Feature
Costa Rica, Oregon partnered in program
¿OSTA
«JX AMIGOS
states. Costa Rica and Oregon
were chosen to work together.
This was done 'in 1964. Ever
Bret Hodgert
since then, they have been
Design Editor
,
I Costa Rica, located down in working together and develop­
Central America,was discovered ing the program. The reason
in 1502 by Christopher Columbus they were picked to work
on his fourth voyage to the New together, is because of some of
World.
He named the place the geographical similarities and
‘ Costa Rica” or “Rich Coast” that their economies are fairly
because of the lush vegetation and similar. Our country is basically
the gold jewelry worn by the an agricultural country and, so
it seems, is Oregon. We also
Dative Indians.
■ This last week Clackamas have approximately the same
Community College hosted a population, about 3.5 million.
Did you get to go to any city
presentation dealing with the
lustoms and culture of Costa in Oregon?
Right now there are students
Rica. The presentation was put
on by some of the exchange in Portand, there are students in
students from there.
Eugene, in Salem, in Spr­
■ The following is an interview ingfield, and in Roseburg. We
with three exchange students, are all over.
Randall, Roberto, and Francisco,
Did you get a choice of what
who are involved with the pro­ dty you got to go to?
Sam, and know from first hand
No, you fill out an applica­
experience what Costa Rica is tion and from the basic infor­
really like.
mation they try to find a family
■ So, where is Costa Rica?
that will suit you and your in­
■ It is located in Central terests.
America. We are the southern
What are some of the major
■tost country in Central America, differences you see between the
exactly between Panama and people of Oregon and Costa
Nicaragua.
Rica?
■ What is this program you are
Well, first of all, up here
involved with?
everything is advanced.
■ It’s a program that involves Everything is new and modern.
high school students from Costa
Family life is very different.
Rica and Oregon. It involves We are a very small country,
Students that are between the maybe one-fourth the size of
ages of 16 and 18. We choose Oregon. So, when we go to a
certain amounts of students to school or a university, we really
come here and stay with two don’t have to leave our family.
different host families. They We can stay with our families and
Stay with one family in the city, we don’t look forward to leaving
then they switch and stay with a them like a lot of American
family in the country. The teenagers do. We have no reason
Americans do the same in Costa to do so.
Rica.
Not everyone works. A lot of
■ The whole program is a part students don’t work so they may
of Partners of the Americas. spend more time studying and
This organization was founded doing other things. We get a lot
by President Kennedy. It deals of support from our families and
with several fields such as com­ parents. That, I think, is the big
munity education, culture, difference.
health and other different areas.
Also there is a different feeling
We are just one program of this of life, we are not in so much of a
whole organization.
hurry all the time. We do a lot of
I Is Oregon the only state in­ things with the family. Our fami­
volved with this program?
ly group is not just parents, it’s
■ Partners works this way: daughter and cousins and
■'hey assign a country ini Latin everybody, because it’s a real
America to each one of the dose family. Everyone gets
by Dean Grey
Editor and
February 11, 1987
together to celebrate, something
you don’t see much of in
America.
What do you like least about
America?
Personally, I think it’s kind of
hard to make friends. If I didn’t
know you here, it would be hard
because everyone keeps to
themselves. We’ve noticed that
people from smaller towns are
more friendly than those from
larger ones. We came here first
five years ago as exchange
students, now we are chaperones.
We stayed in Springfield, and the
first time in Tigard we noticed a
big change, people were very,
very friendly.
The language also makes it
hard to make friends and unders­
tand what they’re saying,
especially when you want to tell
them you would like to be
friends. The language really does
make a big difference.
So you do run into language
barriers?
06
RICA
ORE CON
I had a chance to study English
when I came here five years ago,
so it’s easier for me. It’s always a
little hard, at least at the beginn­
ing. The first couple of weeks is
really hard. For anyone who
doesn’t have basic English, it’s
really hard. Most of the problems
happen because they can’t com­
municate sometimes, sometimes
the families we live with don’t
have a lot of patience.
What do you miss most about
Costa Rica?
The weather. It’s our summer
and we’re actually supposed to be
on the beach right now.
What kind of sports do you
like to get involved in?
In regards to the beach, I just
began surfing about five years
ago, other than that, the most
popular sport is soccer.
What do you do on a Costa
Rican weekend?
We can go to the beach,
movies, and go dancing, among
other things. Dancing is very
EXHIBIT
popular. Its something we grew
up with,.
This is a big dif­
ference. At your parties you sit
around drinking and talking,
where we mostly dance.
What is the exhange pro­
grams main objective?
I would say the objective of
the program is you have the
chance to meet all different
kinds of people, live their lives,
find out what they’re Eke and
make an exhange of ideas. Also,
to find out the differences bet­
ween the two cultures. Basically
we get your T.V., your movies,
and music, so America has a
very big influence’ on us. The
idea of the exhange program is
to find out what it’s really like
and what the difference is really
like. Most people here don’t
know much about our country.
They don’t know where it is or
what language we speak.
Photos by Lyn Thompson
Exchange students work at the information table during their presentation on Costa Rica
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