Happy Mothers Day!

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May in 82 countries and territories around the world, including Australia, the United States, China, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Vietnam and South Africa. Mother’s Day is celebrated in different ways around the world.

Host mothers become role models, mentors and loving mother figures and “american moms” to their au pairs. Mothers Day Heart Cake can be a “sweet” way to say thank you to the host mom.

Here are some tips how to bake and decorate a Heart Cake.

Step 1: Bake a square cake and a round cake

Step 2: Cut round cake in half

Step 3: Add each half to the square using frosting to attach to make a heart shape

Step 4: Frost with pink frosting and decorated the cake using your love and fantasy 

Bake the cake and make your host mom feel special!

Happy Mothers Day to Host Mothers and to the all mothers in the world!

Welcoming to our Go Au Pair Family Vanessa!

Hi there! For some people it might be sad since this is the last month of summer, but for us this month is full of happiness because we are glad to introduce our new member Vanessa Ferreira from Angra dos Reis, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. She joined the Go Au Pair Philladelphia cluster just yesterday. So let us get to know each other better.

Why do you want to be an Au Pair?
I want to be an Au Pair because my dream is to travel the world, meet new adventures, learn from new cultures and have a professional evolution.

What are your hobbies and interests?
I love to travel. My favourite sport is volleyball and I love to go to the beach.

What was the best event/happening during last month?
I love to visit my city, Rio de Janeiro. Today I wenr to visit the Parque Lage in the Botanical Garden.

What three adjectives best describe you?
Determined, cheerful and adventurous.

If you had one wish what would it be?
Be successful in helping my family.

What place would you like to visit?
Greece, Venice, London, etc…

What is your favourite way to spend a Saturday?
On Saturdays I like to go to the beach.

What are two things that you consider yourself to be very good at?
I’m very good at motivating people and also I love malabares.

Thank you Vanessa for your answers so we can learn more about yourself. Hope you will enjoy your time with your host family and welcome to our cluster again!

Welcome to our cluster Dani Rosales !!!

We are officially in our second day of Spring! This weather is helping us to get ready for the summer! Today let me welcome our new member Dannii Rosales from Mexico. Dani is 24 years old and she just arrived a couple of days ago to Philadelphia. Let me tell you more about her:

•  Why do you want to be an Au Pair? I decided to be an aupair because I love kids and being an au pair will also provide me the opportunity to live in a different country.
• What are your hobbies and interests?My hobbies are watching movies or series, drawing, going outside and swimming.
• What three adjectives best describe you?Generous, patient and responsible.
• If you had one wish what would it be?I wish I could open my animal shelter.
• What place would you like to visit? I would like to visit London.
• What is your favorite way to spend a Saturday?I like spending time with my family and some friends!

The cold weather is almost gone, once again we are excited to welcome Dani to this amazing city and cluster. See you next meeting dear Dani!

 

Welcome to our amazing cluster Natalia!!!

At the beginning of November, I want you to welcome to our cluster an interesting and young girl Natalia Ramirez, she is 25 years old  and is from Colombia! Let me tell you more about this incredible woman!

Natalia was asked why she wants to be an Au Pair and she said is because she would like to share her culture with her host family and at the same time learn more about American culture. She also mentioned that she wants to improve her English, thats awesome Natalia, keep it up!

What was the best event/happening during last month?
My birthday was about 3 weeks ago and I had an amazing day full of happiness with my friends in Washington D.C

Natalia is a very active girl, she loves to go hiking and for a walk adventure. She likes to spend time doing exercise at the gym! Besides this, Natalia also mentioned that she likes to reading magazines and she is a fashion lover. That’s great!

 What three adjectives best describe you?
Honest, friendly, courteous.

Natalia likes to go out with her friends and have a delicious supper! She couldn’t forget to mention that she likes to have her own time and rest! She loves to travel and meet new people, she is interested to travel to Greece!

As you can  see Natalia is an interesting and young woman, here is just a few information about her!it would be great if you talk to her!

Once again, welcome to our cluster Natalia!

 

Reaching new heights

Climbing at Rock Gym and reaching “new heights” was one of the best events ever 🙂 even though we are doing  many interesting activities with the Au Pairs from the Philadelphia,  Bucks County Go Au Pair cluster. This was my very first time being at Rock Gym with the Au Pairs, and I didn’t expect that it will be so fun and exciting.  

On Saturday,  May 30, 2015  many Au Pairs came to the Doylestown indoor rock climbing gym and adventure facility in the north Philadelphia area and Bucks County. Au Pairs from Australia Amber and Kiah came to the Gym the second time and were impressive in their performance.

