The Chicago Area Blog

Indiana Dunes!

Carla Mayer — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:59:42 +0000

Seventy-five au pairs from the Chicago area enjoyed an afternoon together at the Indiana Dunes. The weather did not cooperate, but au pairs had no trouble making the day fun!

Impact!

Carla Mayer — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:22:58 +0000

Impacting lives of young people through cultural exchange is vital to the mission of APIA, so we love to hear back from our au pairs. The following email came to a staff person in our Stamford, CT headquarters:

Hi Mary, I hope all is well with you…I really appreciate you and all of the AuPair in America staff. Yesterday 9 years ago I entered the US for the very first time in my life not knowing what wonderful things were ahead of me. It all started with orientation and I still have such vivid memories from those very first few days in this country like it was just last month. Now I am a doctor in this country and just feel so very blessed. I have truly gained a second family in my host family and we are still in such close contact and I can’t wait for my first vacation so I can go see them again. Without you and the organization I would not be the person who I am today and that is what I want to thank you for today! Thank you for all you do for all the au pairs! Love, Melanie

Au Pairs and our Community

Carla Mayer — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:17:26 +0000

Au pairs in the western suburbs got together to make a blanket for Project Linus. Project Linus provides security blankets for children who are ill or experiencing trauma. We will be collecting fleece for a major Project Linus Initiative planned for the fall 2012. Contact aupairdupage@gmail.com for more information.

Holiday and Vacation Reminders

Carla Mayer — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:24:41 +0000

With Fourth of July coming soon, I wanted to remind everyone about program rules on holidays and vacations.

Holidays

Host families are NOT REQUIRED to give au pairs any specific holidays.
Each host family will make different arrangements on holidays, some au pairs will be off and others will be required to work.
Au pairs should NOT make plans for holidays without checking with your host family FIRST.

Vacation

Au pair earns 2 weeks of paid vacation during the course of her year.
The host family can pick a week and the au pair can pick a week, if an agreement is not reached.
All vacation should be preplanned (at least 4 weeks in advance.)
All au pair’s friends and/or family visits/vacations should be pre-approved prior to purchasing a ticket.
If an au pair travels with their host family, it should be discussed UP FRONT whether this is the au pair’s vacation or if she is working.
If an au pair travels with the host family to work, the host family is required to pay for her transportation, lodging and meals.

Important: An au pair MUST have her DS2019 signed PRIOR to her departure from the US. More info. about this can be found on the right side of this page under “Travel Links for Au Pairs.”

Driving-Do you have your state driver’s license?

Angela Weepie — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:00:28 +0000

Links to the Department of Motor Vehicles for all states can be found here.

http://aupairinamerica.com/state/index.asp

A US driver’s license is a requirement in some states and it makes a great souvenir!
Illinois does not accept the International Driving Permit. Once you have your Social Security card, your next adventure is to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles closest to you.

~Drivers moving to Illinois may use their valid driver’s license from their home state or country for 90 days. There are two parts to getting an Illinois drivers license. The written test and a road test. If you are from Germany or France you do not need to take the tests, call your community counselor to get details of what you need to do. If you have a car accident, you can be asked to pay a deductible of up to $500. Parking tickets are expensive and are you pay for them, so pay attention to parking restrictions.

Bring your DS 2019, passport, Social Security card, two pieces of mail showing your address (use the envelope with your Social Security card and mail yourself a letter) driver’s license from your home country and all papers you have received from APIA that have your name on them.

Let’s Race!

Carla Mayer — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:57:17 +0000

Children are often “professional dawdlers,” – taking forever to complete simple tasks. Some jobs are more fun if you set a timer or play a favorite song and see how much you can get done before it’s over. ”Let’s see how many legos we can get in the box in 3 minutes!” (You’d be surprised!) Set a stop watch on your phone to see how fast they can get dressed. Once a task becomes fun, the power struggle is over and you eventually won’t need a timer.

Father’s Day

Carla Mayer — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:00:54 +0000

Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in many countries, but can be celebrated on other days around the world. The idea for Father’s Day came from Sonora Dodd in 1910 who wanted to honor her father, a Civil War veteran who raised six kids as a single parent. After hearing a Mother’s Day sermon at church, she told her pastor that father’s needed to be honored, too! To honor the father in your host family, work with the children to make a special picture or homemade gift.

June is National Zoo and Aquarium Month

Carla Mayer — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:37:31 +0000

Kids love animals! The Chicago area is full of wonderful places to see them. Brookfield Zoo (www.brookfieldzoo.org) in the Western Suburbs, Shedd Aquarium (www.sheddaquarium.org), and Lincoln Park Zoo (lpzoo.org) in the city are among the world class places you can visit. But you can’t do big trips with the kids every day, so younger children might enjoy setting up a pretend zoo with play animals and blocks. Older siblings can create a map of the zoo’s exhibits and “tickets” for host moms and dads to use while touring the zoo. And, of course, nothing is more fun than adding the soundtrack (animal sounds!). The library is full of animal books. For young ones read Dr. Seuss books like If I Ran the Zoo and older ones will enjoy checking out animal fact books or DVDs like National Geographic’s Blue Planet. Animal fun will go as far as your creativity can take you!

When is an au pair’s last work day?

Carla Mayer — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:16:34 +0000

An au pair’s last work day is the date before her arrival in New York. For example, if an au pair arrives on May 14, her last work day would be May 13 of the following year.

Winter Sports & Insurance

Angela Weepie — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:37:24 +0000

Winter is upon us here in Chicago, and some of you may be lured downtown to Millenieum Park to go Ice Skating. You need special insurance to cover you in case you injure yourself while Ice Skating or doing any number of sports ( see partial list below) . If you do not have the Sports insurance and get injured doing one of these sports, insurance will NOT pay the hospital bill, you will be responsible for it. If you do not know what type of insurance you have, call your counselor and she can tell you.

The Sports Insurance Package was available pre-departure and may also be purchased at any time during your year. It takes effect within 48 hours of your enrollment and it is good for the remainder of the year. The cost will be the same whether you have one month left or your whole year ahead of you. Below is a partial list of sports that are only covered with the sports insurance package:
Football, Rugby, Scuba diving, Wakeboarding, Skydiving, Parachuting, Rock climbing, Zip line, Skate boarding, Rollerblading, Roller skating, Ice Skating, Skiing, Snowboarding, Snowmobiles & Snowshoeing.