Tag Archives: au pairs new orleans

Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro

NOLOlympicGames2016The Olympic Games will take place from August 5th – August 21st.  Au pairs will be cheering on their nations from the USA and maybe supporting the USA too.  The Olympic Games are the world’s biggest sporting spectacle. They are divided into a summer and winter Games, held every four years by a single city. This year 207 nations will participate in the games.  Athletes with disabilities compete at the Paralympics. More than 10,000 athletes from all over the world take part in the summer events.  Here are some fun facts:

 

The First Olympics

The ancient Olympics celebrated the god Zeus and were held every four years at Olympia, Greece. Winners received an olive wreath. The date of the first Games is unclear, but the first recorded Olympic champion was Koroibos, who won a sprint in 776 BC.

 

The Olympic Rings

The rings symbolize the unity of the world’s five continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas). Every national flag in the world contains at least one of the five colors.

 

What is the Olympic Ideal

The ideal is to build international understanding and cooperation. The Olympic code promotes amateurism, or performance without payment, and professionals are allowed to participate only under certain rules.

 

Winning Gold…or not

Even though the top athlete in his or her field wins the ‘gold,’ the medals aren’t really made out of solid gold. In fact, they haven’t been pure gold for around 100 years. The gold medals awarded now are actually silver, with gold plating. That probably doesn’t matter to the athletes who have dedicated their lives to winning one, as long as they aren’t planning on melting the medal down and pawning it off.

All About Rio

This year the Olympics will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Just one hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, it will be easy to view many events live.  View the official website with everything you need to know here  https://www.rio2016.com/en

 

Schedule of Events

Find out when your favorite events are scheduled here http://www.nbcolympics.com/full-schedule

 

St. Patrick's Day

The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick’s Day ever since. St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland. Of course, no snakes were ever native to Ireland. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. It has been celebrated in the US since 1737. One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

St. Patrick’s Blessing

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand

For fun ideas for celebrating with children see http://spoonful.com/st-patricks-day

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this easy after-school snack.

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What you’ll need

  • Green pepper
  • English muffin
  • Cheddar cheese

How to make it

  1. To make one, slice a green pepper crosswise near the pointed end to get a small, three-lobed shamrock shape. (If your pepper has four lobes, you’ve got a lucky clover instead.) Cut a small slice for a stem.
  2. Toast half an English muffin, then top it with a slice of Cheddar and the pepper shamrock. Place the muffin on a tray, then broil it in a toaster oven until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

APIA Seasonal Calendar

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Although au pairs are clever and resourceful ladies with plenty of ideas on how to amuse and educate their host kids, there are days when they scratch their heads and wonder what else they can do to keep things interesting.

One place to turn to for inspiration is APIA CALENDAR

http://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/calendars/

which is chock-full of colorful tidbits about world events, famous people, fun games, recipes, etcetera… etcetera.

JANUARY 2014 alone offers info and additional links to subjects as varied as:
National Soup Month
United Nations
Pineapples (and Pineapple Upside Down Cake)
Winnie the Pooh
and Benjamin Franklin

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” ~ B. Franklin

Check it out and, as always, have fun!

Au Pairs Participate in Step Into School

Au pairs participated in Step Into School event at the Louisiana Children’s Museum this past Saturday.  As in the previous year, they helped children make (i.e. decorate and roll up) German Schultuten.

A schuletute is a gift tote (paper cone) that first-graders get from parents and grandparents on the first day of school. The tote is filled with candy, chocolate, and toys to make children’s first-day-of-school experience “sweeter”.

Many young artist enjoyed painting , trimming, and putting glitter on their creations.

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Celebrating Mad Mardi Gras

Au pairs had a “mad” experience during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

What did they like about it?

Everything!!

Extravagant floats, shiny doubloons, pounds of beads, King Cakes with babies or just cheesecake, dancing cheerleaders, stomping brass bands, flying moon-pies, eye-popping costumes, and crowds of revelers thronging the streets day and night made for unforgettable time.

Some celebrated with their host families, others with friends, but all with the like-minded Mardi Gras lovers!

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“I really enjoyed Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I think everywhere else it’s just another Tuesday in February but not in here, there are a lot of things going on, like parades for example, people come from all over the country to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans and to have fun! I had a blast! It was really crazy:) — Marta from Poland

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I had a wonderful time during Mardi Gras, made the whole experience of being in the US amazing… — Mbali from South Africa

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Mardi Gras 2013 is the best experience I made so far being in the United States. It is much better than the “Karneval” in Germany. But the saying should be: “Throw me something that fits.”   =) Sarah from Germany

SUPER BOWL!!

Hi ladies,

We’ve been talking about SUPER BOWL for a while now, and TODAY IS THE DAY!!NOLSuper Bowl 2012 NO

Yes, this year New Orleans has the honor of hosting the Super Bowl for the tenth time. No doubt you’ll be watching THE GAME with your host families, so I thought you’d like to know a few facts about it.

  • The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) which represents professional football at the highest level in the States.
  • New Orleans hosted 9 out of 46 Super Bowls and now we’ll catch up with Miami which held it the record ten times.
  • Super Bowl is the final game of the season that starts in the late summer of the previous calendar year.
  • The game is always played on what’s called the “Super Bowl Sunday”, and for many it’s one of the the most important days in the year, on a par with the New Year Day or Thanksgiving. Yes, ma’am!
  • Tickets to Super Bowl cost between $850 and $1,250 (and much more if you buy from scalpers!)
  • Our New Orlean’s team, THE SAINTS, won Super Bowl 44 following the 2009 season. The game was played Feb. 7, 2010 in Florida and people danced in the streets of New Orleans until wee hours!!! 🙂
  • The broadcast is often the most watched television program of the year. Wiki claims that “Super Bowl XLV, played in 2011, became the most-watched American television program in history, drawing an average audience of 111 million viewers.”  (Population of the USA is a little over 300 million.)
  • Because of the tremendous viewership (not only in the States but across the globe) the TV advertisements aired during Super Bowl cost a huge amount of money to make and to place. Consequently, they’ve become an important side show and the public eagerly waits to see which company will come up with the cleverest take.
  • Finally, why the bowl in the Super Bowl? The name comes from the shape of the football stadium which is often like a bowl.

Enjoy THE GAME!