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- Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 27, 1990
i t ’s tim e to think Blue Jeans
and C ountry Scenes
Exchange students experience life in lone
Merlyn Robinson
By
It’s time to think “ Blue Jeans and
Country Scenes.” the theme for this
year's Morrow County Fair and
Rodeo, August 15 through the 19
Premium hooks are ready to be
picked up at convenient locations
throughout the county including post
offices. Extension offices, the city
library and Keglcr's Market in
Boardman Mailing of books was
deleted this year to cut expense and
provide additional premium money
for areas with expanded exhibit
categories, fair officials say.
New this year are two days of pro
fessional rodeo, August 18 and 19.
Local sponsors have contributed
over $7,OCX) to rodeo purses to at
tract some top PRC A contestants.
The Rodeo Committee has had
workdays to update the facilities to
accommodate these PRCA shows.
Attendance is expected to be at an
all-time high, however, admission to
both the fair and rodeo is still a
bargain, for the price of a $12.50
button, chairman Richard Ladd
says.
Rodeo events also include a team
branding and the traditional Friday
night. August 17, Morrow County
Amateur rodeo. Highlights of fair
week include the Wednesday night
amateur talent contest. Thursday
evening's 4-H style review and the
4-H and FFA fat stock auction on
Saturday night. August 18.
New this year will be the P.J.
Johnson band for the Saturday night
street dance at the fairgrounds
following the auction sale.
Expanded wash rack facilities
have been completed to accom
modate livestock washing. And the
sheep department now has all-metal
pens for the sheep exhibits.
“ Doll up those blue jeans and get
ready for the Saturday morning
parade, August 18 at 10 a.m .,” said
a fair spokesperson. The Heppner
Chamber of Commerce is updating
parade categories and there will be
ribbons and cash awards for the win
ning entries.
1st Interstate
celebrates 125th
The Heppner branch of the First
Interstate Bank will celebrate its 25th
anniversary on July 3 from 10 a m.
to 4 p.m. Refreshments will be
served.
Come help us celebrate Loree
Hubbard's 80th birthday July 7,
2 p.m. at the lone United Church
o f Christ basement.
‘So gifts please.
NO BURNING ALLOWED
O.R.S. 478.960 AND O.R.S. 476.380
STATES NO OUTSIDE BURNING
OF ANY KIND
Effective June 27, 1990
VIOLATORS WILL BE FINED!!
Forrest Burkenbine, Fire Chief
The Employees o f
irst Interstate Bank o f Oregon N.A.
Heppner Branch
invite you to come in
and help us celebrate our
125th Anniversary
on
July 3, 1990
Jackie
Darlene
Florene
Harley
Andrea
Sharon
Chuck
Refreshm ents Served
10-4:00 p.m .
We arejiroud[ to be a part of a Bank that has
ser\'ed Oregon for 125 years.
,-W L.. f .-M á t i i f '
7
p * V -Sc •*:
Renee Van Leersum
Anne Morter
At lone High School this year,
students had a chance to expand their
knowledge of the world without
cracking a book. Two foreign ex
change students, Renee Van Leer-
sum from Holland and Fumika
Matusui from Japan, spent the
school year attending classes with
their American counterparts, and
everyone came away from the ex
perience a little wiser about the
world.
The girls noted many differences
between their homes and the United
States but they also discovered that
they had a lot of things in common
with their peers on this side of the
world.
First, a bit of background on each
girl. Renee, 19, hails from Spi-
jkenisse, a moderate-sized city (for
them) of 70,000 people. It is located
about 15 miles from Rotterdam, a
major city of 600.000. She is the on
ly child of Edo and Mar Van Leer-
sum, a husband and wife team of
physical therapists. Her school in
Holland had a student body of 1400
but her class had just 100 members.
Renee was a senior at lone High
School, meaning that she got to en
joy all the fanfare of the prom,
junior-senior banquet, and gradua
tion from a lofty spot. Her year was
capped when her parents visited lone
in late May and early June. They ar
rived in time to attend Renee’s
graduation (even though it didn’t
really count) and spend some time
seeing the sights of Oregon with
their daughter. This was Renee’s
first trip to the U S. as well as her
folks’ first time, but Renee is sure
she will return sometime in the near
future. Her host family for the year
for the year was Mark, Jocelyn and
Jace Jones.
