A home away from home

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009

Even though it was two blocks away, Jule Kaiser had to have a picture of one of Washington, D.C.'s most recognizable landmarks.

"It was Labor Day weekend," Dawn Moree Dugan told a reporter. "We had gone to Great Falls, [Va.], for a picnic and we were driving back [to Welcome] through the city. Jule saw The White House and yelled ‘I have to have a picture.' And she jumped out the car to go get her picture. As you know, you can't just drive up to The White House. My daughter said ‘Maybe I should go with her.' So, she got out and I drove around the block twice and picked them up."

Jule, 17, got her picture and surely sent it to her parents in Hamburg, Germany, via the Internet, the tool that has made it easy for her to keep in contact with her family and friends as she stays here in the states as a visiting foreign exchange student.

Dugan, of Welcome, is hosting the visitor in her Charles County home as part of the World Heritage Student Exchange program, which is currently looking for host families in Southern Maryland to host high school children from Germany, France, Thailand, Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Denmark and Italy.

According to Joann Butler of Lusby, an area representative for World Heritage, Southern Maryland is a temporary home to three students from Germany and France this year. However, for the upcoming school year, the North East region of the U.S. will be looking to find host families for 47 students from Germany, Russia, France, Italy and Denmark.

Butler said the chance to host an exchange student is rewarding for both the host families and the student, but it is a process that takes time and commitment even before the student arrives.

"[World Heritage representatives] screen host families thoroughly," Butler said, which includes performing a "home study" to see how the family could accommodate a prospective student. "We talk to references, and the organization does an overall background check.

"Once a student has been placed, there is an orientation period," Butler said. "Every month, representatives call the host family to make sure everything is OK … and, if there are any, we try to work out problems."

Dugan heard about the program through reading a blurb in The Maryland Independent. Being a recent widow, Dugan said she had some motivation to have someone else in the home — all of her children are now grown — but an experience earlier in her life gave her an extra bit of insight many other first-time hosts may not have.

"About 50 years ago, my parents hosted at least two foreign exchange students every summer," Dugan said. "It was after their year of being in school and it was a culmination of all their sightseeing, or ‘bon voyage' for them. [We lived near] Bethesda and they would go see the monuments in [Washington,] D.C.

"I assumed the [World Heritage] program only looked for families that had children around the ages of the [prospective exchange] students, but after talking to them I learned differently."

Dugan went through the background checking process and was given information for several prospective foreign exchange students that she would gel with the best. She picked out five she thought would be a good fit, and Jule was one of them. And, after going through the process, Dugan met Jule at BWI Airport on Aug. 23, 2008.

Dugan said the first thing she did was show Jule places to shop. And Jule seems grateful for that.

"I will miss Hollister," Jule said with a big smile, referring to the popular clothing store. And, like most American teenagers, she spends a lot of time shopping at the mall.

Jule is an 11th grader at Lackey High School in Indian Head. She said she really enjoys school, but that the day-to-day schedule of an American teenager, at least in Southern Maryland, is vastly different than in her home country. She said here in the U.S., for example, science classes are broken up by grades: ninth graders take Earth science, 10th graders take biology and 11th graders take chemistry. In Germany, students take all three during each grade throughout their high school careers.

"And you have to take English," Jule said. "[Students here] may have to take two years of Spanish. We have to have five or six years of English. And some students [in Germany] have to have another language like French or Latin."

And other differences?

"We don't have to have passes in the hallway," Jule said. "And we have no school [sports] teams … It took me two years to realize that my school [in Germany] did have a soccer team, but no one seems to care about them, I mean, no one checks schedules for games, or knows where they will play. Nobody is really involved in clubs or sports, and that is not the same here."

During her time at Lackey, Jule has been a member of the swim team and is currently a member of the school's drama club, where, she said, she mainly works behind the scenes as part of the technical crew.

And Jule thinks she is lucky to have been in the United States during this year, as there was a presidential election and inauguration.

"[Dugan and I] watched all of the [presidential] debates. We had lots of discussions," Jule said, with an acknowledgment from Dugan that cordially hinted that they may have not agreed politically. "I think it was interesting. I learned a lot during that time."

And her experiences have been amusing as well.

"During my first week [at Lackey] I met a girl who had never seen a foreigner. She said ‘You're from Germany? Really? This girl's from Germany!' she yelled, all excited. Everybody is interested in learning about Germany."

And, Dugan added, Jule has been referred to as "The German Chick" by students of the male persuasion.

A lot of her fellow students ask her if she likes German music, and, Jule said, she doesn't really, but rather knows more about American musicians and actors than she does about those from her home country.

While she misses her family, Jule said she really misses German chocolate.

"Chocolate is one thing that is better there," Jule said, although she hasn't been missing chocolate too much.

"Her dad has been sending her care packages with chocolate," Dugan said.

While speaking about food, it was mentioned that Jule experienced her first Thanksgiving, including travel to South Carolina, a big family gathering and a feast with all the trimmings — save for tasting greens, Dugan said.

While many children Jule's age may think of spending nine months away from mom, dad and friends as either harrowing or welcome, depending on their mindset, the Internet has made is easy for Jule to stay in touch with her family and friends at home, including talking to them via a Web camera.

But, Butler explains, the extent of the contact is necessary to have a "total immersion" experience. The student's parents are not allowed to visit until after the school year is over, and then it is up to the host family if they can come and visit.

Jule's family will be coming to spend a few days with their daughter stateside.

While a few months are left — Jule will leave her host home on June 18 — Dugan said, so far, the experience has "been a blast."

"There's been some adjustment. I had to think about what it would be like to have a teenager in the house again. My husband died a little over a year and a half ago and, to me, it never seemed like it has been an empty house [having raised four children in it and having my eldest grandchild be 21 years old]. I don't know if I will do it again, as I still want to get in my mobile home and go travelling. But, I certainly don't regret doing this. It's been a great catharsis."

rperry@somdnews.com

To learn more

Contact Joann Butler at 410-326-2889 to learn about hosting opportunities in Southern Maryland. To learn more about the World Heritage organization, go to www.world-heritage.org.