Digital News AFS Reconquista Local Chapter - January 2012

Digital News AFS Reconquista Local Chapter

The secret behind wisdom, power and knowledge is humbleness.

Ernest Hemingway

Number 13 January 2012

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

Stefan Maschel is from Austria and he lived exchange experience in Reconquista for a semester from February to July 2010. In this picture we can see him having mates in Time Square, in New York City (USA)

AFS in Reconquista E-mail: rl.reconquista@afs.org -  1544-4471

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

Digital News is 1 year old and that means celebration and great satisfaction for us all, those who are part of the big intercultural family of AFS Reconquista Local Chapter

Anniversary of AFS Reconquista Digital News

We are glad to have reached each of you during 2011, sharing through our pages part of the experiences the AFS participants live in our Local Chapter.

When we thought about this project, we had in mind four objectives: ❶ to be able to share with the rest of the society what AFS does in the community, thus broadening the intercultural experience’s impact; ❷ to generate a place where to talk and communicate, so that the current participants of the AFS experience (host families and exchange students) can share with all of us their experiences and growth; ❸ to allow the sending families to be part of AFS Reconquista even in the distance, at the same time their children live their exchange experience in our country or abroad, whichever the case; and ❹ to keep in touch monthly with all those who somehow have been part of AFS (host families, sending families, former participants, schools, language institutes, volunteers and the community in general) so that they can feel they are really part of this AFS family.

With all these objectives accomplished, we renew our commitment of communicating, informing and sharing the activities and experiences of AFS in Reconquista.

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This is how we lived our son Tim’s experience in Reconquista Timothy Scollay Australian parents tell us how they lived they son’s semester as an exchange student in Reconquista.

Tim in his monthly “Argentina Posts” and Skype sessions has introduced us to his new world in Reconquista, Argentina. Each month Tim’s understanding of his new culture has deepened.

In the first month, everything he experienced was new and exciting; his host family, his town, the school, siestas and everything about his new life.

By the second month, he was explaining the differences that he was experiencing, for example food, mate and late nights with a touch of home sickness.

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

everyday life can bring. Being an exchange student has broadened his understanding of the world and the different people that inhabit it, which in the end can only be a great thing for our understanding of each other in today’s world For us, as a family, having Tim away has been difficult at times because his absence is a constant reminder that he is on the other side of the world.

As a parent, you worry that you don’t know enough, or you are not sure about what your child is up to but when you read a funny story or see a happy picture of them, all your worries disappear in an instance. Stephen, our youngest son who is 13 years old commented to a friend when asked “What is it like without Tim around?” and he answered “It is a like a pen without the clicky thing”, and that is so true.

We all go about our daily lives but there is something missing and in Tim’s The third month offered some broader experiences with a trip to the case it was his constant presence and argumentative self that we all miss. doctor, a holiday to Salta and an awakening of Tim’s world to However, we know that the experience to live, learn and share part of his life something a bit larger than his town of 80, 000. By the fourth in a very different culture with a loving, supportive family is one of the best Argentina Post, Tim was beginning to understand the benefits of the opportunity of student exchange; tolerance, understanding, cultural experiences of his life and he will come home to share those experiences with us, eventually. diversity, inclusiveness and mastering of a second language. He has not only learnt a new language, he can now argue in the new Kym y Michael Scollay language (watch out Argentina) but more importantly he has learnt about people from a different culture with the highs and lows that

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Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

See you later, guys!

Sunday, 15th January 2012

One chapter in Alfur (Iceland), Ronja (Germany), Siripattara (Thailand), Timothy (Australia) y María Grazia (Italy) book of experiences has just finished. That same chapter, but maybe full of experiences and different knowledge, has also finished for the host families who received them as their own children for 11 months or 4 months and a half: Families Moschén, Fenoglio, Rambaldo, Ortolani and Scalini respectively.

Now, both (families and exchange students) are equally responsible for the writing of a new chapter, one that should last forever and that will help them strengthen the family bonds they made while they lived together.

Ronja and her Argentinian family

Siripattara and her Argentinian

family

But this farewell night was special because Timothy and Ronja came back to Reconquista and Avellaneda respectively, accompanied by their natural families who came to Argentina to visit them and their children’ host families.

