Help with childcare and around our home in beautiful Izmir, Turkey

Turkey

Favourited 325 times

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Feedback
31
Last activity
30/07/2020
Reply rate
100.0 %
Average reply time:
within 12 days
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2020

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Description
Hello, we are a friendly family of 4 living in the beautiful city of Izmir, Turkey. We have an 10 year old daughter and a 5 year old boy.

My name is Ebru and my husband is Necip, we are both working doctors. We are looking for a girl to come live with us and be a big sister to our daughter and help improve her English, she can already speak very well but we would like to expand her vocabulary and perfect it while she is young.

We live in Izmir in the west of Turkey, Izmir is a beautiful city bordering the Aegaen Sea with about 3 million people living here, it is the 3rd most populated city in Turkey. As our nanny you would have a great opportunity to see Izmir in your free time, there are many bars, clubs, site-seeing, resaurants, shopping, bazaars, ect. The weather is beautiful with 300 days of sunshine and no snow. Also we generally do some traveling around Turkey so you may have some opportunites to see other parts of Turkey, there are many historical sights to see. We live a few hours from Pamukkale, the famous natural springs, and Ephesus, the best preserved Ancient Greek/Roman city in the eastern Mediterranean. Istanbul is only a 40 minutes flight away. You will be treated like family and will come with us on all our trips and adventures.
Type of help
Babysitting / child care
Language practice
Teaching
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
They will feel aegean soul and learn a culture which is developed by the lots of nations who had lived in Anatolia land in diffrent periods of the history.Also they will have openion about a land which is in the just middle of tree continents.
Help
LOOKING FOR SOMEONE STARTING ASAP (but we welcome all inquiries for the rest of the year too)

We are a friendly family from Izmir, Turkey looking for a native English speaking girl to speak English with our 8 year old daughter and 3 year old son. We need someone who is talkative, friendly, and will be a big sister to them. We would like someone who will play with our daughter, go to the park, shopping, games, ect as well as doing some English workbooks to improve her English. Sometimes we may need some help with the baby but he is very good and friendly.

You will have 2 free days a week which you can choose, when Nehir is at school you are free as well.

We ask for 5 hours of work per day, 5 days a week. We ask that you stay a minimum of one month.

We are currently looking for a girl with a standard American/Canadian accent (no regional accents, ie. Southern) or German or French girl who will help children for starting a new language.

We have a housekeeper so you are not expected to do real housework (only minor tidying up after the kids, serving kids dinner, etc.).
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Turkish: Fluent
Accommodation
A spacious private bedroom

All meals
What else ...
Our house' s location is very good in İzmir and public transport is available infront of our flat.
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Hours expected
5

Photos

Our aupair Lucy and children in grandama's summer house.

Arda and our WorkAwayers Katie and Carly

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Feedback left by and about host (31)

These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.

Accuracy of profile:
(4.0)

Cultural exchange:
(3.5)

Communication:
(3.0)

06/12/2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Anna)

Please see our feedback policy for more info about why this review is not displayed

(Neutral )

04/12/2019

Left by Workawayer (Anna) for host

Please see our feedback policy for more info about why this review is not displayed

(Neutral )

30/09/2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Alexandrea)

Alexandrae was one of the volunteers who touched our life and our children. She was with us for a couple months. She joined to our family in a very critical and hard days for us. Our children's nanny had to leave us because of her new conditions. Alexandrae made our life very easy in this time period. She is smart , hard worker , easy going and… read more

(Excellent )

10/07/2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Niloofar)

We had wonderful afew months with Niloo. She made our life very easy. Her comminication skills are very well. She is samart, friendly and outgoing girl. Always she has solution for a problem. We needed her help for our 10 years old son. Sometimes he can be a difficult boy, but she is patient and her relations with children is good and also… read more

(Excellent )

07/07/2019

Left by Workawayer (Niloofar) for host

I stayed with this wonderful family for around 2 months and I am very happy with my decision.
I was responsible for their son, Arda who is a 9-year old cute kid :wink:
I used to take him to school in the mornings, take lunch for him in the afternoon and bring him back from school. After school I practiced English with him, played frisbee,… read more

(Excellent )

12/02/2018

Left by Workawayer (Anne & Tasmin) for host

I stay more than 2 months in this family and I had a very good experience. I anjoy my stay with them. They was always helpfull, the house is good, Arda and Nehir the two children are good. I wanted to came in Turkey for learn classical turkish music and Ebru help me very well for this !
Thank you very much, if you come in France call me and if I… read more

