“Will there be snow?”
A month earlier in Taiwan, one of our
five young Taiwanese students asked this as we discussed what to expect on
their stay in Maine for our Winter in Maine program. There hadn’t been much
snow in December, so they were a little worried. Snow was part of the reason
they were coming.
As we all now know, they weren’t
disappointed.
Arriving at the Portland Jetport on
January 28th, they were greeted by nearly two feet of the white stuff following
Winter Storm Juno’s historic record of 23.8 inches in Portland, making it the
fourth largest snowstorm for Portland on record. What a welcome! And there
would be more to come, along with one of the coldest Februarys on record.
Five Taiwanese boys made the long flight
and would stay with us at our home in Windham for three weeks — Richard (16),
Victor (11), PJ (11), Austin (12), and Wei-Da (13). They would attend classes
at Windham Christian Academy during the day and get involved with winter
activities in the evening and on weekends.
The purpose of our Winter in Maine program
is to allow young people from Taiwan the opportunity to interact with American
students in a regular classroom environment. It’s a wonderful chance for them
to see what it’s like to be a student in America. They dissected worms,
performed chemistry experiments, did grammar and math exercises, were invited
by schoolmates to their events, visited the Capitol building in session in
Augusta, played sports and made friends. We thank the teachers, staff and
leadership at Windham Christian Academy for hosting them.
No lack of snow, the group was able to
go snow tubing at Seacoast Funpark, make a huge snow fort at home, play soccer
in the snow, ski at popular areas like Lost Valley and Shawnee Peak, and go ice
skating at Portland’s Troubh Ice Arena. Taiwan is a tropical island, so it was
a treat to be able to get out and experience winter sports and life in Maine.
On February 17th, the crew headed back
to Taiwan with fond memories of friends, teachers and a wonderful winter
experience in Maine.
We’d like to thank Windham Eagle and our
friends in Windham for their kindness and for the support of our programs for
Taiwanese students in Maine.
No comments:
Post a Comment