Word: au
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...began before World War II, when teen-age daughters from different lands swapped places and parents, took on household and child-care chores in return for bed, board and the chance to learn a new language. The system was called au pair (on a par) because, it was hoped, the new member of the family would be treated as if she be longed there...
...Today, au pair has become the poor girl's junior year abroad -a way to spend time in another country while Mother rests easy, secure in the knowledge that her daughter is not alone in a strange land. Girls from 15 to 30, usually listed as students and therefore technically not workers, slip comfort ably past immigration roadblocks and working restrictions even in countries that jealously repel foreigners who might take jobs away from natives...
Some countries have gone so far as to set up agencies specializing in au pairs. These act as a kind of clearing house, matching girls and families in a far more orderly way than the old family-writing-to-family system. In London, best known are Universal Aunts and Hunt-Regina. Applicants at Paris' Accueil Familial des Jeunes Etrangers pay a $5 registration fee, must agree to stay with the family selected for at least six months. In ex change for room and board and pocket money (up to $10), the family gets a built-in baby sitter...
...Scattered Business. Nowadays, like rotating crops, English girls head for Rome, French girls for London, Germans, Italians and Scandinavians for Paris. Scattered among them are a small but increasing number of American girls. Last year there were as many as 20,000 au pairs in Britain, 3,000 registered in France...
When the Queen left the building, 50 separatists set up a new chant-"Le Quebec au Ouebecoia [Quebec for Quebeckers]." Again the police shut them up, and she moved on to her official round of appointments-mostly ceremonial and out of public view. For a war memorial dedication at Quebec's historical old Citadel, only 1,500 of 2,500 invited guests bothered to show up; and no sooner were the formal ceremonies under way than another minor demonstration erupted outside the high grey wall surrounding the Citadel. The next day was spent quietly on shipboard, entertaining special guests...