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.
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!
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!
What a day! Sunshine in our hearts and in the sky. Au pairs from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Germany, South Africa, China, Panama, Poland, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and Costa Rica shared their culture and themselves. German chocolate, Colombian coffee, Costa Rican pura vida, Brazilian sweets, South African handmade shoes, the love of futball, the love of family and the love of self were just a few of the shares. So proud of this group for living their truths! They were vulnerable and they were brave and we admire them for it all! We are the APIA family. We are diverse and the whole world is stronger for it.
Au pairs talked about anxiety with their “counselor” who has a MA, not in counseling, but in International Relations. New friends were made from South Africa, Peru, Colombia, Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil and forest bathing happened. Casual and calm on a Saturday as we get back to in-person community bonding.
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!
We were beyond thrilled to be together again in person and are finding our groove with joining clusters again. The au pairs of the Eastside, Tacoma and Seattle areas gathered together to see the gorgeous lights on display at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. Before heading out, au pairs shared customs from their countries and traditional songs, recipes, weather, and the meaning for them behind the season. After our eyes danced with the garden displays, we exchanged secret santa gifts and many headed down the hill for the Snowflake Lane parade in Bellevue. ’tis the season for sharing and here is more about how to best do that!
10 Tips for Sharing Global Holiday Traditions (and Making New Ones)
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.