Alfur and his Argentinian family

The five exchange students in our Local Chapter set off from Reconquista last Sunday, 15th January to Buenos Aires, where they participated in the last national AFS orientation in Argentina called EOS, which stands for End Of Stay orientation.

They went to this meeting with Claudia Lanteri, AFS Reconquista volunteer, who participated in the January 2012 EOS as a facilitator.

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Maria Grazia and her

Argentinian family

Timothy and his Argentinian

family

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

EOS

End of StayFin de la Experiencia

By Claudia Lanteri

Betiana hugging her brother Álfur

Mook is hugged by her sister Paula and the rest of the family

Hugo and Rosana saying goodbye to their only son, Álfur

Dear Álfur, Mook, Ronja, Tim and Maria Grazia, we wish you happiness and success in your lives as we say goodbye heartbroken.

However, we are very happy to have shared with you many things and to have enriched our lives with you and your host families.

At plain sight it is just 3 letters. However, it means a lot for a group of teenagers who are about to finish a wonderful intercultural exchange experience, and for a large group of volunteers who gladly are next to them for 3 days. At the EOS the AFS students meet their peers with sadness, joys and cries.

All the volunteers try to make them reflect on their experiences, what they leave behind, what they take with them, and more through different activities. Also, about the importance of having been here for months to share their and our culture, the time with their host families, friends, schools and love.

All the talks have this emotive touch, mix feelings which are not totally clear.

On one hand they feel happy to return home, to their natural families. On the other hand, sadness overcomes them as they feel they are leaving behind all their accomplishments, and the sense that they can do with any help, on their own, just because they have grown and are not longer the same who came.

As an AFS volunteer I come back to my Local Chapter very happy and full of energies because during these three days I noticed the work done with the students in almost the 60 Local Chapters in Argentina & Uruguay. It is really nice to see all the sacrifice made was not in vain. I am happy to devote so much time to this organisation.

It is also a good time to meet volunteers from different Local Chapters, the ones we obviously do not know, and we share experiences, enrich ourselves with new ideas, and strengthen that sense of belonging AFS provides..

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Tim, came back to Reconquista one day later, 19th Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

A visit from Australia

Timothy Scollay’s family visited Reconquista

It was Wednesday, 18th January, and a very hot morning received them on Reconquista’s Bus Station. They were Timothy Scollay’s natural family. He has been living his exchange experience since August 2011 and for a semester with Daniel Ortolani and Marisa Perone’s family in our community.

January, from Buenos Aires were he had been for the EOS Orientation. Both families spent two full days knowing each other and strengthening the friendship they knew how to build since Timothy was considered part of the Ortolani family.

In January 20th in the afternoon, Tim, his mum Kym and his brothers Matthew (18) and Stephen (13) set off to Salta and Jujuy where their father Michael Scollay was waiting for them to continue travelling to Bolivia and up to Perú.

From left to right: Stephen, Matthew, Marisa, Timothy, Daniel and Kym

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Three new destinations, three new dreams

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

Ma. Eugenia, Mara and Franco are ready to live a new adventure in their lives, they go on an exchange trip with AFS

Franco Reniero could not imagine that he would be saying goodbye to his

Euge, Mara and Franco, we are sure you will have the best experiences with AFS, and we want to remind you that

success in life always depends on ourselves. Have a safe trip!

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fellow adventurers a year ago. It is only 48 hours before he gets on a plane which will take him to New Zealand. By the time you are reading this article, he would have been for a couple of days in his new home, with his new family, in a new country. His host dad is waiting for him, as well as an exchange brother form Italy.

For Mara Torossian the feeling was quite the same, but mature as she is makes it easier to hide her emotions. She looks happy and her face tells you that she is more than anxious to meet her host mum and sister. Germany is waiting for her, and her dream will become true from February, 24th when she finally gets on the plane which will take her to her new destination.

María Eugenia Mina is counting down the days to finally meet her host mum, dad and two-year-old brother. There is just one fear she has. She is afraid of getting lost in the airport before gets to her new place in Costa Rica. On the other hand, she cannot express the anxiety to know the two oceans that touch her new country’s shores and which are on 200 km apart.

