CULTURE SHOCK ADJUSTMENT

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 28, 2005 | by LISA MARTNEZ THE GAZETTE

Quoc Le was used to 10-hour school days, six days a week. The 17- year-old never thought much about pushing his way through the crowds on the heatseared streets of Ho Chi Minh City, his hometown in Vietnam.

Now, Le lives on a 40-acre farm in Calhan, a small town in eastern El Paso County. He attends a rural high school four days a week and has learned the value of a thick coat during a Colorado winter.

As part of a study-abroad program, Le moved in with the Wheeler family, whose home and beat-up cars are the only signs of life in an otherwise desolate landscape.

The property is basically 40 acres of dirt that they hope to someday turn into a farm.

"It's different. Yes, it is different," said Le, who attended a boarding school in Vietnam and learned English at a young age. His parents are jewelers who often travel to other countries for business.

He was always a top student in Ho Chi Minh City, but his parents thought Le needed an academic edge to compete with other Vietnamese trying to find work.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is home to more than 5 million people. As the largest city in Vietnam, it is an important trading center for Chinese, Japanese and Western merchants.

A high school and college education doesn't amount to much in Vietnam unless those degrees come from the United States, Le said.

The quest for an American education brought Le to a place where few homes dot the farmland and few cars traverse the dirt roads.

It's not what he expected. He thought he'd be placed in a large, warm city -- something similar to his hometown.

International students aren't often placed in rural settings like Calhan, said Sue Clayton, area representative for the program.

Organizers try to match preferences of the exchange student and the host family, but in Le's case, the initial family that offered to take him in was from a similar rural setting.

When that family canceled at the last minute, Le was placed with Steve and Becky Wheeler. He was on his way to the United States when Becky Wheeler saw an ad in the Ranchland News seeking a host family.

Le had adjusting to do, first to the weather and then to a slower pace of living.

He is spending his senior year at nearby Ellicott High School. He takes eight classes, including calculus, physics and accounting.

He hopes the high-level classes and straight-A grades will lead to a career as an accountant or banker.

His calculus teacher helped Le enroll in an online course that will earn him college credit if he's accepted to a university in the United States.

Like many American high school seniors, Le is researching schools across the country. He hopes his visa will be extended to continue his education here.

Le joined the Ellicott High math team, which recently placed third out of 23 in a regional competition.

He sometimes attends Mountain Springs Church with his host family. Buddhism is the most prevalent religion in Vietnam, but Le and his family back home have never been religious.

He saw snow for the first time when the family traveled to Divide for a weekend getaway.

Steve Wheeler, whom Quoc calls "Dad," playfully threw him into a 4-foot drift.

Le wondered what snow would taste like, but when he tried it, he was disappointed.

"No taste," Le said. "It's not as good as the food Mama cooks."

Le takes advantage of the quiet in Calhan. Without the distractions of city life, he concentrates on textbooks and doing online research.

Sometimes, he studies in his bedroom from the moment he gets home from school until midnight. He comes out only for dinner, or if it's his turn to do chores.

Other times, he'll take a break to hang out with his 17-year-old host brother, Matthew Wheeler, who taught him to play hacky sack, foosball and pingpong. The two go to basketball games together, and sometimes head to Colorado Springs for a night out.

They bring along Matthew's friends and go to the mall and movies.

"I was skeptical at first," Matthew said. "It's weird having someone foreign at your home. But now, he's like my brother. Only we never fight."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1669 or lmartinez@gazette.com

TO LEARN MORE

For information about the Center for Cultural Interchange, including information about hosting an exchange student, call 471- 2727.

In the center's Southern Colorado region, many of the 12 students who were placed in homes this year live in Colorado Springs and Falcon. Many of the students participating this year are from South America.