Halloween is Friday, October 31st! This is the last weekend to pick your own pumpkin at a local Suffolk County Farm. Check out this link for a great selection of farms to visit: pumpkin farms
Tag Archives: suffolk county au pair
OCTOBER IS FIRE PREVENTION MONTH
October is Fire Prevention Month and the American Red Cross is encouraging people to take steps to lessen the risk of a fire in their home.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, there are between 350,000 and 400,000 house fires in the United States every year. Home fires are the biggest disaster threat to families in this country, above floods and hurricanes.
That’s why the American Red Cross is encouraging people to remember two key fire safety steps: installing smoke alarms and developing a fire escape plan.
“The Red Cross responded to more than 62,960 home fires in fiscal year 2011,” said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president, Red Cross Disaster Services. “Fires strike suddenly and spread quickly. It’s important to take simple steps now to protect the members of your household. During a fire, every second counts and being prepared can greatly reduce the effects of these devastating disasters.”
It is recommended that people check each smoke alarm in their home by pushing the test button at least once a month and replacing batteries every year, or as needed. Fire escape plans should include at least two escape routes from every room in the home and a convenient meeting place at a safe distance from the home. Practice the escape plan at least twice a year and revise as necessary. Families are encouraged to pay particular attention to developing and regularly practicing escape plans for children and older adults.
Additional recommendations include:
- Keep matches and lighters away from and out of reach of children.
- Don’t leave the kitchen, and don’t leave the home while you’re frying, grilling or broiling food.
- Once you are out, stay out! Call the fire department from a neighbor’s home.
During Fire Prevention Month, visit www.redcross.org for more steps people can take to lessen the chance of a fire in their home.
Time to Enroll in Classes!
Au Pairs need to take 6 credits or 72 hours of classes each year in America. Host families contribute $500 towards the classes and the transportation back and forth. Check out the local options in the right hand column of this blog under education.
It is time to enroll in ESL, Suffolk Community College and in the UCLA online class. Au Pair in America has the only State Department approved online class!
Au Pair in America Summer & Water Safety
On Sunday, June 8th the Suffolk County, LI Au Pairs had a cluster meeting at their Community Counselor, Cindy Garruba’s beach house on the beautiful North Fork of Long Island. They spent time enjoying the summer weather, even a few took dips in the chilly Long Island Sound! Everyone got to know each other a little better, many new au pairs meeting current au pairs for the first time!
The meeting heading inside for some serious talk on summer and water safety. A former lifeguard and swim instructor, Cindy reviewed basic water safety since all the au pairs will visit the beautiful Long Island beaches or swim in their host family pools, many while caring for their host children. We also reviewed first aid, sunscreen usage, hydrating in the heat, what poison ivy prevention and explained ticks, lyme disease and more.
Presentation of awards and certificates followed the safety lesson. Cindy is presenting Justine Probst, German au pair, with a Global Awareness recognition certificate. Justine did a lesson on German culture in her host child’s second grade classroom. A wonderful way for children to learn first hand about another culture!
4 au pairs will be heading home soon and came to their last cluster meeting. Thanks for all the love and support you gave your host families and fellow au pairs this year!
Jarka from Slovakia; Ramona, Chrisi & Jessica from Germany are heading home
Jarka from Slovakia; Ramona, Chrisi & Jessica from Germany are heading home
We finished up with strawberries, blueberries and cream. It is strawberry season on the local Long Island farms! Then a few last pictures on the deck. Everyone had fun!
Au Pairs Enjoy NY Color Run!
A team of Au Pair in America Long Island Au Pairs ran the Color Run in Queens last weekend.
The Color Run was founded in March of 2011 as an event to promote healthiness and happiness by bringing the community together to participate in the “Happiest 5k on the Planet”. Check it out here.
The Au Pair in America team was organized by Aisha Summers, a Canadian au pair living with a host family in Coram. She recruited au pair friends Christine Van Tonder, Shireen Hendricks , Corinna Sommerman, and Elsmarie Otto to run with her. They came up with a team uniform, white t-shirts, colorful tutus and accessories! They met early that morning and took the Long Island Railroad to the event. The festivities were fun and they all want to do it again sometime.
Aisha said, “The color run is to celebrate yourself as a person, where you are in life and what you’ve accomplished as an individual 🙂 I think my favorite part was really just forgetting the stresses and enjoying a great event with great people creating a great memory!”
