Ukrainian Student in Orlando! / Украинский ученик в Орландо!

I'm very excitid to announce that my parents will be hosting a Ukrainian student in their home during the 2006-07 school year. His name is Sasha and he's from Melitopol', in the Zaporizhzhya oblast, in southeastern Ukraine, along the Azov Sea.

This all came about from a forward I received from another former volunteer, asking for help in finding host families for FLEX students. FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) is an American Councils exchange program for high school-age students from former Soviet republics. This, of course, includes Ukraine. To make a long story short, my parents applied to become host parents with Dyadya Vanya serving as the coordinator and possibly Andy Minear as the contact at Winter Park High School, my old stomping grounds back in the mid-90's. :-) Just as a reminder, Dyadya Vanya (Mr. Sheehan) was my brother's Russian teacher in high school. He's retired now and has served as my Russian tutor when I've been in Orlando. For more than a year now, he's worked with my mom on learning Russian. Andy Minear was a classmate of mine in high school and is now the director of choirs at Winter Park. He also studied Russian with Mr. Sheehan.

So, next Friday, I think, Sasha will arrive. My mom told me a little about the process of choosing a student. She and my dad were given three names. The first was a girl with pet allergies, so obviously she wouldn't want to live with Max and Merlin. The second was a boy who said he likes playing sports. Then, the third boy writes that he enjoys singing, playing the piano and reading books such as Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. After telling me all of this, my mom asks, "So, Brian, can you guess who we decided on?" The answer, by the way, was obvious.

I hope I'll be able to fly home in the not-too-distant future. Maybe at the end of September when my current assignment through the temp agency will come to an end. My other incentive for flying down there on that weekend is that the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will be giving a concert in Orlando that Saturday night.