| Learning about American culture in Osage Story created Nov 24, 2009 - 12:02:33 CST. by Michelle Haacke, Press-News Reporter With lives and customs very different than most teenagers born and raised in Mitchell County, three OHS students from around the world came to Osage just a few short months ago with the same common goals: the opportunity to learn about the American culture, share their lives with us, and make new friends that will last a lifetime.
Not unlike typical teens anywhere, Sarah Wee, Andy Tseng and Angie Ip, Osage High School's foreign exchange students, enjoy various sports and activities, hanging out with friends, shopping, and playing computer games, just to name a few. The contrast comes in the structure of their schools, the foods they eat, holidays they celebrate, and other unique daily aspects that make their experience here that much richer, which they shared in a student presentation at OHS last Wednesday.
"I became a foreign exchange student to experience something new, learn about the American culture and make new friends," smiled Sarah, a 17-year-old junior who is spending the year with the Brent Jennings family.
Sarah's homeland is Haugesund, Norway, located along the country's west coast with a population of 45,000. She shared a few "fun facts" about her home: It's rated the most peaceful place in the world, people work the fewest hours in the world, the sun only sets for 1 hour each day in the summer, and the most popular sport is soccer. "I ran cross country here this fall, but back home I've always played soccer. I really miss soccer. I wish they had it here."
Sarah, whose father is a professional soccer player and mother a former teacher taking university classes, has a brother and two sisters back home and attends Haugaland VGS, the largest of five schools in the city. "It's an art school, so we do a lot of arts, photography, things like that," she said, adding that she loves photography. "You don't write anymore, everything is done on computers," she added.
Sarah's school back home, like those attended by Andy and Angie in their native lands, is very different in the sense of movement to classrooms. "Back home, we have one big class and instead of the students moving around, the teachers switch classrooms," she explained.
Angie, a 17-year old senior from Hong Kong, China staying with Lea and Brian Jones, noted another major difference in her schooling experience. "Back home, we have to wear a uniform," she said showing a picture of groups of students-boys in khaki pants and girls in khaki skirts-with white shirts under brown sweaters. "If your hair is past your shoulders, you have to tie it up. Your socks can't have any designs on them."
Angie, who also ran cross country for the Green Devils this season, said that while sports aren't a part of the school, basketball and ping-pong are the most popular sporting activities, and she looks forward to being a wrestling cheerleader this season. Music is also something she's passionate about. A talented piano player, she also enjoys choir and women's choir at OHS, and is auditioning for show choir. "Wish me luck," she smiled, noting she's a bit nervous but quite excited about her newest endeavor.
In Hong Kong, with a population of 7 million and highest population density-16,000 per square mile, Angie said the landscape is filled with mountains and sky rise buildings, and they travel mostly by mass transit: bus, train and tram. "I live on the 21st story of a 35-floor building," she pointed out, where she lives with her father, who works for IT (Information Technology), her mother, a banker with HSBC, and her two pet turtles. She also has an older sister who studies business law in Australia and comes home to visit twice a year. With the holidays just around the corner, Angie said the Chinese New Year is one of her favorites back home, but she's really looking forward to a white Christmas. "I've never seen snow before," she said, noting that Hong Kong endures very hot summers with heavy rains and winter low's of about 32-degrees and no snow. "I'm really looking forward to the atmosphere of Christmas in the winter with snow."
With the holidays come the traditional meals, which Angie pointed out are also quite different in her homeland. "We eat a lot of rice, seafood, and Dim Sum," she explained, adding that there are many small bowls of food on the table and they use chopsticks to put the food into their individual bowls, which they hold near their face while eating. "Here, it's considered rude to hold your bowl up by your mouth, but that's how we eat back home," she smiled.
Andy, a junior from Taiwan, also talked about the difference in cuisine. "Oyster Omelet is my dad's favorite, and I love it too. We also like to drink Bubble Tea, which is chewy, and 'Stinky Tofu,' which smells awful but tastes so good," he laughed, adding that a Turkey Rice Bowl is also a favorite lunch choice and for just $1 a bowl, he sometimes has five or six.
The "son" of Dennis and Chris Fannin for the year, this is not Andy's first time in the United States. "Sixteen years ago, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin," he explained, adding that his father is a professor who's taught in the U.S., and he's been to our country several times over the years with his parents and sister. He said they lived for a short time at the South Illinois University while his father taught there and visited Disney and Universal Studio in California, the Rocky Mountains, as well as Canada and Australia. "I've wanted to be an exchange student for a long time. I wasn't nervous, I traveled a lot when I was little so I helped the other exchange students on the plane," he said.
The quest to come here for an extended school year stay, he said, was one of his biggest challenges. "My parents said no at first," Andy said, explaining that he sought out the best foreign exchange program, filling out paperwork and going through the process to prove to them that he was responsible.
A junior at OHS this year, Andy enjoys the more flexible atmosphere in comparison to the all-male school he attends back home, Tainan 1st Senior High School, where the school days begin at 7 a.m., end at 5 p.m., and they cannot choose their own classes. "We work very hard, we have lots of homework," he said, explaining that some students take additional program courses that go from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. every night. "Those students are up until 1 or even 3 in the morning getting homework done. I don't do that program."
During his spare time in Hong Kong, he enjoys video games, karaoke, drawing, ping-pong, basketball, baseball and volleyball. At OHS, he ran cross country, played on the drum line in marching band, and plays violin with the concert band. "What I like best is programming. We have lunch every day from 12 until 1:30, where you can nap or eat lunch. I usually eat lunch in about 5 minutes and go programming the rest," Andy said of his lunchtime routine at Tainan 1st Sr. High.
Andy said his favorite native holiday, Chinese New Year, is coming up, which they celebrate from January 1-15. He also noted other festive times, including Lantern Fest, Dragon Boat Fest, Mid-Autumn Fest (Festival of the Moon) and Ghost Month, which he compared to Halloween. "My grandma says the spirits are out and you have to be very careful," he said, adding it's a notion he doesn't entertain.
The social interaction between boys and girls is quite different here than back home for Andy, who said while boys and girls are allowed to go to movies together, they are not allowed to go on dates. "There's no dating for teens. If you get caught dating, you go to the police office and your parents have to pick you up," he said.
Upon returning home next year, Andy will have two years of high school left; Sarah will have one. For Angie, however, this is her final year of high school, and she plans to keep creating memories and experiences in the North Iowa area. "I'll come back to Iowa and go to NIACC or UNI for business or psychology," she explained. For now, they're all enjoying the cultural diversities they are experiencing in small-town Iowa and making new friends and memories with their peers at OHS. "Being in Osage is wonderful," smiled Andy. "I never thought before how wonderful this could be."
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