Christine a South African au pair living in Smithtown shared, “The reason I did is was so that I can spend some time with friends away from work and had previously heard about the color run and it seemed like a fun experience. The actual event was very awesome, planned out well, colorful of course, there was music playing, everyone (the runners and race organizers) was very friendly and happy which created a great atmosphere. My favorite part of the race had to be just spending it with some of my friends and also crossing the finish line with all all the other people that had finished as well and properly celebrating it right there with music and of course the throwing of colored powder, which looked incredible. I would like to do it again and am hoping to do the one coming up in July, in Brooklyn, hopefully get some more people into it. All and all i think the color run was a great idea to do as a group, and the message behind it is so much more meaningful, just knowing that it promotes healthy living around the world, and supports charities is a wonderful accomplishment, not to mention all the smiles it generates. I definitely encourage other people to try t out, at least once.”
Corinna a German au pair living in Huntington added, “ The color run was so much fun. I did it because I wanted to meet some other girls and it just sounded fun and I saw so many pictures but I never did it myself.. I checked out their website for pictures and I saw that they also do it in Germany, so I definitely will do it again with my German friends 🙂 My favorite part was of course getting dirty and party afterwards with the girls 🙂 It was such a nice day, even though we all had to get up early, but it was totally worth it!”
Congratulations to the Team! Spreading good will and happiness with a cultural flair!
Brazilian Au Pair Shares Her Culture with Kindegarten Students
Susette Araujo Sousa from Brazil visited Minnesauke Elementary School to share her culture with her host child’s Kindergarten class. Mrs. Sheridan welcomed her and the students were excited to listen and learn!
Susette showed off the Brazilian flag colors and explained their meanings. Green for the earth, gold for the minerals and blue for the sky!
She talked about Brazil’s pride in the World Cup and lots of the students talked about playing soccer!
The children loved the brigadeiros that Susette brought to share!
Monika’s Poem Read at Graduation!
The one poem read at the Suffolk County Community College ESL graduation ceremony was by Au Pair Monika Vuic from Croatia. Monika is the au pair for a family in Mt. Sinai.
Way to go Monika!
Time Keeps Flowing
Time keeps flowing
Years have passed,
But what matters
Is in our hearts.
It doesn’t matter
How old we are:
Achieving our goals
Will get us far.
Let’s mark our lives
Fulfilling our dreams,
Achieving our goals
Will get us far.
Let’s mark our lives
Fulfilling our dreams,
Loving nature and feeling its streams.
Always remember and never forget
We’ve come this far
And we’re not done yet!
A beautiful future awaits
Because we are in front of open gates.
Time keeps flowing,
Years will pass
But what matters
Is in our hearts
By Monika Vuic
Au Pairs Graduate from ESL Program at Suffolk County Community College
Suffolk County Community College has an excellent ESL program for adult students. Many Au Pair in America au pairs choose SCCC for their required college classes. Since there are 5 levels of English classes to graduate from the ESL program, often au pairs will extend for a second year because they want to complete the 5 levels.
SCCC held ESL graduation on Friday, May 16th at 7 PM at the Van Nostrand Auditorium on the Grant or Western Campus of the college. The ceremony was very moving with several graduates telling stories about their journey to the USA and why they came. The au pairs all dressed up, many host families came to watch their au pairs graduate. This Spring 10 Suffolk County Au Pair in America Au Pairs graduated from the ESL program. Congratulations to Adele Mosquero, Priscilla Rodrigues, Nikoleta Todtova, Victoria Morales, Anais Nivon, Monika Vuic, Ramona Etzel, Linyan Feng, Natalia Jaramillo, and Andressa Mendonca. As their Community Counselor, Cindy Garruba was happy to attend the ceremony and congratulated each individually with a rose.
The State Department requires each au pair attend an accredited College or University for 6 credits or 72 hours of post secondary education for each year in the USA. Host families contribute $500 towards this education requirement. One semester of ESL satisfies the requirement, but many au pairs attend for several semesters. Au Pairs can stay for 2 years in America.
Au Pair in America Community Counselors, Stamford & London Offices and our Foreign Partners gathered in Chicago May 7 – 10 for our Conference. We were led by Ruth Ferry, executive director and senior VP of APIA USA and Linda James, senior VP APIA UK. They inspired and led the group, along with William Gertz, President and CEO of APIA.
We learned about new systems and innovations, managing situations that arise, cultural communication and so much more. Connections through out the group were fostered and understanding increased.
Selecting Au Pair in America for your childcare needs will allow you to have the best supported Community Counselor, staff and foreign interviewers. We have ongoing training throughout the year with webinars on many topics. There is always someone available to help a family or au pair when needed!
German Au Pair, Justine Probst visited her host child’s 2nd grade classroom to talk about her country with the students.
