Our annual Host Family Day was a hit! We joined in the festivities at the American Indian Heritage Day at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.
Au pairs from Germany, Jamaica, Namibia, Panama and Poland attended, many along with their host families!
Activities included bead making from clay and shells, grinding corn, preparing venison stew, traditional dances, decorating faces, corn husk doll making, archery and so much more!
Halloween is fast approaching! There are many ways that you can make this time fun and interesting for both you and the children you care for!
Au Pair in America has captured a wonderful array of projects you can work on together. You can find them on our Halloween Fun Pinterest board! Try making a collection of glowing pumpkins using jars from the host family’s recycling! You’ll need clean jars, liquid glue, orange tissue paper, some paint, black construction paper or cardstock and a strand of lights or battery operated tea lights.
If you have a collection of plastic pumpkins for trick or treating, place them on a shelf or table and dress them up! baseball hats, party hats, tiaras, fire fighter hats, pirate hats and more will help you create a fun display! Dig through the dress up collection for some great options or make some of your own with craft supplies!
Check out the Pinterest board for some other great ideas like ghost bowling using toilet paper! How about adding some fun to lunchboxes by slipping a Halloween joke in? Try making some glowing cups – Frankenstein, ghost and pumpkin! Try transforming some acorns into pumpkins using paint!
Photos by Philip James and Mootsie
Kayleigh hails from South Africa and has been an au pair in Maryland for almost two years now! She shared some reflections on the impact of her time in the United States.
“I’ve grown a lot since the beginning of my adventure I’ve grown spiritually, physically and emotionally so I guess that’s what I’m taking with me when I’m done.
The skunk experience was my funniest experience! I have never smelled skunk before so it was interesting. Now whenever I drive and the skunk smell enters I’m like, it’s awful but if it wasn’t for America I’d still be nose blind to the smell of Skunk.
The strangest thing might be that people here interact differently most people don’t talk to people they don’t know which in most cases is sad because it’s hard to start a friendship with someone who won’t talk to you. This has impacted me in so many ways; before this I had just lost my grandmother so I was dealing with life without her so I wasn’t sure I’d ever overcome it, but being here I’ve learnt to appreciate the time I had with her rather then mourn the loss of her.
It has shaped my future, yes, given me the strength to do something I’ve always wanted to do which is travel the world, be a better person and let people know that there is still good in this world. Social Working has always been where my heart has been, but until this adventure I wasn’t sure if I would actually do it so until now I’ve been on the fence with it. Teaching has always been a big part of who I am and I’m so glad I could teach my host family and my American friends more about me and my home country.
Au pairs in Southern Maryland gathered at the Forrest Hall Farm and Orchard on a picture perfect Saturday afternoon! We grabbed a bunch of apples to sample!
Everyone enjoyed taking some silly pictures!
Corn maze, hay ride, corn hole and picking out our pumpkins!