It was a great workout 

and fun event. 

Cherry, Au Pair from S. Africa  and many Au Pairs climbed for the first time. Brenda Au Pair from Mexico and Iryna Au Pair from Ukraine enjoyed climbing again and again

Lorena and Joana, Au Pairs from Colombia climbed together Many Au Pairs reached new heights

and met new friends!

They all had a lot of funThen we enjoyed a picnic!

Washington, DC – April 18th & 19th

As apart of the Go Au Pair program, an au pair must complete 72 hours of 6 credit unites over the course of their 12 month placement. With this in mind I signed up for the CULTURAL HIGHWAYS education program which includes 3 classroom sessions at Pierce College, (1x Saturday and 2x Sundays) as well as a tour of Washington, DC. The Washington, DC tour was this weekend (April 18th & 19th) and I absolutely had the time of my life and 100% recommend it to everyone!

Ron Dingman was our tour manager and I hope you are lucky enough to have this wonderful man on your tour! He is so funny and nice and will help you with any question no matter how dumb it may be! (I certainly gave him a run for his money on how many dumb questions he could handle in one weekend).

Our tour bus was departing Philadelphia (30th street station) at 10.10am sharp and I wanted to be on time so I caught the 7:45am train from Colmar statio which was expected to arrive at 30th street station at 8:49am. I only needed a 1 way train ticket which was $7.00.

Upon arrival at 30th street station I met some of the other girls on this trip. They brought snacks and drinks for the long bus ride however as I am extremely poor at the moment I chose the cheaper option which was to go without. In the end I did by 1x 500ml bottle of coke zero which cost me $2.69 at ‘Au Bon Pain’.

We got on the bus and the journey began. There were already other au pairs on the bus who were picked up from places such as New York and New Jersey. We were on the bus for an hour before making our first rest stop At this rest stop I brought my lunch which was ‘Pop Eye Chicken’, I ordered a 3x piece chicken combo which included fries, this cost me, $7.89. After this 30 minute rest break we were back on the road and didn’t stop until 2.00pm for our 2nd and final rest stop at Union Station- I did not purchase anything here as I was not hungry from such a huge lunch!

We left here at 2:35pm to set off to our first landmark which was THE WHITE HOUSE! This was definitely my favourite site of the DC trip! After that we left and went to the LINCOLN MEMORIAL & THE REFLECTION POOL. Both of these were absolutely outstanding! From there we went to the NATIONAL MALL and there we saw the World war 1 and 2 memorial as well as the JFK memorial.

So once we’d seen this we headed to the hotel to check in (We stayed at the Hilton Arlington). The Hotel was absolutely magnificent! Stunning design, gorgeous, furniture, friendly staff and comfortable beds, it was abslolutley perfect!

Essentially I walked in and walked out because a friend I made on the tour wanted to go see a band that was playing called ‘Oh Honey’. The band was playing at the Rock and Roll Hotel and public transport was going to take an hour to get there and so we used ‘Uber’ instead of a taxi/ cab as it was cheaper. The Uber ride was roughly 25 minutes and cost us $20 which is certainly cheaper than any taxi! (Especially as it only ended up being $10 each).

Tickets for the show cost $15 so we purchased those and then went inside, only to find out ‘Oh Honey’ wasn’t playing until 10pm. As we weren’t interested in the opening act we decided to get dinner. We ended up at Impala (just across the road from the Rock and Roll hotel) which was a nice little Mexican restaurant. I ordered a steak with fries and vegetables, with a coke. The meal was fantastic and only cost me $17.90. (Something I will definitely miss when I leave the U.S is free refills!)

We headed to the concert at 9.00pm and listened to the opening act ‘Public’ and then obviously the main act ‘Oh Honey’. I had never seen this band before however I had a really good night and I could not recommend them enough !!

We left at midnight after a meet and greet with the band and caught an ‘Uber’ ride back to the hotel. As it was later in the night and rides were in higher demand the total price ended up being $30, and so the two of us split it, spending $15.00 each. The rest of the night I spent with my room mates.

The next morning we got u

p at 8am as the bus was leaving at 9:15am. I got ready as quickly as possible however did not have time for breakfast which was totally disapointing as I was really looking forward to having something from Ihop for the first time.

We departed with our luggage loaded on the bus at 9:15pm and our first stop was the AIR FORCE MEMORIAL. We spent 20 minutes there before being dropped at the National Mall and being given 3 hours of free time. I chose to see the WASHINGTON MONUMENT as well as the HOLOCAUST MUSEUM- both attractions were free.

Before leaving the girls and I got lunch and sat on the grass to eat it. I got McDonalds from a pop up stand as there was nothing else around and this cost me $5.70.