Renee’s parents had not planned
to visit the United States until the
Joneses sent them a copy of Ray
Atekeson’s Oregon III along with an
invitation to visit. After comparing
the photographs in the book with the
pictures Renee had sent, they decid
ed to come see for themselves.
Fumika, 16, comes from Kosaca
in the Prefecture (equivalent to our
state) of Nagasaki. Her hometown is
considerably smaller with just 5500
residents. The town is located near
Sasebo, home of a U.S. Navy Base,
and it is about an hour and forty-five
minutes from Tokyo. She is the
youngest of three girls and her
parents own a wholesale business
that supplies fruit, vegetables, fish
and other supplies to various
retailers. She attends an all-girls
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Wrangler Brand jeans are designed
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Wrangler jeans are the
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$ 1 9 95
Christian school with a student body
of 800 and her class has about 250
members.
While Fumika and her parents had
never visited the U.S. before, she
says that one of her sisters was an
exchange student several years back
so her trip was not completely a new
adventure for the family. Fumika has
had two host families this year. After
arriving last June, she stayed the
summer with a family in Portland
before coming to lone for the school
year. Her host family here was the
Ken Nelson family.
Neither girl was able to specify
where she would spend the year.
Renee expected to land in a bigger
city, mainly because she didn’t
realize that towns came as small as
lone. Fumika had hoped for a
smaller town where she could
sidestep the drug and crime pro
blems so common in the larger
cities. Even so, lone had to be
somewhat of a shock. Both girls
credit their host families for ade
quately preparing them for their
journey to the wide open spaces.
Fumika became acclimated to
small town life slowly, visiting dur
ing harvest and even getting to ride
on a combine. When Renee receiv
ed and introductory letter from her
host “ mother,” Jocelyn Jones,
describing a town of 350 and a
school with a student body of 40. she
admits to being stunned. After talk
ing it over with her mother, she
decided to approach the adventure
with an open mind and maybe her
trip to the U.S. would be much dif
ferent than she anticipated. She
didn't appear to be overwhelmed by
the openness of the country mainly
because Jocelyn spent most of the
trip from Portland telling the jet-
lagged Renee that the beautiful Col
umbia Gorge scenery would soon
end. Abruptly. Fumika admits to be
ing a little wowed by all of the
nothing, and all of the sagebrush.
Upon her return to Japan, she can
not only tell her friends about these
strange gray plants that cover the
landscape, but she can produce a
refrigerator magnet in the shape of
Oregon which she made out of
sagebrush in a Future Entrepreneur
class she took this year.
A big difference for the girls was
the schooling system. Due to those
differences, their year at lone High
School counted for nothing more
than experience for either one. In
Holland, a student can work for a
four, five or six year diploma and the
program can take from 4-8 years,
depending on how they progress
through the low. medium and high
sub-levels. A six-year diploma opens
more doors than the other two. It is
required to enter a university or
military academy. Renee has com
pleted her five-year diploma and has
a year to complete upon her return.
Her future plans include enrollment
in a military academy, which is still
somewhat unfamiliar ground for
girls, and then a career in civil
engineering. Another note on
schools in Holland: students must
pay to attend school, whether it be
public or private. Renee attends a
Christian school which costs the
same as a public school. She says the
Christian schools are known to be
more challenging and strict.
Japan's schools are structured
much like American schools with a
12-year plan divided into lower
grades, junior high and high school.
The big difference is that students at
tend classes Monday through Satur
day, and part of their school day is
cleaning the school. Fumika will be
a junior upon her return, and she
plans to go on to college after
graduation, possibly with a major in
English. She says that classes at
home are much tougher and school
rules are stricter Not only is snack
ing and gum chewing prohibited, but
girls cannot wear pierced earrrings
or have permanents in their hair. At
her school, which is also a Christian
school, the students wear uniforms.
