Pinhole Photography

B had to take around half a credit in order to complete her education component of her year in America before she would be able to sign up for a second year here (the au pair's need six per calendar year). She loves taking photos so we helped find her a class on pinhole photography. It was a two-day course and was worth one credit so it was perfect. The extra 1/2 credit will get carried into her next year so it will make her a little ahead of schedule there. B signed up on a couple days before the class was to start and she never got the email with all the supplies she'd need to bring. We looked online and found what we thought she'd need and gathered it all up so she'd be as prepared as possible and luckily we packed right! She had a lot of fun in the class - she met lots of nice people and the teacher and teacher's assistant took her under their wing to make sure she did well. She got the highest grade in the class for their final photograph and she was so excited about that. B got an A in the class and we're very proud of her. I think in her second year if she can find more photography classes that would be ideal. She loves photography so much I think she should get herself a nice digital SLR camera for the future and take classes to help her learn how to use it in the best possible way.

Drive Time

B hasn't spent much time driving in America. She has her international license but since she's been watching such a little guy there hasn't been much opportunity for her to get out and about in the car. She loves to walk so she takes him on stroller rides where ever they go. B drove with her friend B a couple times but has never driven our car. Friends always pick her up and that just got easy. Now that she's in the process of finding a new family for her extension year she's finding that many other families want or require her to drive and so she's a little nervous. Last night we went to the grocery store and I had her drive. I figured if she and I could go out a few nights a week for practice driving and parking she'd start to feel more comfortable and this wouldn't hold her back from finding a new family. It would be a shame if she'd feel the need to turn a potentially great family away because she was too nervous to drive. She did GREAT! B is definitely on the cautious side and tends to drive a little slower (which is the case with most nervous or cautious drivers) but I explained that it's important to keep up with the speed of traffic because if you're going to slow it can be a cause of an accident, just like if you're going too fast. We're going to go practice parking next as that was the one thing she had a little trouble with. We'll have to set up some saw horses to practice parallel parking and she can just use the lines in the empty parking lot to practice parking slots.