We departed Washington, DC at 2.55pm exactly only making one stop on the way home where I did not purchase anything as I was well and truely broke and wasn’t hungry anyway.

We arrived at 30th street station at 6:40pm and I waited until 7:11pm for my train home to Colmar station where I drove home from.

This trip is well recommended to all au pairs! The cost of the classes and trip in total is $369 which is covered by your host family. You make so many friends, irreplaceable memories and have so much fun! Could not recommend it enough!

St Patrick’s Day Parade

As we all know it was just St Patrick’s day and in the past I’ve never been a celebrator for St Patrick’s day its more just been an excuse to get drunk which is pretty much an Australian tradition no matter the holiday, but this year being in America and everything I thought I’d get into the spirit and attend my first ever St Patrick’s Day parade.

Never the less on Sunday the 15th of March I headed to Philadelphia to watch the parade! Now to paint a little picture for you all, lately the weather has been warming up, and I was staying at a friends on the Saturday night so I didn’t pack my coat because I wanted to pack light. And so on this faithful Sunday morning with a temperature of below 5 degrees Celsius, all I was wearing was leggings, a t-shirt and a denim jacket. I feel safe in my heart in saying, I have never been so cold in my entire life! It was by far the most painfully, freezing cold I have every experienced!

So anyways, the day was completely amazing! I love meeting new au pairs, there all as crazy as me which is amazing and have the same nerves and fears as me which calms me down and helps me a lot to know that I’m not the only one!   

Ready, set, go!

My girls turned me into a human barbie doll and I think i loved it more than them 💕

As I settle into my now 3rd week in the United States as an Au Pair for GoAuPair my day to day life still never fails to surprise! I love the fact that I’m learning something new every single day despite spending 97% of my time with 2 children under the age of 5! (Whom I love unconditionally already!!)

So anyway yesterday was my first time being left alone with the girls and to my surprise i wasn’t nervous at all! Don’t get me wrong I definitely had my share of freak out moments that’s for sure but luckily 2 weeks of what I like to call “training” with the previous au pair and then the host mum, got rid of pretty much all my nerves and fear! Unfortunately Brigit the eldest got seriously Ill the day before my first day alone so that deffinitely added to my nerves a little bit but some RnR and plenty of kisses and cuddles got rid of that stomach bug quick fast!

As my first day alone was a Friday it gave me a snapshot of what I can expect next week, and it certainly did just that! I am so excited and eager to get started!

I’ll be sure to keep you all “posted” lol pun intended 😉

wish me luck talk soon xxxx

Let it begin! aupair 2015

Hey guys, bare with me as this is my first ever blog post and I have got absolutely no idea what I’m doing Lol and anyone who knows me knows I am the most technologically challenged person that your ever going to meet!

So anyways, where do I start? I’m Kiah, I’m 19 years old and I’m from Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. (Yano the people that say G’Day and ride kangaroos to school everyday!)  Now I am an Au Pair with Go Au Pair in the US and I’m currently living in Perkasie, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Today actually marks exactly 2 weeks since I stepped onto the plane embarking on this wonderful journey, leaving my friends, family and reality behind me!

My host family are wonderful, I’m looking after 2 little girls, Brigit who’s 4 and Jacklyn who’s almost 2 and a half. Home sickness is something that rarely crosses my mind thanks t o these girls keeping me so busy I can barely remember what day it is let alone thing about anything else!

I feel so thankful every day and night to be honoured with such a once in a life time opportunity.  I must have done something very right in a past life to be so blessed with everything I’ve been offered this time round. I made my first Au Pairs friends  online and thank you Tania for interviewing me.

So anyways that’s enough out of me so il just leave you with one of my favorite things I’ve learnt so far “In Pennsylvania you can’t buy or sell a car on a Sunday” like what! How is that a thing? LOL!

 

Lorena, a new Colombian au pair

Lorena (26) is also one of our new Colombian au pairs and she will be living in Chalfont, Philadelphia.

Lorena decided to become an au pair because she loves to work and spend time with kids while teaching and sharing beautiful moments with them. She also wants to improve her English and learn about the American culture.

Lorena’s hobbies include watching movies, walking and playing board games. She would describe herself as responsible, patient and someone with a positive attitude.

Thus far the favorite part about being an au pair for Lorena has been the part of living with a new family, while learning more about the American ways of living and also that she has the chance to learn more about herself. Lorena’s most valuable lesson here in America owuld be that communication is always key – and I’m sure every au pair would agree with you 🙂

Welcome Lorena! We are all looking forward to getting to know you better and spending more time with you.