you save your money for?" Lisa was once asked.
“I am saving for my dream trip,“ Lisa tried to explain to Angelica and Marc.
"Do you send the money to your parents?" they continued to ask.
"No“
"I guess for this amount of money you can build a mansion with a swimming pool in your country“ They giggled.