Rotary. Exchange student spends year on North Shore

A FORiIGNER has lived in
our midst for 12 months,

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

” Her impression of the North
Shore: “Awesonic.”

Seventeen-year-old Vivienne
Funke returned fiome this weck to
South Africa after a whirlwind one-
year experience as a Rotary
Exchange student.

Her 12-month stay on the North
Shore was split evenly between
West Vancouver with the Coules
family,.and North Vancouver, in
the Casper household.

A week prior to

_teaving her “new

home” of Canada,
Funke recalled her
experiences in-a coun-
try she only recently
considered 4 snow-
capped land.

“This -year has
‘proved to be the most
valuable experience I
could ever have

wished for, and I°

believe everybody. should become
~. yan exchange student,” said the out-
"> going’Funke. |

“JA year as a Carson Graham stu-
‘'dent gave Funke an insight into the
vast differences between life as a

* teenager in Canada compared with

the life she knows in Cape Town.
“Y-had a flat-out blast, all the

oe “| freedom,” Funke enthused. “My

:.accent is becoming. ‘like, a little
Canadian, eh’,-and I parade around

in these huge jeans,”

The major difference the Grade
12 student found between her home
and the North Shore, apart from
“the chilly weather,” was the high
standard of iiving we enjoy. And
the freedom,

“The youth are much less bond-
ed to their families in Canada and
lead much freer lives.” she
observed. “There is an absence of
classification in Canada, Seuth
Africa is very aware of different
classes and status,”

Little did the admitted beach-
bum know J8 months ago that she
would spend the year 1993 apart
from her family. which includes

66 She listed a cross-Canada train
trek and a Vancouver Canucks game as

highlights. 99

three sisters, a dog and a cat.

“One afternoon in school some-
one gave a brief presentation about
the Rotary Exchange Program,”
recalled Funke. “I have always
been the curious sort, so ! signed up
for an interview, and before I knew
it I was on a plane to Canada.”

The best memories of her
Canadian experience are numerous.

Apart from the great friends she
met, she listed a cross-Canada train

trek and a Vancouver Canucks
gane as highlights.

She also found the education
system in Canada much different
from her private German school in
Cape Town.

“Apart from not having (o wear
a school uniform, § really liked the
courses that were offered at Carson
Graham.” she said, listing drama,
dance and woodworking as exam-
ples of courses that she could never
take in South Africa,

“Lalso love the way you can
walk downtown in the strangest
outfits and nobody will stare at you
or give you 3 hard time,” the future

diplomat said.

Speaking of
strange outfits, Funke
has a Rotary
Exchange blazer sag-
ging from the weight
of pins she’ has
exchanged for Castle
Lager beer cap pins
she made with her
father prior to leaving
for Canada.

Perhaps the most
imporiunt thing Funke
will take from her
one-year odyssey will be the self-
admitted pride she found she has
for her own country.

“Your host country becomes as
special to you as your own home,
but I can’t wait to get back to the
beach outside my house and do
some surfing,” she said. : ;

Funke also found a pride within
herself. .

“Vve committed mysclf to the

ve

motto, ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me’.

Wedn

esday, January 12,

1994 - North Shore News -

Pen

NEWS photo Tery Peters

ROTARY EXCHANGE student Vivienne Funke shows off some
of the souvenirs she collected during her 12-month stay. on the
North Shore. The 17-year-old South African attended Carson
Graham secondary, and considers Canada her second home.
A year away gave Funke an insight into the vast differences
between life as a teenager in Canada compared with the Sife
she knows in Cape Town. She returned to South Africa this