KAT'S EXPERIENCE AT ORIENTATION

South African au pair Kat tells us all about arriving in the USA, attending the Au Pair in America Orientation and finally meeting her host family!

“Hey Everyone!

It has been a very busy week with flying, Orientation and sightseeing in New York, and then another flight to my host family in Seattle, Washington State.

Orientation was great! I met so many au pairs and one of my roommates ended up being in the same cluster as me which is wonderful. We live 25 minutes from each other and have already met up for coffee since arriving in Seattle. Orientation is packed with information, and the days really fly by. All of us were really excited about finally getting to meet our host families but at the same time we had tears in our eyes as we said ‘goodbye’ and ‘see you later’ to our new friends.

I finally arrived at Seattle airport at around 9pm on Thursday evening, so I had to wait until the next morning to finally meet the kids. I am the first au pair that my host family has had so it’s going to take some time to get into a groove with the kids who aren’t used to a new person in the house 24/7, but I’m looking forward to this experience and we’re all taking one day at a time.

My host parents have done so much to make me feel as comfortable as possible in their home (now my home too). They had actually gotten hold of my mom whilst I was still in SA and arranged for her to send them family photos with messages for me and my host parents went and got a frame made for me. They also came upon a South African coffee shop filled with all Saffa’s favourite things whilst abroad such as Rooibos tea, Mrs. Balls chutney, Bakers Lemon Creams and Marie biscuits and Spur’s salad and french fry sauce (I will definitely be spending some time in there!)

I’m loving Seattle, the weather, the houses, the atmosphere of the place and the beautiful view I have from the house of the water. My family have signed me up for driving lessons which I will start shortly and I have my first cluster meeting soon but lots of other au pairs from the cluster have already reached out to me so I feel very welcomed.

Keep checking in to see what we’ll get up to at the next cluster meeting!

Kat”