Tag Archives: Flag Day

Water & Summer Safety Cluster Meeting

IMG_20150614_140727On Sunday, July 14th Long Island Au Pairs gathered at Community Counselor, Cindy Garruba’s beach house for the annual Water & Summer Safety Meeting.  Safe tips on watching children and themselves at pools and the beach was discussed.  Also covered was preventing sunburn by using sunscreen, avoiding high sun times of day and proper clothing.  They au pairs learned how to recognize poison ivy, preventing exposure, what to do if exposed and the care for the rash.  Cindy explained Lyme disease, the difference between a deer and dog tick, the bull’s eye rash, care and treatment.IMG_20150614_145021 (1)

The au pairs enjoyed time on the beach, each other’s company and even had a yoga class.IMG_20150614_152433

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We said good byes to au pairs who are heading home soon, and welcomed new au pairs! IMG_20150614_165034

 

 

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Everyone enjoyed an all American dessert in celebration of Flag Day, June 14th!  Strawberries and blueberries fresh from the farm stand, whipped cream and pastry shells!  Yummy!

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Flag Day Contest for Au Pairs

Flag Day 2013 winner Sabine from AustriaMeet Your Global Neighbor

Au Pair in America au pairs helped us celebrate our second annual Flag Day Contest by submitting their creative expressions of their countries flags.
This year’s first place winner was Sabine Formanek of Austria.  Sabine is so proud of her country’s rich musical culture and chose to incorporate Mozart into her flag.  Read what Sabine had to say about her original drawing.
BrazilGisellaLegosVeronicaColombiaBrazilAndUSRaquelUkraine, Olena PetelkoSAMarianne HohlsNZMelissaWedgwoodJuliaKahlKidsGMIsraeli and German Cupcake FlagHollyUKGermanyMirijamCarlaNLDeniseClusterMiaHostChildUSAMia, MalaysiaDSCN1054DeniseCluster3GosiaClusterGosiaClusterAndAPs

Brazil: Gisella Nascimento and her host children created the Brazilian flag in legos.  Colombia: Veronica Giraldo created her flag by individually making each of these flowers in thread.  Brazil: Raquel Brun Carvalho.  Raquel built both the Brazilian and American flags in legos-our neighbors!  Ukraine: Olena Petelko used needledwork to depict her country’s flag.  Olena provided some background information for us. South Africa: Marianne Hohls and her two host boys, ages 4 and 5, created her flag from Legos.  New Zealand: Melissa wedgwood designed her flag on a backdrop of the Pavlova dessert which is an icon in New Zealand.  Germany: Julia Kahl and her host children created a crayon drawing of her flag against the background of the Denver sky.  Israel  and Germany: Nitzan Dorenboim and Freddy Eixner combined their country flags with cupcakes.  What an ingenious idea!  The partnering of Germany and Israel won Best Team Entry!  United Kingdom: Hollie Cottrell baked a very delicious-looking cake to represent her flag.  Germany: Mirijam Hinger used frozen yogurt and fruit to show us her flag.  Netherlands:  Carla Van Dijk who is living in Princeton, NJ, placed her flag against the backdrop of Princeton University.  U.S.A: Denise Eliopolus’ cluster created their vision of the U.S. flag on cupcakes.  U.S. A.  This representation of the U.S. flag was done by Katie, age 7,a host child in CT.  Katie used her favorite glitter and sprinkled it on the flag.  Mia, from Malaysi is Katie’s au pair, and Mia’s entry is the next one.  Malaysia: Mia Ng used fruit because it represents her country’s fruit production Many nations: Cindy Garruba, a community counselor on the North Shore of Long Island worked with her au pairs on representing all of their countries on a map of Long Island. The teamwork is awesome!  Denise Eliopolus and her cluster:  Denise is a community counselor in NJ.  This photo shows the au pairs in her cluster who created the USA cupcakes.  Around the world: many nations in Gosia Downes cluster (NJ) are represented by paper dolls.  The next photo shows the au pairs who participated in the Flag Day Contest.

Today, June 14th is Flag Day

Today, June 14 is Flag Day, a day Americans honor their flag and celebrate their patriotism.  285647_10150941448802071_824707070_9869774_994026417_n

The picture was taken by Kate Stroemel, au pair from Germany, at the June Summer & Water Safety Meeting held at the summer home of  Cindy Garruba, Suffolk County Senior Community Counselor for Au Pair in America.

In honor of Flag Day, Global Awareness sponsored a Flag Day Contest in which au pairs were asked to submit their creative interpretations of their flags.  The photos and descriptions are posted on the GA website www.globalawareness.com.  Please take a peek-you’ll see cultural exchange in action.

To find out more about the history of Flag Day and what it means go to http://www.usflag.org/flag.day.html