Au Pairs Plan For Their First American Thanksgiving

As families all around Newtown and Sandy Hook carry out annual preparations for their traditional Thanksgiving celebrations, there is one local group that will be experiencing Thanksgiving for the first time: international au pairs. These young women and men are living with local families and caring for their children as part of a unique cultural exchange and child care program.

Hannah Brown, an au pair from Australia, says, “One of the reasons I became an au pair was to experience life in America and see American traditions firsthand. I love how America has a holiday that is about giving thanks! We are planning on going into New York City for the Macy’s Day Parade.”

According to Cultural Care Au Pair local childcare coordinator Diane Salvo, au pairs are doing more than just sitting down at the dinner table and tasting stuffing and pumpkin pie for first time.

“The au pairs are helping in the kitchen and making foods from their home countries, helping to make their host family’s Thanksgiving dinner a multicultural feast,” said Ms Salvo, who is also a resident of Newtown.

Renata Vargas from Brazil is making pao de queijo with her host children.

“In my family whenever we have a big family dinner we always have very small cheese breads. My mother sent me the recipe and I am going to make it with the kids for my first Thanksgiving. I remember having fun rolling the balls for pao de queijo when I was a child,” she said.

German au pairs are making apfelkuchen, apple cake, and one young woman from Thailand is preparing tom yum soup for her family to start the Thanksgiving meal.

Diane Salvo says that the au pairs’ host families have a unique perspective on Thanksgiving this year.

“When they think about all the things they are thankful for, they cannot forget their au pair who takes such great care of their children and enriches their family life with pieces of her own culture. They are thankful that she is a part of their family this year and are happy to be sharing their Thanksgiving Traditions with her.”

Au pairs live and study in the United States for one year on a J-1 cultural exchange visa in exchange for providing 45 hours of child care per week. The US Department of State regulates all au pair programs in the United States, offering parents the peace of mind that their children are in the care of a carefully screened, qualified caregiver.

A Special Cultural Exchange

Even before the arrival of Thanksgiving, a number of au pairs in the Cultural Care program came together to share an international phenomenon. On Sunday, November 22, at 10 am, at the Sono Regent 8 movie theatre in Norwalk, Cultural Care Au Pair hosted an exclusive screening of New Moon, the next installment in the Twilight movie saga, for more than 130 au pairs.

Cultural Care hosted the program due to the wild popularity of the story among young women from every corner of the globe. The story of Bella and Edward has been translated into 20 different languages and seems to speak to young people, regardless of nationality or language.

With the many challenges that au pairs face by acclimating to a new culture, they have found a common language with Twilight — and they have that it is one that they can share with their host families.

“I had heard about Twilight from my oldest daughter and niece, then when our au pair Hannah arrived from Australia, she had read three of the four books,” said Diane Salvo. “By the time I read the saga, I was sharing it with my au pair as well as the rest of the group of au pairs in Newtown and Sandy Hook. At Sunday’s showing, Hannah as well as three au pairs from Newtown, Sandy Hook, and Southbury joined me.

“It’s unusual to find one topic that has such broad appeal to all of the au pairs. It’s amazing how so many of them also share their interest with their host mothers or host children,” Ms Salvo continued.

Leslie Bent from Switzerland says of the books, “They were the first books I read in English when I arrived in the States. I really think they helped improved my vocabulary and after I read them, I felt more comfortable reading other books in English.”

Some of the au pairs had not read the books; they had, however, had seen the first movie, Twilight. they were excited to go to see the second installment and to meet up with their friends they have made throughout Fairfield County.