STATE WINNER WASHINGTON

Det här fina ramlade in i min mail idag!! (och ja mer än så kan jag inte skriva, för vad finns det man kan säga om något sånt här fint än att man blir varm i hjärtat)

We are a Swedish-American family living in Seattle, Washington. I am American, and my husband is from Sweden and moved to the US as an adult. We are raising our daughters bi-lingual and bi-cultural. I work full time, and Mikael works part-time. We are a very active family who enjoys what Seattle has to offer, including skiing, sailing and other outdoor activities. We are a little unusual in that we are Jewish, so we are a triple-hyphenate family (Swedish-Jewish-American.)

Malin joined our family at the end of the summer in 2012. She has been a wonderful addition to our family. She is really active person and very social; she bonded with our family quickly and has made lots of friends in the au pair community. She is adventurous and eager to try new things. Soon after arriving, she went sky diving with some of her new friends. She also joined a local recreational soccer team organized by our daughter’s kindergarten teacher. As her Christmas present, we wanted to give her the gift of an experience. She chose a kayaking trip which she’ll do with an au pair friend this spring. It is great to see her explore Seattle this way.

She is open-minded about new things on a smaller scale as well. Our family eats a semi-vegetarian diet, including lots of vegetables - a big change from the traditional meat and potatoes Swedish diet. She has gamely tried everything and seems to really like it all - from beets and turnips to quinoa, lentils, edamame and tofu. She often joins us for dinner on Friday nights when we celebrate Shabbat with a short ritual. She seems interested in learning about our traditions, including the Jewish holidays. We had a fun family Chanukah celebration, eating latkes and playing dreidel. We love the way she jumps in and shares our traditions with us.

At the same time, she brings creativity to our home and shares her traditions with us. She helped our girls create magnificent gingerbread houses - a Swedish Christmas tradition. She has baked traditional Swedish cookies with them, and she supports our goals by speaking Swedish with them nearly all the time. She also taught us how to braid their hair in a “princess crown” (a small braid on each side, joining together at the back.) We’ve been impressed by how creative she is and how good at crafts. For Chanukah, she gave the girls face paint, and she is remarkably talented at painting wonderful designs - which they love.
She is not just an au pair – to us, she is really a family member. She pitches in with the work of our household, helping us cook and clear up after dinner. When we go on family outings, like to the pumpkin patch before Halloween, she pitches in as we prepare for the trip (making lunches, filling water bottles, etc.) and helps to unpack and clean up when we get home. She is always eager to help and seems to really enjoy our company. At the same time, she’s made a wonderful life here in Seattle, with new friends and fun activities. She hosted a large Christmas party with more than 25 of her au pair friends – and of course, the house was spotless afterward. She goes beyond just the Swedish au pair community and has made friends with numerous au pairs from other countries. In our experience (3 prior Swedish au pairs), this is really unusual. Seattle has a large number of Swedish au pairs, and they tend to become close friends and hang out with each other. But Malin has branched out in her friendships, another sign of her interest in new experiences. She continues to work out regularly and intensely, as she did in Sweden where she was a very serious competitive soccer and hockey player. In that way, she is a great role model for our girls in terms of her high level of (and enjoyment of) physical exercise. They are excited that she is teaching them skills, like soccer and ice skating. Both girls love her dearly and look forward to spending time with her.

So, to sum up, we appreciate so many things about our au pair: her positive attitude, her adventurous nature, her love of sharing traditions – her own and ours, and her helpfulness and eagerness to spend time with us as a full family member. We are so glad that she has joined our family this year.

Jo, en sak till finns det väl att säga.. Jag älskar min värdfamilj, de är världens bästa, finaste familj!! Hade aldrig kunnat drömma om att ha sån tur att hamna här hos dem.