Interested in finding out more about hosting an au pair? Come to this expo which will be held at the Holy Grounds Youth Center located at 623 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd in Severna Park. This expo will provide valuable information related to simplifying the care of the home and family through information-packed exhibits from 27 local businesses whose focus is making your life easier. Hosting an au pair provides an extra set of loving hands in the care of your children ~ getting them off to school, music lessons and sports practices. Come and speak to au pairs that are currently placed with their host families.
Tag Archives: childcare
Multi-Cluster Scavenger Hunt at the Washington DC Zoo
We had the most amazing and beautiful day for our Multi-Cluster Scavenger Hunt at the Washington DC Zoo on October 27th! Au pairs from many clusters in the Maryland, DC and Virginia communities came out to participate in a hunt to find a variety of animals to complete their bingo cards! Afterwards we enjoyed the warm sun, gathered on blankets and and had a picnic lunch on the grounds. It was a great day to relax, chat and catch up with everyone! Then of course, the au pairs went home with a mini-panda as their prize!
Hints for Success – Homesickness/Culture Shock
Almost everyone experiences culture shock when they come to a completely new environment. Everything is different: the language, the food, and the people.
Here are my Top 5 Tips for
Dealing with Homesickness
1. Make Friends – Don’t wait for other au pairs to reach out to you, reach out to them. There are other lots of new au pairs who are feeling the same way you are right now. Set a goal to reach out to a few of them each day. Some will respond and some will not. Don’t let that discourage you. No one will ever be mad at you for sending them a message to say hello or ask if they want to do something together. Make friends from various countries and you will also get a chance to practice your English skills together.
2. Stay in touch with your home country, but not too much. Skyping or talking on the phone every day with your family and/or friends back home normally makes homesickness worse. Try emailing instead and reduce the Skype and phone calls to once a week, until you feel stronger. It’s much harder seeing the faces and hearing the voices of those you miss.
3. Get out of the house (or your room specifically) – Go to cluster meetings, have coffee or movies with other au pairs, join a gym, go to the library, go for a walk, visit the mall, get a manicure, visit a museum. If someone invites you out, say “yes.” Also, don’t be afraid to do the inviting. If your host family invites you to do things with them, say “yes.” This will help you get to know each other and contribute to your overall happiness.
4. Realize that it definitely gets better – All au pairs experience homesickness and nearly all of them stay and have a successful year (some stay for two years.) So, it must get better, right? Once you get past the initial homesickness, most au pairs report how quickly the year goes by.
5. Make Plans – Create your own Au Pair Bucket List (places you want to go, new foods to try, new things to experience during your year in the U.S.) and start doing them now. Post on our cluster Facebook group to find others who may want to join you on your adventures.
Photo by: Shimelle Laine (Flickr)
Au Pairs take in an Oriole's Baseball Game in Baltimore
On Sunday, August 18th, the Annapolis and Baltimore clusters of Au Pair in America got together to see the Baltimore Orioles play against the Colorado Rockies. They won!!! A wonderful experience to see a true American sport at Camden Yards. For some girls this was their first baseball game in the United States.
Good Family time at the Piney Orchard Street Festival
Despite warnings of bad weather it turned out to be a fantastic day for the Piney Orchard Street Festival on Saturday, May 11th. Au pairs were on hand to answer questions about their experience as an au pair and to offer tips to interested host families on how to have a successful year and what to expect. Children were able to make a Mother’s Day card and get their faces painted. We were right next to the Piney Orchard Elementary School table, the rock climbing wall and the dunking booth … lots of activity for the children and the parents! Good thing the sun came out and warmed us up from all the splashing that took place next to us!
