Hi everyone,

Thank you for visiting IWHP’s blog!
It’s been good weather here, Gold Coast.
Day time reach up to 25 degree!
I can’t believe this is Australia winter…

Anyway, I would like to introduce another review of Demipair and IWHP from one of our graduated students, Yuka.

Here we go!

The reason why you went abroad on a working holiday

When my life was falling down, I decided to change my mind to do what I can  do now and that I want to do it! Then I decided to save up money and come to Australia!

What is it like to live in Australia/ Gold Coast?

It is very easy to spend your time relaxing.  I love Australia’s sky more than anything! Every day, I look at the sky while riding my bicycle and feel that “I am happy that I came to Australia ~ I am happy!

The reason why I chose a Demipair program

First of all, I can save a lot of money. It attracted to me at that time because I could save a lot of money. Before I came to Australia I was in the childcare department in Japan so I could spend time with children in an English environment. That is why I chose the demi pair program.
Could I even do it if I couldn’t speak English at all? I was anxious, but as I imagined it I was more excited and tried!

What was your family like?

I was with a different family for temporarily for two weeks. After that I moved to my demi pair family. The family members were an Aussie Dad and Mum, a 4 year old girl and 6 year old boy.
My host mum is a very bright and nice person, and when I talked to her, she spoke me clearly until the end. She sometimes explained to me with a dictionary. When I couldn’t adjust to the new environment and became homesick, she listened to my problem and hugged me. My host dad was a busy person, but he was a man full of family love. He cooked dinner as soon as he got home from work, he talked to each of the children carefully before going to bed.
The children were very energetic, they were a brother and sister who loved to play! I always told my older brother, “What is that ??” and  I learned English from him. Lol

Daily work details

The parents are both working, I am not sure if that’s their job or just hobby but they always train in the early morning.  As they were doing triathlon, every morning I was doing my job. As I got up in the morning, my host mum was already on training, so I put away dishes from the dishwasher, helped the children get up and I prepare breakfast. By that time my host mum would come back and I’d get ready the children and send them off.  Then I did laundry, vacuuming and clean up the room etc. It was very easy to understand because the host mum wrote a schedule table at the beginning. After school finished, I enjoyed playing with the children, folding laundry, cleaning up after dinner and so on. I was able to spend time free after school. Also every Saturday morning, I was asked to do babysitting.

What was the difficult time of Demi pair?

It was difficult to communicate in English when the children did something dangerous or not good. I want to communicate the reasons properly, but the words did not come out smoothly, I was really frustrated. However, I want to be able to speak more, because I felt frustrated at such a scene! I had to study! It became a feeling.

One point of advice to everyone who wants to do Demi Pair / Working Holiday in the future.

I can not give any advice, but, I think that the Australian family, who wants to immerse in cross cultures, is perfect for demi-peers. However, at a low cost, free time will be slightly reduced, but since valuable experience, time can be spent, it is recommended!

Testimonial of IWHP

I wasn’t good English first. And I was very shy . So, always my teacher Adam said to me “Don’t be shy !!!!”

When I was said to him, I was an unpleasant feeling. Because, that’s true ,I knew that and I wanted to change oneself .

It is very difficult to change oneself. But, I believe that I can change little by little. So I want to try to challenge myself to various things from now on. And I think I want to live a life of honesty.

The friend whom I met in this school, many experience in Australia is my treasure thing.

Hiroko helped me so much kindly from the beginning to the end in various ways.
Adam reminded me an important thing .
I really appreciated it. Thank you very much !!!!

Thank you for your wonderful review!

Yuka was a very shy girl at the beginning but she is very soft spoken and a nice girl.
Sometimes she worried too much about everything so I could tell she was a nervous person.
However she was doing very well with her family and her family loved her so much.
The host mother told me if she could come back again. She would be very welcome.

After three months, she extended her dami pair and worked at a casual job as well.

Her main demi pair work was in the early morning so the family didn’t mind if she worked from the afternoon.

She found a job as a waitress at a Sushi restaurant.

I asked her if she could save a lot of money because she didn’t have to spend on paying a rent and food.

She said to me she couldn’t save much but I am sure she could save much better than other people who were renting a room.

Anyway, she and our share mate, Ai decided to get a second visa and stay longer in Australia so they went to work on a farm.

They are now in a completely different place from Gold Coast, which means it is freezing COLD!!!!!!

I hope Yuka will have a wonderful time in Australia and hope to see her again.

If you have any questions about Demi pair, please feel free to ask us!