Both girls enjoyed participating in
sports this year. According to
Renee, team sports are not offered
in school in Holland beyond the
basics in P.E. class. To participate.
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you join a health club and pay for the
privilege. New sports for her this
year were volleyball and basketball.
She had previous experience on the
tennis court and it showed as she ad
vanced to the state tennis tournament
representing IHS this past spring.
Fumika’s school did offer sports
which included among others ping
pong, badminton, handball and
swimming. This year, Fumika
played on the volleyball and tennis
teams, and acted as manager for the
girl’s basketball team.
Both girls were surprised at the
number of people who drive big cars
here. In their countries, gasoline is
much more expensive so most peo
ple drive small, fuel-efficient cars.
Renee says that pickups, station
wagons and four-wheel drive rigs
are an unusual sight and only rarely
would you see an American-made
car, it being something of a status
symbol. The most common brand of
cars in Holland are Volkswagen,
Peugot, Opal, Renault, Nissan,
Toyota, Honda and Subaru. She says
that the majority of families have just
one car but getting around is no trou
ble with a highly developed miss
transportation system.
Fumika says that many families in
Japan have two cars, and again, they
drive small, mostly Japanese-made
autos. She says a status car in Japan
is a BMW, Bentz or Volvo. A big
change for her was that we drive on
the opposite side of the road, and our
steering wheels are on the “ wrong”
side of the car. In Holland and
Japan, young people must be 18
years old to get a driver's license and
they must take special classes to
qualify. Renee got her driver’s
license here, but due to insurance
reasons was unable to use it. She was
looking forward to a trip to city hall
upon her return to trade her Oregon
license for a Dutch license.
American food was not unfamiliar
to either girl since many of the
American chain restaurants are in
both of their countries. Renee noted
that our eating patterns differ. She
said that Americans tend to serve up
bigger portions and eat more food in
general, and she also noted that our
food tended to be more processed.
Her parents observed that it seemed
everyone always had a “ big gulp”
in hand, whether they were walking,
driving or whatever. Her parents
were shocked at how much
Americans snacked during the day
since they are used to very set meal
and break times. Fumika says that
American food is popular in Japan,
and in fact she prefers it. Or at least
she did before she spent a year
without sushi. By the end of her stay,
she admitted that she was looking
forward to some traditional Japanese
food once again.
Both girls felt very welcome in the
community and several times com
mented on how friendly, interested
and helpful the people here were.
Renee said she soon got used to say
ing hello to everyone in the post of
fice and waving to everyone on the
road. She said if she did this at
home, she would not only be ex
hausted but her fellow Dutchmen
might consider her just a little bit
crazy.
Fumika admitted that she was a bit
taken aback by American’s outward
display of emotions, coming from a
country where the people tend to be
conservative and reserved. She said
that the Japan* ,e would be aghast at
the cheering, screaming and hugg
ing that goes ontet a basketball game
or other such event.
Both Renee and Fumika have
returned to their homes now. taking
with them a load of memories along
with several new suitcases filled with
souvenirs of their year in Oregon.
Both girls were getting anxious to get
home to see family and get together
with friends. Renee said she will
remember lone most for its friendly
people and her experience in sports
during the year. Fumika’s most vivid
memory is the state championship in
basketball, viewed from her bird’s
eye seat on the bench as manager.
The big question, is though, do
you think their friends will ever
believe their stories of this place?
Aquatics fitness class to begin
An acquatic fitness class available
through Blue Mountain Community
College instructed by Joyce Hughes
will begin Monday, July 2. The
four-week session will be held on
Mondays and Thursdays from 6 to
6:55 p.m. at the Heppner swimming
pool. “ This is a great way to cool
off after a hot day and tone up those
muscles while you’re at it,” says
Hughes. “ You don’t have to be a
swimmer to take the class, you don't
even have to get your head wet if you
don’t want to.”
For more information contact
Joyce Hughes, 676-9228 or
676-9959.
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Left to right: back-Heidi Nelson, Jill Nelson, Fumika Matusui,
exchange student from Japan, Julie Nelson. Front row: Alfred,
Helen and Ken Nelson.
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