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Ask Dot! A regular feature of the EurAupair Gazette, Dear Dot! Gives EurAupair Au Pairs and Host Families the chance to get answers to questions about proper etiquette in the USA! Ms. Soskin is a trained etiquette instructor and columnist, as well as one of EurAupair’s Area Coordinators in the Midwest. Hi Dot, I have a couple of dining questions that I was hoping you could answer for me. Is it proper to blow on a fork of hot food to cool it down and how does one eat soup properly? Kaori from Japan Hi Kaori, In answer to your questions regarding blowing on a fork of hot food to try to cool it down, you should not blow on it, but test it carefully and inconspicuously with your tongue before placing the piece into your mouth. It is acceptable though, to blow on a spoonful of soup to cool it down before you swallow it. However, do this unobtrusively. A couple of other points to remember are: when you take a puff-pastry hors d’oeuvre, wait until it cools, and then try to eat it whole. If you try to cut it in half with your teeth, you might find the hot contents burning your mouth. As for soup, it is spooned away from you toward the center of the bowl. The soup plate may be tipped away from you in order to fill the spoon with the last of the soup. And, of course, in the USA there is no slurping! If you need more information, let me know! Thanks, Dot Soskin Keep the questions coming… E-mail Dot at: d1manners@sbc-global.net If a pictures paints a thousand words, then this drawing by four-year old Morgan Farrin speaks volumes about the special EurAupair bond Au Pairs have with their Host Families! Though you may not be able to tell from the spelling – the portrait includes Morgan, her little brother, her parents and OF COURSE Katharina. “We have had a great year with our EurAupair the “Perfect Fit”! NOT JUST AN AU PAIR, PART OF THE FAMILY! FORGET WILLY WONKA! EurAupair Au Pairs Check Out Chocolate in Hershey, Pennsylvania! Pictured from left to right, back row: Jana Schlese (Germany), Tina Merkert (Germany), Andreas Echtner (Germany), Arne Glindemann (Germany) and Anna Farger (Germany). Front row: Inna Komarova (Russia) and Monika Eggstein (Germany). Pictured from left to right: EurAupair Au Pair Mariya Chukhnova with her Host Family, the Kiesels: Katy, Cynthia (Host Mom) with Zoe, Charles (Host Dad), Jonathan and David. A Big Thank you to EurAupair Host Mother Cynthia Kiesel of Olive Branch, Mississippi, who sent in this great family photo which (of course!) includes their Ukranian Au Pair, Mariya Chukhnova. “Our family is so grateful to have Mariya to help us through a portion of these trying years,” writes Cynthia. “She has been the ‘perfect fit’ and we all love her!” Au Pair Katharina,” writes EurAupair Host Parents Anna and Jon Farrin of Charlotte, North Carolina. “She has been such a wonderful addition to our family. She has gone out of her way to establish close, compassionate, and joyful relationships with our children and her endless energy and creativity have been a gift to us all. Our four year old daughter Morgan recently went to a children’s Recently, Anna Farger, hosted by the Chambers family of Mc Lean, Virginia, packed up the family mini-van and invited some of her new friends to take a road trip. The original destination of the road trip was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to learn more about their host country’s history. However, the Au Pairs found that after a whole day in the historical downtown of Philadelphia, they were ready to indulge in a less intellectual adventure. A quick vote and a couple hours later, and the group had taken the short detour to the Hershey’s Chocolate Factory! Here, Anna and her friends joined Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour where they learned just exactly how chocolate is made, from start to finish. Anna writes: “I was very surprised that during the Chocolate Tour we could actually see every single process of making chocolate: from crushing the cocoa beans to adding milk and flavor. We could also see how the chocolate gets its texture.” Anna goes on to write that the group really enjoyed finding out about one of Hershey’s most famous chocolates, the Hershey