Posted on 10/19/2001 6:36:39 AM PDT by SJackson
ALL they wanted was to host a German foreign exchange student. Is that so Wrong?
Harry and Brenda Greene of tiny Buchanan, Georgia volunteered their hospitality to 15-year-old German student, Stefan Sipemann. The 40-year-old security guard and his wife even went to the expense of buying a new box spring and mattress. The couple looked forward to meeting Stefan, they thought the experience of hosting the boy would be "enlightening."
The meeting was not to be. Hours before the Greenes were to meet young Stefan at the airport, they were contacted by the agency and told that the boy could not stay with them because their home was a single-wide trailer. The company explained that in Europe mobile homes are considered "holiday homes" and not permanent housing. The Greenes have since told reporters that the agency treated them like "trailer trash."
Apparently, the agency feared that living in a trailer park could expose the student to more than he bargained for.
Someone failed to explain to the Greenes that foreign exchange programs are designed for Upper-Middle-Class suburbanites -- doctors, lawyers and such -- who want to feel good about themselves by telling their golfing buddies "You know, Carol and I are hosting a foreign exchange student this fall."
So rich spoiled brats from other countries come and live with rich people in this country and they compare the quality of the two countries video games.
Meanwhile, Harry and Brenda Greene, oblivious to the socio-economic underpinnings of the process, rode their Hush Puppies into an office and said they'd like to host a student from another country. Seemed logical to them.
The agent looked at them, then looked at their car, figured it would never happen but gave them an application anyway, hoping they would skip the part about filling it out and bringing it back. The Greenes did fill out the application and they did return it. But then, they didn't know they were up against a rigid caste system.
At the last minute someone at the agency bothered to read the Greenes' application and realized they lived in a trailer park; panic ensued, "We can't have some German kid living in a trailer park!... my G-d, when he gets home with a shaved head and 'N.W.A.' tattood on his neck his parents will sue us!"
The decision to reject the Greenes is contrary to the true spirit of a student exchange program; an actual cultural exchange. Taking a kid from Germany and plunking him down in a trailer park in Georgia --- that is an EXCHANGE! A space alien who crashed landed in the trailer park would feel no more out of place than the teutonic teen.
Does the average foreign exchange student get to eat possum? Does he get to marry a girl named Amber, sire a child and get divorced, all in one semester, back at Dusseldorf High? Do teenagers in Germany sneak beer into tractor pulls then shoot street signs on the way home?
This is totally insane.
Conversely, If I were going to be an exchange student in france, and was told that it would be in a modern middle-class house, I would not want to wind up sleeping on hay and having to crush grapes all day for some smelly frogs, as happened to Bart Simpson.
Many people who live in trailers do so because zoning allows this form of inexpensive housing. People who live in trailers are real people, who often do not make enough money, or choose to do other things (like buy land) than buy a big suburban monster house.
If this "enlightened" exchange staff had their way - these moderate income people would be forced off their land and into goverment subsidized housing - which may be their form of the American way.
The only thing worse than this would have been housing him with a gun owner.Or a Christian.
The story was told as a straight one and I still thought it was some phony story such as people with the same name etc.
Then during the campaign, I noted AlGore mentioned how he and Tipper lived in a trailer park in Daleville, Alabama. I still wonder about Qualyle and Bush, but would not dismiss the story as inaccurate now.
What do you mean get married?
Like it or not, there are class distinctions in American society and life in a trailer park is hardly an introduction to the upper reaches of society. A student from Europe who lived in a trailer park would likely not have a positive experience which would make him a friend of America.
Look, the same things that happen in a trailer park happen in "upper reaches of society" with great regularity. Just because one class uses grey poupon and another class uses French's mustard doesn't mean the foreign exchange student won't see the same sort of things. Decadence knows no class of people. Besides, German society is not exactly one you find in a convent.
I have to laugh everytime someone wrinkles their nose when they find out we live in a double wide. I even joke that I live in a double wide mobile home estate... of course we have two outbuildings, one with dog runs, a deck. We are in the process of drywalling the interior to give it less of a "trailer" look.
We also live far enough out in the country that we can see the stars at night.
We've chosen not to spend money on a fancy house, but rather invest in computer equipment, live a comfortable life, send our kids to a Christian school.
We love our lifestyle. It's a step slower than "in town"
While I live in a large wooden frame house, many residents of my county live in nice trailers. I would much prefer to live in a trailer on 5 acres of beautiful land than in a condo, apartment, or "planned housing".
Open your eyes to other nice Americans - not everyone who eats what you do for lunch, or wears your same work clothing, is trash.
Didn't I?
Our family chooses to have a stay-home mom, and Christian school tuition - instead of new cars and traditional house.
As they approached old age, they both decided to move back to the area where they were both born and raised. They first looked at real estate but couldn't find just what they wanted. They finally bought land from one of their old school mates and just put a double wide trailor on it. They put a front and rear porch on it and fixed it up to where it looks about as nice as any home.
I live in a large brick house which was built in 1979. It is very nice but really no more comfortable that their trailer. The last time a hurrican came through, we tried to get them to stay with us but they were perfectly content and safe in their trailer.
The fact that they live in a rural area with a large yard and a couple of nice outbuildings doesn't hurt.
After they had each gone shooting, they loved it. We started doing lots of trap shooting and it became the must do when their friends and relatives came to visit. We believe it was a successful culture exchange. Some German and Dutch teenagers learned about guns and we learned about teenagers. Teenagers definitely have their own culture.
What matters is that in your heart you know you are doing the right thing. So what if that means you don't have a fancy house and SUV.
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