december 07 newsletter

8/14/2019 December 07 Newsletter

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NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER2007

HOSTING/SENDING NEWS

Hosting continues to be a year-roundproposition, so we ask you all tospeak AFS and talk about yourpersonal experiences to help othersunderstand the importance of peace,person by person. Now more thanever, we need to be building bridges. Ihad the pleasure of attending the ThaiVolunteer Conference in Bangkok, asa delegate from the Northwest. It wasan amazing experience and I have myown host family, now. I am verygrateful to you all for giving me thisopportunity. I hope I have the chanceto share my photos and wonderfulstories sometime soon. For thecurrent hosting crunch, we need tomove quickly to identify at leastwelcome families for the studentsbefore Christmas. Wont you considerhosting or asking a friend to host, eventemporarily?

Regarding Thailand: Everything anystudent ever said about life-changingexperiences is right! My host family,Sopon, Cherry and Kuang (my sistersname means deer) Penpinun were

such a welcoming and wonderfulfamily. We cried when we said good-bye, after only one week! The Thaistaff and volunteers were amazing.Thai hospitality is quite incredible andthe recognition process for the

volunteers is something to beemulated! We were able to dance andsing with the man who composed theAFS SongWalk Together, TalkTogether--slightly different versionthan were used to, (more jazzy) In aroom of 500+ volunteers singing andholding handsit was a movingexperience. Here is a photo of ournew AFS-USA president MargaretCrotty singing with Thai dignitaries. Itwas awesome and it infuses me withnew enthusiasm. Lets work on theseplacements and spread the word. AFSThailand could send us twice as manystudents as they do (they have 10applicants for every spot they award)and they could host twice as manyAmericansthey have families waitingin the wings! Quite an amazingoperation!

West Side Students: Soccer andfootball have ended, swim team hasbegun. We have many studentsinvolved in Key club, drama,international club, (see Beaverton HighSchool photo on Diversity Assembly

Day) and language clubs. Joiningclubs is one of the best ways to get toknow other students. Try it, youll likeit!

AFS has been invited to field a team ofexchange students to compete in theannual World Quest KnowledgeCompetition the end of February. Thisis a great opportunity for AFSexchange students to demonstratetheir global knowledge! World QuestGlobal Knowledge Competition issponsored by the World AffairsCouncil. Check out the website and ifyou are interested, give me a call. Wewould like to have four competitorsand four understudies to coach andchallenge during our practices. Wehave coaches willing to work with thestudents to prepare for the GlobalChallenge.http://www.worldoregon.org/more/education/events.php

WorldQuest is an exciting internationalcompetition for high school students,that takes place at Lewis & Clark inFebruary each year. This friendly teamcompetition for knowledge about worldaffairs was initiated by the WorldAffairs Councils of America in 2003.The ten rounds of questions also

include a regional cultural immersionduring the dinner hour. The winners othe competition travel to Washington,D.C. for the national event in April.SallyAnn,InterimHostingCoordinator

Sally Ann Wells AFS Thailand 2007


2/12

COLUMBIAPACIFICAREA TEAMNEWS

THECHAIRREPORT BonnieRichardsonKott

We Will Miss Regional Director, Barbara BernsteinWe recently learned that our AFS Western Regional Director, Barbara Bernstein, has stepped down from her position and we are allvery sad to see her go. Barbara, the volunteers of the Columbia Pacific Area Team will miss you!

60 Year Anniversary

This year marks the 60th anniversary for AFS and we celebrated with our own cozy event at McMenamins Edgefield on November 18.We had a great time chatting with folks. It was really fantastic to hear some of the stories of our earliest AFS returnees who traveledabroad by taking a cross country train to the east coast and then hopping on a boat (yes, a boat!) for several weeks on their way toEurope. AFS Returnee and super volunteer Christy Mueller put together the 60 year celebration and she did a fantastic job. Thank youChristy! If there are any returnees out there who would like to reconnect with AFS, wed love to hear from you. Please contact us [email protected].

