Please excuse the springtime pun in the title, but it’s gorgeous out with budding trees and we had a wonderful night as a global community of buds. We practiced English and made new friends while trying out a new sport for some of us. A great Friday night learning an American tradition.
We learned where the funds of the foundation are spent in keeping people safe and healthy around the world. From vaccines to sanitary water, the innovations create equity in an inequitable world. Inspiration is contagious and au pairs discussed volunteering in the community after our museum tour. We are all in this together!
Au pairs from Mexico, Sweden, South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, Colombia, Bolivia, Germany, Turkey, and Spain came together to show their strength and learn from the Bellevue Police in their self defense, community class. They learned the importance of leveraging angles and moves to ensure the attacker has their own weight used against them in a struggle. We learned that setting boundaries will reveal the intention of another person; turning and facing someone is generally better than not (unless you can just leave); and if you are on the ground, stand up (in base) if you can. If you cannot stand up, position your feet between yourself and the perpetrator. And most importantly, they learned what was in their power from the start – the situation/environment itself. Staying in pairs and in lighted areas will be job one. Thank you again to the Bellevue Police for protecting and serving our global community in a very proactive way. We are grateful.
What a fun night seeing some lights in our annual Botanical Garden tour and ending with a fiery game of gift giving. We had a great year and this 2024 class of au pairs and their positivity and leadership is a big reason why. Bring it, 2025. We are strong and supportive!
A talented group of young artists showed off their skills at Paint the Town this month. We had much activity the week before during Halloween, so this quieter event hit the spot for us. Wonderful to have so many put paint to pottery and create gifts for themselves or their loved ones this holiday season. Grateful.
What a fun event. Nearly 40 of us submerged ourselves in the town that was the town before the town of Seattle. Most came as witches, some as animals, one as a flight attendant and many came as they are (so very Seattle). Beneath the Streets https://www.beneath-the-streets.com never disappoints on the fun facts and historical look at our community from the starts of our community.
Our cultural fair and APIA Family Day was a great success with over 100 people in attendance! Au pairs hosted an amazing cultural fair, greeting the touring kids as they traveled the virtual world with their fake passports, getting stickers from the countries as they went. We had representatives from Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Spain and Thailand. We ate donut holes, made flyers, did scavenger hunts and tossed some wet water balloons. Fun times with an amazingly supportive global community. We are all feeling grateful.
Great to gather so many countries on one hill in Gasworks Park in Fremont. We played ice breaker games, Seattle trivia and got to know one another just a little bit more over pizza in a park.
Delightful day at the ballgame this past weekend with nearly 70 au pairs from around WA in a multi-cluster ball game. Not everyone knew the rules, and we started the day pretty wet from our atmospheric river running through it, but by the end, we were all smiles with a Mariners win and a nice day of hot dogs and Americana.
Thanks to all the au pairs who shared in our culture share and sculpture walk this past May. We learned more about one another and about what makes our cultures unique.
