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April 2005
Columbia Pacific News Letter
* * * * * *Columbia Pacific Hosting March 2005* * * * * *
Columbia Pacific Hosting is in full swing.
At this time, we have received just overhalf of our students. We should receive the remainder within the next two weeks.Please look over the attached bios and see what great students we will have this nextyear. We have had two, successful Hosting Kick-off events that generated newenthusiasm and some measurable goals for those who attended. We would still like toget a few more people involved with reading and selecting bios and helping us identifyways to invite, nominate and recruit new younger host families into the AFS family. If you have an interest in the students, please remember we need the families in order tohave the students! And our goal this year is to have all our students corresponding withtheir permanent family by June 15
th
. Please let me know how you think we can achievethis goal.One of the best ways to help is to “speak AFS” and promote Peace whenever you can. Itwould be great for everyone to post information flyers in your places of work, worship,shopping and recreating. There are bulletin boards and table tops in stores, libraries,gyms, dentist & doctors offices, (especially allergist offices -- we always seem to needfamilies to host students with pet allergies!) In addition, your places of worship may bewilling to run a small notice in the bulletin or newsletter. I can provide copy for churchbulletins and we have nice print ready general hosting brochures that I can get to youeasily. Please let me know if you are willing to post for peace! I’ll be happy to getmaterials to you.We will have another Sponsored Programs Cluster this year. We may have as many as5 YES students and 3 FLEX—it depends on the allocation. For the most part thesestudents will be fully integrated into our Col Pac AFS family. The cluster coordinatorsplan to combine the groups for the additional enrichment activities and we hope ourother AFS students will participate in some of the activities, as well.Our total numbers for hosting commitment this year are 53 students and 4 teachers.Three of the students are our winter arrival students, who are all semester students. Sofor our fall hosting commitment, we have 50 students and four teachers to get settledinto schools and homes by June 15
th
. We would really love to have everyone placed bythe time schools close. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to ‘take back our summer?’ We cando it.Congratulations are in order for Debbie Erickson, in Longview-Kelso, again she hasmade our first two placements for the new cycle. In addition Ruth Ladage, up inCamas-Washougal, has two families firmly in place. We are about to “seal deals” ontwo Portland Metro placements and we have several families in place who are waitingto select their students. As of this writing, we have selected 26 students; 4 are familyplaced; 7 are on school review at Sandy High School; 3 are being actively reviewed byfamilies; 12 are available to view in Community Placed. In addition we have 6 otherson Area Team AssignedPlease find the mini-bios of students who are already community placed inserted in thisnewsletter. Please review these and let us know if you know someone who might bewilling to host or be liaison. Take this with you when you are meeting with people,anywhere. Speak AFS. Walk Together, Talk Together. . .Please feel free to call me or Stephanie Tolk if you need materials or have suggestionsfor spreading the word and getting our students placed. Sally Ann (503) 452-1868sawells@teleport.comStephanie Tolk (503) 241-1578 ext 1579stolk@afs.org
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End of Stay:
Space on the buses you will be riding en route to Departure Day and to your international flight is extremely limited. Werecommend that you take only that which is essential, and send the remainder of your belongings home.
You should not exceed the limit of two suitcases and one carry-on. Less is better!
Flights:
Be advised that
you
are responsible for any and all excess baggage fees charged by airlines, both international and domesticflights.
AFS is not responsible for any of these costs.
If you have a question on whether you will be traveling by bus orplane to the EOS or your international carrier, please contact your Regional Travel and Logistics Coordinator. You willreturn to your home country on the same airline that you traveled with when arriving to the United States
.
Weight and size limits:
Generally, the weight limit for each checked piece of luggage is 70 pounds (about 32 kilograms). Please be aware that someairlines have weight limits of 50 pounds per bag. The
size limit
for each checked piece of luggage is
62 inches
(about 152.4centimeters - add the length + depth + width of your luggage to figure out the size). Your carry-on bag must be less than 45linear inches.Be aware that if either of your bags is larger or heavier than these figures, you may be charged an “excess baggage” fee -which can be anywhere from $80-$300 (to be paid by cash or by credit card).
