I found this fun feature on the Oriental Trading Co. website where you can create your own Monster Mash-Up Videos. Check out this one featuring five of my awesome au pairs.
Click the photo to watch their Monster Mash video!
Halloween Greetings
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Annual Host Family & Au Pair Pumpkin Patch Trip
We had great weather for our Annual Host Family & Au Pair Pumpkin Patch Trip. It was a beautiful fall day and no rain! About a dozen host families and their au pairs turned out. I had a hard time getting all of the au pairs in the same place at the same time for a complete group photo. Here is a nice photo, with most of the au pairs who came.
Au Pairs at the Pumpkin Patch
We went to Queen Anne Farm in Mitchellville, MD.
Au Pair Red Cross Class
I just posted a video from our Red Cross Class at Sojourner Douglass College Au Pair Weekend Course back in August. The class was paid for by Au Pair in America’s Red Cross Scholarship Program. It is part of Au Pair in America’s ongoing commitment to provide reliable, well prepared child care providers. This is also a benefit for au pairs to have the Red Cross certification when they return to their home country.
If you want to see and copy any of the actual photos, they are available in our Cluster Photobucket Album.
Greetings From Around the World
Here is another video that has been a long time in the making. This is a video of au pairs participating in our Central & Southern Maryland Cultural Fair on February 7, 2009.
Photos from our Inauguration Celebration
Sorry it took me so long to post these. These are some great photos from our January Cluster Meeting that were living in my camera for a very long time. We celebrated the Inauguration by taking some photos with President Barack Obama (in the cardboard form.) If you see a photo that you would like to save, they are all in the Cluster Photobucket Album.
Washington Monument Tour
Stop number one on our DC Tour Day was the Washington Monument. We had tickets for all of the au pairs to ride the elevator up to the top and look out over DC. Unfortunately, the less than cooperative weather interfered with the view. Here are a few pictures from the base of the monument.
Having fun (despite the rain) at the Washington Monument
Au pairs waiting in line for their turn to go up in the monument.
Au pairs who just came down from the monument tour.
Our U.S. Capitol Tour
Our final stop of our DC Day was a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Here are a few of the photos.
Our Cluster in front of the U.S. Capitol
Au Pairs at the U.S. Capitol
Au Pairs inside U.S. Capitol
The Capitol Dome
Inside the U.S. Capitol
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
This October is the 25th anniversary of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of that, the Los Angeles Times has created a Global Travel Guessing Game called Got Pink?
Here is a photo from the Los Angeles Times’ Game
Not all fireworks displays happen during the Fourth of July in America. This pink extravaganza took place in Europe. Any ideas where?
Get information about Breast Cancer prevention, detection and treatment here.
Idiom of the Day
I often find myself translating the meaning of various idioms to au pairs. Idioms are phrases and expressions that do not make sense when literally translated, but have meaning to native speakers of that particular language.
Here’s an example:
A Piece of Cake – A task that can be easily accomplished.
Putting together those shelves will be a piece of cake.
There are a seemingly limitless number of idioms in the English language. So, I am challenging myself to tweet an idiom a day on my Twitter. Follow me if you want to learn some new idioms to increase your English comprehension and sound more like a native English speaker. You can also view my most recent tweets here on the Twitter Feed on my blog.
I love learning idioms from other languages. If you have some you would like to share, please post them here.
Free First Aid & CPR Training
In Orientation, au pairs receive basic Red Cross first aid and CPR training. To build on those skills and ensure that our au pairs are prepared for a variety of possible emergencies, we encourage each au pair to take an 8 hour Red Cross CPR & First Aid Course.
Au Pair in America will pay for the cost of a Red Cross CPR/First Aid Class, providing you have at least three months left on your visa or extension. You must take one of several approved child care/child safety related classes, such as Infant/Child CPR & First Aid or Community CPR & First Aid.
Why not take advantage of this great benefit? Information is available here on the APIA website.
I believe Au Pair in America is the only au pair agency who offers this benefit.