Hey!!
My Name is Merrick and I'll be 18 on the 10th of September 2025! I'm from Germany and have lived my whole life in France near Versailles in a little village named Les Loges en Josas. I've been going to the same school/high school since I was 6 called the "Lycée Franco-Allemand". If you know a little bit of French, this already gives you a big hint: I have dual citizenship because I'm half German thanks to my mom and half French thanks to my dad. I speak both languages fluently which is really helpful to learn new languages because of my enlarged phonetic repertoire. Surely that also explains my ease of speaking in English. Though I'm ready to accept a new challenge: discover a language and a culture which isn't related to the European world and its Latin and Germanic roots to build up my experience as an adult in the making. Which led me to Japan and Japanese!
I have two older sisters (21 and 26 years old) of my own, which makes me the youngest in the family. Being the youngest I ended up living alone with my parents really early because my sisters left the house after high school. I think that left me feeling very lonely at first but also gave me the opportunity to have the point of view of a child that was at the same time part of a big family and an only son left to fend for himself when the parents are on duty.
As a child I have been longing to have a younger brother or sister and so, to be able to partake in the development of a child motivates me a lot. So, since I’m in high school, I have been taking care of a little 10-Year-old boy who is also going to my French-German school. As the expectations at our school are very high and since he’s from a pure French family he has difficulty and lack of motivation learning German. I am convinced that being able to understand and speak several languages give us a different view on our world. Understanding different cultures and perspectives is an incredible competence, a transferable skill useful in any field your child is headed to. That is why I went out of my way to help this little boy to improve his German through a playful approach which increased his motivation and allowed him to make a lot of progress. And so, I noticed that taking care of children helps you understand more about yourself and your actions.
Talking about my own interests: I’ve had many different "Extracurricular activities" such as football when I was little or tennis later on. I wanted to try a combat sport, which led me to start muay thai with a friend last year and I am currently still doing it! I love all music styles and play the piano as a self-taught musician.
In my school we have to choose a so called “filière” which could be translated as “pathway” in English. I chose to do a scientific high school diploma. That means my studies as a high school student are focused on biology, chemistry and mathematics, though it doesn’t mean that my native language courses are less important. I like this pathway I chose but I still don’t know what I want to do in the future, which is another point that pushed me to become an au pair to give me time and experience to choose my next path.
I hope this text helped you learn more about me and if you want to learn even more, just contact me and we’ll set up a call! I am very open to conversations and would love to hear about your family too!