Harrisville Central School - Pirates Log Yearbook (Harrisville, NY)

Page 32 text:

(From left): Maria Elena Aguirre, Senor Hugo Aguirre, Debbie, Senora Marietta Aguirre, Gina Aguirre, and Lucho Aguirre. Lee Ann presented a fine program of slides and com- ments to the student body and to a number of clubs and organizations in Harrisville during the fall and winter months. This stay in South America was one of the finest experiences of her life, an adventure she will treasure for the rest of her days. Senor and Senora Gonzales. Our second exchange student was Debbie Buckingham, also a member of this year's graduating class and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gary Buckingham. She spent her ten weeks as guest of Dr. and Senora Hugo Aguirre in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Her father is an obstetrician who owns a hospital and a cosmetics factory. She had two brothers, Hugo, married on Debbie's birthday while she was in Ecuador, and Lucho who is nineteen and who had spent four months in Pennsylvania. She also had two sisters, Maria Elena, a girl of eighteen who had also spent some time in the United States, and Gina, who is fourteen. Because of the visit of her brother and sister in our country, Debbie states that she had no language problem. She did learn a considerable amount of Spanish, nevertheless. Concerning Guayaquil, Debbie states that it provided quite a contrast to Har- risville since Guayaquil is a metropolis of a million or more inhabitants. There was considerably more to do in a community of this size. She took full advantage of the situation and attended a number of soccer games, dances, movies, and parties. The movies, oddly enough, were in English with Spanish sub-titles. Debbie also visited Salinas Beach and accompanied a number of other exchange students on a tour of the heart of the Andes. The group stopped in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. During this tour, Debbie had the experience of standing on the equator, of seeing an active volcano, Cotapaxi, and of viewing the highest mountain in the country, Mount Chimbaraso. Both Debbie and Lee Ann stated that one of their biggest problems was adjusting to the food. Not only were they temporarily taken aback by the different nature of the food itself, but the change in the hours of the meals also caused some re- adjustment. Dinner, for example, was at two and usually consisted of beef or poultry, rice, bread, soup, corn on the cob or a salad, with fresh fruit or pastry for dessert. One item which Debbie says she now misses is the variety of fresh fruit which her guest country provided, for example, fresh pineapple, coconuts, papaya, bananas, and native fruits. The poverty which both girls encountered while in their host country made them all the more appreciative of the abundance which exists in the United States. It has also made them more sympathetic towards the poor of our own country.

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EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN LATIN AMERICA (from left): Mariella Gonzalez, Lee Ann, Alehandro Gonzalez, Menita Gonzalez, and Giga Gonzalez. These were some of the children of Senor and Senora Alfredo and Aura Gonzalez, Lee Ann's host family in Venezuela. During the summer of 1973, Lee Ann Hoover, a member of the Class of 1974 and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold and Shirley Hoover, was one of two exchange students from our school to spend ten weeks in South America. Lee Ann was the guest of the Alfredo Gonzalez family of Valencia, Venezuela, a city some two-hours drive from the capital city of Caracas. In addition to her guest parents, Lee Ann had eight brothers and sisters. The two oldest Gonzalez children, both girls, are married. The family also included two brothers, age sixteen and twelve, a fourteen year old daughter, and three younger girls. Her guest father is the operator of a cafe in the heart of the city. He plans to open a second cafe in a near-by city. While in Venezuela, Lee Ann did not attend school as the students were already taking their finals when she arrived. As such, she was able to travel quite extensively throughout the area and the country and to come in con- tact with many. She learned a lot of Spanish , as she stated upon her return.

Page 33 text:

(from left) front: Kelly Buckingham, Mr. Buckingham, Senor Rodrigo Antonio Leao Bahia, Mrs. Buckingham, Marty Buckingham; back: Gary Buckingham, Debbie Bucking- ham, Kevin Buckingham. Shortly before Christmas, the Buckingham family added a son to their group in the person of Senor Rodrigo Antonio Leao Bahia, a native of Bello Horizonte, Brazil. Senor Bahia, who is fifteen, is the son of Senor and Senora Roberto Bahia. He has three sisters, all in school, and two brothers, also in school. Rodrigo's father operates a blanket factory with his brothers in Bello Horizonte, a city of some two million inhabitants. He also owns a farm in the country, a fact which accounts for Rodrigo's fondness for horses and horseback riding. Rodrigo, like all true South Americans, loves soccer. Since coming to Harrisville he has also acquired a liking for basketball as a spectator sport, he adds. He mentions the fact that he has gained over eleven pounds in less than a month. He attributes this gain to the fact that he is now the son of a grocer and eats all the time . In addition to horses and soccer, he enjoys music, reading, and swimming. He is in the process of learning to ski. We wish Rodrigo much success in his studies when he returns to Brazil.