Help Us Find Host Families

As a volunteer for AFS, I think it permeates everything my family does. For Halloween this year, we handed out chocolates and bubblegum and AFS hosting postcards. For each little bumblebee and Jedi knight and pirate, we told them, Happy Halloween and look intohosting an exchange student! Some of them responded with a curious look and some of the older high school kids responded with acool and a smile. With the grapefruits we purchased through our Annual AFS fundraiser, we plan to give some of our grapefruits toour neighbors and friends for the holidays with a little AFS flier. I know that sometimes it is hard for most of us to out right ask people tohost an exchange student, but there are ways to get the information about AFS out to the people we know. We are expecting severalstudents to arrive for the semester program in January 2008 and we are looking for host families for those students. Wouldnt it be niceif we had a pool of families just waiting to host one of these students? Perhaps the little bumblebees parents will see that AFSpostcard and wonder what it would be like to invite a student from Malaysia to come live in their home, just like that family down thestreet did last year.

Bonnie Richardson, Columbia Pacific Area Team Chair


3/12

AFS/USANEWS

TheInternationalLivingRoomDuring a recent address at the World Peace Forum in New York City, J. Brian Atwood, Chairperson of the AFS International Board ofTrustees, gave some inspiring words on the subject of peace. "The best way to acquire (peace) is to see the world through the eyes ofothers...Go forward and offer your personal testimony; advocate for peace through understanding. And, if they call you an idealist, smileserenely and accept the praise. What the world needs is a good deal more idealism in the cause of peace!"

Consider opening your home to an Exchange Student as one tangible way you and your family can to contribute to peace andunderstanding in the world. AFS is currently interviewing families who are interested in hosting beginning January 2008.

COLUMBIAPACIFICAREATEAMNEWS

TreasurersReport

As volunteers, we all give to AFS in many forms mostly through our time helping students. We recognize that many volunteers drivelong distances when they work for AFS and with the rising gas prices, we know this is becoming increasingly more expensive. Weencourage you to keep track of your mileage and other non-reimbursed expenses because you may be able to write these off on yourtax returns (bearing in mind Im not a tax consultant and cant give advice so please consult your tax preparer/accountant on this one).

For some of the things volunteers do, our local Area Team and local chapters will reimburse those volunteers. For expenses that youwould like to request reimbursement for, please visit the volunteer section of the web site, www.afscp.com, download the expensereport, and mail it to me at the address on the bottom of the form. Thanks so much for all you do!

James Spears, Columbia Pacific Area Team Treasurer

Hina India

THANK YOU

Diane and Les Zoller have been selling grapefruit for the LakeOswego chapter for years. Their daughter is an AFS returnee.Last year, Les stated that his goal for 2007 would be 100 boxes.To date, they have sold and delivered over 105 boxes to fellowemployees, church members, and friends. Les also gifts boxesto some of his clients. Thank you both for your continuedsupport for our programs and for producing more than 1/3 of oursales. Thank you also to the many community members whohave been buying grapefruit for years.

Lorie James

SEARCHING FORRETURNEES

Returnees are a tremendous resourcefor AFS. Each individual returnee canbe an advisor, an advocate, and an

ambassador for global peace.Returnees inherit a bindingrelationship to the AFS family by virtueof participation. They embody the AFSlegacy, and help keep alive itstradition for future generations.Returnees are the center, the beatingheart of AFS, linked to theorganization for life.

Reconnect today! Please stayconnected and involved. We needyou! AFS is a volunteer-drivenorganization and there are many ways

that you can make a great differencewithout committing a lot of time youcan mentor high school students,make presentations in yourcommunity or write an article for yourhigh school or local paper. Weencourage you to share your storiesand to get involved. Please [email protected] and ourreturnee coordinator LynetteLedgerwood will contact you ASAP.

Message

The world is one,

For all of us.We should be proud,To be the part of it.

We should work,To see the world for one.All standing hand in hand,

All we need is the determination.

Then we shall overcome it,Then there would not be

The name of WARAnd we will live in the world of PEACE.

By Hina, India


4/12

HOSTING/STUDENTNEWS

PendletonRoundUpOlgaS. PendletonRoundUp OlgaT.

