Global Partners Blog

The year went by pretty fast for the Toyo 2009/2010 students in Edmonton. The sayonara party is done and the students are preparing for their departure back to Japan on Monday March 15th. What an excellent year it was and kudo’s to all the Toyo students for their hard efforts while here in Canada! I am always so proud to see what great representatives the students are for GPI’s Edmonton programs and I was very impressed at seeing the improvement in all the students English whole they were giving their farewell speeches at the sayonara party.

You will all be missed by your host families as you created so many fond memories together.

Best of luck in your future endeavors

Chang Bo, one of our students attending Miller High School in Regina, Saskatchewan, was very fortunate to have held to Olympic Torch as it made its way across Canada. What an exciting moment! Congratulations, Chang!

The family of our High Prairie, Alberta Program Coordinator, Laura Daley is challenging the community of High Prairie and other Global Partners Institute host families and Program Coordinators to contribute to two excellent and worthy causes…The Canadian Cancer Society and the Red Cross Haiti Relief fund.

Laura’s husband Steve Daley and her son Trent Daley thought it would be fun to have a father/son challenge. So on St Patrick’s Day the team with the most donations wins. The losing team will be dyeing their hair green and or shaving their head for their respective cause. Here is the ‘before’ picture of Steve and Trent. We will post the after picture later.

Anyone wishing to donate to either cause can follow the links and instructions below to do so:

Online Directions for Trent’s Page
visit www.cancer.ca/reachforacure, click on “2010 Fundraisers”, click on “Make a Donation” and then search for event name “Green or Gone”.

OnLine Directions for Steve’s Page
1. Go to Red Cross.ca
2. Click on ‘Please Join us’
3. Click on ‘Fund raise for Haiti’
4. Click on ‘Find an Existing Page’
5 Type in Steven Daley
6. Click on Steven Daley’s name
7. Click on ‘Donate Now’ and follow the prompts

Dorothy Aoki, our BC Regional Manager, and her husband, Daryl, attended the men’s hockey game last night as Canada took on Norway. Our boys in Red and White beat Norway 8-0. Go Canada!!

Here’s Dorothy and Daryl with Walter Gretzky, father of Wayne Gretzky – Canada’s hockey hero!

While downtown Vancouver, they also managed to see the Olympic Flame.

So proud of all our athletes!!

Our congratulations go out to Lorna Driesen and her family on the birth of their daughter, Katherine (Katie) Grace Driesen. Katie was born February 8th, weighing 8lbs 11oz. Lorna tells us she has “the loveliest red hair and bluish-green eyes”.

Lorna is one of our program coordinators in Edmonton, Alberta.

We are excited to welcome a new little one in to our GPI Family!

Submitted by Neil Hosler, Northern Alberta Regional Manager

Mr Kenzo Okada, English teacher and International Coordinator for Momoyama High School, in Osaka Japan, just recently finished his Alberta inspection tour, visiting his students currently residing in Red Deer, Camrose and Grande Prairie.

We are happy to report that all the Alberta, Momoyama students that arrived January 22nd, 2010 are all settling in well and enjoying their new host families, schools, and community placements.

As the Northern Alberta Regional Manager, it has been my pleasure to visit the students and schools with Mr. Okada annually since 2006. I really have enjoyed all that he has taught me about working with his students. He has enlightened me about all that the school does in Japan to prepare their students prior to coming to Canada. Momoyama High School students are very lucky to have such a proactive school representing them.

Mr Okada is soon to be on his eastern branch of his tour, visiting Toronto and then New Brunswick before returning home to Japan to report his findings to the students parents back in Japan.

For international students interested in attending university in Canada, the University of Alberta is offering the following scholarship opportunities. These are for international students who are currently stuyding in Canada and who have an awards average of 80% or greater.

1. University of Alberta Maple Leaf Centenary Scholarship – $ 20,000 over 4 years.
2. University of Alberta Maple Leaf High School Scholarship (students qualify to apply for this award based on where they are currently studying) – up to $4000.

See more information here:
http://www.international.ualberta.ca/prospective/mapleleaf_scholarships.cfm

Application deadline is March 31, 2010.

Some students who just departed have kindly shared some of their insights and advice to our newly arriving international students:

Kohdai Ueno – Calgary, AB
Communicate with your host family very often and open your mind, do your best!

Moe Fukuchi – Calgary, AB
Get involved in volunteer work and school sports so that you can meet lots of friends. Be prepared to eat new foods and adapt to your host family.

Mari Okamoto – Didsbury, AB
Pay attention to anything you see with your eyes and ears. Opportunity of breaking your shell is everywhere.

Nao Nishimoto – Milk River, AB
It seems to be hard to live away from Japan at first, but everyone is very nice to us in Canada. I think that the most important thing is to try to become familiar with your host families and friends. I hope you will enjoy being here as exchange students.

Aya Ito - Keep smiling. Smiling helps you a lot, have fun!

Yasuto Sawai – from the Momoyama HS Grande Prairie program is sharing a traditional Ukrainian meal of perogies and kielbasa with his host brother and sisters, Jessica (left) Jonathan (Centre) and Rebecca (right) Easton.

GPI students throughout Canada, living with families of Ukrainian/Canadian Heritage may have heard that Ukrainian New Years celebrations (Malanka) occur on a different date than Canadian New Years celebrations. Many host families celebrate both which is a great way for the students to experience the rich cultural diversity of Canada.

Malanka is a Ukrainian folk holiday celebrated on January 13th, which is New Year’s Eve in accordance with the Julian calendar. Malanka commemorates the feast day of St. Melania. On this night in Ukraine, carolers traditionally went from house to house playing pranks or acting out a small play, with a bachelor dressed in women’s clothing leading the troop. Malanka caps off the festivities of the Christmas holidays, and is often the last opportunity for partying before the solemn period of Lent which precedes Easter.

On January 30th 24 students who were attending our Intensive English Program (IEP) before embarking on their year-long program, departed Abbotsford, BC for their long term host communities in Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan. It was an early morning for the students as they boarded the bus at 6:30am. They were a little tired but very excited to be arriving in their new host communities.

There was a minor glitch for the 4 students who were heading to Saskatoon. Their flight was cancelled, so they spent the night in a hotel near the airport with Elaine Barausse, our Operations Coordinator. All’s well that end’s well ~ they caught their flight to Saskatoon where they were met by our Saskatchewan Regional Manager, Jeannette Eddolls. Jeannette had a late night, as she had to drive the students to their host communities. Thanks, Jeannette!