Tag Archives: Suffolk county Au pairs

Earth Day on Long Island

April 22, 2015 – 7:35 am

While Earth Day is officially on April 22 this year, celebrations are being held throughout the month. Everyone from kids to adults can get into an Earth friendly mindset. Maybe children can even learn ecological values and practices that will last a lifetime. We’ve rounded up several events and activities across Long Island.

Earthstock Festival
Stony Brook University
Monday, April 20-Friday, April 24
Stony Brook University’s Earthstock is a week-long event starting on Monday. Events range from a lecture on Ecological Restoration to an exploratory adventure on Science at Sea. On Friday there is an outdoor festival, which features more than 100 educational exhibitors, live music performances by Andean flutists and Aztec dancers, a drumming circle with audience participation and street performers. Don’t miss out on the rubber duck races at 2pm, 2:30pm ice cream social and the 3pm Drum Line and Color Guard Showcase.

Eco Carnival
Suffolk County Environmental Center
Saturday, April 25
Seatuck Environmental Association and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone present the Eco Carnival. A full day of family fun featuring nature programs, live animals, music, art, games and food to celebrate Earth Day 2015. Carnival Booths for henna, wild animal face painting, flying squirrel slingshot, native plant potting, biking skills and safety.

Earth Day Celebration
The Common Ground, Sayville
Saturday, April 25
Vendors, crafts, information and more about Earth Day. This is an annual event.

Celebrate Earth Day
Downs Farm Preserve, Cutchogue
Saturday, April 25
Games, hikes, learning, live music and more.

It’s Not Easy Being Green Yard & Craft Sale
Sweetbriar Nature Center
Saturday, April 25-Sunday, April 26
Buy your mother a gift for Mother’s Day, get ready for next year’s holidays a bit early, or simply treat yourself to a gift. To top it off,help the Earth by buying reused and recycled products to reduce your impact on the planet.

Many local libraries are having Earth Day events, check your local library!

Happy Thai New Year 2015!

April 13, 2015 – 8:12 am

Songkran 2015 – The Biggest Water Fight Festival in Thailand – Traditional Thai New Year 2015. When is Songkran in Thailand? Songkran 2015 festival will take place April 13th through the 15th, a festival that is the country’s traditional New Years Eve celebration.


Songkran in Bangkok	Songkran in Chiang Mai	Songkran in Pattaya

The Songkran Festival is also known as the Thai New year or Thailand Water Festival, originally celebrated as a way for the Thai people to sprinkle water on their family members and elders for good fortune and pay their respects to images of the beloved Buddha. Today, the festival has transitioned into 3 days of water play fun, splashing locals and visitors alike with buckets of water, water hoses and super soakers as they gather in the streets.

Au Pair March Meeting!

March 16, 2015 – 1:52 pm

The Au Pair in America Suffolk County Cluster gathered at Community Counselor, Cindy Garruba’s home to fill out their tax forms. They also welcomed new au pairs and said good bye to a couple leaving soon. A lot of people wearing green in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day! Cindy had a raffle for those wearing green to the meeting, 4 au pairs won Starbuck’s gift cards! Green tortilla chips and dip, mint chocolate chip ice cream and green cookies were enjoyed by all!

Cindy presented au pairs with certificates for teaching Global Awareness to American students.

Cindy thanks Nikoleta as she prepares to return to Slovakia

Host Families and Au Pairs form Lasting Bonds

February 20, 2015 – 3:28 pm

One of the wonderful benefits of the Au Pair in America programs is the relationships formed by host families and their au pairs. Au Pairs truly become part of the family. Often they return for visits with their former families. Some families even go and visit their former au pairs in their countries. Recently the Diana Melick, a host mom from Setauket, Long Island, New York traveled to Germany with her twin daughters. While there they visited with their former au pair, Helena Gottschalk.

Happy Chinese New Year

February 19, 2015 – 2:14 pm

We wish you a year full of Good Fortune, Good Luck & Good Health

Today starts the first day of the chinese new year, 2015 is the year of the goat/sheep! Chinese astrology says that each year is associated with an animal sign, occuring in a 12 year cycle. This is similar to the zodiac signs you may be familiar with that occur about every month or so, except these represent specific years.

How is the holiday celebrated? In brief, the Chinese New Year celebration or “Spring Festival” lasts for about a week long. Fireworks are set off, dragon dances, ancestor worship, and traditional performances. Red is the main color of the festival and all types of decorations in this color will be seen. A popular practice is the giving of red envelopes (usually containing money) to youth and retired seniors.

Family and Friends are very important during this time and generally China is extremely busy, as people are racing home to see their loved ones! There are so many cultures in the world that it’s always interested to find out what people are doing elsewhere.

Lucky Numbers- 2 & 7

Lucky Colors – Brown, Red, Purple

LuckyFlowers- Carnations & Primroses

Lucky Months- August & November

Things to do INSIDE on a COLD Day!