I really liked our trip to a Rodeo in Pendleton. I've never beenon such interesting and exciting thing before (and my country,Kazakhstan doesn't have something like this). I think the mostinteresting part of this event was "Happy Canyon" play. For meit's a very important part, because that play was about Native

Americans and about history. It was a cultural thing. After allwe had a disco with country and modern music - so, it wasunusual, but fun - we could hang out with other students andcommunicate with them. Rodeo was the most exciting part, Ithink. There were wonderful horses (I like horses and horse-back-riding) and scary bulls. And you probably know thefeeling when your heart is beating faster because you'reexcited and worried at the same time!? I felt so! Also, therewas a parade. And it was something new for me - I've neverbeen to parades before: different people, different costumes,any horses, flowers, candies =) Also we've seen Princesses:Indian Princess and Cowboy Princess 2007. The one thingthat I didn't like was sometimes it was cold. But in general, Iliked everything, everything was linked to culture and I've learntand seen many new things.

Sincerely,Olga S., Kazakhstan

Trip to Pendleton round-up with group of AFS students wasjust fascinating! And there are couple reasons for that. All of ushad a chance to participate in typically American event, learnmore about cowboy competitions and Native Americans. Andwe all were together, enjoying an incredible mixture of cultures

and making new friends. On the first day of our trip we visit around-up. We saw all kinds of cowboy competitions: barebackriding, calf roping, ream roping, steer roping, steer wrestling,bull riding and races. It some times hard to believe that personcan be so skillful to do all these things. They must havepracticed really hard. And in the end of the show wereAmerican Indian ceremonial dance and a little parade. Ienjoyed their national costumes a lot! We also have a chanceto visit a tipi village and buy some Indian handcrafts. But I thinkthe most interesting part was the evening Happy CanyonShow. We could see a piece of Oregon history, observe it fromNative American times up to appearance of western towns.The next day parade summed up everything we saw. So nowwe have a whole picture of things going on during the round-up. This experience will stay with us for all our life.

Olga T., Ukraine

InternationalWeek Youssra, Egypt

The international education week was very good. I liked it so much. I was veryhappy because I presented my country to a lot of people. Now adults and kidsknow about my country and they saw a lot of pictures. I was very happy becausethe audience was very excited and loved the presentation a lot and asked a lot ofquestions. Now I know a lot of students and they know me through thispresentation.I liked AFS activities. They are very fun to do like helping to decorate the float ofAFS at the Starlight parade. Through that, a lot of people in my town now know

about AFS Exchange program. We also decorated the tree of AFS at the festivalof trees. It was very good thing to do.

Youssra, EgyptMariaNataliaJapan&Paraguay LightsParadeOlga,Ukraine

Hello !My name is Maria Natalia. I am half Japanese and halfParaguayan. I have lived in Japan 17 years and last year Imoved to Paraguay. I was 11 month in Paraguay before I camehere. As you can see in the global map, Japan and Paraguayare on opposite sides of the world. It was surprising how

different they are. I feel the United States is some wherebetween Japan and Paraguay's culture. That was the oppositeof what I expected. Surely, I think that the reason is becauseUnited States is a country of mixed and various cultures. It'svery interesting thinking of the differences and likenesses of thecultures, thinking way, act and various thing of the 3 countries.I am enjoying the life in United States and I am really happy tocome here and be the member of this family. I am very excitedabout Christmas! Mom is taking me to California !!! =D I loveso much Christmas, I sing all year Christmas songs. I amgratitude to my parents to give me the opportunity to comehere. I want to make the most of everyday.

Maria Natalia, Japan/Paraguay

On Thanksgiving break not only we had no school andwonderful diners with our families chance to participate in aLights Parade.The parade is an annually held event in The Dalles. It isconfined to the Thanks giving and the beginning of Christmastime. It was hard to say whether there were more Christmas or

Thanksgiving floats. Everything was pretty much mixed up, butaudience enjoyed the parade. In spite of the chilly almost winterweather; many people came to watch the show.The AFS float was made as a world map with lights in theplaces, where students went or came from for exchange.Standing on the flout for almost couple hours was a bit of achallenge, but warm smiles and hand waving of the audiencemade that experience unforgettable.

