Astoria High School - Zephyrus Yearbook (Astoria, OR)

Page 30 text:

KA ARTIN —Poppe ne of the four exchange students that arrived this fall in Astoria is Martin Poppe. Mar¬ tin’s home city is Hamberg, West Germany, a city of about 100,000 people. He admits that he was a little surprised to be placed in a small city like As¬ toria. He had requested that his exchange group send him to California, but he is glad now that he got a chance to stay in Astoria. There are some differences that Martin noticed between Astoria and Hamberg. The teachers in his school in Ger¬ many are the ones who change classes, while the students stay in the same classrooms. He feels that America in general is more conservative than Germany. Another interesting observa¬ tion that Martin made is that the barbers don’t cut hair quite the same as they do in Ger¬ many. Overall, Martin feels that American teenagers are a lot like German teens. He agrees with the adage that people are the same everywhere. Some of the activities Martin is interested in included pho¬ tography, skiing, and waterski¬ ing. When he returns to Ger¬ many, his goal is to look like a punk. In general Martin felt that “everyday I had fun hen , it was a good time and I me t alot of really nice people.” ast school year, ru¬ mors spread that a gigantic six feet four inch Spanish ex¬ change student would arrive in Astoria and help take our basketball team to state once again. When Alex Bringas arrived, he wasn’t quite what was expected, but most girls didn’t complain. Alex is from Mataro, Spain, a city on the coast with a population of 100,000 people. At his school in Spain, Alex notices more of an em¬ phasis on academics then there is here in the United States. Here school is more of a fun place to be then in Spain. This year at Astoria High School, Alex was able to play on our football team as the kicker. He was also looking forward to playing basket¬ ball, swimming, and playing baseball in our school, but after fall season, all of this changed. Because of an ob¬ scure Oregon rule, Alex and the other exchange students were unable to compete in the Cowapa League. Alex enjoys our shcool sys¬ tem a lot, but he was con¬ fused by the idea of lockers at first. Alex stayed with Eino and Annikki Johnson for the school year. Alex 3 r 1NGAS

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FRIENDS LEFT: These girls have got their claim made on these guys for this Sadie Hawkins picture. MIDDLE RIGHT: Kristen Jacobsen gazes in amazement as Shannon Culver sneezes re¬ peatedly. BELOW: Annette Glaser and Jolene Thiel don’t have to force their smiles as they dis¬ cuss their lives for their future biographies. ABOVE: Kim Utti and Tony Perkins smile shyly for the camera. LEFT: Eric Sarin and Erron Viuhkola “blow it” as they take a “time out” for this picture. MIDDLE LEFT: Meelee Teagle and Erin Larson smile as the energetically “head butt each other. 25

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L Wmmd ast year Astoria High School was blessed with two Spanish exchange students. Fernando Alba is from Leon, Spain, a city with 100,000 people. His stay with Thom¬ as and Kathy Carmichael lasted one year. Fernando is interested in basketball, ski club, and soc¬ cer. He helped our new soc¬ cer team strive to a winning season. His basketball career was cut short by the news of the rule about exchange stu¬ dents in sports. Fernando was glad to be able to see a Trail Blazer’s NBA basket¬ ball game. One of the hardest transitions that Fernando made was learning how to get around in Astoria. Ac¬ cording to him, transporta¬ tion here is a lot more diffi¬ cult. The bus system in Spain is much more efficient, while here teenagers are forced to find a ride with friends or with their parents. This was not Fernandos first experience as an ex¬ change student. He had been an exchange student in England one month every year for five years. Upon his return home, Fernando plans to study technical or electrical engi¬ neering. ' Fernando le$a Teuo “YrJ ONEN T M he strong Scandinavian heritage here in Astoria made Teijo Yrjonen feel right at home when he arrived in Au¬ gust. Teijo is from Kerava, Fin¬ land, which has a population of about 20,000 people. Needless to say, there was not much of a culture shock for him. Teijo stayed here with Roy and Nancy Chamberlain. He was able to play soccer and track and he really enjoyed the experience. Like most foreign exchange students he would like to visit California, and es¬ pecially Disneyland. Although Astoria has a strong Finnish background, there are a lot of differences be¬ tween Finland and the United States. His first surprise was the size of American cars; they’re a lot bigger than Finn¬ ish cars. The guys here lift weights more often and are more concerned with their phy¬ sique. Teijo also thought that requirements for school are harder in Finland, but school is not such a fun activity there. When he returns to Finland, Teijo has two more years of the equivalent to high school. After that he plans to go to college, but other than that he had nothing planned. Until then he planned to relax and absorb the American Society. 27