Spending A Chilly Day with Au Pairs

I wanted to tell you all a little bit about how I spend my Saturday afternoon this past weekend. It was a great way to spend a chilly day.

Part of my position as Area Director with AuPairCare is to schedule monthly social events for the au pairs. These events are set up to help the au pairs get to know each other, to learn about each others' countries and to have fun. These events are set up for the au pairs, but I feel lucky that I get to be a part of them. I am learning so much about these au pairs, about their cultures and their homes.

This past Saturday we met up at the outdoor skating rink in Silver Spring. I was a little apprehensive to ice skate. Even with my apprehension, I laced up my skates and Kirsten (another area director) and I took to the ice with the au pairs. 

Some of the au pairs really impressed me with their skating abilities.

Michaela, an au pair from Sweden was amazing on the ice. I came to find out that she grew up skating. Her whole family skates and she played ice hockey at home. Michaela said that where she grew up there is a lot of opportunity for winter sports. She also skis. Another interesting thing that I learned from her is that she never once had off of school for a snow day (even though one year it snowed from November to March). Can you believe that? I was amazed! Quite different from here!

Marjam, an au pair from Germany also impressed me. She wasn't as used to being on skates as Michaela, but she got her groove and spent the majority of our time there on the ice, only coming off for the Zamboni. 

So, how did I fare on the ice? Well, I made it around six times in all. That's six times in two hours! I'll have to work on that. All in all, though, it was a great day. I really enjoyed spending time with the au pairs, and I'm looking forward to our au pair event next month.

I'll let you all know how I do bowling.