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Au Pair Holiday Memories – Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Dave and Margie HillI recently asked the au pairs in my cluster to share their favorite holiday memory from fall/winter 2011. I expected to have a lot of replies about Christmas, New Years and maybe Hanukkah. I was surprised that I received more replies about Thanksgiving than any other holiday. I suppose I take Thanksgiving for granted because growing up in the United States, I have celebrated every year of my life.

Below are some of the responses I received when I asked,
“What was your favorite 2011 holiday memory?”

sarkaŠárka from Czech Republic:
“Why THANKSGIVING? Well first of all we don’t celebrate this holiday in my country (Czech republic) so it was new for me. Second it was first holiday which I celebrated with my host family. Third Thanksgiving Day was simply perfect! I met relatives of family, I was the sous chef in the kitchen (haha). The food which I didn’t know was absolutely delicious. And the most important thing – the day I felt like a part of family which was great! I was talking to everyone, I wasn’t shy or something like this at all…  I was just really happy that I have the opportunity to be in the US. Day after Thanksgiving I left to New York and guess what? I was thinking of my host family all the weekend and I missed them. Every holiday was really good but Thanksgiving was special to me! I am grateful for that.

LiliLili from Mexico:
“Thanksgiving!! My first real American Thanksgiving. In many ways this it’s my favorite one because I met the grandparents from my kids, they’re so lovely “abuelitos”. They reminded me what is to have a grandpas, all the sweetness in the world. Then my host dad made an awesome turkey and meal, everyone enjoy it. Third I made my first apple pie as gift to my host family, as a symbol of gratitude to them, for the hospitality and great family they are. I was very happy to see all the family together it was so peace and I really feel like in home. Ahh and everybody loves my apple pie. It was really good. I feel happy cause for the dad of my host mom was like the apple pie her mom used to make when little. For last the season was great. The leaves from the trees falling. Ahh my, it’s so nice. Now my favorite season for sure its fall, all the different colors, brown, yellow, red…was the perfect Thanksgiving. I’m really happy and lucky to be here and experience it myself.

AlexAlex from Austria:
“Guess what my favorite holiday is in the States? again.. THANKSGIVING!!!
Christmas was always my favorite holiday, but maybe that was because we don’t have Thanksgiving in Austria. I cooked with the family, we ate all together. I met a lot of new family members, we were playing a Thanksgiving play that my host child got from school. We danced to a silly song and just had fun. The best part was their family tradition – they have every Thanksgiving the same table cloths. They are white with a lot of things written on it… every year everybody who is there has to write something on it:  something they are thankful for, a few nice words or just the name – it doesn’t matter. But it’s really cool. I got to write something on it too. It was great.
“They are the ugliest but most beautiful table clothes I have ever seen” (like everybody says in the family.)

swantjeSwantje from Germany:
“Mine was Thanksgiving too. Firstly it was my first holiday with the whole family in America. Secondly, the whole family came together. All aunts and uncles and their kids came to grandma’s. We played football with all of them, including grandma and grandpa. It was the first time I played it and it was so much fun for all. We had a great dinner with all the typical thing you can imagine … it was deeeelicious! It was so great to be with such a big family and I really enjoyed that day. I will remember it my whole life, I hope.

Life In America – Natacha

Natacha 1Five Things That Surprised Me Most in the US

  • Everybody is so friendly. I think Americans are really friendly, when you go to a restaurant waiters and waitresses are super nice, calling you “sweetie” and coming during dinner making sure everything is ok; You can’t walk in a shop without having multiple help from the people working there, they also actually help you choose your clothes! You can say that it’s their job, but even people in the streets, strangers, seeing me with a map offered to help, asking if i was lost! I’m not gonna say French are not nice but we have more distance with strangers and maybe a little bit rude sometimes (me included for people here, it’s not being rude though, it’s culture haha).
  • The thing about being super proud of their country! I noticed that in the National Anthem (everybody just stand quietly, hand on your heart), the Flag on the door step (and it is sacred, don’t mess with the flag), the applause in the plane for military… We are not that proud of our country and especially not of the Army.
  • The Air Conditioning!!! It’s always cold inside, wherever you are, even your own house! Maybe because it’s doesn’t get THAT hot in France, but I’ve never been so cold at a movie, my house doesn’t have air conditioning and it actually make me sick because of the constant change of temperature!
  • The Driving! First week here my host parents took me to Michigan with them, just a … 10 hours drive!!! Then Canada…. 12 hours drive!!! We don’t drive so far away! Maybe because we have a really fast train or because our country is so small and in 10 hours we will cross the whole country, it made no sense for me to drive so far away! (Why not fly instead?)
  • 24/7, I never went to the grocery store at 1am before!

