If you feel homesick or lonely or just down please listen to this wonderful song that an aupair from Germany wrote :
Yearly Archives: 2013
Whale watching September cluster meeting
From left: Poly and Gianin from Germany , Judith from Austria and Anna R from Germany
From left: Tami, Isabella, Anna F, Veronika from Germany and Petra from the Czech Republic.
Anka from Germany with Nawal from France
Elina from Russia with Lynn from Germany
Caren from Namibia with Amy-Louise from South Africa
Michaela and Sophie from Germany who just arrived a few days ago in the USA to start their aupair year
Erika from Brazil with Rebekka from Germany
Nawal from France with Priscila from Brazil, who just started her second aupair year
Poli and Gianin from Germany. Gianin is an Educare aupair who provides up to 30 hours of childcare per week and will need to get 12 credits at an accredited school during her first aupair year.
Crew members explained the vertebrae bones of a whale to the people on board
For more pictures please go to : Whale watching 2013
Meeting with new aupairs in our Boston cluster
In several meetings I could welcome sooo many new aupairs who started their year as aupair in our Boston cluster. Here are Pia and Rebecca from Germany who got information at our meeting from Katja who started her second year as Educare aupair, Michaela who also started her second year in the standart program and Violetta who also will extend her aupair year starting in December in the Sharon area.
From right: Mariana from Mexicol who told the new aupairs a bit about her year as an aupair, which is almost done. I could welcome Pieta from Finnland, Luz from Colombia, Sophie from Germany, Allison from France, Hannah from Malaysia and Michaela from Germany.
Mariana reached the requirements for the year of her educational part: 6 credits at an accredited college of university and received her certificate.
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur 2013 begins in the evening of
Friday, September 13
and ends in the evening of Saturday, September 14
and ends in the evening of Saturday, September 14
Yom Kippur also known as the Day of Atonement is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services.
Yom Kippur is considered one of the holiest of Jewish holidays and it is observed by many secular Jews who may not observe other holidays. Many secular Jews fast and attend synagogue on Yom Kippur, where the number of worshippers attending is often double or triple the normal attendance.
Please pass along a little information to your au pairs who are with Jewish families, it’s nice for them to know that this is such an important holiday.Here are a couple of links with more information:
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/yom-kippur
http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/yomkippur.htm
and for children http://www.akhlah.com/holidays/yomkippur/yomkippur.php
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.
Contest: Au pairs in my cluster, make your Au Pair Bucket List and send me a file, link or picture of it for a chance to win a $20 Starbucks gift card. Entries must be received by October 1’st. Winner will be announced at the October 6 cluster meeting.
Labor Day
The first Monday of September is known as Labor Day in The United States of America.
It is a holiday very similar to May Day, as it honours the achievements of workers. But unlike May Day, which is a tribute to working class only, Labor Day is a tribute to the entire workforce.
Labor Day originated in Toronto in April 1872 with the first workingmen’s demonstration organized by the Toronto Trades Assembly. Ten years later, in July, a parade took place in Toronto and Peter J. McGuire of New York was invited to hold a speech. Upon his return to NY he proposed an official celebration to honor workers, and in September 1882 Central Labor Union held its first Labor Day celebration in New York City.
In 1884 first Monday of September officially became Labor Day and over the years it has been celebrated with parades, fireworks and festivals; slowly losing its political connotations and becoming an unofficial end of summer holiday.
Stopping for School Buses
With school back in session and many new au pairs who have recently arrived, I wanted to remind everyone about what to do in different situations with school buses. If you have questions, please ask myself or your host parents.
The rules regarding stopping for school buses are:
- It is against the law to pass a stopped school bus while its lights are flashing and its’ stop arm is extended.
- On undivided roadways, with no physical barrier or median, vehicles must stop on both sides of the roadway.
- Yellow flashing lights indicate that the bus is preparing to load or unload children. Motorists should slow down and prepare to stop their vehicles.
- Red flashing lights and extended stop arms indicate that the bus has stopped, and children are getting on or off. Motorists approaching from either direction must wait until the red lights stop flashing before proceeding.
Police, who observe a motorist failing to stop and remained stopped for a school bus, can issue the violator a citation which carries a $570.00 fine and 3 points. Drivers failing to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk can be issued a citation for $80.00, and drivers failing to exercise due caution when encountering children can be issued a citation for $70.00.
Spectacle Island trip with aupairs
Yesterday we had a spectacular trip to Spectacle Island with aupairs from the greater Boston area. We all enjoyed the view from the ferry over the Boston skyline while heading to the island in the morning.
On the island we enjoyed the beach, had picnic for lunch and participated in a guided tour over the island.
We listened to the ranger who gave the tour how the island was shaped and became a park later with all the soil of the big dig from the major road construction in Boston that was going on for over 10 years.
From the top of the island we had an even better view to all islands around, the Boston Logan airport and the skyline of the city of Boston.
After spending the day together while chatting about classes , exchanging information, celebrating Rebekka’s birthday with brownies 😉
we were ready to go back to the main land.
From left: Miriam , Rebekka and Lara from Germany
To view all pix from this trip please go to : Spectacle Island 2013
How to address an envelope
This is another common question, since the way people address mail around the world varies. Here is an image of where to put the information when you are sending mail in the United States.
This is another common question, since the way people address mail around the world varies. Here is an image of where to put the information when you are sending mail in the United States.
How to write a check
This question comes up from time to time …….. I thought I would post a link with a great step by step tutorial. Click on the image of a check below to go to the tutorial on About.com.