(Very good )

08/02/2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Anne & Tasmin)

I can say that we are very experienced family about volunteers and really like to meet different cultures and accept them as our family member. Anne was one of the volunteers who we love very much and built very good relations. She is very easy going, hard worker, intelligent , very adaptable and always helpful about everything when you need. Also… read more

(Excellent )

20/08/2017

Left by Workawayer (Ana) for host

It was my pleasure to stay with this family, because they were really nice, easygoing and always willing to help with whatever needed. Thanks to their altruistical flexibility, anything can be arranged with them without any problem. That's why I would recommend them to absolutely everyone! :blush:

(Excellent )

16/08/2017

Left by host for Workawayer (Ana)

We had a lot of volunteers previously and Ana was one of them who we will remember her with good feelings. She could not stay very long time with us, but we had a very lovely time with her. She is smart, outgoing, talkative girl. She can speak English pretty well. She had a good relation with my son and she was always ready when we need her more.… read more

(Excellent )

10/01/2017

Left by Workawayer (Martina) for host

Please see our feedback policy for more info about why this review is not displayed

(Neutral )

14/06/2016

Left by Workawayer (Manon) for host

I was suppose to only stay 2 months with this family but I ended up staying 4 months in total. The parents are more than nice and always helpfull : they will give you advice and are super easy going with the schedule as long as you tell them in advance when you want to take some days off. The job is pretty easy, for my part I worked with Arda… read more

(Very good )

03/06/2016

Left by host for Workawayer (Manon)

we paid time for about 4 months with Manon. she was a good older sister for our son and daughter. she is a honest, smart and friendly person and good about her responsibilities. she does not have strict rules and she was always helpful when we need her more. she helped our daughter about french practise and french lesson alot. she is native… read more

(Excellent )

10/12/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (Marie)

Marie was a excellent friend for our family and our children. She is a mother too and because of that she was very experienced about children. She acted like the real mom of our son and was very interested in his all things like dressing, playing, having meals, sleeping time and also education. She is very hard worker , tidy, responsible ,… read more

(Excellent )

15/10/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (BRENDA)

I really love workaday experiences . We always meet new people and most of them are great persons who help us and our children to know different cultures. Brenda was one of them who made us very pleasured to recognize her and mexican culture. Brenda could stay very short time with us, but we could be very good friends with her in the first… read more

(Excellent )

15/10/2015

Left by Workawayer (BRENDA) for host

I spent a great time with Arka's family, I would have liked to stay longer, but according to my plan it was impossible. The family is very nice, very friendly, easy to fall in love with the children, work is not complicated just about have fun. Nice area where they live, good location.

Thanks once again for your kindness and giving me the… read more

(Excellent )

02/09/2015

Left by Workawayer (Charlotte) for host

Ebru, Necip, Nehir and Arda have been wonderful hosts for my first volunteer experience !! I spent 3 weeks with them. The first couple of days with Nehir were difficult (probably because she didn't know me) but after this short period, she showed me how lovely she is. She is a smart, motivated and willing young girl. In addition to my presence,… read more

(Excellent )

31/08/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (Charlotte)

After an unlucky volunteer experience, we found Charlotte from that webpage and I understood from mails that she is the one who knows what she wants. Because she accepted that job without asking any unneccessary question . She stayed with us for 3 weeks and I can say that we were really lucky to meet her. It was our first experience with a French… read more

(Excellent )

14/07/2015

Left by Workawayer (Kelsey) for host

I hesitated on whether or not to even leave feedback for this host but ultimately I decided I felt a responsibility to workawayers considering staying with them in the future to have all the information needed to make decision on whether or not to stay with this family. I was scheduled to spend 1 month with the family but ended up leaving after 3… read more weeks. I made this decision because I no longer wanted to spend the limited amount of time I had left in Turkey unhappy. My reasons for leaving come down to two main points: 1) The expectations they list in their profile are not true to what they expected once I was there, and 2) poor communication.