The Ones That I Liked

  • The friendly people of course, who wouldn’t like it! Even if it’s sometimes too much, it’s always nice to feel welcomed in a place and to be helped when you need it!
  • The driving! It seems crazy at first, but you actually can see more of the country driving through than being stuck in a plane!

Just Like in Movies

  • The yellow school buses!!!! Every morning i take my kids to the bus stop and I see them climbing in that big yellow bus, I didn’t know they were real, picking up kids almost at the front door!!
  • The Gigantic and Fantastic New-York City!!
  • The Fraternities and Sororities of University of Maryland – THEY ARE REAL!!! I missed the party and couldn’t enroll!! (but i have good pictures)

My Best Experience in the US?
I actually can’t choose ONE single thing!

  • The People that I met here (essentially au pairs) are the best friends I could have had here! I made such good friends that I’m sure I’m gonna keep even if we are far away, I will see them again and never forget our trips, our laugh, and the help they provide me in rough times! Always hard to see them leave of course but then you have to make new friends, always more amazing!
  • My College Time, I discovered a new passion, won an award, made friends, I didn’t thought i will have such a good time at college and I actually look forward to start my summer semester in a few days! American College a different but amazing experience!
  • My Travels, from New-York to Florida, and soon California! So many amazing places to see and variety of landscapes to remember forever!

natacha 6

Ingrid at the White House Easter Egg Roll

easter egg roll2

One of our au pairs (Ingrid from Germany) was lucky enough to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll with her host family.  I asked her to share some photos and her impressions about the experience.

easter egg roll4Here is what Ingrid had to say about it:

First of all, I was so glad that my host mom took me!!! We had tickets for the first group on that day and had to be there at 7:30a.m. Consequently, Monday morning we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to wake the kids, and to get ready. Everybody was really excited to go in the garden of the White House. After almost two hours, we finally arrived in the garden.

There they had a lot of different activities for children like Easter egg hunt, egg roll, story time stage, face painting and other pretty cool stuff. So, first Sophie, my host child, went to the egg roll; she did a really good job.

 

easter egg roll1While we were there we saw funny characters from TV shows, and I was surprised how Sophie reacted, when she saw them. She gave almost every character a huge hug and I took a lot of pictures of it.  We saw Elmo from the Sesame Street, and danced to his song. That was really funny and I had Sophie on my shoulders, so she could see. After a while we went closer to the White House, hoping see the President Barack Obama. But he wasn’t there, which was really disappointing.  However, when we left the garden we got a special wood Easter egg with the signature of Barack and Michelle Obama.

easter egg roll3 

 

 

Caught a glimpse of the Obama Family dog, Bo.

Au Pair of the Year Award Nominee in Our Cluster – Emilie

emilie for blog

 

I wanted to share a little bit about Emilie, a French au pair in our cluster.  Emilie has done such an outstanding job that her host family nominated her for the International Au Pair Association Au Pair of the Year Award.

 

 

Here are a couple excerpts from the lovely nomination essay written by her host parents:

Emilie epitomizes the spirit of the au pair program – she is an active participant in each aspect, taking each “seriously”:  She is a member of our family, nurtures our children, is an excellent student, is an exemplary ambassador of her native culture, and is actively engaged in experiencing American life.

Going “above and beyond” is perhaps the understatement of the year when it comes to Emilie’s thoughtful consideration of contributing to our whole family.  She sends weekly e-mails to us and to my parents with everyday photos of the children.  Emilie comes with us to Grandma and Grandpa’s house almost every weekend we go – I’ve heard my mother sharing family recipes with her as they dry dishes together.  She has a special bond with Grandma since I returned to work when our son was only 2 months old, and Grandma stayed with us an additional 10 weeks.  She remembered to help our daughter make a mother’s day gift for Grandma, and then had a tear rolling down her own cheek when Grandma opened the unexpected gift.

Emilie’s au pair year is coming to an end and she will return home to go forward into the next chapter of her life. We will miss her and wish her all the best.

Life In America – Sandra

sandra 1

Five things that surprised you most about life in the U.S.

