Monthly Archives: October 2015

HINTS TO OVERCOME HOMESICKNESS

Wrtten by an au pair Annika

Almost everyone experiences culture shock when they come to a completely new environment. Everything is different: the language, the food, and the people.

Here are my Top 5 Tips for Dealing with Homesickness

1. Make Friends – Don’t wait for other au pairs to reach out to you, reach out to them. There are other lots of new au pairs who are feeling the same way you are right now. Set a goal to reach out to a few of them each day. Some will respond and some will not. Don’t let that discourage you. No one will ever be mad at you for sending them a message to say hello or ask if they want to do something together. Make friends from various countries and you will also get a chance to practice your English skills together. Look at the cluster map and see who lives near you.

2. Stay in touch with your home country, but not too much. Skyping or talking on the phone every day with your family and/or friends back home normally makes homesickness worse. Try emailing instead and reduce the Skype and phone calls to once a week, until you feel stronger. It’s much harder seeing the faces and hearing the voices of those you miss.

3. Get out of the house (or your room specifically) – Go to cluster meetings, have coffee or movies with other au pairs, join a gym, go to the library, go for a walk, visit the mall, get a manicure, visit a museum. If someone invites you out, say “yes.” Also, don’t be afraid to do the inviting. If your host family invites you to do things with them, say “yes.” This will help you get to know each other and contribute to your overall happiness.

4. Realize that it definitely gets better – All au pairs experience homesickness and nearly all of them stay and have a successful year (some stay for two years.) So, it must get better, right? Once you get past the initial homesickness, most au pairs report how quickly the year goes by.

5. Make Plans – Create your own Au Pair Bucket List (places you want to go, new foods to try, new things to experience during your year in the U.S.) and start doing them now. Post on our cluster Facebook group to find others who may want to join you on your adventures. Try volunteering, there are so many opportunities in the area.

6. Tell your Host Family- they want to know how you are doing, and it helps to let them know.


EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR AU PAIRS

au pair webinars au pair education au pair in america

At Au Pair in America we offer monthly webinars for our au pairs. Why? These webinars, led by our Orientation Team, help au pairs learn about and manage life in America, and provide useful activities, insight and advice about children and child care. And au pairs can sign up for as many as they would like!

South African au pair Dezi shared with us why she enjoyed the webinars, why she recommends them to other au pairs, and her top three webinars!

Hey everyone! My name is Dezi Henning, and I am from South Africa and lived in Massachusetts for 18 months. I had some amazing experiences during my year and one of things that helped me with that was the webinars for au pairs. My friends from orientation, Jody, Joan and Sandee, are super cool and very helpful.

Why did I continue to join the webinars? The answer is pretty simple: I always learned something, and not just from them. The great thing is that you learn from the other au pairs too. I really encourage you to join the great webinars they offer so I will share my top three webinars with you!

3. 100 Activities You Can Do With School Age Children

Why? It is always helpful to have creative ideas for things to do with the kids, especially in summer. Again, other au pairs are on the webinar and share their own ideas as well.

2. Homesickness

For those times of the year when you really miss mommy, food or your room back home! Everyone gets some sort of homesickness at some point and it’s helpful to talk about it, especially with other au pairs. Even if you are not feeling homesick, you never know when you or a friend will need it!

1. It’s Up to You: Making the Most of Your Au Pair Year

This is an amazing webinar to help you make the best of your stay! Orientation Trainer Joan discusses managing your free time, your money and your circle of friends.

Click here to see the webinar calendar and find out what’s coming up for October, November and December. And all of the webinars Dezi mentioned will be available! Questions? Contact us at (800) 928-7247 or aupair.info@aifs.com.