Olga, Ukraine


5/12

Thanksgiving2007 Aditya,Indonesia

Assalamu'alaikum, I'd like to give my story on thanksgiving day: I had a school off for a week, My host family and Iwere busy to prepare thanksgiving day, My mom had made a schedules and job list for us, I got jobs to loadfirewood, clean up my bed and bathroom, rake the leaves, sweep our deck, sweep the floor, and make the"Campbell's Green Bean" that I've never done before (but people said that my food was pretty good). I also helpedthe workers who were working on our small apartment in our house, I helped them to do easy jobs, such as fillingthe holes on the wall, clean up window sills, painting window sills, and sweep bathroom's floor. Afterward, on thatday I was really glad because they (the worker/contractor) gave me some money. It was pretty much!!!! Anyway,my dad and mom told me about the history of thanksgiving day, I was interested to listen up, probably we have the

same day in Indonesia, but different name, we call "Syukuran", In Syukuran we usually eat yellow rice or nasitumpeng, but here, I could eat giant chicken (turkeys), we had two big turkeys, and until now, we still have the rest

of them. My mom had invited her sister and cousin, some friends, and my sister's cousins. My host aunt is really nice, she gave me abunch of clothes to keep me warm upcoming winter, she has two sons who got scholarship for their college, because they were greatswimmers, One of them has gone to the state championships. On Thanksgiving day, we had about 17 people in our house, and at thattime, I asked to interrupt the party for a second, I showed my IEW presentation about Indonesia and Islam. First, I opened mypresentation by introducing myself in Indonesian language, then asked the audiences to repeat and introduce themselves inIndonesian. Second, I showed the map of Indonesia, explained about the ultimate varieties in Indonesia, showed the traditional dress(BATIK), and I also brought my traditional dress from my town, I wore it and showed them how to wear, they were excited, and one ofthem was interested in BLANGKON (traditional cap). Third, I showedthem about JARANAN's properties (traditional dance), WAYANG(shadow puppet), and also gave them some pictures and some articlesof Indonesia and Java. Last, I showed them about how to pray in Islam,how to use SARUNG, and how to do PURIFICATION (wudhu).Finally, I got big appreciation of them, and they were really excited.Afterward, we played cards together till 10.00 pm.Finally, sadly, thanksgiving day was over.Last but not the least, on Sunday (the end of the Thanksgivingbreak), my family and I went to the Davis Cup carnival event, where weended up playing tennis on a small court and we met with four TeamUSA players, Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan twins, andtheir coach.It was so amazing!!!!!!

Wassalamu'alaikum Wr WbAditya, Indonesia

VeteransDayParade Vancouver, WA

Twenty Four AFS students, visiting teachers and volunteers walked in the annual Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, 11/10/07, inVancouver WA. Carrying the AFS banner is Robert Dodd, veteran ambulance driver in Burma during WW II, and volunteers Sally AnnWells and Barbara Florence. Students and teachers carried their country flags, making a delightful and colorful display.


6/12

Jessie,Denmark

I love being an exchange student

After living in the United States for four months now, I realize how much Ivechanged for the better since I arrived. Ive become more open to other cultures, toother opinions, and have become more self confident. I love being a foreign exchangestudent, every day is a new adventure, I love getting up in the morning and Im and

constantly excited for what will happen tomorrow. Ive also become very curious ofother countries and cultures, if it were up to me, Id be a foreign exchange student forlife and go to a different country every year, because it is so much more than going onvacation, being a tourist, seeing the famous sights, its understanding cultures andwhy they have evolved like they have. I wish I could visit every country in the world.

Ive been very lucky of what host family chose me, and I now feel completely at home with them. A lot of things are differentfrom what I was used to when I came. My school before had about 500 students from kinder garden class through tenth grade, and nowI go to a high school with 1,700 students over four grades. It was definitely overwhelming the first couple of days, but now Ive gottenused to it and actually enjoy being in a larger school.

Being an exchange student is the best choice Ive ever made. Im having the time of my life.

Jessie, Denmark

Hina,India

The Big Dream Which Has Come True

Hello! Welcome to my small world. You would wonder why I said My World. It is because I consider my state as my world. It is likewhen a baby thinks that there is nothing outside his home, school and society. But as he grows up he come to know that the world doesnot have limit as he thought.

It is like a desire of a person which never comes to any end. Or like the sky which has not limits of its own.

Sorry I am totally out of my topic. So lets talk about my dream. It was always my dream to see other countries and learn their culturesas well as languages. Of course it is the grace of lord and my parents. But I can never forget the hard work of my teacher as well. I amhere because of my school ( JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA) in INDIA; which gave me the golden opportunity to come here and be anexchange student. I am also thankful for AFS (YES) for being my host program and support me every time.

