Welcome, Jacques!

I would like to give a warm welcome to the new male Au Pair in our cluster, Jacques Botha, from South Africa! Jacques turned 20 years old today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! (I hope your day here in the United States was amazing, I know its simultaneously awesome and sad being away from home on your birthday.)

A special thanks goes out to Marce Manso from Mexico for being Jacques’ buddy. Also, Jacques currently lives in Gladwyne, PA.

Jacques hobbies include watching rugby, going to sporting events and have a nice Braai (BBQ in America) – I have to say that I’m excited to see whether Jacques is going to have a braai for all the South Africans in our cluster.

Jacques’ one wish : He wants to go watch a Nascar race and watch a football game live.

Best compliment: “That one day I will play big rugby, and I did, I represented my country in rugby!”

“I love my Host Family! They are really amazing! I feel blessed with them! Since day one I’ve felt part of them”

Everyone at Go Au Pair wishes you a good year here in the U.S. and we hope that all your dreams will come true while you are here. We hope that we will be seeing you at our cluster meeting, which will be the Christmas party on the 12th of December. 🙂

 

Welcome Chanté!

I’d like to welcome a new Au Pair to our cluster, Chanté Pretorius (19) from South Africa. Chanté is currently living in Berwyn, Philadelphia. Thanks to Marce Manzo for being Chanté‘s buddy.

We asked her a few questions about herself, just to get to know her a little better. Chanté‘s hobbies include Field hockey and ballet.

Chanté enjoys spending her Saturdays going hiking and making new friends. Luckily all around Philadelphia there are great hiking spots, you should just know where to find them! She also mentioned that she likes camping.

As soon as Chanté gets the chance, she will be going to Disney World.

I hope that you will have an absolute great adventure in America, whether it is running around center city, going to cluster meetings or just hanging around with your host kids. 🙂

Welcome Irina

I would like to welcome our new Au pair Irina Melnychuk. She is 24 years old and from Ukraine. Irina arrived here in the states on Feb 26 and she’s currently living in Washington Crossing, Bucks county. Thank you Gina for being Irina’s buddy.

Why do you want to be an Au Pair?

“It is a great program which gives a good possibility to get more experience in working with the kids, learn/improve a foreign language and get in touch with traditions and cultures of a foreign country.”

Irina’s hobbies include doing sports, cooking, learning new languages and stitching. The three best adjectives that would describe her best would be kind, easy and outgoing.

The best compliment Irina has ever received was about her red hair and her freckles. I personally think your red hair is gorgeous! Irina considers herself to be very good at cooking and eating sweets 😉

Everyone at Go Au Pair hopes that you will have an awesome year and we’re looking forward to getting to know you even more!

Welcome Lucy!

Another warm welcome to Botle Mpiti (Lucy). She is 20 years old and from South Africa. Lucy arrived a few weeks ago after rematching and is currently living in Oreland, Philadelphia. I will be Lucy’s buddy.

“I wanted to be an au pair because I love working with children as I would love to pursue my teaching career. I find children so inspiring.”

 

Lucy generally loves singing, swimming, reading, painting, and shopping. She is also open to learning new things and developing a wide range of interests and hobbies.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Lucy at the flower show and I second that the three adjectives that describe her best is upbeat, dramatic and she is definitely an extrovert.

Lucy would like to visit Las Vegas and California. She is also a good listener and cares a lot for family and friends. Those are very good qualities to have, especially for an au pair.

What is the best thing about being an au pair in Philly?

“Best thing a about being an aupair in Philly is that the cluster is huge as to the number of au pairs…meeting my country girls is just so great, knowing other girls from different sides of this world is just too good wouldn’t trade these moments for anything in this world.”

We hope that you will have an awesome year with our cluster. I am looking forward to getting to know you better and exploring Philly with you!

Long Island University

For those of you who wants to experience a little bit of college life while earning credits… this is the place for you.

In December Cherry and I did a Child Development course at Long Island University, New York. We had class the Friday night, whole Saturday and Sunday morning. At first I was bummed out that we had to have class the Friday night, but our teacher was awesome and made it worth our while. Nicole (the teacher) is very talkative and through the whole course she told us stories about her career and the children that she has worked with. After this course I am totally willing to admit that I definitely have the most normal host family, which I’m blessed to have.

The course also mainly focuses on children that either have behavioral/mental issues, or disabilities. So if there’s any au pairs out there that feel like they need a break or even just advice on how to handle your host children, take this course.

Aside from the course, we had fun staring a dorm with 8 different girls, each taking their own course. Cherry and I had one tiny room with a bunk-bed. It was pretty hilarious trying to sleep on a tiny mattress with typical college bedding. Even though we mostly spent our nights hanging out in different places. You can go out on Saturday night if you have your own car or if you are willing to pay for a cab to go search for a party somewhere.

You receive 3 credits for this course and my personal opinion is that they could have given us more credits for the amount of hours we’ve spent in class. Overall, it is a fun course. If anyone wants to know anything about the course or about LIU, feel free to ask.

Welcome Kiah

I would like to welcome our newest Au Pair from Australia, Kiah (19). She is currently living in Perkasie, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Thank you to the Au Pair from Germany Cosima for being her buddy!

“I want to be an AU PAIR as it is an amazing way to combine my love of children with my desire to travel!”

    

Kiah loves to watch movies, see friends (and you will meet a lot of crazy au pairs  here), SHOP and do anything girly!

Three adjectives that describes Kiah best would be loud, bubbly and organised. (You’ll fit right in here!)