AFS will not pay these charges for you!
Theairline may also not allow you to check these bags in at all. You will have to leave behind anything that is overweight. Pleasemake sure you have a credit card you can use in case of excess charges.Carry-on luggage needs to be able to fit under the airline seat or in an overhead compartment. Items such as golf clubs,bicycles, skis, and snow-boards are generally considered “over-sized” baggage, and you will usually have to pay a charge($50-$110), depending on the item’s size and weight, even if such an item is your second “checked” piece of luggage. It is agood idea to call the airline before-hand to check on any oversized baggage. These regulations are also posted on the websitesfor each airline.Finally, remember that items on airlines get banged around. Be sure to pack your musical instrument or electronic equipmentin hard cases to protect them as best as possible. Such items will likely need to be checked as a third piece of luggage, andyou will need to pay additional baggage fees as required by the airline.
Students from Central America:
be aware that airlines have an embargo on additional baggage during the summer months. You will NOT be allowed to travel with additional baggage, whether or not you are willing and able to pay for it
.
Federal Regulations prevent the airline from allowing any weight over 70 pounds per bag, with a maximum of 2 bags.They will also not allow you to travel with boxes or odd shaped bags.
Security:
Airlines are now searching all bags when a passenger checks in for their flight. Please take this into consideration whenpacking. Someone may go into your bag after you have closed and locked it and may not help you re-close your bag! Inaddition, locks on luggage can pose a problem at security checkpoints in airports. Please make sure to unlock your luggagewhile it is going through security, and/or keep your luggage key available while checking in.Due to recent security measures that all airlines have taken, the luggage limit is tighter than ever. For most airlines, it is
not
possible to pay overweight charges. The airline will make you leave anything over the weight restrictions
behind. Also,airlines have instituted very strict rules about carry-on luggage. Most airlines are allowing only one piece of carry-onluggage plus a purse or small backpack.
Packing Suggestions:
We strongly recommend that you begin sorting through your belongings to see if you can mail anything home.
•
As soon as the weather allows, you should send your winter clothes or shoes home.
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If you have collected papers and printed matter (school newspapers, playbills from concerts or shows, books, photoalbums, etc.), consider sending these home, too. Paper becomes very heavy when you try to pack a big stack of it, andthere is a special “printed matter” rate that is
available through the United States Postal Service – check your local postoffice for information about packaging and rates.
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Remember, you will be responsible for carrying all of your own luggage while traveling. PACK ACCORDINGLY!When in doubt, pack your things and try to walk up and down your block a few times. That
should give you an idea of whether or not you will be able to handle your bags during the bus trip and the final trip to the airport from the DepartureDay site.
Baggage Tags:
All of your luggage must be clearly labeled! You will be given some baggage tags at your Pre-Return Orientation with thespecific instructions about your return home in a couple of months. Be sure to put your
natural family’s address
on thebaggage tags. Additional tags will be available at your starting point and at Departure Day.
Baggage Guidelines For AFS EOS Participants
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Mette Rosenberg (Denmark)
is inthe play, “Hello Dolly” at SouthridgeHigh School. She has a dancing role,is in the chorus, and has a one-linepart. The play opens on April 21 andplays April 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30.Tickets are $8-$10, depending on age.Mette also received a 4:00 this termfrom school….and
Juereu Higa
(Japan) tried hard, says their hostmom, Linda Landreth.Congratulations to
Noemi Serdino(Italy
) who was recognized atParkrose High School for passing firstsemester with a GPA higher than 3.0.She was especially excited aboutreceiving a “B” in English. [Note:Noemi was almost what we call a “nospeak” when she arrived.]
Noemi and Kseniya
have bothsubmitted essays in the AFSInternational Essay Competition.Good luck, girls.
