Ai Sakura: She may be bettering her English, but she already knows the game of basketball

Hannah Wight ’13
Staff

Most people don’t get to experience living in a different country, let alone play a sport at the highest level a school has.  Ai Sakura ‘13, from Kyoto, Japan, is able to do just that.  For many, it’s hard to imagine the difference of two cultures; for Sakura, it’s nothing new.

Coming from parents of international love, she experienced the best of both worlds.  Her mom, as an exchange student from the U.S., decided to study abroad in Japan.  Never did her mother expect to fall in love with the man she’d spend the rest of her life with.  Since she returned to the U.S. for college, the two let their love flourish through letters keeping them in touch.  Once she finished school, Sakura’s mother moved to Japan to start a family.

After growing up in Japan, Sakura decided to come to America to learn English and attend college somewhere in Canada.  Because her mother is from the U.S., she had the opportunity to move in with family.  Leaving her parents and two younger brothers, she now lives with her grandma.

Ai Sakura: Sakura likes basketball better here than Japan. Sakura moved past her nerves and enjoyed her first game at Lowell on Tuesday, Nov. 27.a.

“I miss family, friends, and the city,” says Sakura.  But with the support, it’s been an easier transition.

School is much different in Japan than here.  She attended year round with short breaks in between.  Sakura wore a uniform, and was a part of a program where she couldn’t play a sport; she could only study.

“Classes are long, and teachers are slow,” explains Sakura, about the education here at Cedar Springs High School.

Moving here was her last opportunity to play basketball again; however, basketball is much different in Japan than here.  Coaches are able to hit their players.

“Parents don’t react.  It’s normal,” says Sakura.  She appreciates her teammates and coach here.  Patience is important when Sakura still struggles with learning English.

“I can listen good, but it’s hard to talk,” states Sakura.  She knows that it will come with time, and spending the next four months with her varsity basketball team, it’ll be no problem.

They are still on our minds

Annemarie David ’13
Staff

“I will text you everyday. Nothing will change between us. I promise.”

How often do we hear these words?  They are said whenever somebody moves to another city, or when exchange students have to go back to their home country.

Not many people follow through, though. At the beginning, they usually text a lot. But from time to time, the contact breaks up because people who were like best friends for a year don’t see each other every day anymore. They don’t get the same experiences together. They are too far away from each other.

Before, they saw each other every single day, they were in the same classes, on the same sports team, or in the same club. When they spent their weekends together, they were best friends. They had one year wonderful friendship together.

At CSHS, a few students still have contact with exchange students from the last few years. They met each other in classes, or on a sports team.

“She was very easy to get along with; we talked a lot,” says Sommer VanDyke ‘13, about former CSHS exchange student, Stephanie Richter.

Even parents tell their children that they shouldn’t spend so much time on the internet and that they should go out. Sometimes the internet is the only way to communicate with friends from other countries.

“[When I Skype with her, I’m] happy because I get to see her again. I miss her a lot. She should come back,” says Mikayla Hayes ‘14 about Ping Wang, former CSHS Chinese exchange student.

Still friends: Mikayla Hayes ‘14 and Chinese exchange student Ping Wang still have contact with each other. They had a great time and a wonderful friendship together. Photo by Ping Wang

They had one year together. They shared everything together. They laughed together, and cried together. Suddenly, the day arrived when one person had to leave.

“It’s depressing and sad [to know that it’s not possible to see that person soon again]. You make a really close friendship [with] someone, and then that person has to leave,” says VanDyke.

“[When I saw Ping for the last time,] I cried my eyes out. She pulled me out of class, and we spent the last few minutes together,” says Hayes.

“I cried [on our last day together]. I didn’t want her to leave,” explains VanDyke.

The little things about people are the things people miss the most.

“[I miss] that she was so small. She was funny and super nice and really caring,” says Hayes.

“[I miss] her bubbly personality. It was so fun to have her around,” says VanDyke.

“She was a cool person to talk to,” says Jason Vietti ‘13 about Isabela from Brazil, exchange student from one year ago.

Of course, they can’t contact each other every day. It’s normal because everybody is busy with school or sports. In China, Ping gets up when Hayes goes to bed, so it’s difficult for both of them to chat or Skype. And they can still travel to visit, if they have the opportunity to go to another country. They would have someone to show them around. They also can experience different things.

“[I would go to her country] so I could see her,” says Vietti.

It doesn’t matter how far they live away from each other, a friendship is possible. They still can talk and communicate even though they can’t see them in person!

If it is what they want, it will work.

And isn’t it nice to know that they have somebody as a friend on the other side of the world?

The foreign equivalent of Thanksgiving does not equate

Annemarie David ’13
Staff

Hundreds of years ago, the first English immigrants came over to America. They only had one issue: no food.  During mid-winter and early spring, the Native Americans decided to help them by giving them food. After all the crops were harvested, the Native Americans and pilgrims decided to hold a party in November. Thanksgiving became a special day in all of America.

