Across the Ocean

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border-top:1px solid #393939; clear:both; display:none; width:100%!important; position:relative; z-index:999999!important; height:90px!important"> <div class="adCenterClass" style="display:block!important; overflow:hidden; width:916px;"> <div id="footerAd_container" style="display:block!important; float:left; width:728px"> <iframe id="lycosFooterAdiFrame" style="border:0; display:block; float:left; height:96px; overflow:hidden; padding:0; width:750px"></iframe> </div> </div> </div> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="5038e5f0.jpg" border=0 width="142" height="95" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Moxie</b><FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#00CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>Mom</b></FONT><B>.com</b><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> | </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MOXIEMOM.COM"><U><B>MoxieMom Home</b></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id141.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Top 10 Moving Tips"><U>Top 10 Moving Tips</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="To Move or Not to Move"><U>To Move or Not to Move</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id139.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Firms Step in to Help Cover Relo Costs"><U>Firms Step in to Help Cover Relo Costs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WorkingMomMove"><U>WorkingMomMove</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ExPatPrego"><U>ExPatPrego</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id129.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ChinaVacation"><U>ChinaVacation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id126.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Relocation Timeline"><U>Relocation Timeline</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Movin and Grovin"><U>Movin and Grovin</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mothers Day International"><U>Mothers Day International</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tips from a Relo Mom"><U>Tips from a Relo Mom</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id92.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Munich Student Exchange"><U>Munich Student Exchange</U></A>   |   <B>Across the Ocean</b>   |   <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Deep Inside China WSJ"><U>Deep Inside China WSJ</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Life in China"><U>Life in China</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Growing Up in Germany"><U>Growing Up in Germany</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NY Times Relo Article"><U>NY Times Relo Article</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TIPS FOR MOVING ABROAD"><U>TIPS FOR MOVING ABROAD</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tips for Moving While Pregnant"><U>Tips for Moving While Pregnant</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MovingMomTips"><U>MovingMomTips</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MovingStoryforSpouses"><U>MovingStoryforSpouses</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="StayingHomeDiscussionQuestions"><U>StayingHomeDiscussionQuestions</U></A>   | <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moving Tips Articles"><U>Moving Tips & Articles</U></A></div> <div> Across the Ocean</div> <div> <B>Opening Eyes and Forming Friendships Across the Ocean</b></div> <div> <B>Story by Kimberly Tenai   </b><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <bR> <div>       Teenagers might not open a text book during the summer months, but world history, culture, and geography may be on their summer syllabus….</div> <div>      For ten years now, Lee Grandstaff Parker, a Wyoming resident, has been opening the eyes of Cincinnati students.  Lee is the former director of the Cincinnati/Munich Sister City Association High School Student Exchange Program.  Each year, 15 students from Munich, Germany spend Spring Break discovering Cincinnati and living with an American host family.  For two weeks each summer, 15 Hamilton County students visit their German “siblings” and explore Munich.</div> <div>      Lee talks enthusiastically about the program and its effect on the teens: “It just opens their eyes to the world. It gives them a bigger perspective beyond their community that they've grown up in.”</div> <div>      This year, Gina Florio, a Wyoming high school senior, represented Wyoming in the exchange. Gina writes about her trip, focusing on the differences in daily life:</div> <div>      “Going to Munich was an incredible experience.  They're very big on energy and resource conservation-nobody has air conditioning, they turn their showers off whenever they're soaping up, and their toilets have perhaps 4 cups of water in them.. </div> <div> A difference which I absolutely loved was their independence from the family car. My partner and her two sisters rode their bikes everywhere.  If that wasn't possible or fast enough, they would take the subway or the bus, both of which were extremely clean and reliable.  Kids as young as eight ride their bikes and take the subways by themselves. Going to school was very interesting.  Their schedule was different every day, and their day was shorter.  Everyone gets out at 1 p.m. They also don't have a lunch, but two short 20-minute breaks.”</div> <div>      Gina was partnered with Elsa Pfeiffer, 16, who spent her two weeks in Wyoming on Whitthorne Drive with the Florio family.  Elsa, who has been studying English for four years, recorded her impressions:</div> <div>      “I think Cincinnati is a typical American city with all the malls, high buildings, no subways, and suburbs like Wyoming. Wyoming is really the way I imagined suburbs in America because of movies: no sidewalks, many houses without a second floor, and large gardens without fences; it's just cool!  Also my exchange partner's high school is the way I imagined it from movies.  Everybody has his own locker and they have just seven different subjects, so their timetable is everyday the same one. It was great to be with other students every day, but I also liked being with my host family very much. I got to know very many nice people, which is good on the one hand, but on the other hand, I'm sad now because they're all so far away!” </div> <div>      Lee summarizes the students' reactions, “The most meaningful thing is that the students make new friends in Cincinnati and then they make lifelong friends in Munich.  This is a chance to take steps outside their community in a safe environment.”</div> <div>      American students are not required to speak German, and the cost for the 2006 program is $1300. This year's application deadline is December 31st.</div> <div>      <I>Interested in participating? Please contact Nancy Erbeck at 554.1063 or Lee Parker at </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:leep510@earthlink.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:leep510@earthlink.net"><U><I>leep510@earthlink.net</I></U></A></FONT><I>.  </I></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>