Here’s some of the other questions we asked Kiah:  

Q: If you had one wish what would it be? A: There was no war/ poverty/ hunger in the world

Q: What place would you like to visit? A: Next to America would be Europe

Q: What is your favorite way to spend a Saturday? A: Sleeping in!!! [Never mind only doing this on a Saturday, we do this every chance we get 😉 ]

Q: What was the best complement you have ever received? A: I’m not sure the best but the weirdest was I have smooth shoulders!

Q: What are two things that you consider yourself to be very good at? A: Playing with kids and working at McDonalds LOL

Q: What has been your best experience living in the US thus far? A: Times Square and every single day with the family!

Thank you for answering some of the questions Kiah, I hope you have an awesome time here in Philly, and I’m pretty sure you will!

Everyone in the cluster is looking forward to meeting you at our next Au Pair cluster meeting, which will be in March.

Buddy Appreciation Month

Girls, it’s time to pull out the BUDDY in each and everyone of us. Alright, alright, Christmas is over but Buddy from Elf is still awesome. Buddy’s excitement and plans are basically self explanatory. This is how we should act when we sign up to be another au pairs buddy, since we’re taking responsibility to be that new au pairs ‘best friend’.

. 

If you still aren’t sure what is means to be a buddy, check out Polina’s article: Au Pairs Buddy or Lilla’s post: Are you a good buddy?

(Also, welcome to the blog Lilla, can’t wait to read more of your articles!)

Okay, so the Au Pair Buddy program started in March 2014 thanks to one of the coolest people I know Cosima Kunz – the Au Pair from Germany, not only is she amazing because she always allows me to have shotgun in her car and makes the funniest faces, but she is a true friend with a heart of gold.

I asked Cosima why she wanted to be a buddy again to two new Australian au pairs (Kiah and Amber) and here’s her answer: “Because I know that it’s important to have a helping hand in the beginning. Everything is new to you and you feel kind of lost at some point. And then it’s great to have a person who’s there for you. I’m happy to be that person! And on top it’s an awesome way to gain new friends!”

Thank you Cosima. It’s inspiring to see how friendships develop between two or more complete strangers. I remember when I arrived here in the US, everything was still new and frantically, scary. But when I met the rest of the au pairs, they all took me under their wings. Thank each and everyone of you – You girls are AWESOME.

 -“An awesome friend is everything.”
― Ellen J. Barrier

In order of our Buddy Appreciation Month we’ll be having a cluster get-together for all the au pairs/buddies on the 18 January, 1:00 pm @ Thunderbird Lanes, 1130 York Road, Willow Grove, PA 19090. Come be part of the fun!!

Merry Christmas!

Ho-Ho-Ho!

Merry Christmas to all of the Au Pairs and our LAR’S.

Ok, the beginning was a little cheesy, but come on, what would Christmas be without any Ho-Ho-Ho’s?!

I hope each and everyone of you had a lovely day with your host families. I know this holiday is difficult without your friends and families around you. I for one was on Skype with my parents for 3 hours this morning. I’m was never away from home, and now being with a different family was different, but just as fun!

The one thing I really enjoyed about this Christmas was the children’s faces when they were opening their gifts. I’ve never seen so much love and excitement in one room. It makes me wish that I could be a child again. Am I right that most Au Pairs feel that way?

Oh, and guess what my gift was from my awesome host family… Suitcases!! Yeah, exactly what I needed! (In case you don’t know why I’m so excited about my gift, read it here.)

I’ll leave you with my favorite Christmas quote:  “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”  ― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Welcome, Kim.

I would like to welcome our newest au pair member to the cluster, Kim Hunter. She  is 18 and from South Africa. Kim will be living in Center City, Philadelphia and her buddy is Oksana.

“I love kids and traveling and wanted a life changing experience and also just to get out there and learn more about different cultures.”

Kim enjoys swimming, running and learning new things that are science related. She would describe herself as adventurous, perceptive, and happy.

Kim would like to visit New York, Mountains in Colorado, Yosemite, the Bell Tower and the White House in Washington D.C.

She also hopes to form a close and strong bond with her host family and their daughter (Arya) and wants to learn more about their culture.

Well, there’s a lot of crazy (yes, I’m admitting it) South Africans in our cluster Kim, and amazing other au pairs from all over the world with who you’ll have friendships with. We are certainly looking forward to meeting you at our next meeting which will be in January.

Welcome, Stacy!

Anastasia Molchanova or Stacy (22) is a new Au Pair from Ukraine that joined our cluster a month ago. Thanks to Au Pair Monica from Colombia that volunteered to be her buddy.

Stacy graduated from the Medical University in Ukraine and her brother is currently a high school student in the US. She loves being a big sister and she enjoyed helping her mom raise her little brother.

 ”I always liked to be with children, any other work does not bring me so much satisfaction. So I decided to be a doctor/pediatrician in the future. I volunteered in a baby house, where I looked after the children, helped nurses with babies’ examination, and played developing games with children.”

Stacy also wants to be an Au Pair so that she could improve her English and meet new people. A better knowledge of English will allow her to improve and develop faster as a pediatrician.

Stacy’s hobbies include traveling, doing sports like skating, swimming, running, dancing and she enjoys cooking.

Stacy describes herself as patient, goal-oriented and reliable. She would like to visit China, Argentina and India.

I hope that you will have a great time here as an Au Pair Stacy and also that you will be a great pediatrician in the future 🙂