After coming here, Ive done so many things. Like community services, celebratingfestivals, helping out in making peace tree and going out on float parade. I enjoyed doingevery thing. But the best were the festivals. Festivals like Halloween and Thanksgivingwere all over my mind before I celebrated them. But I was in seventh heaven aftercelebrating them. I celebrated thanksgiving three times. Early Thanksgiving,Thanksgiving and After Thanksgiving. I enjoyed my first shower of snow. I made snowman and threw snowballs on my friends. And now for sure I am waiting for Christmas.

And Santa, too.

Thanks You all,

Hina, INDIA (NEW DELHI)

P.S. Remember No one is perfect in this world all of us are on the way of perfection.


7/12

RETURNEENEWS

CongratulationstotheNewlywedsfromAFS

An AFSers Wedding

Tedd and Rymmel Lovell were the host family for Yasu Nishi in The Dalles, Oregon 1996-1997. Yasuhiro (Yasu) and Tomoko Nashi

were married October 4, 2007 in Honolulu, Hawaii. They make their home in Kyoto, Japan. Yasu works for Nike and Tomoko works foan investment firm. The Lovells were able to fly to Honolulu for the wedding and meet Yasus parents for the first time. It was a grandoccasion and a fun time to celebrate.

Veronika ReturneefromAustria

Thank you from Austria...

My name is Veronika and I am from Austria. I turned 16 in summer right after I got home from an amazingsemester in the U.S. I got the chance to stay in Camas, a small town right by the Columbia River in Washington.The time I could spend in America was an experience I will never forget in my whole life and I am sure I will tell mygrand-children about it later some time. Of course, I was nervous when I left home in the beginning, because younever know what will happen there. But none of my fears became true. In fact, my stay almost turned out to bebetter and more exciting than I expected it to be. When I arrived at Portland Airport, there were already somereally nice people (Mike & Ruth Ladage & Ron Combs) that picked me up. Not long after that I got to know mysuper nice host-family. I have never been able to think of a better host-family than the Luhtis were to me. After a

week staying at their house I have already felt at home because they made me feel so welcomed. I was enjoying every single minute Iwas able to spend with them. They could understand me so well and they were so patient. I have never enjoyed going shopping somuch than I did with my host-Mom and my host-sister. My host-siblings were making my stay even more pleasant:D They are so funnyand I miss them a lot. Watching TV is not the same without them at all. And I loved the evenings talking to my host-Dad.

Anyways, in this place I also want to thank AFS and especially its volunteers for taking so much care of me, the little Austrian :D

I have never ever felt alone because I knew I would always have been able to call either my Liaison or another nice and helpful AFSvolunteer. I enjoyed the AFS trips like the Pendleton round up & ski trip in January and the trip to Ashland. They were, of course someof the many highlights during the 6 months. Thank you Ron for making these trips so much fun.

I hope that lots of other students will get the chance to have such a wonderful experience exploring another culture and learninganother language.

Thank you.

Love,Veronika


8/12

EMPTY PRINTER CARTRIDGE FUNDRAISER

AFS Volunteers James & Tami Spears own a printer cartridge recycling company based here in the Portland Area. They havecommitted to matching all funds raised through their Simple Recycling program for Portland Area AFS. Please save your empty toner& inkjet cartridges and bring them to the next orientation. Empty cartridges can be worth up to $12.50 ea. To see the entire list ofcartridges & their values, visit their website, www.SimpleRecycling.com (and dont forget to double all of the prices based on theirmatching commitment).

- Save your empty cartridge from home.

- Get empties from work.- Ask your neighbors to give you their empties.- Collect empties from friends & family, too.

Remember that this is an ongoing fundraiser. Bring your empties to every orientation & turn them over to James. Or, if you work fora large company that uses a lot of cartridges, James can arrange pallet pickups anywhere here in the Portland area. If you have anyquestions, feel free to call James at (503) 516-3377.

VOLUNTEERNEWS/DEVELOPMENT

Volunteering with AFS

You cant host? More than one way tovolunteer with AFS!

