Au Pair Chatter

We had fun at the Bowie Baysox baseball game on Sunday.  For many of the au pairs, it was their first baseball game they have attended.   A group of my au pairs charmed a kind usher into allowing them to move down from general admission to some really great seats.

If anyone got pictures of the post-game fireworks, please share them with me, so I can post them here. Thanks!

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

It is great to see the world through the eyes of children.  There are simple things in day to day life that can be a thrill for young children.  Below are a few ideas to get you started thinking.  Try to take time for them to marvel at the world and see new things.

• A car wash (the drive through kind or a bucket and a water hose in the driveway at home)
• Parking on the street near a construction site to watch the big trucks
• Feeding ducks bread at the park
• Collecting leaves, pinecones and rocks
• Driving across a bridge where they can see the water
• Driving past a place where you can see animals
• Any place that has something out of the ordinary, like a fountain or sculpture

We had a lot of fun at the Washington Zoo cluster meeting yesterday. Nearly a dozen au pairs, a host mom and lots of kids joined us for a day at the zoo.  It was hot, but at least it didn’t rain (like it is today.) Here are a few photos…

Have you ever been to a drive-in movie? Drive-in movies are outdoor theaters where the movie is projected on a large screen and you watch from your car. There were once over 4,000 drive-in theaters in the U.S., now only a few hundred remain.

One of those still operating is right here in Maryland, in the Baltimore area.  Bengies Drive-In has been in business since 1956.  It is about an hour drive from most parts of our cluster, but since they are the only one left in Maryland, that doesn’t sound so far.

Click here to visit the website

I plan to take my kids to their first drive-in movie there this month.  Visit their website for complete details and directions.  There is a note about how to enter their address with GPS units because they don’t come up as Baltimore on GPS.

If you go, let me know how you like it.

Wow, where do I start! Ok, my life in America has seriously been like a yo-yo! Amazing times and rough times but above all a lot of growth! So, I arrived in America in August 2009. Oh, was it a huge change of scenery compared to South Africa.

1. The food oooh was/is American food delicious! But oh is it also oh so weighty! So all I wanted to do was test, test, test  all foods and I happened to love everything, what I did forget to do was to exercise and limit myself, so that’s how my jeans sadly started saying “no ma’am”.
2. Then another thing that absolutely caught me off guard were the prices, man were things cheap in America! I mean a sneaker for $89 that’s nothing right? Umm, Ayanda honey, wake-up call!! Convert that to south African rand and you’ll realize you just spent +-R900.00 oops!! *shrugs* so I started converting prices before I spent just so I wouldn’t  be fooled again!
3. I knew that Americans drive on the right and that the steering wheel was on the left, total opposite to south Africa!  So, I opted to be a passenger for at least a month or two until I got the hang of it! Oh now I’m a pro, I’m nervous for home now haha!
4. The most irritating thing was shopping for clothes and shoes.
   Me: “excuse me do you know the size conversion of USA and S.A?”
   Worker: “no ma’am”  *screams*
   To this day, I have no idea what my true size is in AMERICA.
5. OK and America and its numbered highways. Hmm-ok, I won’t complain because now I know but at first omg I had no clue what you meant by 495 or I-95. I was like “huh, what?” but I’m good now!
6. My American life has been flamazing*!! But, I must say I hated being under age. I mean I’m so legal in my country! So, that kept me from clubs and alcohol of course. I am in a way thankful because it sure kept me out of trouble.
7. The friends I made were an absolute thumbs up! I met different races and ethnicities and was just able to learn so much!

Living here was like in the movies, everything I watched I saw and sometimes lived the movie life!! So, yes America sure did deliver!

HIGHLIGHT OF MY YEAR! DISNEY LAND!! Pure bliss, it was surreal! I would re-live that week anytime. I absolutely loved loved loved it!

I don’t think though it would have been so amazing had it not been for the wonderful host family I matched with! A true blessing from God, I’m so thankful for them and my year wouldn’t have been such a success had they not contributed so well to it! Thank you, Hulton family for an amazing year, this ain’t goodbye its see ya later!

Thank you America, its been a pleasure!!

Note from Christine: For anyone (like me) who didn’t recognize the word flamazing.  I had to google it and found out that it means fly + amazing. : )

What is a Fair?