  • The food surprised me very much, especially because I live in a family where my host parents cook, so I’ve tried a lot of different dishes, while I expected I was just gonna eat hamburguers and similar for a whole year! but of course the amount of fast food eaten in the United States in ridiculously huge, and I must say I expected that. I’m also very surprised about how many people do not cook at all here! and the stores are full of pre-cooked stuff and everything has a bunch of sugar and is fattening…it’s impossible not to gain weight here! and also everything is big size!
  • The big deal americans do of every single holiday. All the stores have a section they change for every season or holiday and it lastes until next one is coming. for example, halloween decorations, costumes, etc. started being saled in August! And then I discovered Halloween is not even a day off, everybody works and kids go to school and everything! it’s crazy, cause it’s such a big deal,and not just halloween, every single special event: valentine’s day, easter, 4th of July, thanksgiving, Christmas….we celebreate in Spain but it’s not that big deal, here it’s like celebrating for celebrating.
  • The discounts on clothes (and more stuff, but clothes specially) This is amazing! In Spain we have sale seasons, but not that many outlets and stores like Marshalls or Ross where you can buy discounted items every day!
  • The concept of drive-in is just hilarious. There are drive-ins for everything! I just knew the drive-ins for fast food places before coming here, but know….you can even go to the bank and don´t get off your car! Amazingly lazy!
  • The education is very different from my country, specially the superior one, like college and university (which are apparently same thing) and the you have to specialize in a different school (law, medicine, whatever) and that’s why universities like harvard or Yale are so famous, because of their specific schools! And also, it’s very surprising that everybody (or almost everybody) goes to live out of their houses when they go to college. In Spain most of the people live in their parent’s houses while they attend university. And also here it’s extremely expensive, which is something I don´t like at all, education should be available for everybody, and here it isn´t.
  • Any of those things you are surprised to find you like?

  • Of course I love the discounted clothes! you get crazy shopping here! 🙂
  • And I also love the security that kids’ places have to avoid kidnapping (it’s normal, cause the US has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world) like wristbands for the whole family, or like in chuck e cheese, that they put an invisible number and they check it when you go out to avoid people to go out of the place with kids that are not theirs. that is an awesome system all the countries should have.
  • Anything that was exactly like you have seen in American movies or TV?

    America is a movie!   I’ve been sending mails to my family and friends all year long telling them about the tru and false things and breaking and confirming streotypes….and I must tell almost everything was exactly like movies!

    • I never expected the patriostism and the war pride were gonna be that real….and they’re even bigger than I thought.
    • The ice-cream truck exists! I thought it was a movie-thing, but it’s not! the first time I heard it in the neighborhood I screamed and run downstairs and my kids were like: are you crazy? you have never seen an ice-cream truck?
    • It happened the same the first time I saw a sheriff, I thought they just existed in the far west movies, but they’re real!

    Sandra 2

    Best experience in the U.S.

    I’ve lived so many experiences here, good and bad ones. Of course living with a family which is not mine, in a house that is not mine, and taking care of american kids is a very important experience itself and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve enjoyed the good moments and I’ve learned from the bad ones, that have made me stronger. But I think, apart from that, the best I take home from this year are the wonderful friends I’ve made, all the places, cities and states I’ve visited, and all the activities I’ve done with my friends, family, cluster, etc., cause I’ve been so active this year!

    It’s been an amazing experience, very very very hard sometimes, but that has definitely made me a more fulfilled and complete person.

    Life in America – Ayanda

    Wow, where do I start! Ok, my life in America has seriously been like a yo-yo! Amazing times and rough times but above all a lot of growth! So, I arrived in America in August 2009. Oh, was it a huge change of scenery compared to South Africa.

    1. The food oooh was/is American food delicious! But oh is it also oh so weighty! So all I wanted to do was test, test, test  all foods and I happened to love everything, what I did forget to do was to exercise and limit myself, so that’s how my jeans sadly started saying “no ma’am”.
    2. Then another thing that absolutely caught me off guard were the prices, man were things cheap in America! I mean a sneaker for $89 that’s nothing right? Umm, Ayanda honey, wake-up call!! Convert that to south African rand and you’ll realize you just spent +-R900.00 oops!! *shrugs* so I started converting prices before I spent just so I wouldn’t  be fooled again!
    3. I knew that Americans drive on the right and that the steering wheel was on the left, total opposite to south Africa!  So, I opted to be a passenger for at least a month or two until I got the hang of it! Oh now I’m a pro, I’m nervous for home now haha!
    4. The most irritating thing was shopping for clothes and shoes.
      Me: “excuse me do you know the size conversion of USA and S.A?”
      Worker: “no ma’am”  *screams*
      To this day, I have no idea what my true size is in AMERICA.
    5. OK and America and its numbered highways. Hmm-ok, I won’t complain because now I know but at first omg I had no clue what you meant by 495 or I-95. I was like “huh, what?” but I’m good now!
    6. My American life has been flamazing*!! But, I must say I hated being under age. I mean I’m so legal in my country! So, that kept me from clubs and alcohol of course. I am in a way thankful because it sure kept me out of trouble.
    7. The friends I made were an absolute thumbs up! I met different races and ethnicities and was just able to learn so much!