The stories are different, the destinations too. They are united by the region where they grew, the same country, almost the same customs, and obviously AFS. On Saturday, 28th January they met for the last time as AFS candidates – the next time they meet will be as AFSers – and spent some time with other candidates who are travelling abroad in August 2012, as well as with volunteers. They shared some tereres (cold sweet mate), talked about their fears, their expectations, the gifts they are taking, the wish to have the best experience, and they even venture to talk about the CRO (Post Experience Camp)!!!

The volunteers gave them the AFS T-shirts and the mate, a tradition in our Local Chapter. They received the gifts anxiously and they promised to send us pictures and articles for the Digital News. It was a hot afternoon, not only because of the weather, but also because of the warmth of the meeting between students and volunteers who left a full Saturday afternoon for this activity.

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Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

Special thanks to...

These students have been living their intercultural exchange experience in Reconquista, Avellaneda and Calchaquí since August 2011, thanks to these host families: We would like to thank the following host families, who are currently in the middle of the AFS intercultural experience, because they are hosting the exchange students in the pictures until July 2012: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Carlo‘s (Italy) family, Regonat-Menichelli.

Jóhanna‘s (Iceland) family, Redigonda-Rodriguez.

Augusta‘s (Denmark) family, Sosa-Luna.

Bára‘s (Faroe Islands) family, Pellegrini-Villalba.

Anne‘s (Germany) family, Stechina-Bais.

Laurin‘s (Austria) family, Tomadín-Masat.

It is thanks to their heart’s generosity, the wish to grow as a intercultural family, and the urge to help a young person from another culture to become a different adult; that AFS Programas Interculturales can carry along their Mission with the desire to make of this a better world to live in.

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New AFS students are coming to Reconquista, Villa Ocampo & Calchaquí

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures

It is just a few weeks before they arrive. They are 3 young teenagers from Brazil, Thailand and USA who are already in contact with their Argentinian host families, hoping to know them before actually meeting them so that the process would be easier starting on Sunday, 26th February 2012. That will be the day when they arrive to the Bus Station in Reconquista.

1.

Danilo Pereira (Brazil), will be living with family FabrissinIttig, in Reconquista until a permanent family is found. Danilo is coming in a year programme, until January 2013.

2.

Aleena Thammasorn (Thailand), will become part of FantinVicentin family, in the city of Villa Ocampo. She comes in a year programme, until January 2013.

3.

Alexandria Foy-Parker (USA) will be the new member of family Flores in Calchaquí. She comes for a semester, until July 2012.

We would like to thank these families for their generosity and for opening their home and families, so that these young people can grow interculturally with them. We invite all families from Reconquista, Avellaneda, Romang, Malabrigo, Villa Ocampo and Calchaquí to live the amazing AFS experience.

Aleena

Xenia Bjørlig is from Denmark. She is Alex Bjørlig’s natural sister. Alex was an exchange student in Reconquista in 2007. he lived with José Luis Ferrer and María del Rosario Masin’s family. Xenia had the chance to meet them for the first time when they travelled to Denmark in 2007. Now, Xenia and her friend Arendse are travelling around Latin America, and they decided to pay a visit to Alex’s host city, Reconquista, and his host family, Ferrer, on 26th and 27th January 2012.

We, AFS Reconquista, feel really happy to know that the bonds made during an exchange experience thanks to AFS can get even stronger every time there is a personal visit, or at least through the Internet.

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The AFS mate in New York In the front page of this edition you can see Stefan Maschel (who was an exchange student from AFS Austria in Reconquista) having mates in Time Square, the heart of the “Big Apple”, as the city of New York is known in the United States.

Here, he is with his AFS mate with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. This bridge joins Manhattan and Brooklyn districts to New York City. It was built between 1870 and 1883 and, at the time of its opening, it was the biggest suspension bridge in the world (it is 1.825 metres long and the main towers are 486,3 metres distant). It was also the first bridge suspended by steel wires. Since then, it has become one of New York City’s most famous landmarks. It is very well built and it is still in use after many year.

Thank you, Stefan for taking the AFS mate with you around the world, and for sharing with all of us its wanderings.

AFS Reconquista Contacts José Manuel Buyatti  1544-4471 María Elena Landi  421350 Claudia Lanteri  424507 Sergio Sanchez  1545-7527 E-mail: rl.reconquista@afs.org www.afs.org.ar AFS RL RECONQUISTA

Connecting lives, Sharing Cultures