Meet Your Global Neighbor: Sponsored by Au Pair in America

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A Host Family’s Experience with Cultural Exchange

Diana Leonardi’s au pairs  really are “part of the family.”  In this photo, Diana is shown with children Juliana and Lorenzo, and 5 of her au pairs: Teye (Thailand), Ann (Thailand), Inese (Latvia), Nat (Thailand) and Sai (Thailand). All came to visit for Juliana’s First Holy Communion!  I talked with Diana about her success in the _{Read more…}

Cinco de Mayo, May 5th

Cinco de Mayo has come to signify Hispanic and Mexican pride and a time to celebreate the rich culture.  Today, this holiday is celebrated by Mexicans and especially the Hispanic community in the U.S.  It is a time of song, dance, partying and in general, a time to be proud to be of Hispanic descent! _{Read more…}

Thailand-Happy New Year!

Songkran 2013 Dates When: 13th – 15th April, 2013 Where: Thailand Water Festival in Thailand (Songkran) – You will get wet on the 13th of April – if you happen to be in Thailand. It’s a given that you won’t escape the water pistols, the water balloons and buckets of water as the Thais celebrate _{Read more…}

Pre-schoolers learn about Malaysia

Chen Li Ng, known to her friends at Au Pair in America as Mia is an active participant in the Global Awareness program, submitting original songs, with her friend, Celine, that express her experience with cultural exchange. Mia’s counselor, Chris Sherman  has been a great support to Mia during her time in CT, facilitating an _{Read more…}

More on Cultural Exchange

I recently heard from Cindy Garruba, a counselor on the northshore of Long Island.  Cindy is a great supporter of cultural exchange and recently shared feedback she’d received from one of her Brazilian au pairs, Patricia. Patricia,  wrote, “The two years that I lived in America (2010-2012) changed my impressions about Americans and about their way of _{Read more…}

Today is International Women’s Day

We’re on a path to women’s rights, gender equality and ending violence towards women.  Let today be a reminder that there’s so much work still to be done; let’s hold hands and march together until our goals have been achieved. http://song.unwomen.org/  

International Women’s Day

March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day that honors the work of our earliest suffragettes and celebrates women’s achievements of the past century My grandmother was a suffragette, and carried a banner high as she marched for equal rights for women.  I’m so proud of her! An immigrant, who came to this country, from Russia, without _{Read more…}

Reflections on a year abroad

Bruna, from Brazil, a former au pair and now back in Brazil teaching English, wrote to say that “yes, living in the U.S. changed my mind about Americans. …back home, people believe that Americans are always up to something and whatever they do is always about them.  I tell them that judging Americans without living with _{Read more…}

Observations of Cultural Exchange

Au Pair in America has au pairs arriving to the U.S. from so many different countries.  These young women take a leap of faith, trusting that the net will be there.  And be there it is!  With an excellent field network of community counselors, a dedicated staff in Stamford, CT and host families wanting to _{Read more…}

The Value of Cultural Exchange from a host mom

I recently heard from Diana, a host mom on Long Island.  Her family has had au pairs for her twin girls for many years-Diana sees this experience as a great way to bring new langauges to her children. In Diana’s words: “After 4 years of German aupairs, we felt the German language was well grounded _{Read more…}

Creating a Global Village

The holidays are a perfect time to share traditions.  Most Au Pair in America clusters celebrate with a holiday party, sharing recipes, gift exchanges, stories from home.  This year, my cluster made gingerbread houses.  As we were decorating them, we exchanged holiday traditions learning about celebrations in Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Thailand (for New Year’s) and _{Read more…}

Moving to a Different Country

Moving to a Different Country by Sophia from Seattle Sophia moved to America from Germany in 5th grade. Moving to a different country is always difficult. Often kids don’t know the language very well and the culture is always different. Even simple things like national sports aren’t always known by people from different countries. When _{Read more…}