First, it is important to note that while staying with the family, they had a second au pair at the time and we were working together. The other au pair was scheduled to be with the family for the month of May, and myself for the month of June. In May Ebru asked me if I would mind if the other au pair stayed during June as well, as they had worked with two au pairs simultaneously in the past and had no problems. I told Ebru that of course this was fine, I would be happy to have two of us.
In the profile they ask for an au pair to work 5 days per week for 5 hours each day helping their daughter to practice English and doing light housework. This was NOT the case. The kids are not in school during the summer and being doctors, Ebru and Necip are gone from about 7:30am until 6:30-7pm Monday-Friday. They have a housekeeper who comes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from about 9-10am until 2-3pm. However, the hours the housekeeper is there were most often not free, which I will get to next. So, the 5 hours per day is actually more like 10 hours per day most days. Split between two au pairs this is true that it is more like 5 hours per day. However, when the other girl spent a week in Istanbul visiting family I worked 10 hours a day by myself.
Now, about their expectations. Very rarely did I get the opportunity to do English lessons with the children. I had two main responsibilities- to be their maid when the maid wasn't there, and to act as a taxi service for the kids' many activities. It is expected that I would clean up after myself, and do basic tidying up after the kids. However, Ebru's expectation was that when the housekeeper was not there, I was to do everything. This included making their beds, cleaning the dishes, kitchen, floors, etc. It would not have been so much if Ebru, Necip, or the kids had any respect for me as I was regularly picking up food such as banana peels off the couch and scrubbing several pots and pans that they left with food caked on the bottom sitting out on the counters all night. They cannot even be bothered to simply throw away their trash or rinse out a dish. The fact Ebru pointed out that I am not tidy is actually comical, as I spent a majority of my time there just trying to clean up all their messes.
My second job, as a taxi service, is why even the hours the housekeeper was there I did not get free. The housekeeper stayed home with the boy, while I was responsible for taking the girl to French culture lessons, ice skating lessons, etc. This included hours on public transportation, where I then would just have to sit for an hour while she had her lesson because it was not enough time to go do anything before she would finish.

The second reason for my leaving was poor communication by Ebru. For example, it was the expectation that after they arrived home from work, my nights and weekends were free. One evening, Ebru returned home from work around 6:30. I was going to meet some friends for dinner and to hang out that night and Ebru said she needed me to be home that night by 10:30pm, as she was leaving to go out of town, and Necip had to drive the girl to a volleyball camp so someone needed to be home with the boy. I told Ebru that I had already committed to plans for the evening and could not guarantee I would be home by that time. Her response was, "but we need you". If this had been brought to me before 6:30pm that night it would not have been a problem for me to be home with the boy. However, they do not communicate anything to you until the last minute then expect you to just be able to do it. Another example, due to the large volume of hours I and the other au pair had worked that week, we were told we could have Friday off for a 3 day weekend to take a trip. We booked our hotel and everything. The night before Ebru tells us that we can no longer have Friday off, but we can have Monday off instead. This was a huge inconvenience as we had already booked and paid for a place. But it was expected we would just do it.

My last issue with the family- the girl (Nehir, 10) has serious behavioral issues. She is rude, disrespectful, does not listen, and will do whatever she wants whenever she wants. Every day the housekeeper came it was a nightmare, as she and Nehir would immediately get in to screaming matches that ended with Nehir crying and refusing to speak to anyone. When we attempted to speak with Ebru about how we could remedy this, her only response was, "Yes, she can be difficult sometimes". The final straw came before our weekend trip that we had to change. We were talking with Ebru about how we can get through to the children better, when Ebru outright stated that it was not convenient for them to be working with two au pairs and long story short, made us feel very, very unappreciated. Even though we were trying so hard, and it had been her idea in the first place to have both of us there at the same time.

These are the reasons I decided to leave a week early. I wrote this very lengthy feedback because I want prospective au pair's to understand what they are getting in to. If you feel that you do not mind working 10 hours per day as a maid and chauffeur then this family is a great fit for you. Before I committed to the family I was able to email 3 of their previous au pair's. All 3 of them had good things to say about the family, but warned me that it would be much more than 5 hours of work per day. They told me as a first time workaway experience this would be a huge commitment. I wish I had taken them more seriously, which is why I hope this feedback will help someone.

I will end by saying I do not think the family are bad people, they were never outright mean. Their home is very nice and comfortable. I hope they can take this feedback and make adjustments for future workawayers or at least be more honest about their expectations on their profile. If you would like to speak to me personally more about my experience please do not hesitate to contact me.

