Once a year our three clusters, Annapolis, Baltimore and Columbia, come together for our annual host family event, which is one of the State Department’s requirements for participation in the program. While total attendance is still a goal we hope to reach each year, we were very pleased to see all the happy families enjoying this year’s Cultural Fair for host families and au pairs. The venue was EcoAdventures (http://www.ecoadventures.org/) in Millersville, a hands on educational facility that captured everyone’s’ interest. The children were able to touch the animals, with appropriate precautions taken, while they learned about the animals in the Rain Forest room. The adults enjoyed that also! Au Pairs from around the world were stationed at tables with fun information about their countries and children were able to get a passport that they could take to the different tables and get stickers from the different countries. The icing on the cake was the food they brought from their native cuisine, which filled two table tops. Food is always a great way to share culture.
We hope to see even more host families next year!