In March, we met at Together in Motion for a yoga class taught by me. 11 au pairs participated and we had a good class.
Afterwards, we gathered for some food and discussions. Taxes were still a big topic as tax day is April 15, and we discussed that in detail. We also had our quarterly childcare/safety meeting and discussed host family expectations with regard to electronics use and engaging children in activities.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures!
For our cluster meeting this month, we joined 4 other Boston area au pair clusters for snowtubing at Nashoba Valley. Approximately 50 au pairs hit the slopes in pleasant temperatures.
This month we said good-bye to Deborah and to Mayela, and we welcomed Vanessa and Jana. We took some time in the lodge to connect before heading out and enjoyed refreshments.
For more photos, please visit Snowtubing 2014
This month, we joined another Boston cluster and visited Lasercraze in Woburn for a heated game of laser tag. Adrenaline was pumping as 2 teams of 20 pairs each competed against each other in this riveting game. It is amazing to observe how competitive one can be!
We also enjoyed sitting together, having refreshments and talking about au pair business.
For more photos, please go to Lasertag.
This month we congregated at my house for a breakfast in my backyard. We had a beautiful day with warm temperatures.
September is always a big cluster meeting. Many new au pairs have arrived over the summer and everybody is home now after traveling over the summer. It always is a good chance for the new and more seasoned au pairs to intermingle and get to know each other. Many phone numbers were exchanged! Some au pairs also brought their host kids who had a good time playing with each other in the backyard.
It was time for our quarterly childcare focus talk. This time we read and talked about “A Memorandum from a Child” which discusses constructive ways to interact constructively with children.
For more photos, please go to September 2013 breakfast.
We had a lovely afternoon at Nahant Beach last Saturday. The weather was just perfect! Summer is usually a time when a lot of my au pairs are traveling, but we still had a fairly big group.
This cluster meeting gave my new arrivals the chance to meet other au pairs from my group. A couple of them had just arrived 2 days ago. It was a nice mixture of new and more seasoned au pairs. A lot of connections were made and phone numbers exchanged.
Welcome all newcomers!
For more photos of our meeting, please go to August 2013.
Ah, what a nice day we had on Sunday to be outside for pumpkin carving! As you can see above, my au pairs were very creative in carving patterns into their pumpkins. While they carved, they happily chatted about their lives and seemed to enjoy each other’s company.
Most au pairs know about Halloween but do not celebrate it in their countries. They are usually very excited to experience this American holiday and at Au Pair in America we promote this kind of cultural exchange. On Sunday they got the Halloween treatment which included a noise-sensitive howling ghost, bats, spiders, snakes, cockroaches as well as food offerings that might creep the faint at heart out: a witches brew that contained a bloody hand, bloody (hot dog) fingers, crawling cracker/pretzel stick critters, chicken eyeballs, bat wings, as well as Halloween cut out cookies and a creepy critter cake.
We said good-bye to Adisah and Emma who are leaving us in November. They received their education certificate, a small good-bye gift and an acknowledgement for their achievements. They shared their experience with and gave advice to the other au pairs. We welcomed Juliette, Alice, and Natalie whose first meeting this was.
For more photos of our meeting please visit Pumpkin Carving.
The breakfast crew
Due to popular demand, our April cluster meeting took place at my house for breakfast. My au pairs seem to really enjoy sitting around the table and talk. At this time of the year there is a lot of talk about the end of the au pair year. Au Pairs who arrived over the summer months are now making plans to travel before they leave and to make flight arrangements for their trip home. There are always very mixed feelings about going back, and it’s nice to acknowledge those. We said good-bye to Tatjana who will leave us at the end of the month.
For more photos from our breakfast visit Breakfast photos
Nashoba Valley Snowtubing
This month, our au pair cluster met 3 others for snowtubing at Nashoba Valley. Some au pairs had never experienced snow and were excited to participate.
With lots of man-made snow and colder temperatures, the conditions for snowtubing were excellent: the slopes were icy and fast and au pairs flew down the hill! Lots of excited screams!
our cluster
Counselors brought a cake and hot chocolate which were welcome by au pairs who came in from the cold.
For more photos of our event please go to snowtubing 2012.
