1/23/2006 - Friends Around the World
Exchange students, hosts share a weekend of fun
“What does snow smell like?” an exchange student from Brazil recently asked. The student had the opportunity to find out during an international weekend hosted by the Pingry School.
Twenty-one students from four continents spent the first weekend in December with families from the school in Martinsville.
The students, who come from Germany, France, Thailand, Italy, Brazil, Norway, Turkey, Bolivia, Sweden, New Zealand, Peru and Belgium, are in the United States as part of the American Field Services (AFS) Exchange Program. They attend American high schools and live with American families for one year.
The Pingry AFS Club, under the guidance of Kelly Jordan, a French teacher, invited the students, who are currently spending the year in New Jersey, to visit the school and spend the weekend with Pingry families. The weekend gave the AFS students the opportunity to see how other families live, to share their cultures with the Pingry students, and to visit with the other AFS students in the area.
“This is by far the nicest group of AFS students we’ve ever had,”Jordan said. “They were anxious to share their cultures with us, but at the same time wanted to learn more about each host family and Pingry.”
During the three-day weekend, the visiting students took part in a variety of activities with their Pingry host brothers and sisters. On the first day, the students went to classes, ate in the cafeteria, and visited sports and clubs with their hosts.
Elisabeth Wendt, an exchange student from Germany, said, “It’s interesting to see other schools in the United States, and it was fun hanging out with the other exchange students.”
After school, the students and their hosts met at the Chimney Rock Café in Martinsville for a scrumptious dinner. The group included 21 foreign exchange students, 21 host brothers and sisters, and a few parents. They feasted on salads, fried calamari, Buffalo wings and pizza.
After dinner, everyone went ice skating at the Bridgewater Sports Arena in Bridgewater. There were varying levels of skating ability ranging from the hockey playing Norwegian to students from Brazil, Thailand and Bolivia who were taking to the ice for the first time.
Everyone had a great time, and all of the students helped each other. It was quite a sight to see five people from different countries holding hands and swaying to stay upright.
The next morning, the students convened for brunch at the Savello residence near Pingry. From there, the group headed to the Bridgewater Mall to do some holiday shopping for their host families. The Pingry students and AFS students stuck close together the entire time.
After shopping, the group traveled to Hanover Lanes to go bowling. The range of ability here was about the same as the ice skating, from 200 points to 70. There were experienced bowlers in the group as well as those who had never touched a bowling ball.
The final group event of the weekend was a party at a house in Morristown. Everyone enjoyed dinner, which included the making of sundaes.
The AFS student from New Zealand, Lucy, was leaving the United States, so the students turned the gathering into a goodbye party.
The AFSers wrote a song and sang it for Lucy. Each said goodbye to her in his or her native language. A group hug ensued. It was touching to watch.
To top it all off, one of the Pingry students did the Haka, at Lucy’s request. The Haka is the Maori war chant that New Zealand’s rugby team, the All Blacks, perform prior to every game.
The next morning everyone awoke to the first snowstorm of the year. Christine, the exchange student from Brazil, laughed as she had her first snowball fight and discovered that snow has no smell.
In the Photo: Exchange students, from left, Grace Lin, Jing Chokasut and Tanja Freis take part in an international weekend hosted by the Pingry School.
Story by Zachary Flowerman, reprinted with permission from the Daily Record, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA, December 30, 2005.
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