Level One Pick up student(s) from the airport on arrivals day. Write an entry for this newsletter: a memory of your

AFS experience or a story from when you hosted astudent, an entry about what AFS means to you,share a great idea about what to do with yourstudents! Anything you like!

Host a tea with current hosted students or host a visitto a ballgame or the movies.

Level Two Go to your HS and offer a presentation in a classroom Interview a prospective host family or a candidate to

go abroad.

Be an "Aunt" or "Uncle" family. This means theexchange student gets together with you from time totime for a movie, a picnic, family game night. Thisrelationship allows for the fun of meeting an exchangestudent, but not the pressure of hosting. Great for ourvisiting students too, because they get to see howother families live.

Level Three Host a student! If you are not in a position to offer a

home to a student, there are many leadershipopportunities for volunteers such as you!

You can lead an orientation for arriving students You can coordinate an event You can assist the volunteer team with cooking at

mid-year events

What are you good at and enjoy doing?Do that for AFS!

Hope you will get involved.

FUNDRAISING

CLUSTERCHAPTER NEWS / UPCOMINGEVENTS

EASTSIDECLUSTERNEWS

EASTSIDE CLUSTER NEWS

The Eastside Cluster met on November 4 at the home of Deane Eure. Niklas and Elisa (Germany) made theirpresentations. They discussed the different types of schools in Germany and also talked about sauerkraut...andcommented that not everyone likes it. Niklas brought some German sandwiches made from beef and softened bread,which were very good. Elisa brought a casserole her host mom, Marilyn Hays, made from a recipe from the cookbookshe brought from Germany.

Cindy Boune, Marcelo's host mom, volunteered to have the February meeting at their home. Marcelo (Paraguay) andMelody (Thailand) will do presentations. Date will be Sunday, February 16, at 3 p.m. It will be a potluck. Call Bernice(503) 775-4161 if you would like to attend.


9/12

EASTSIDECLUSTERNEWS Continued

EASTSIDE CHRISTMAS PARTY

The Eastside Christmas Party was held on December 1, with 29 people present. It was a potluck and, of course, we hada lot of good food. Following dinner, Ron Combs and Mark Gardner facilitated the Christmas Bingo game and prizes wereawarded to the winners. Then the big event was the White Elephant Gift Exchange. Mark Gardner was the jolly, wittyMC. Students were given numbers and as their number came up, they were allowed to choose a gift from the middle of

the floor. The next person then had the choice of picking a new gift or taking the gift from the first person. This went on foawhile and several gifts passed hands a couple times. Some of the white elephant gifts were a toy for a cat with a fuzzyanimal attached, a bowling ball, a Mr. Empire bobble head, a set of thermo coffee mugs, a couple of pine cones and acoffee mug filled with candy. Fun was had by all and there were many laughs.

EVERGREEN AIR MUSEUM - Thursday, Jan. 3

Thanks to a friend who volunteers at the Evergreen Air Museum, we will get somegood rates. If our group is 10 or under, cost will most likely be free. So, if you areinterested, please contact me immediately by e-mail at [email protected]. Weneed to get a count as quickly as possible so we can recruit drivers. Go to thebelow website to find out more about the air museum. I visited it several years ago

and more has added. I took two former exchange students out there a year ago,and I had a hard time getting them out of the museum.

http://www.sprucegoose.org/museum/history.html

There are planes that were flown by some famous people and planes used in the 2nd World War. There are very oldplains which are very unique, such as the "Spruce Goose" which was built by Howard Hughes. The deadline forregistering will be December 26. If you wish, you can call me Bernice at 503 775-4161. Please bring a sack lunch. Ifthere is a family out there who would be willing to drive, give me a call.

ANOTHER EVENT - Friday, December 28

The FLEX/YES coordinators have invited the SE Cluster kids to join them at the KATU Studios (NE 21st and Sandy) at

8:15 a.m. They will be part of the audience of AM NORTHWEST. Following the station visit, we will proceed todowntown Portland and have lunch at Pioneer Place. You will be responsible for buying your own lunch (probably around$5). After lunch, we will visit the Multnomah County Courthouse and maybe sit in on a trial. We will be finished at 4 p.m.You will be responsible for your own transportation. If you have questions about transportation, please give me a call.Bernice (503) 775-4161.

