Columbia Pacific AFS Hosting 2005************************************************************************

2005 Columbia Pacific Hosting Season is upon us. We had a great turn out for our FirstHosting Kick-off and came away with enthusiasm and small tasks we each couldcomplete to reach our hosting goals.Some of the ideas that were generated: Speak AFS every chance you get; encourageour students to nominate families; distribute AFS flyers everywhere you go—bowling,dentist, doctor, library, bookstores, community bulletin boards, social gatherings; callfamilies who have been interested in the past and new families you think might beinterested—neighbors, business associates, church friends.We would love to encourage you to be part of our Hosting Team this year. Please joinus at the Second Hosting Kick-off Wednesday, March 16th 6:45 to 9:00 PM. Themeeting will be held at West Hills Unitarian Fellowship, 8470 SW Olsen Road(between Garden Home and Hall Blvd on the east side of the road about half-waybetween)

Please RSVP by March 13

, tosawells@teleport.com

so we can plan formaterials and refreshments

This will be a chance for the Portland Metro Volunteers and outer West and SouthwestVolunteers to come together and plot our course for the coming season.We will be distributing materials; reviewing selection and application process (there aresome new tighter rules regarding paperwork and volunteer registration for liaisons.We’ll have many more bios available and we will be talking strategy for getting the jobdone by June 16

. Please come share your ideas and enthusiasm!Our Commitment for this year is: 53 (plus however many teachers we feel we can andwant to support.) We have placed three Winter Arrival students; two YES studentsfrom Malaysia, Nurul and Faiz and a Chilean, Juan Pablo, or "JP." Please welcomethem! That leaves 50 students to find homes for. We can do it!The selection process for students is the same as it has been for the last two years, witha couple of new rules. New bios are Area Team Assigned on Wednesdays and theNorthwest has decided we will have no Regionally Available students. So the studentsare Area Team Assigned in a round-robin fashion. We have a week to Community orFamily place the students from Area Team Assigned. If you or a designated "chapterHosting coordinator" want to help with reviewing and selection of bios, please let meknow so I can make sure you have the proper access for AFS Online. I need helpchoosing the students who will come to Columbia Pacific!This year we will need all liaisons assigned and registered and all host family papercomplete, including school guarantee, before the student can be linked to a family.Once the student is linked, it initiates the natural family notification process and wedon’t want families and students receiving incorrect information.We’d also like to draw your attention to the Host Family Finding Incentive that theArea Team has implemented. The students have all received nomination forms andhosting brochures with encouragement to nominate families of friends and eventeachers. The students with the most quality leads will receive a monetary reward.The Field Managers of the West have come up with a Hosting Proposal that we willwork toward implementing. Please see pages 5 & 6.

Columbia Pacific News Letter

February 2005

Student photo Gallery

Photo Gallery and Hosting News

HOST FAMILY CORNER

Q. How often should I allow mystudent to call her naturalfamily?

A. AFS recommends that theideal way for your student tobe in touch with her family isto keep in touch weekly bymail and to make calls only onspecial occasions such asbirthdays or special holidayssuch as Christmas. Calls of nomore than once a month of about a half hour in lengthwould be the next best choice.Calls that occur morefrequently are in danger of causing adaptationdifficulties.

Q. What about use of e-mail andchat lines?

A. AFS recommends thatparticipants send a general e-mail to family and friendsonce a week, making it moresimilar to a letter, and thatthey should limit the amountof time that is spent writing e-mail as well—one and one-half hours once a week at themost should be the limit.Chat lines should be avoided. TAX TIME – $50 DEDUCTION FORHOST FAMILIES

Public Law 86-779 of the 86

Congresssection 170(g), permits you to deduct upto $50 a month for the time your AFSparticipant is living with you. Thededuction is considered a charitablecontribution. A copy of a form entitled“Host Family Income Tax DeductionForm,” which documents yourparticipation in AFS as a host family,should have been mailed to you withyour Welcome Packet. Call your clusterleader if you need a copy of this form.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Dan Ward, whobecame a new grandfather on Saturdayafternoon, January 22. His daughter,Chris, gave birth to Shaela Nicole at 1:00p.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz., andwas 19 inches long. Dan, a former hostdad, is a volunteer helper at CampAdams, arrival and departure, andwherever else he is needed. Chris is alsoa volunteer.

