Foreign students soak up U.S. culture
On Aadil Fahim's first day of American high school, he found it a little strange and awkward that in between subjects, students crowd hallways and slam locker doors, moving from class to class as they leave their teachers behind.
In his hometown of New Delhi, India, students stay put and teachers move. The style means bare walls instead of the newspaper clippings and alma matter banners that personalize American classrooms, and the same small group of students often spend all their educational years together.
Noorliza Abdullah says it was the same at her school in Penang, Malaysia.
"It's like day and night," she said of how the high school experiences compare.
Last week, Fahim and Abdullah visited Yuba City with American Field Service, searching for material to fill handbooks they are writing for students, hosts, and families in international exchange programs. Tackling topics such as school, teen life and food and meals, Fahim and Abdullah tried to absorb as much U.S. culture as they could in a few short days.
Friday's trip included visits to Yuba City and River Valley High Schools and a classic Southern U.S. meal at the home of Chilean AFS exchange student Dago Soto Amaro, where they ate fried chicken, mashed potatoes and Stephen's Farmhouse pies made by his host family. Trips to area religious worship sites were also planned for before Fahim and Abdullah depart today.
At the high schools, they observed class after class, watching students discuss math's marriage to science in solving chemistry equations and craft digital visual projects in an art class. In a government class, the visitors were called upon to give impromptu presentations on government in their home countries.
"Here you can see the teacher involves the students, encourages the students to talk," Abdullah said. "At home, it's 'Listen. Listen. Listen.'"
But differences outside school are also important, Fahim said. Simple customs can cause cultural misunderstandings, he said, recalling how families in India continue to dish out servings at the dinner table as a sign of love, but when he stayed with his host family in Illinois, he was expected to help himself.
And in India, he was always surrounded by family, so it was a bit of a shock to have so much time to himself.
Soto, who is spending this school year in Yuba City instead of his home in Chile, said he heard staying busy was the best way to immerse in the culture and enjoy the experience.
"People ask me all the time, 'What is better — here or Santa Cruz?'" he said. "Both are good, they are just different."
The AFS student misses Chilean food and his family, but was content to leave his all-boys school for a year, along with its uniforms and requirements for shaving and haircuts. And Soto became a big fan of American football, learning a game he had never seen before and scoring his first tackle on Yuba City's varsity team.
"Sports helped a lot, it kept me busy," he said. "You don't have that time to get homesick."
CONTACT reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4724.