According to Wikipedia:
A fair (sometimes fayre) is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. Activities at fairs vary widely.

Fairs are also known by many different names around the world, such as agricultural show, carnival, fete or fête, county fair, exhibition or state fair, festival, market and show. Flea markets and auto shows are sometimes incorporated into a fair.

Howard County Fair
August 7 – 14, 2010. Howard County Fairgrounds, 2210 Fairgrounds Rd. W., Friendship, Maryland. (410) 442-1022. Carnival rides, live music, farm animals, food.

Montgomery County Agricultural Fair
August 13 – 21, 2010. Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 16 Chestnut St., Gaithersburg, Maryland. (301) 926-3100. Livestock competitions and displays, monster trucks, lots of entertainment and food.

Maryland State Fair
August 27-September 6, 2010. Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road Timmonium, Maryland. (410)252-0200. The Maryland State Fair was named one of the top 50 fairs in North America. This year’s 11-day festival will feature swifty swine racing pigs, live thoroughbred horse racing, bull riding and barrell racing, concerts, agricultural fair tours, games, rides and more.

Prince George’s County Fair
September 9 – 12, 2010. Prince George’s County Equestrian Center and the Showplace Arena, Water St., Upper Marlboro, Maryland. (301) 579-2598. Carnival rides, live animals displays, family circus, fireworks, live entertainment, food.

Anne Arundel County Fair
September 15 – 19, 2010. Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, Generals Highway, Crownsville, Maryland. (410) 923-3400. Monster truck rides, carnival rides and games, farm animals and exhibits, pig races, antique saw mill, pie eating contest, talent show and much more.

In the kids activity kits a few months ago, I included a perler bead fish craft.  I heard from some of you that the kids had a lot of fun making those.  My kids love perler beads.  There are days where they will work on bead projects for hours.

If you want to give them a try, you can find mini kits for $1 at Michaels and A.C. Moore that include everything needed to make one small project.  Perler beads are a great fine motor skills activity.  If you have kids ages 3-5 who have trouble with the tiny beads, they now have a larger size available that will be easier for them.

From this:

To this:  (Here is a gallery of my kid’s perler creations from the past 6 months.)

Anna and her best friend in New York's Times Square

“I wanted to go America pretty much since I was 15 years old. For some reason at that point I got more and more excited about everything I saw in the movies and the TV. Especially when we talked about this country in our English lessons at school I was really into it! Becoming an Au Pair and going to the USA for one year was a big dream come true. And from the first day in the USA until now I was and still am fascinated by this country and everything about it!

Starting this year with the orientation in Newark and having a tour with all the Au Pairs through New York in the very first days was the best possible start and an overwhelming first impression of the United States! Since then I went to New York a couple of other times and it is one of the most fascinating cities I saw in my year. Actually not comparable. And you see so many things that remind you of all the great movies!

The rest of the my year I got to see so many different places in America, like Miami, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, Chicago, …..  and every single trip was an amazing experience and left a lot of great and different impression. And I think the most impressive fact for me was, that you were just flying in a different state but suddenly it felt like you were in a different world.

I fell in love with this country, that’s for sure. I think what I´m gonna miss the most are the American people, the way they live and think, the way they celebrate holidays, the way they make this country what it is!

This year was the best that could have happened to me. I am very grateful that I could make this great experience, see so much of this country and meet so many people. I couldn´t have imagined it being better. And I really hope that such a great year happens to every Au Pair! ”

Thank you to Joanna, a host mom in our cluster for sharing this great offer.

From the Newseum website:

Curious about the Newseum and what’s inside? The “Family Fun Deal” makes summer the perfect time to find out.

Now through Labor Day, buy one adult or senior ticket and receive free admission for up to ten youth (18 and younger), a $12.95 savings per ticket.  Get your tickets now, this promotion ends on Sept. 6. (Up to 10 free kids with each paid adult admission.)

“Family Fun Deal” tickets, like all Newseum tickets, are valid for two consecutive days.

The Newseum offers a wonderful experience for everyone in the family. From the Pulitzer Prize Photographs gallery, Elvis, the 4-D theater to the Newseum’s interactive exhibits. There is a lot to explore and a lot to learn at every age level.