A SAD MESSAGE FROM BERNICE

I do not normally submit articles regarding another Area Team, but this one is very close to me. On November 21, Ireceived a telephone call from my daughter in Redmond, Oregon informing me of the death of her husband, Bill "BJ"Fisher. Bill died suddenly of a heart attack. They are in the Pacific Cascades Area Team. He was the host dad to Nicolefrom Italy a couple years ago and to Mariam from Argentina a year later. I convinced him a few years ago that he shouldget involved with AFS in Redmond and he did just that by hosting, organizing a trip to Pendleton Roundup. and being aliaison. He also helped with interviews and convinced his brother Michael to host a Swiss girl this year. Following thatphone call, I immediately went to be with my daughter, Lori. A special thanks to Garry Hays, who drove me to Redmond.While there, both Nicole and Mariam called several times. Bill, Lori and children were planning a trip to Argentina forMariam's graduation and to spend Christmas with her. Bill had already purchased tickets. On Sat., December 15, Loriand my two grandchildren flew to Argentina. It is amazing to me the support received by Lori and the children from thecommunity and their two former AFS students and their families. Please keep them in your prayers this holiday season.Thanks, Bernice Schuchardt


10/12

THECOLUMBIAGORGECHAPTERNEWS

The Columbia Gorge Chapter in The Dalles has had a busy November and December. It all started with our community StarlightParade the Friday after Thanksgiving. Our chapter float grows brighter each year as we add a light to show the country of each hostedstudent. We had all our students, some returnees, and host siblings home for the holidays join us for the parade.

The weather is cold so we moved indoors to make our decorations and donation to the Community Festival of Trees. Proceeds fromthis years' event will benefit the LifeWorks Comfort Care program and the Celilo House. The LifeWorks program works to improve thequality of life for patients with chronic illnesses. The Celilo House is a safe haven for patients undergoing cancer treatment at the CeliloCancer Center. Our AFS students enjoy giving back to the community in this way.

Ian Day returnee from Finland broughtthe chapter together for a potlucksupper and his country presentationon the last night of November

Youssra (Egypt) helps Jerry Kindrickwith float building.

The next day our students andparents gathered at the PepsiDistributing Warehouse to sort grapefruitand oranges. Working together brings

fun and success to our projects.

Youssra (Egypt), Hina (India), and Olga(Ukraine) work on Peace Dove decorations.

Olga (Ukraine), Youssra (Egypt), Suad (Ghana) and Sue Kindrick(Host) set up tree with peace doves, flags, ornaments showingPEACE, UNITY, and FRIENDSHIP written in five languages by ourfive students, plus woven hearts made by Rune (Denmark)

Youssra (Egypt), Neva & Bill Reid ($500. donation), Hina (India),Olga (Ukraine), Rune (Denmark), not pictured Suad (Ghana).What a magical moment to begin the Holiday Season.

We wish all AFS staff,students, volunteers, and

supporters a Merry Christmasand Happy New Year, 2008


11/12

Help keep our costs down so we can use our fundraising

money for cultural events. Sign up to receive thenewsletters via email. Please let us know you would like to

be added to the email distribution list and REMOVED from

the hard copy list. By the next newsletter, we will have set

up a subscribe/unsubscribe system on the website

www.AFScp.com . For now you can email me at

[email protected],

Tami

TheCalendar

DEC28

TVSTATION,COURTHOUSE&LUNCHATPIONEERSQUARETOURContact:MaggieFriske503659

7958(YES/FLEXRequiredactivity:government/community)

JAN2,2008 JAN/FEBCHINESE/LUNARNEWYEARCELEBRATIONContact:BarbaraRogers3602475961

JAN3 EVERGREENAIRMUSEUMContactBernice(503)7754161

JAN1012 WINTERARRIVAL

JAN26

MID

YEAR

ORIENTATION

REQUIRED

ACTIVITY

FOR

ALL

JAN27

OPTIONALSKITRIPEarlysignuprequired. Completeregistrationforminpacketatorientation.

NEEDparentalapprovalformBEFOREstudentcangoskiing. Contact:GregKott 5037717977

FEB 8 VANCOUVERBATTLEGROUNDCHINESENEWYEARPARTY

FEB16 EASTSIDECLUSTERMEETING3PMCindyBouneshome.Potluck. ContactBernice(503)7754161

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