Here in Ashville, North Carolina, I have one of the coolest careers around...
Hey Ya'll! I'm getting used to saying that, "ya'll" now that I've lived in North Carolina for 7 years. It really is convenient! Who wants to say, "Hey you all, or guys or…(insert less cool name for group here)…So, ya'll, I'm Sarah Jane, nice southern name. But I grew up in California, on the beautiful central coast, and I never thought I'd end up in the Appalachian Mountains. Luckily it is great out here! I've really come to dig it!
Here in Asheville North Carolina, I have one of the coolest careers around. I get to invite hundreds of international students to our beautiful mountain town each summer! I'm the Program Manager for all short term trips to the USA here at Xplore. I'm really attached to our summer programs, and our summer students because I get to make it all happen, start to finish.
Running international summer camps is a perfect fit for me. It's a
natural extension from my own travels as a student….I want to take you
on a trip so you can see where my passion came from!
France
I spent a year studying in Toulouse, France back when I was a university
student. My arrival was hilarious. The study abroad program had an
incorrect email for me, so we hadn't been in contact all summer. Oddly,
that I didn't seem to think that was a problem. I just booked my ticket and went
over there blind. I found my way to the school the day after I arrived, only to
find it closed, not to open for another month! Oops! A janitor let me in
to an office where he helped me find a contact number of someone in charge of
the international students. The coordinator and I spoke and she was shocked I
was there! She had assumed I wasn't coming since no one had heard from me. I
got myself an apartment and enrolled in school and had one of the best years of
my life.
India
I left America in May time. I was going around the world technically,
though I really only had a few destinations. After visiting friends in
Europe I landed early morning in the hot, smokey, smelly air of New Delhi.
I was meeting a friend there and we had four months to travel around
India, getting off the tourist track by volunteering our skills on organic
farms. Maybe some of you have heard of the organization WWOOF? Well
in some countries WWOOFing is quite established, in India at the time, there
wasn't much structure, you just contacted the farmers and asked if you could
come help out. We ended up working at some really interesting places and got to
meet lots of families who really gave us an interesting perspective of
rural India.
Thats me one day off. We hiked to a waterfall where lots of locals
went for a swim. This little girl was helping her mom peel corn, to cook and
sell to the tourists. I helped her out for a bit. A little view of my
travel style: I'm the type who'd rather shuck the corn with someone than just buy it
from them. I like to get involved.
My friend had an unexpected family tragedy and had to leave me. I had
about 2 months left and I was going it alone. I can't say that didn't rock me a
little. India isn't the easiest place to travel alone as a western woman. Or
any woman most likely. I went south where I worked on a reforestation
project and made some life long friends.
Thailand
I left India in late August. It was so hot there, but I wasn't going
anywhere cooler. I was off to Thailand. I met up with my cousin
there, to do some more volunteer work and get to know the locals.
Here I am taking down the fast growing weeds around baby papaya trees.
I'm a huge fan of tropical fruit. On this farm there were jackfruit
trees, papaya, mango and banana. Heavenly! This farm was close by a
school. The children were really too young to learn much English from us, but
we were invited all the same to give them some lessons. We taught the ABC's
with some songs and pretty charts we made, and we also took some Polaroid
pictures so we could leave them with the teachers.
See how young they are? It was really cute. This was my first classroom
teaching experience. Not to be forgotten.
I spent another 4 weeks in Thailand by myself, volunteering with an
environmental group that built mud brick homes. That was very educational, and
got me thinking about the types of projects I might want to start elsewhere….
Bringing it Full Circle
My travels have brought me all over the world and in each place I
sought out intercultural interaction. Go figure that I now make
intercultural opportunities possible for others! I've stayed with
host families in Spain, Morocco, India, Thailand, France, and Turkey too.
All were such formative experiences!
For Xplore USA I meet some of Asheville's most interesting and fun
loving families and pair them up with outgoing teens from Europe,
sparking some amazing friendships and unforgettable experiences.
In North Carolina, Florida, California, Washington and I'm sure more
places in the future, I set up camps for international students to enjoy their
summer vacation while making new friends from different cultures, and learning
about America. Most of our programs include English lessons too, but they
all include intercultural interaction, whether it's through a service learning
project with a community organization, through American
teens participating in the programming, or with tours of community
services like schools, police departments or fire stations.
I'm so glad to be apart of something so valuable to today's bright
young minds. Hooray for international education!
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