Kiss. “We saw the Hershey’s product characters come to life on the big screen in Hershey’s 3-D show. And, we helped to operate an actual Hershey’s Kisses chocolate packaging line at Hershey’s Kissworks attraction!” Of course, the best was saved for last, when the group had the chance to try all the delicious chocolate! Thanks, Anna, for sending in this delicious story! Au Pairs Cheer on the Chicago Bulls in the Windy City! Winter in the Midwest means staying indoors, keeping the driveway plowed and…basketball season! This February, EurAupair Community Counselor Barbara Salzmann-Hogberg of Wheaton, Illinois, thought it was high time her group of Au Pairs got to know what the Chicago Bulls meant to EurAupair Au Pair Katharina Schymura (Germany) with her Host Children, Morgan and Tyler Farrin, enjoying Folley Beach, South Carolina. event at our local art museum where she drew a family portrait. It shows how much Katharina has truly become a part of our family and we will miss her when she returns to her home in Germany this summer. Thank you for bringing her into our lives (and our family portrait)!” At left, Family portrait, by Morgan Farrin, 4 years old. Pictured from left to right: EurAupair Community Counselor Barbara Salzmann- Hogberg and EurAupair Au Pairs: Lise Guillarme (France), Rebecca Hoferer (Germany), Jessica Brunner (Germany), Iryna Galskova (Ukraine), Aurelie Cantelou (France) and Emel Keskinkilic (Turkey). Chicagoans. So, off the group went to watch the Bulls take on the Washington Wizards at Chicago’s United Center. Unfortunately, the Wizards worked some magic and the Bulls were put out to pasture that night, but, nevertheless, Barbara and the Au Pairs had a great time, enjoying the game and all the half-time activities that came along with it!
EurAupair Au Pair Sofi Matenaer is Having a Ball in Denver, Colorado!! At a Nuggets game in April 2008. In front: Lukas Ratana, and Sophie Ratana. In the back: Sofi Matenaer (Germany), Eduaro Najera (Basketball player) and EurAupair Host Mother Liza Ratana GREAT AU PAIRS HIKE GREAT FALLS! From left to right: EurAupair Au Pairs Janina Scheld (Germany), Becky Greger (Germany), Clara Macedo (Brazil), Holly Brown (EurAupair Community Counselor), Iuliia Iakovleva (Ukraine), Ayumi Hara (Japan), Natasha Jacobsen (Denmark) and Luisa Wasilewski (Germany). This April, EurAupair Community Counselor Holly Brown of Fairfax Station, Virginia took her group of Au Pairs for a visit to Great Falls Park in Great Falls, Virginia. Just a hop, skip and jump from Washington DC, Great Falls Park has quite a history and the group enjoyed learning all about it in a short film. EurAupair Au Pair Sofi Matenaer of Germany, and her Host Family, the Ratanas, of Denver, Colorado, are currently having a ball in more ways than one with the EurAupair Extended Stay Program. Sofi and her new American family have done so many fun activities together that she decided to write the EurAupair Gazette to share some pictures from a recent basketball game with the family. Sofi writes: I’m Sofi Matenaer an Au Pair hosted by the Ratana Family in Denver, Colorado in my EurAupair Extension Year. My first and extension year have been great! My Host Family is perfect - we have so much fun together. They take me to so many places for traveling. I get to see so many nice places and cities in the USA. I’ve made some good friends here as well. I enjoy living here in the USA. I think it was the best idea that I’ve ever had to become an Au Pair in the Afterwards, the Au Pairs enjoyed the fresh air and explored some of the park’s 800 acres. The Potomac River, Mather Gorge and the Patowmack Canal were just some of the sites they took in during this beautiful spring day! Thanks, Holly, for sharing with the Gazette! EURAUPAIR PAJAMA PARTY! This past month, EurAupair Community Counselor Patti Samuels of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania held an all American Pajama Party for her local EurAupair Au Pairs, Emine Ercirpan (Turkey), Lizbeth Utoft (Denmark), and Susanne Reiche (Germany)! The group started a bit early and had a great time shopping, going out for dinner and even checking out a local play before heading back to Patti’s home for Outside EurAupair Community Counselor