Thanksgiving is always on the fourth Thursday of November. It’s usually a cold day. Nobody has to go to school or work, and everybody has time to spend that day with their family.

Big and delicious: The most exciting thing is the meal on Thanksgiving. Unlike Germans, many Americans have experienced this. Graphic by Sabrina Wheeler

That means Americans will eat tons of good food, and they probably will spend the whole time with their family. It doesn’t matter how far you actually live away from each other, on Thanksgiving, the whole family gets together.

Mostly American families live in many different parts of America, which is the reason why during Thanksgiving the roads and the airports in all of America are full with thousands of people who travel to see their family.

“On Thanksgiving, I always watch the football game with my whole family. We [also] eat a lot of good food,” says Lucas VanAssen ‘13.

For some Americans, Thanksgiving is the most important celebration of the year.

“[I am] more than excited [to celebrate my first real Thanksgiving],” says German exchange student, Patrick Pender ‘13.

Everybody looks forward to it. Finally, they can see their whole family again. They can spend a nice time together. Students are glad because Thanksgiving always means the first break in the school year.

“[I expect] good food and that I will meet the whole family,” says German exchange student, Kim Bockmuhl ‘13.

“[Thanksgiving] is a nice thing, it’s not industrial. It’s more family-like,” says Pender.

“Sleeping in [is one of the best things on Thanksgiving],” says VanAssen.

The day after Thanksgiving is called “Black Friday” and every single store has sales for that day. Many people use that chance to start buying their presents for Christmas.

After Thanksgiving, Christmas time starts.

Even in Germany, they celebrate something like Thanksgiving. It is called “Erntedankfest” (a party to be thankful for the harvest), but it’s not really a special day. People who are really religious go to church and celebrate it, but that day is not special enough that the whole family will come together.

“It’s not a national day; there is no day off or a break for that day,” says Pender.

Germans celebrate it because they are thankful for the harvest God gave them this year.

After they celebrate in the church, which is decorated with fruits, vegetables, and corn, they give that food to the people who really need it, the people who don’t have enough money to buy food.

Erntedankfest is always on the first Sunday in October.

“[On] that day, I eat a big meal with my parents and grandparents. It’s kind of Thanksgiving,” says Bockmuhl.

All in all, Erntedankfest is not that important in Germany. And it is totally not exciting as Thanksgiving.

Germans are looking forward to meeting their whole host family, and eating their first big delicious meal. It will be very different from what they are used to, but it will be a great experience!

Foreign exchange students experience Homecoming

Annemarie David ’13
Staff

Loud music. Delicious food. People sweating. Dancing in the dark. Friends.

Dressing up. Fun. Laughing.

They had fun at Homecoming: Luke Dault ‘15, Carlos Pastor ‘13, Janek Hachmoeller ‘13, Julian Quiroga ‘15, Santiago Quiroga ‘15, Memo Garcia ‘15 and Ray Xia ‘15 love Homecoming. They had a lot fun when they danced, ate or just laughed together.

Exchange students at CSHS from countries such as Brazil, China and Germany, describe Homecoming with only one word: Awesome! And yes, it was awesome!

In our countries, we don’t get experiences like this. We have clubs to dance in, or schools where we learn to dance and an end-of-term ball, but these don’t compare to Homecoming. In Germany, you only have one dance at school: the graduation night. This dance only happens when you’re finished with school.

No matter what country we’re from, we all agree that Homecoming was very, very exciting. The entertainment was also fantastic. “It was a great experience,” said Patrick Pender ‘13 from Germany. “[It was] one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

The best thing for all of us was – naturally – dancing. But we shouldn’t forget the food, because it was so delicious, and it was free. In Germany, we have to pay for it. Kendra Weidenfeller ‘14, told me that she was very excited for the food because it is so enjoyable, and she was right!

“Homecoming was over too soon”, said Kim Bockmuehl ‘13 from Germany.

“The evening felt like it was a second long,” explained Pender.

We all agree that we want to have a homecoming dance in our home countries. Of course we want one! The students in our countries would love it as much as Americans do. Although, I have to say that I’m not sure if Germans would dance like Americans, and for sure not as long. It’s so cool to see how Americans dance even when they don’t drink alcohol. In Germany, the kids only dance like this when they’ve had a few. Here, nobody drinks. It’s awesome!

The biggest difference between dances in Germany is that German school dances are much more ceremonial. Here you couldn’t drink any alcohol at the dance. But you didn’t need to because the dance was already joyous enough!

Meeting friends and having dinner with them before Homecoming was new for all of us as well. Some of us went to friends’ houses and ate pizza or went to a Mexican restaurant. It was all so much fun. After dinner we took pictures. It was so funny!

All in all, I have to say that Homecoming was one of the best evenings ever. I made new friends and had a lot of fun. Dinner was delicious, and perfect. It was one of the best experiences ever.

All exchange students agree that we all are excited for the next dance!