January 21, 2015 – 5:26 pm

You have your day off, it is too cold to do anything outside, even NYC is too cold to visit.

Here are 10 things you can do alone or with your friends:

Play a card or board game with your au pair friends this weekend (not just for kids)
Read a book – If you do not have a library card yet, go get one!
Movie marathon – find your favorite movie through Net Flix, your HF DVD collection, or from the library.
Have a clothing swap with your au pair friends!
Find a new look by playing around with your makeup and hair!
Make a wall collage of your pictures from home and one of your time here in USA!
Cook, bake, make a dish from home and share it with your host family and/or au pair friends!
Exercise at the gym or at home.
Meet your au pair friends at the mall or for coffee.
Skype with friends and family back home!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is Monday, January 19th!

January 18, 2015 – 8:00 am

images (4)

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
– Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream Speech 1963

Here is a great link to history of this special day including a biography of Dr. King, a quiz for kids and a junior crossword. Maybe you can do something special with the kids to acknowledge the day: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkjrday1.html

SELMA – is a movie about the march on Washington now playing in the movie theaters. You might want to see it this weekend to learn more about this important movement and Dr. King.

Martin Luther King Jr. goes down in history as one of the principal leader of the civil rights movement in the United States and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. King’s challenges to segregation and racial discrimination helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States.

King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and was ordained as a Baptist minister at age 18. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 and from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951. In 1955 he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology from Boston University. While in Boston, King met Coretta Scott, whom he married in 1953.

In 1954 King accepted his first pastorate at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery’s black community had long-standing grievances about the mistreatment of blacks on city buses. Heading the year-long bus-boycott against segregation in buses, King soon became a national figure.

In 1957 King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization of black churches and ministers that aimed to challenge racial segregation. King and other SCLC leaders encouraged the use of nonviolent marches, demonstrations, and boycotts to protest discrimination.

King and other black leaders organized the 1963 March on Washington, a massive protest in Washington, D.C., for jobs and civil rights. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech to an audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. The speech and the march created the political momentum that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. As a result of King’s effective leadership, he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for peace.

Throughout 1966 and 1967 King increasingly turned the focus of his activism to the redistribution of the nation’s economic wealth to overcome entrenched black poverty. In the spring of 1968 he went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking black garbage workers. King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

January 6, 2015 – 3:13 pm

Sometimes host families are confused about the things au pairs can do. As requested by a host family, I am posting this information from the APIA website Au Pair responsibilities. Please note these responsibilities are CHILDCARE related only. The au pair is also responsible for cleaning up after herself and helping as a family member when eating or traveling with the family. Au Pairs should remember they are role models to the children in their care. Good hygiene and keeping your room clean is expected.

Child care is a meaningful way for an international visitor to get insight into American life.

The au pair’s responsibilities may include:

Waking the children
dressing infants and toddlers
bathing and playing with the children
preparing meals for the children
looking after the children’s belongings
making the children’s beds and straightening their rooms
doing the children’s laundry
cleaning up the kitchen after the children eat
straigtening up the playroom once playtime is over
driving children to and from school, appointments or outings as requested by the host family
an au pair on the standard or Extraordinaire programs may be home while children are absent from school due to illness or holidays

The au pair/companion’s responsibilities do not include housework unrelated to the children such as cleaning the home or doing all the laundry. They are not professionally trained child care workers or capable of running an entire household when parents are absent for business or personal travel. Responsibility for the welfare of the children always remains with the parents.

Hanukkah Begins Sundown on December 16th 2014

December 17, 2014 – 8:10 am

The first candle of the menorah is lit at nightfall of December 16th and each night until December 24th.

Hanukkah is the Jewish Feast of Lights or Feast of Dedication.The Hebrew word Hanukkah means dedication. Hanukkah is also written Hannuka or Chanukah. The holiday begins on the eve of the 25th day of the Hebrew Month of Kislev and lasts eight days. Hanukkah usually falls in the month of December, but occasionally can start in November.

The books of the Maccabees tell the story of Hanukkah which occurred in 165 B.C. After three years of struggle, the Jews in Judea defeated the Syrian tyrant Antiochus. The Jewish people held festivities in the Temple of Jerusalem, and rededicated it to God. After removing all Syrian idols from the Temple, the Jews found only one small cruse of oil which to light their holy lamps. Miraculously, the cruse provided oil for eight days. Judas Maccabaeus, the Jewish leader, then proclaimed a festival to be observed by Jews.

During Hanukkah, gifts are exchanged and contributions are made to the poor. Each evening, one additional candle is lit on the Hanukkah menorah (candelabra). By the last evening, eight lighted candles stand together.

Holiday Party for Au Pairs!

December 16, 2014 – 1:33 am

A wonderful holiday party for the Suffolk County Au Pair in America Cluster on Sunday, December 14th at their Community Counselor’s home.

International Feast with dishes prepared by the au pairs and the Counselor, Cindy Garruba. A grab bag gift exchange, gifts from Cindy to the au pairs and just lots of holiday fun!