Student News

TIMBERLINE LODGE

The following two articles were submittedby our two Russian FLEX student,Kseniya and Jane. For all of you AFSerswho went on the ski trip and didn’t studyup on the history of Timberline, here aretheir reports on Timberline Lodge’shistory.“On June 11, 1936 Timberline Lodge wasbuilt by hand, by unemployed craftspeople, hired by the Federal WorksProjects Administration. The survey wasmade on the site of 14 feet of snow,during the spring of 1936. The conditionswere very hard, but the workers were paidvery well and the morale was high. Thework was done in an amazingly shorttime. The dedication by FranklinRoosevelt was in September, 1937. In1978 Timberline Lodge was declared aNational Historic Landmark. Its evolutionas a site of Northwest Craftmanshipcontinues.”By: Kseniya (Russia)

Construction of Timberline Lodge

”On June 11, 1936, there was a projectstarted unique to America. Timberlinelodge was built completely by hand,inside and out, by unemployed craftspeople hired by Federal Works ProjectsAdministration. The building is a tributeto their skills and to the governmentwhich respected not only their physicalneeds but also their spirits. The surveywas made on the site of 14 feet of snowduring the spring 1936. For 3 monthsworkers cleared the area under the snow.The conditions were very hard, butworkers were paid well and the food wasgood too, and the morale was high. Theywere able to finish the project duringspring of 1936, which was long and mild,before the worst of the old weather. Mostof the work was done in an amazinglyshort time. From the first drawing made inearly 1936, to the dedication of thecompleted lodge by Franklin Roosevelt inSeptember 1937 only 15 months elapsedand there were no major accidents duringthe construction. In 1978, TimberlineLodge was declared a Natural HistoricalLandmark. It was an evolutionencouraged by Friends of Timberline, theUS Forest Service and the hotel and skiarea operators. Northwest artists continueto contribute art and craftwork to thelodge.”By Jane Trachomova

Maria Caicedo – Columbia

– “LastJanuary 19, I was part of a play in myschool. I played the character of Ellis,who is the owner of a bar called The AlibiClub. Ellis is a pretty tough girl. Thename of the play was

The Course of theStarving Class

.”

Luis Mesa – Venezuela

–“I am applyingfor 10 universities. I’m also taking 4 APclasses at the same time. I am playingsoccer for the school term and a club teamcalled PCU, which is one of the top teamsin Portland.”

Kristine Hommersand – Norway

–“Last weekend was Winter Ball at myhigh school, St. Helens High. It wassupposed to be the weekend before, butbecause of the ice storm, it got cancelled.When it got cancelled, I was reallybummed, but luckily, I only had to waitone week because they postponed it, so Iwas excited. Another week the WinterBall was perfect. I’ve never been to aformal dance before and never had aformal dress on either, but I think I didgood. I had the time of my life, and now Ican’t wait for prom!”

Nurul Fathiah Mohd Aminuddin –Malaysia

– “I’m Nurul FathiahMohdAminuddin and I’m 17 years old. I’vebeen in Portland last week and I do not goto school yet. I am the eldest in mynatural family, but I’m the youngest in myhost family. I’m from Malaysia which isin Asia. People in Asia have differentraces and religions, but still they can livein peace and harmony. I love to swim andread novels. When I grow up I want to bea lawyer.”

Noemi Serdino

sang soprano in theParkrose High School Holiday ChoirConcert on December 13.

Mariana Vargas (Mexico)

, along withLara G (Iceland), and Mao Oglihara(Japan), volunteered at the Gales Creek Camp Dinner & Auction on November20. Mariana’s photo appeared twice inthe latest edition of

Greater Northwest Community

, a publication of theIndependent Order of Foresters.

YES student Norodin Pangilan “Wally”(Philippines)

. Wally received one of thePrincipal's awards for the month of November. His US History teachernominated Wally for the outstandingpresentation to an auditorium of severalclasses and teachers, on the contrasts of the Filipino Families and Schools with theUnited States and the tenets of the Muslimculture and religion. Wally also sang andperformed traditional Filipino dances.Wally helped dispelled some myths aboutthe Muslim culture and gave somevaluable information about life in thePhilippines.

Noemi, Carolin, and Lucrezia holding platterof lentils and zampone, a traditional dish forNew Year’s

Compliments go out to

Noemi Serdino,

Lucrezia Scattu (Italy), and CarolinAderhold (Germany)

for their culinarytalents. Noemi and Lucrezia preparedsome traditional Sardinian dishes andCarolin made two delicious German cakesfor a New Year’s Eve Party held atBernice’s. The menu included lasagna,ravioli, zampone, special meats fromItaly, and bread with bruschette. Manyhours (3 days) were spent making thehomemade pasta and preparing the meal.

Andy Falconeri – Italy

– “Before thisyear in Tillamook, they didn’t have anysoccer activity, but this year in the highschool, we have exchange students whoreally like soccer, so we almost forcedthem to make a soccer club where wepractice (3 days a week), and right nowmore than 30 people are involved and wehave a lot of fun!!”