Pictured L-R: President Katie Geise, Petra, Milko, Youth Exchange Leader Cheri Krull
Our program today was Milko and Petra our exchange students!
Milko attends Southwestern Central School and will graduate in June. He is from Paraguay and has lived with the Kreinheders and the Morrises.
Paraguay is a landlocked country in the heart (corozan) of South America, surrounded by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The language is Spanish and native Guarni.
Population is 7 million happy, easy-going people, who care less about money. It is the epicenter of Jesuit Ministries with the vast majority of citizens Roman Catholic.
Lots of internal wars and conflicts and Milko’s grandfather fought and received medals for his service.
Greetings between men are a handshake; greetings between man and woman are kisses on each cheek. Don is the title for Mister and Dona is the title for Mrs.
Tourism has been increasing because it is less expensive than Argentina.Carnival is celebrated in February with more than 100,000 visitors and celebrants. Women dance in the street with flowered dresses and there is competition between clubs.
Population is 7 million happy, easy-going people, who care less about money. It is the epicenter of Jesuit Ministries with the vast majority of citizens Roman Catholic.
Lots of internal wars and conflicts and Milko’s grandfather fought and received medals for his service.
Greetings between men are a handshake; greetings between man and woman are kisses on each cheek. Don is the title for Mister and Dona is the title for Mrs.
Tourism has been increasing because it is less expensive than Argentina.Carnival is celebrated in February with more than 100,000 visitors and celebrants. Women dance in the street with flowered dresses and there is competition between clubs.
The major town is on a river with 3 beaches. Other attractions include cathedrals, ruins and a 100 year old train.
Milko has 2 brothers and 1 older sister. His parents own a meat processing plant. He wakes at 6am Monday-Friday, dresses in his school uniform and walks to school. They start each money at school with a hymn. Everyday they head home for lunch for the big meal of the day.
After school and evenings, Milko and his friends play cards, soccer, etc. and enjoy the cold drink TERERE and asado barbeque, sometimes until 3 am. They all celebrate QUINCEANOS – the 15th birthday, very dressy and a BIG party!
Petra Sucic is from Croatia – her English is impeccable. She will graduate from JHS and has lived with the Beeches, the McCaslins and is now living with the Bakewells.
After school and evenings, Milko and his friends play cards, soccer, etc. and enjoy the cold drink TERERE and asado barbeque, sometimes until 3 am. They all celebrate QUINCEANOS – the 15th birthday, very dressy and a BIG party!
Petra Sucic is from Croatia – her English is impeccable. She will graduate from JHS and has lived with the Beeches, the McCaslins and is now living with the Bakewells.
Croatia has a sea border with Italy. Petra lives in the capital of Zagreb but there are 21 counties; the language has 3 dialects – but only 1 is official.
The oldest Neanderthal findings have been discovered in Croatia. Ninety percent of the country is Roman Catholic.
There have been many political changes over the years and today they have a Parliamentary system. The president is now a woman.
Petra’s mother works for the Chamber of Economy, working on United Nations and European Union issues.
The Croatian language is extremely difficult with 7 different cases and they conjugate everything and have many adverbs and prefixes. They have their own alphabet, but it is no longer used.
The tallest building in Zagreb is the cathedral. Petra’s father’s uncle designed the main entry buildings to the cemetery.
Petra attends school at the Memira Museum and she can’t run in gym class because it would shake the building too much. She attends 15 mandatory classes including attending an opera each month and reporting on. She insists she suffers from opera PTSD!!
Petra spends every summer in Omis on the coast, enjoying swimming, water skiing, zip lining, etc. (IF YOU HAVE A MOMENT, TAKE A LOOK AT THE YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF ZIPLINING ON OMIS ON YOUR COMPUTER!)
1 Croatian Kuna equals 0.15 US dollar. The country is a member of the World Trade Organization, NATO and the European Union. The country excels in industrial production and tourism.
Petra’s father was a designer on the project to produce the fastest electric car.
Croatia is famous for designing the torpedo, the Dalmatian dog, the TESLA company, the necktie and doilies.
The entire country loves Coffee – but NOT Petra.
Croatia took second place in last year’s World Cup and the Dais Cup in 2018.
It was a delight to hear all about these young people and their homes.