(Neutral )

26/06/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (Kelsey)

Kelsey seems pretty, polite and trustful girl. when we accepted her we believed that she could be a good sister for children. But she is not enough to take the responsibility of a child. She is not disciplined about her job. Also not tidy. Her priority mostly was not child. She is not clear. We had many previous aupairs and with most of them we… read more

(Neutral )

05/05/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (Gabriele)

Definitely we would like to pay more time with Gabby .We are really lucky to meet her . we will always rememeber her with similing face, easy going and hard worker personality, responsibility, great relations with children and of course as a good german teacher. She was like the member of our family and we felt deep missing of her after she left… read more

(Excellent )

29/04/2015

Left by Workawayer (Gabriele) for host

I spent 3 wonderful weeks with Ebru, Necip, Nehir and Arda! It was my first workaway experience and I am grateful I spent it with this family! The children are just adorable and stole my heart from the very first moment. They speak English already fluently, have been very open to me as a new volunteer without any shyness, are very ambitious to… read more

(Excellent )

07/03/2015

Left by host for Workawayer (Tanja)

Tanja was our first German volunteer and we had very good five weeks with her. She made our life very easy. Responsibility for her was important and she was very hardworker. Her relations especially with our son was great and they had very nice activities together. Making cookies was one of the most enjoyable activities with our son and learning… read more

(Excellent )

05/03/2015

Left by Workawayer (Tanja) for host

I’ve spend five wonderful weeks together with Ebru, Necip, Arda and Nehir and it was a very good time.
It was such an enjoyable experience living and working together with the family.
There is always work to do and it won't take long before those two beautiful kids steal your affections. Ebru is very friendly, and Arda and Nehir are just… read more

(Excellent )

10/12/2014

Left by Workawayer (Lucy) for host

I spent 10 lovely weeks with this family in Izmir and I miss them all the time! Even though Ebru and Necip have demanding schedules and it did end up being more than 5 hours a day, I can honestly say that I LOVED spending time with the children- playing, speaking English and lessons. A good chunk of my time was spent with Arda during the day… read more

(Excellent )

07/12/2014

Left by host for Workawayer (Lucy)

I can say that we are very lucky to meet Lucy. She is a perfect girl with her personality and responsibility. I used to have hesitations about her, before offering this position to her. Because she was too young. But she misleaded me. First of all she is too friendly, openhearted, hardworker and honest girl. You feel that you know her for many… read more

(Excellent )

22/11/2014

Left by Workawayer (Katie & Jason) for host

We had a really good experience with this family :) They have a very comfortable house, nice children, and a good location once you learn about the transportation system. We came at a bit of a hard time as the nanny had just left and Ebru and Necip were both working very much, but we enjoyed the time with the children and helping with their… read more

(Very good )

10/10/2014

Left by host for Workawayer (Katie & Jason)

We were with Katie and Carly for about 1 month. we worked with a lot volunteers before and I can say that they are the ones who we had very good impressions. Katie is too adaptable, pratical, always smile face,friendly, strong against difficulties, positive, always has a solution for the problems and never says 'No'. Her social intelligence is… read more

(Excellent )

31/10/2014

Left by Workawayer (Patricia) for host

They are a lovely, active and generous family. The children are eager to learn and always up for any learning activity. Ebru will always help you figure out how to get around Turkey and whatever else you want to do, and the apartment is in a great location for getting to the ferry and catching a bus. I really enjoyed my time there and look… read more

(Excellent )

25/10/2014

Left by host for Workawayer (Patricia)

We had alot of aupairs previously, but Patricia was one of the bests who we remember her with good memories and excellent personality. She is always easy going, experienced, positive, helpful and tries to do best. She had very good relations with children. She was a family member of us and will be always like that. Patricia, thank you for… read more

(Excellent )

23/11/2013

Left by host for Workawayer (Jeongeel)

We had many experiences with aupairs in different cultures. If there would be a point for our previous aupairs, one of the best points would be Joengeel's point. She could stay very short time with us, but we felt that she was a member of our family. She was really very kind, friendly and adaptable to all conditions. Also has a great… read more

(Excellent )

22/11/2013

Left by Workawayer (Jeongeel) for host

I loved my stay with Ebru and her family! It was my first workaway experience and I learned so much! I would definitely recommend having the chance to stay with them and hang out with their two beautiful children. They welcome you in just like family and I appreciated that so much. Thank you so much Ebru and Necip for everything :)

(Excellent )

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Host ref number: 758221558669

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