“There is around eight hundred people in total.”
Lisa was shocked to learn this. On the questionnaire that Lisa had seen, the family said they lived in a small town. It turned out to be very small. Lisa hardly considered it a town at all. It was a village.
Her host family owned a dental clinic. Clara and her husband were both CEO's of the company. Clara was a powerful business woman, who often worked many hours. She had children, but they spent most of their time with their father, or grandmother. Clara's mother often looked after the children during the day, to give Clara more time to work. Clara was always busy, sitting in her office. Although, she always had time for the things she loved. She had many hobbies, which included salsa dancing and travelling abroad. Her husband never travelled with her. Clara always travelled alone, or with her closest friends. Instead, he was expected to stay home with the children while she was away.
Both parents were often too busy to spend time with the children. Although Christian was left in charge, he was often in his home office. There, he would expect to be left uninterrupted to continue with his work from home. The children were expected to entertain themselves and each other. They saw their parents only a couple of minutes day, usually at breakfast. But with Luca needing more attention, the family started to consider the upbringing of their children. The children needed more help than either parent could provide.
Nataly was learning to read and count, but she was struggling to learn on her own. She needed someone else to help instruct her and teach her. Nick and Julia both started to show a decline in their grades. Both had received negative reports from school about the level they were at. It was the first time the family had such awful grades. No one was helping them with their homework, so their grades started slipping. Luca needed almost twenty-four hour supervision. Whenever he was left alone for even a few minutes, he caused destruction. He always wanted to play as well. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night and want to play. Someone needed to be around to play with him whenever he wanted.
The family had no choice but to bring the children with them to the clinic. Every day of the week, besides the weekends, the children had to go to work with them. Although Nick and Julia were in school, they still had to watch Luca and Nataly. The two of them would sit downstairs while the parents were at work in the clinic. Their grandmother lived close to the clinic as well. She would make the children lunch every day. She would look after them as much as possible. But, whenever she was cooking or doing her own activities, the children were left unsupervised.
The four children were extremely overwhelming to the parents, and grandmother. Finally, the family decided that they needed extra help to raise the children and take care of the home. After researching the cheapest way to find help, they came across an add for an au pair.
Their grandmother cooked lunch, and they ate together. Then Lisa did her duties of taking care of the children until the evening.
Every day, they gathered together for lunch at their grandmother’s house. For dinner, the parents brought the children home. Lisa asked the children if they had played with her gifts.
“Well...” the 6-year-old Nataly replied. “I threw away the Barbie you gave me, because I have so many of them.”
“They are just too spoiled and have too many toys, “said the father, who had overheard the conversation, and he apologized.
Lisa felt humiliated. She had saved every cent to buy some presents for the kids, but they were not able to appreciate them at all.
5
The kids fell in love with Lisa as she was the only caring person in that house. Her responsibilities included the preparation of dinner. Lisa had never been a cook before. She was honestly afraid. She was afraid of how hot the cooking pans could get. She was also afraid of the fire inside of the stove. So, she used to avoid cooking whenever she could. Now taking care of these children, she had to learn to cook.
The turning point for her was the morning Nataly baked a pancake for herself. Lisa thought about how this six-year-old child was less afraid of the stove than she was. So, she overcame her fear.
Afterwards, she realized how much fun it was to cook. She got excited every time there was a nice meal being made. She'd look up recipes on the internet. She also asked Clara for any recipes she had around the house. She started to get creative with the food she was making. She put a great deal of time and energy into making delicious food.
She baked cakes or made casseroles. There was not much to do in the village besides cooking.
One dinner, she made the family a delicious potato and meat meal. They were baked potatoes, cut down the middle, with vegetables and chunks of steak around the plate. She knew the whole family enjoyed the meal because the food disappeared very quickly and the dishes stacked up. Another time, she made an apple pie that was simply delicious.
One day, Lisa decided to cook up omelets for the children. She didn't get fancy with the ingredients. She simply used the eggs and sprinkled in some cheese for added flavor. She didn't want to try adding vegetables or spices. She thought this would be appreciated by the family.
“What is this?” Each of the kids questioned, while staring at the omelet in front of them.
“It's called an omelet. It's made out of eggs and milk.” Lisa explained. Each of the children poked at the omelet on the plate. Nick didn't bother with this, he just pushed his plate aside.
“I want granola,” he demanded.
“Or banana pancakes,” Nataly chimed in.
“Just give it a try, you might like it.” Lisa tried to reason with them.
“The farmer does not eat what he does not know,” Clara explained.
Lisa sighed, removing the plates from the table. Lisa was disappointed that the children wouldn't even try her omelets. She had spent so much time getting the shape right. It was all for nothing. Clara added in that the children only ate French fries with schnitzel. She said everything else was a long shot.
Lisa had wasted good cooking on them, too much food for nothing.
The host parents were rather upset when the children ignored a pair of dishes Lisa has cooked. These were dishes that Lisa herself ate in her home country. Lisa thought it was nice that the parents sympathized with the work she had put into the meal. But it turned out they were upset for a completely different reason. She learned this the hard way.
It happened when she decided to cook with the children. She wanted to make them something they would actually enjoy. So, they all decided on a nice dessert.
The children helped her put the dessert together. She used the milk from the kitchen, a pudding-bag, and one of the pots that was stored in the cupboards. They children helped her stir while she was making the pudding. Then, they helped her put the pudding into single serving cups. Lisa was very proud. She was excited to show the host parents what she had done for them.
The parents came home a little late that night. They had a long day in their medical office. They were noticeably tired and worn out. Lisa thought this would be an especially nice treat.
“What have you done here?” Clara asked, seeming surprised.
“We cooked a nice dessert for everyone,” Lisa explained.
“Who gave you permission to go to the shelves and use our food?” Clara yelled at her. Lisa didn't know how to reply. She was under the impression she was a member of the family. That was what Clara said when she first agreed to come live here.
“Please don't go in the cupboards or on the shelves without permission again. Or anything else for that matter. Ask permission before you do or use anything. Before you want to cook something, ask us. We will let you know if it's necessary and what you are able to cook,” Clara continued. She took the volume of her voice down as she spoke. But, there was a sharp feeling to every word. Clara wanted it clear that although she told Lisa she was a part of the family, she wasn't.