Au Pairs Gather for Holiday Festivities and Fellowship
The Annapolis, Baltimore and Columbia clusters all hosted holiday parties this month. The Annapolis cluster enjoyed a gift exchange and an international cookie swap where all the girls brought a baked good typical to their home country to share. Everyone went home with a bag of cookies from around the world. The Annapolis and Columbia clusters invited a Federal Marshal to attend to speak to the girls about personal safety when going out alone, with friends or when out with the children that have been entrusted to their care. Topics discussed included awareness of their surroundings, how to handle going shopping with children and what to do in case they find themselves to be a victim of a crime. Internet safety tips were discussed as well. The counselors presented the au pairs with a wonderful bright red umbrella with the Au Pair in America logo as our holiday gift to them. The Baltimore cluster had fun displaying their cheerful red umbrellas for the camera. It was a perfect day to hand out umbrellas as the weather was overcast and drizzly on Sunday. The cluster also did a Secret Santa gift exchange. Everyone left with a little gift, and feeling very much in the spirit of the season. We wish all the au pairs, the host families and their beautiful children a blessed and wonderful holiday, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Time Capsule Fair Has Been Canceled
Due to the severe weather from Hurricane Irene that is anticipated on Saturday, the event will be be canceled.
If you created a time capsule to take part, please contact me (contact info. below) to arrange to receive your goody bag.
In honor of the 25th Anniversary of Au Pair in America, we are sponsoring a time capsule fair. Families are invited to create a family time capsule and participate. Guests are also welcome to come see the time capsules on display, vote for their favorite and participate in the other family activities.
This will be a Fun Family Event featuring…
- Time Capsule Fair
- Story Times
- Back to School Organization Tips for Parents
- Temporary Tattoos
- Coloring & Crafts
- Door Prize Drawings
A Time Capsule is a container that includes items and information that share what it was like to live in a particular period of time. After the time capsule fair, you can seal up your capsule and mark it “Not to be opened until 2036.” It could be buried or just tucked away in your attic. It will be a lot of fun looking back at the items 25 years from now!
Download a Complete Time Capsule Activity Plan HERE
Time Capsule Fair Rules:
- Register HERE online (preferred) or the day of the event.
- You may use any container and include whatever items you choose.
- You may work together as a family to create one family time capsule or each child may create and enter their own.
- Each entry will have a 2’ x 2 1/2’ table space to display their time capsule and it’s contents.
- Backboards are allowed, but not required.
- Each family who enters the time capsule will receive a gift bag.
- Time capsules should be checked in and set-up between 1:00 and 2:00 PM to be included.
- Judging will take place at 2:30 PM.
- Award presentations and prize drawings will be held at 2:45 PM.
- If you want to take your time capsule home, it needs to be picked up by 3:30 PM.
For more information, please call Christine Connally at 301-860-1314 or email at cicaupair @ gmail.com (without the spaces.)
Smithsonian Folk Life Festival on the National Mall in DC
The Folklife Festival will take place June 30-July 4 and July 7-11.
The Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage. Attracting more than one million visitors yearly, the two-week long celebration is the largest annual cultural event in the United States.
This year’s festival will celebrate Rhythm & Blues Music in the U.S., the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps and the traditions of Colombia.
The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between the Smithsonian museums. There is no admission charge. Visitors should dress for hot and humid weather. Parking around the Mall is extremely limited, so visitors are advised to use Metrorail. The Smithsonian station (Mall exit) is at the Festival site. Federal Triangle and National Archives stations are close by. For general Smithsonian visitor information, call 202.633.1000.
Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with special events taking place most evenings.
I highly recommend that you visit their website to plan your visit http://www.festival.si.edu/
Monster Golf
On Sunday, along with two neighboring clusters, we tried out Monster Mini Golf in Jessup, MD, just outside of Columbia. Here are a few pictures
Happy Mother's Day
Sunday, May 8th is Mother’s Day! I want to take this opportunity to thank all the Host Moms for all they do for their Au Pairs. I hope the day is extra special and that you each have time to enjoy the day with your families!
“Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.” Zora Neale Hurston
MOTHER’S DAY AROUND THE WORLD A special day in the honor of mothers, Mothers Day is celebrated in several countries around the world though on different dates. In a large number of countries including US, Mothers Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May, but in many other countries Mothers Day is celebrated in an entirely different time of the year. But what ever may be the date of Mother’s Day around the world, the spirit is the same everywhere. Everywhere in the world mothers are respected for their extreme devotion towards their kids. And on Mother’s Day children pay their humblest tribute to their mothers and thank them for giving them birth and providing them with the best of care and upbringing.