Every year at Columbia High School students come from around the world to participate in the Rotary Club's exchange program.
Last year, CHS had four exchange students. This year, it has five: two from Germany, one from Brazil, one from Kyrgyzstan, and one from the Philippines.
Erlan Musakozhoev, from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is a junior here at Columbia. Back in Kyrgyzstan, Erlan's university was very different from CHS.
Instead of eight classes a year, Erlan had 15-16 classes; every day was a different class. Here, Erlan says he doesn't need to study at all because "the classes are very easy."
Erlan had a hard time coming to the United States because he misses speaking his own language. According to Erlan, "White Salmon is so small!" Erlan liked to go to cafes and just walk with his friends. He says that his friends are like brothers to him. Soccer is his favorite sport, which he used to play in Bishkek. A shootout at the end of a tie game marked the end of his high school soccer career, though. Everyone who shot for a tiebreaker made it, "but my shot missed, so I quit," Erlan recalls.
Erlan's family consists of a younger brother and his parents. At home, he speaks Kyrgyz and Russian. There's only one thing that bugs Erlan about the U.S.: he can't drive here.
Thais Castello Branco is from Recife, Brazil. She has a younger brother and sister. She lives with her parents and her dog. She too is getting used to small-town life. To get to school in Recife, she had her mother drive her or took a bus.
Thais says families are very close in Brazil, and have many kids. At home, she spoke Portuguese and Spanish, and "studied, studied, studied!" She also slept a lot, watched TV, talked on the phone with her friends, and ate.
She said she loves to eat fruit, but fruit is so expensive here she doesn't want to buy it. She also enjoys "Brazilian pasta, not American pasta. Americans like pepper, but I like salt on my pasta."
In Brazil, she says people are always friendly, while here it is not nearly so. "It is boys here, girls there. Not together."
When people talk too fast, it is hard for Thais to understand, especially when they say new words. In Brazil, Thais's teachers didn't teach many words that Americans use.
The classes were also different. Everyone wore uniforms and went to six short classes. Every day classes were rotated. And what classes Thais took were given to -- not chosen by -- her.
J.B. Derequito is from the Philippines. This year he is in 11th grade, though he has already graduated from high school in the Philippines. The plane ride over here was J.B.'s first time flying. He stayed in San Francisco for three days just to get used to America. J.B.'s language, Tagalog, is extremely different from English. When people talk too fast, J.B. says "I just smile and say uh-huh." The hardest thing to do is to overcome his nervousness at the store buying things, and writing.
J.B. can understand English well but he says he finds it hard to speak English clearly when talking to English-speaking people. Reading English is not as easy as listening to it. J.B. started learning English in kindergarten.
J.B. says he likes playing basketball after school and watching comedy shows on TV. J.B. has a brother and a sister. His parents own a machine shop.
J.B.'s favorite food in the Philippines is fruit salad, the kind he gets at restaurants. He says the green salad he had at the Rotary Club orientation was also very good.
J.B. wanted to tell prospective exchange students that "being an exchange student is good, especially the first time. It's hard the first time, but you learn new cultures and you travel."
Daniel Kreutz is from Germany. Daniel, 17, is a junior this year. He speaks French, German and English. The first few days it was tough for him to cope with the language; his teachers didn't teach him American English." It was also a new town; he had to make new friends and everybody acted different. Daniel likes to skateboard, play basketball and play the guitar. He is currently looking for someone to teach him more "guitar things." He also likes to watch movies and play games. Daniel tried football here at CHS but he didn't have any insurance, so he couldn't play. Back in Germany, his family consists of his parents and two brothers, 18 and 9. He didn't spend too much time with his family; he did things with his friends like skateboarding and swimming.
Daniel started learning English in fifth grade, and will continue until 13th grade. He took a French class, too, but he didn't like it. Some of Daniel's favorite memÿories from home are of skateboarding "anywhere he wanted because in Germany it was legal to skateboard everywhere." In Germany, he liked to visit places like the town center. Daniel likes being an exchange student because, "it is cool to see American schools, they are different and are easier to have more fun at. The teachers talk to us here, in Germany they don't."
Martin Ehlert is from Berlin, Germany. His family consists of an older brother and sister and his parents. Martin says "they are quite nice people." Martin's brother and sister live in different apartments than him in Berlin. They would spend their weekends at a lake cabin outside the city.
When Martin came to White Salmon, he was shocked at the small size of the town. Even now, he says there is nothing to do but do homework and watch TV. He lives far out of town, so he doesn't get much chance to meet people. In Berlin, Martin would meet with friends and "do the usual friend stuff, like go to the cinema, go to parties, and play basketball."
When Martin first started to learn English, he was in the first grade. Teachers didn't actually start talking in English until years later, however,.
Martin liked to cycle in Germany, and he did that a lot. While he is here in the U.S., Martin would like to learn how to snowboard. If you would like to be a snowboarding teacher, just tell Martin.
Commented