Stefanie Monschau ARRIVES!

Stefanie (Steffi) Monschau from Germany is our exchange student this year. She is the first of about 70 kids to arrive at the Idaho Falls Airport in Idaho Falls, ID. Unfortunatly, it didn't start off as smoothly as hoped. Steffi was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:09 PM.  At 10:22PM as we were en route to the airport, I got a message on Facebook from Steffi saying, "Hi Joanna, I missed my flight to Idaho Falls. The Plane from Boston to Denver arrived too late. Tomorrow at 9:45 am departs my flight to Idaho Falls."
Somewhere along the line I got in my mind she was at the Salt Lake Airport, so at 10:30 this morning I was anxiously waiting for her to get off the plane with the other 50 passengers aboard the flight from Salt Lake. By 11:30 I was in a panic. I was sure she slept thru the unloading and reloading of the plane and was back on her way to Salt Lake. I was on the phone with the flights team, calling out a search party, as she walks through the terminal doors with an adorable grin on her face and backpack slung over her shoulder. WHAT A RELIEF!!!! Come to find out, she never even mentioned Salt Lake, I just made that part up in my mind.

OOPS! So glad you finally made it to Idaho Steffi!!!!

Idaho Needs More Foreign Exchange Host Families - Local News Story - KIFI Idaho Falls

Idaho Needs More Foreign Exchange Host Families - Local News Story - KIFI Idaho Falls

World's Largest Potato Attracks Foreign Models

Nikolai Kongelf (Norway), Flavia Foxx (Spain), Snorre Birkelund Wille (Norway)

The words "Vacation" and "Blackfoot, Idaho" are not a top Google search result. Infact, of the 142,000,000 search results for "vacation", only 106,000 had reference to Blackfoot, Idaho. But Google "World's Largest Potato", and it is all about Blackfoot, Idaho! Oh ya, baby! This is where it's at!

Recently, the EF Foundation for Foreign Models  Study, visited this world famous sight and was not only impressed with the size and detail of this monstrousety, but were in awe of the undeniable lure this lumber and chicken-wire spray foam covered structure, had on them. It's one of those bizzare attractions that you almost don't want to admit you have. But once you hear about the giant potato, you just have to see it with your own eyes!

VEGAS BABY!

Our very diverse group of 12 exchange students, along with 5 members of the Baird family, all piled in the 28' Jayco RV at approximately 6:40 PM on April 29, 2009 and hit the high road, as these amazing, lovable, odor emitting teenagers anxiously anticipated the arrival in the "Real America". Never before have I heard Las Vegas, Nevada referred to as "The Real America", but when you are dealing with teenagers from 7 different countries that received their American History Education from MTV and Hollywood movies, it only makes sense that Las Vegas, in their young innocent minds, would be a typical representation of what they believe is The United States Of America!

 

America, being the only country that has the legal age of drinking set at a unbelievably old age of 21, was a difficult concept for many of the kids to grasp, and even harder for them to believe that Las Vegas, although an American icon, also follows the age limit of 21. The comment was made more then once, "For being a free country, America sure has a lot of restrictions!"

Thankfully, all kids on the trip were on their best behavior and were a pure delight to take.

Since many of the kids are from large cities, Las Vegas was a breath of fresh air for them. However, upon their return to their rural towns in Idaho, they experienced extreme levels of homesickness... Good thing for them they get to return to their home countries in a month.

Amongst our more "responsible" group on the trip we have Sue, Lennart, Andy, Marlene, Angelea, Tello & Francine.. Perhaps next to Marlene and Lennart, Francine may have been considered the most responsible.

Lennart, Sue & Marlene wasted no time standing around, wondering what to do. They were determined to use every minute they were given in Vegas to the full extent!

Occasionally we would run into our Thailand girls, but they were off and running the second the RV parked!

The Tournament Of Kings dinner and show at the Excalibur, one of the Vegas strip casinos, was a hit! Definately worth the $35 per ticket we got at half price thanks to my beautiful neice and her brother-in-law. Thanks Jerica & Shane!

Moritz, Diego, Juan, Saskia & Flavia spent the mornings, that started around 11, in the pools at the Grand View Condos we stayed at. Then made up for their few hours of rest and relaxation when they hit the strip each afternoon till as late in the evening as they dared push their curfews to.

All in all it was a great trip and I am so glad I got to experience "The Real America" with such a fine group of foreign exchange students!

Vee Rianrungrod (Thailand), Lennart Kuhl (Germany), Marlene Gumpoldsberger (Austria), Flavia Foxx (Spain), Juan Gorostiza (Spain), Loris Bilgreg (Switzerland), Saskia Weingast (Austria),
Chavisa "Film" Tuntachon (Thailand), Thassirin "Noop" Thovanich (Thailand), Sohyeon "Sue" Park (South Korea), Diego Zapata (Colombia), Moritz Braun (Germany)

Looking For Host Families

Hello Friends and Family, & friends of friends and family,
This past year we have embarked on a new adventure & it has been one that will affect us for years to come! We were approached by a sweet fiddle playing lady about hosting a foreign exchange student. Any of you who know me, know that I was all over that one! I love to share what I have with people, especially when I know they want what I have! So within a few days we were scheduled to host a girl from Thailand. I soon found out that there were many, many more kids that were signed up, paid all their fees, and were just anxiously awaiting to be chosen from a host family. That's all it took for me to say, "Please let me take a second girl!" So a day later, we were also scheduled to host a girl from Austria. Much to my relief, 2 exchange students is the maximum amount of kids a household can host at one time, or we might have one from every country with us right now! I tend to go overboard at times :)


Around November of last year we were asked to be an IEC, International Exchange Coordinator, for the EF program, as the current IEC was moving out of the state. This involves keeping tabs on 5 of the kids currently in the area for the school year. We are in contact with the kids, their host parents & the schools they attend to make sure all parties involved are having the best experience possible. Let me just say, it has been a thrill to get to know so many kids from so many different countries! I love this job!


Now, the reason I am writing to you is to ask if you or anyone you know would be interested in hosting an exchange student for the 2010 school year. Tello & I have a designated area that we are in charge of, which is from Blackfoot to Preston and everything in between, Challis and the surrounding areas, and everything from Pocatello to Burley. So we have quite a large area to find host families. Anyplace else in Idaho we can still place, we just aren't the one's personally in charge of those schools.


Currently there are hundreds of foreign students anxiously waiting to be picked by a family to come spend a year in America!


Host families responsibilities include: Provide a room, meals, and a stable family environment. Undergo an application process, including an in-home interview, background check, and submission of personal references. More importantly, host parents take on the role of second parents for their exchange student.


The kids come over with their own spending money and pay for all of their own supplies, activities, fees, etc.


If you would like more information for yourself or if you know someone who might be interested in hosting an exchange student, please pass along this information & drop me a text, email or phone call! There are so many kids I already wish I could host for next year, but since I personally can’t take them all, I would love to place them in surrounding areas. For most of these kids, their greatest desire is to come to America! Will you help make their dreams come true?
Thank you in advance !


Tello & Joanna Baird
Tello / (208)339-0711 / tellobaird@gmail.com
Joanna / (208)681-4946 / joannabaird75@gmail.com
http://www.effoundation.org/