An Au Pair's Take on This American Life

This week's Patch Portraits also features a and .

Earlier this year, Jeanette Rian Ohlsson left behind her family in her hometown of Östhammar, Sweden, to spend a year with an American family in Winnetka.

Ohlsson, 19, decided to spend a year between the end of high school and university working as an au pair, a live-in caretaker for children. She's living with the McCarter family and has learned a lot about American family life in the past five months. Playdates, for one, are a much more formal arrangement, Ohlsson learned. Other things are easier.

"Sometimes I don't really feel like I'm working," Ohlsson said. "I'm taking care of some kids and I'm part of a family."