Lucrezia Scattu (Italy)
and
KseniyaVizerova (Russia)
will beparticipating in Outdoor School thisSpring. Both attended a trainingsession the first weekend in April.We understand that
Nate Enciso(Paraguay
) was a princess at a winterformal dance at Sandy High School.
Mariana Vargas (Mexico)
traveledwith her host sister Mao and host dad,Garry Hays, to Whistler in Canada towatch Mao’s brother ski in aninternational ski competition.Other travelers:
Lucrezia Scattu
and
Noemi Serdino
went to Victoria, BC;
Lara Gudmundsdottir
went toDisneyland with host mom;
Lucrezia
and
Mariana
and their host families,Garry & Marilyn Hays and BerniceSchuchardt, went to Disneyworld inOrlando.******
PHOTOS FOR CD
All photos should be sent to RonCombs at 2134 SE 60
th
Ave., Portland,OR 97215 , or e-mail him atr1p2combs3@aol.com so he caninclude them on the CD presented tothe kids at departure
LEWIS & CLARKINTERNATIONAL FAIR
By Kseniya Vizerova, FLEX student fromRussia
“On March 5, we went to Lewis &Clark International Fair. It was agreat experience. At first it wasinteresting just to see the beautifulcollege campus. The students did avery good job preparing for this event:they set up tables and put on themthings from different countries. Therewere expositions from Mexico,Korea, Russia, France, Philippines,China, Japan, African countries. Alsothey cooked ethnic meals. They weredelicious! We enjoyed meetingpeople from all over the world. Thenstudents presented a concert whichstarted with the fashion show--it wasvery entertaining. My favoriteperformances were songs in Russian,Indian and Spanish. I really likedBollywood Dance from India andYosakoi Dance from Japan. The lastwas the Tahitian Dance (theircostumes were terrific). I wouldrecommend to everybody to visit thisevent, it happens every year. You willnot regret it!”
Maggie Frieske, our FLEX coordinator, took Josephina(Argentina), Mariana (Mexico),Kseniya and Jane (Russia) to this yearly cultural event
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NEWSLETTER EDITORWANTED
By Bernice Schuchardt
In October 1998, along with the helpof another AFS volunteer, wepublished the first COLUMBIAPACIFIC NEWSLETTER and at thistime after putting out some 30+ issuesand investing many volunteer hours, Ihave decided to step down. I will dothe June issue and then we need tofind a new editor. The editor gathersthe news from volunteers and studentsthroughout the Columbia Pacific area,edits and/or rewrites the articles, sendsout reminders for submission, andthen sends them off to Jeff Larson, theLayout person, who puts it in finalform. If anyone is interested in takingover, please give me (Bernice) a callat 503 775-4161 or contact our AreaChair Ron Combs, 503 777-8117.A special thanks to all who havecontributed articles throughout theyears and to the Layout people whohave made the paper look pretty:Craig Spencer, Heather Watson, LiaMiternique, and presently Jeff Larson.Also, thanks to all who havecontributed photos…Garry Hays, RonCombs, Ron Jagow, and all the otherswho have submitted photos.
Student News
PRE-DEPARTURE ORIENTATION – SAT., MAY 14For all AFSers, YES and FLEX STUDENTS
Spring is a busy time of the year. You are involved in school activities, sports,hobbies, family activities, proms, and getting ready for graduation. You arecomfortable in your school and family, and you really feel like you belong here. Butnow is the time to prepare for your journey home. You have changed and so haveyour friends and family. The Pre-Departure Orientation will help you prepare foryour final days here and return home. This is a required orientation. For those of you who have a prom on the 14
th
, we will plan to start a little earlier and end at 2:30p.m.
WHEN:
Saturday, May 14, 2005(Juice, coffee, and muffins will beprovided at check-in time…8:30)
WHERE
: Columbia Presbyterian Church805 Columbia Ridge DriveVancouver, WA
TIME
: 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
WHAT TO BRING
: Salad or dessert to shareA mailing will go out to all students in mid-April with all the details.
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2005 April Newsletter
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