Au pairs from over 10 counties ferried over from Seattle to Bainbridge Island this month to participate in a photo scavenger hunt. We ended with a taste of the world famous Mora ice cream. 
Tag Archives: cultural exchange
Celebrating Exchange Day with Private Pool Parties – July 2022
Check out the pictures from our community gathering of over 60 au pairs in our multi-cluster event. It was a special night with a pool just for us! Celebrating J-Day, the community brought shoes to donate – over 100 pairs! Click here to see more about Exchange Day: https://www.alliance-exchange.org/events/celebrate-exchange-day/.
We played just a few ice breakers before deciding to simply have a dance party with the top US summer hits in the pool with no agenda. And some high diving for fearless women was had!
Play Ball! – June 2022
Well, we are sure playing ball now, metaphorically speaking. Watching a Mariners v Red Sox baseball game with over 110 APIA au pairs was a great kick-off to our first multi-cluster event in over 2 years. We are coming back stronger than ever in our community of interculturalist community counselors, globally-minded host families and adventurous au pairs. We had a seventh-inning stretch with a childcare safety quiz tossed in the mix, since we know full well how to play hard and work hard. A lovely day at the ball park had by all
Here’s to summer and more fun in person together! Go APIA!
Sculpture Park Strolling and IWM Celebrating – March 2022
Au pairs met up for a conversation about child safety, a get to know you, a conversation about what it means to be a woman across cultures for International Women’s Month and a stroll through the sculpture park in downtown Seattle. 
Self Love, Dating and Missing That Special Someone While on Exchange – Feb 2022
Given the surge of omicron, au pairs headed back to zoom. We met twice last month – early and later on a Thursday night to talk aboutself-care, dating safety, and loving from afar (missing that important person from back home.). Below was the self-care piece shared if any are needing this about now:
Next month, we hope to head outside together!…
What Made You a Better Person in 2021? & APIA Tops the Charts – January 2022
Au pairs were asked this and many more questions in our zoom reflections of the year. Here were some highlights of what was shared:
What were your good moments and gratitudes? travel, northern lights, snowfall, culture sharing with my host family, learning English…
What did you do right or how did you grow as a person? learned to say goodbye, improved communication, got the courage to speak up and talk about tough moments…
What are your 2022 plans or mottos for the new year? “ask myself, ‘why not?'” “stay safe, live more,” make more friends, say yes not no, volunteer, exercise, use social media less, be more generous,…
And speaking of 2022, we are thrilled to report that APIA again has been named the top au pair agency from VeryWell Family. Proud of our state, regional and national team of dedicated employees!
The Great Rebuild – What History Teaches Us about Resilience – Nov 2021
Seattle au pairs toured the old underground city in our first joint cluster event in nearly two years. Jan 2019 marked the last time our APIA clusters were allowed to safely congregate, but this past Sunday, with the help of Beneath the Streets (https://www.beneath-the-streets.com) Covid protocols, we gathered again and it felt so good. Four clusters came together to hear about the Seattle fire (set accidentally by a Swedish immigrant boiling glue) and how this disaster helped Seattle to rebuild the city above a safe sea level, brought in funds from around the country and ultimately set up our city for more success should it never have happened. Silver linings! As we learn from the past, we know we are again in a great rebuild moment and it is our job to remain hopeful given this knowledge in our darker moments.
Counselors noted that this same underground tour has now changed to include histories of those marginalized populations that had been less tracked – histories of our first Seattle black-owned businesses that gave back to the community and inspired more black-owned businesses – our strong women (10% of the population in a mining town) coming to become our first graduates of the newly formed UW and those of the Seattle LGBTQ+ populations in those early days that had once enjoyed nightlife underground only. History from this wide angle lens shows us that the more we include everyone in our community, the stronger we become and this progressive Seattle town learned many lessons when the city was at a lower level (literally and figuratively.) We are poised again to be learning many more as we again rebuild to be more inclusive and stronger together.
Fall Was Buckets of Fun – October 2021
The au pairs in Seattle/Tacoma know how to have a good time. We started the month dancing for Latinx Heritage Month and ended it with a Halloween extravaganza and a challenge! Mayra from Colombia opened her home and taught us all some dance moves, Nicol, also from Colombia and her host family won the Fall Bucket List Challenge and completed 16 of the items on the list, and the strong au pairs chose their favorite strong characters to be this Halloween. Real life inspirations dressing up as make believe ones.
Taking Tacoma by Storm – September 2021
The weather has turned this September here in WA, but this small but mighty group of au pairs took Tacoma by storm and bid Laura a fond farewell as she heads out to year 2 in another part of the US. We walked the (rain-free) streets, sharing in the journey of exchange and just simply getting to know one another. Back to simple. And to celebrate Peace Day took this shot.
Hiking for a Fall – Snoqualmie Falls
What a day! Au pairs made the journey to bear witness themselves to this iconic WA site. Snoqualmie Falls is gorgeous and powerful and these women fit right into that scenery. In that moment in time, countrywomen representing Poland, Mexico, Colombia, Thailand, Panama and Argentina came together as one.