    Living here was like in the movies, everything I watched I saw and sometimes lived the movie life!! So, yes America sure did deliver!

    HIGHLIGHT OF MY YEAR! DISNEY LAND!! Pure bliss, it was surreal! I would re-live that week anytime. I absolutely loved loved loved it!

    I don’t think though it would have been so amazing had it not been for the wonderful host family I matched with! A true blessing from God, I’m so thankful for them and my year wouldn’t have been such a success had they not contributed so well to it! Thank you, Hulton family for an amazing year, this ain’t goodbye its see ya later!

    Thank you America, its been a pleasure!!

    Note from Christine: For anyone (like me) who didn’t recognize the word flamazing.  I had to google it and found out that it means fly + amazing. : )

    Life in America – Anna

    This week’s au pair featured in my Life in America blog series is Anna from Germany.
    Anna and her best friend in New Yorks Times Square

    Anna and her best friend in New York's Times Square

    “I wanted to go America pretty much since I was 15 years old. For some reason at that point I got more and more excited about everything I saw in the movies and the TV. Especially when we talked about this country in our English lessons at school I was really into it! Becoming an Au Pair and going to the USA for one year was a big dream come true. And from the first day in the USA until now I was and still am fascinated by this country and everything about it!

    Starting this year with the orientation in Newark and having a tour with all the Au Pairs through New York in the very first days was the best possible start and an overwhelming first impression of the United States! Since then I went to New York a couple of other times and it is one of the most fascinating cities I saw in my year. Actually not comparable. And you see so many things that remind you of all the great movies!

    The rest of the my year I got to see so many different places in America, like Miami, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, Chicago, …..  and every single trip was an amazing experience and left a lot of great and different impression. And I think the most impressive fact for me was, that you were just flying in a different state but suddenly it felt like you were in a different world.

    I fell in love with this country, that’s for sure. I think what I´m gonna miss the most are the American people, the way they live and think, the way they celebrate holidays, the way they make this country what it is!

    This year was the best that could have happened to me. I am very grateful that I could make this great experience, see so much of this country and meet so many people. I couldn´t have imagined it being better. And I really hope that such a great year happens to every Au Pair! :)”

    Life in America – Candy

    This is the first installment of a new series of posts asking au pairs about their impressions of life in America.  The first au pair to take part is WenWen (nickname Candy) from China.

    Candy visiting Great Falls Park in Virginia

    Candy visiting Great Falls Park in Virginia

    5 Things that Surprised You Most About Life in the U.S.

    1. Good protection on nature environment (such as trees, parks etc.)
    2. Open minded
    3. Some things are expensive.
      • College and university tuition is really, really high, not only for international students, but for U.S citizens who are not in the same state as the college need to pay out-of-state fee.
      • Need to pay for everything, even prescription, and too expensive.
      • Mostly, need to pay tax for everything.
    4. Good education for children with special needs in school. The class I went to do volunteering has four kids, one teacher, and two or three educators; summer school for special needs children.
    5. Lots of NGOs (non-government organizations) and volunteers

    Any of those things you were were surprised to find you like?

    # 1, 4 & 5 above

    Anything exactly like you had seen in American movies or TV?

    People are open minded

    Anything very different from what you had seen in American movies or TV?

    The food was not delicious to me.  I thought it would be when seeing it before.

    Best Experiences Living in the U.S.

    1. Have met lots of nice people  (no matter they are Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, etc.) everywhere I’ve been to.
    2. Went to a special education school and some NGOs to do volunteering.
    3. Have learned about Buddhism.

    May you be well and happy!
    愿我(您)无害,愿我(您)无怨,愿我(您)无恼,愿我(您)快乐!