Patti Samuel’s house, from left to right: Susanne Reiche (Germany), Lizbeth Utoft (Denmark), Patti Samuels (EurAupair Community Counselor), and Emine Ercirpan (Turkey). some big, gooey, homemade ice cream sundaes! “The Pittsburgh Au Pairs are a great bunch of girls and we are always looking for something to do together” says Patti, “We genuinely love to be together!” The group laughed into the wee hours of the morning, as they shared photos of their countries and families and found out all of the funny little things about each others’ lives. Morning indeed came early, but everyone was up and ready to meet and greet the newest Au Pair to their group, Alessandra DeBlasis (Brazil), who had just arrived! While Alessandra missed the PJ Party, she is definitely on board for the next outing in June to Niagara Falls! USA. Everybody in my German family is so proud of me! Last month, thanks to my Host Family having season tickets, I got the chance to meet the Denver Nuggets, Denver’s professional basketball team, at a Meet and Greet! My Host Mum, Liza, and the kids, Sophie and Luke, went with me to the Denver Downtown Aquarium for the Sixth Man Jam. It was so cool to see all the players up close, after going to so many of their games during the year. All the big stars were there: Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, even the trainer! The players were all so nice! We took pictures with them and had a buffet with all the other fans. I got some good shots. I was so happy that night. After all, how many people can say ‘I’ve chatted with Allen Iverson and Melo at the cake buffet.’? Thanks, EurAupair! Sofi Matenaer Yakhouba Diawara (Nuggets’ player) and EurAupair Au Pair Sofi Matenaer (Nuggets’ Fan!). A Short but Unforgettable Trip West to LAS VEGA$! EurAupair Au Pair Johanna Helbig of Germany (right) and her friend Lisa in Las Vegas, Nevada. EurAupair Au Pair Johanna Helbig (Germany), hosted by the Gustafson family of Canton, Georgia, headed West to the land where Elvis still lives and cash is king! Below Johanna shares with the Gazette just a few of her trip memories to this very unique American town! Viva Las Vegas By: Johanna Helbig After a five-hour flight my friend, Lisa, and I finally made it - LAS VEGAS! The first thing that we saw at the airport were lots of slot machines. No doubt about it - we arrived to the right place! It took a while before we got to our motel because none of the bus drivers recognized the name of it, but they were all so friendly that we finally found it! After a little nap we decided to go for a walk on the Strip. We would be here just for 3 days, so we definitely needed to use our time. We took the DEUCE bus that brought us to the Strip. The first thing that we went to was the Bellagio Hotel because we really wanted to see the fountains. It was gorgeous - a lot of people and music and, of course, the fountains! Just like in the movie “Oceans 11.” Afterwards, we continued down the Strip to get some impressions of “Sin City.” Unfortunately, only two hours later and we were so tired that we were back in our motel room ready to go to sleep! Not exactly a wild night in Las Vegas! The next day we did a lot of sightseeing. We went to different casinos like “Ceasar’s Palace,” “Rio Hotel” and “MGM.” We even stopped at “The Venetian” to take a little boat tour. It was so much fun, but it took the whole day to see almost everything on the Strip. On our last day, due to the weather, we ended up going to “Madame Tussauds.” Lucky for us the weather improved so Lisa and I were off to the “Stratosphere Tower” where you have the best view. It was awesome! We could see the whole city, the whole Strip and behind that, the mountains. I’ve never seen something like that before. It was beautiful. We also wanted to see the fountains of the Bellagio for the last time. The best view is from the top of the Eiffel Tower. We went there and felt really sad that our trip was coming to an end. The rest of the night we spent on the Strip and enjoyed for the last time the feeling of Vegas. All in all that was the best trip ever and I will never forget it! Thank you, Johanna, for sharing your trip memories with the EurAupair Gazette!
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