“It’s weird having another person in your house; you have to get used to what they’re like and how it meshes with your family,” senior Jeremiah Hartsock said. “From the get-go I noticed that [Thailand exchange student Jakkarat Soonthornrak] was really nervous and I was nervous too, since I had never done anything like this before.”
Exchange students from all over the world come to Pittsboro to experience the small town American lifestyle. Although this is a different opportunity for the exchange student, it is a new experience for the host as well.
Two years ago senior Nathaniel Zanavich and his family decided to host their first student, Soonthornrak, nicknamed ‘Book.’
“We thought it would be a fun experience; my mom was looking online and saw that it brought families closer together, so she said, ‘Let’s do this!’” Zanavich said.
After a few months, the Zanavich family decided to no longer host their exchange student because of cultural differences. Hartsock and his family decided to host Soonthornrak for the next eight months. Hartsock says he did not have a close relationship with Soonthornrak either.
“With culture exchange sometimes cultures clash a little bit. I think that was the major problem. It’s not that something went wrong, it was just a culture clash,” Hartsock said.
Sophomore Hunter Koch and her family hosted their first exchange student, Katharina Rudy, from Germany last year.
“It was crazy, she was so scared. We picked her up at the airport and we came home and [Rudy] was really quiet… she would say ‘Thank you so much’ or ‘Nice to meet you’ and she gave us all huge hugs,” Koch said.
Koch’s mother had the idea to host an exchange student; after contacting exchange program YFU (Youth For Understanding America), the family received a quick response. Rudy needed “emergency placement,” meaning the home she was staying in could no longer host her.
“Sometimes we have a situation where a student cannot stay in the family that they are in. Sometimes it’s because of a situation or there has been an issue in the host family and it’s not going to work and they don’t want the student in their home anymore or the student doesn’t want to be there anymore,” said Linda Strickland-Jaubert, local area coordinator and volunteer for YFU. “So we have emergency families who agree to be our secure placement for a very short term until we can find another placement for the student.”
Within a few days, Rudy moved from Colorado to the Koch home, where she stayed for 10 months.
“She was like a sister to me. I know that’s so cliché, but I really miss walking home from the bus together everyday…. we would religiously watch The Voice together [and now] I don’t even watch it anymore because it’s not fun to watch it without her,” Koch said.
Senior Thomas Reynolds, who has hosted six exchange students, also took in students under emergency placement.
“We knew a guy who worked for the organization, so usually we took kids at the last minute who didn’t have a home,” Reynolds said.
Both Koch and Reynolds had favorable experiences with their exchange students. Koch and her family traveled a lot with Rudy, but she says her favorite place they went was Disney World.
“I could just see the little kid in her come out because she had obviously never been anywhere like that. It was so much fun,” Koch said.
Reynolds has hosted many exchange students, but one of his favorite memories was during the holidays.
“[My favorite memory was] celebrating Christmas with a Muslim exchange student because he didn’t really know what to expect and he really enjoyed it,” Reynolds said.
Soonthornrak says he also enjoyed the traditional American holidays.
“I love all the festivals and celebrations because we don’t do anything special on days like Christmas or Halloween…[my host family] took me to new places and taught me new things. I really like everyone and actually kind of miss the USA a lot,” Soonthronrak said.
After the school year is over, exchange students leave their temporary home to return to their home country. Koch says she became very close with Rudy, and Rudy even stayed a few extra weeks because she did not want to leave.
When the day came for Rudy to say goodbye, Koch and her family wanted to enjoy their last day together.
“We went to Top of the Hill for her last dinner; it was so surreal, she was crying,” Koch said. “We tried to treat it like a regular day so we weren’t that emotional, but I just remember all of her bags were downstairs and we packed up and drove her to the airport.”
Neither Hartsock nor Zanavich have had any contact with Soonthornrak since he returned to Thailand. This summer, Reynolds and his family will go to Denmark, Germany and France to visit some of their previous exchange students. Koch and her family are planning to go to Germany in 2015 to visit Rudy.
— Taylor Maloch