This past Sunday, au pairs gathered in Issaquah to watch our WA salmon spawn – another quintessential Seattle experience for these world travelers. We talked with a fish docent to hear about how the salmon is born and returns at the end of their life to the same stream, feeling poetic for a group of young women leaving home for the first time, ready for life’s adventure away from home. We then crossed a bridge and sat in a patch of grass to discuss homesickness and culture shock. Au pairs also anonymously shared something they needed help with regarding child care- involving discipline, behavior around food, sibling rivalry or potty training. Their fellow au pairs then problem-solved these dilemmas real time, coming up with some solutions to the issue at hand and thereby supporting their fellow APIA community member. And this all in English – a second language for all… 
