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Exchange piles boys into home Mail Tribune photo by Bob Pennell Korean student Dong-wook Lee, 17, and a living room full of classmates tune in to MTV with their breakfast. Cultural effort brings teens to Medford area By Vicki Guarino ASHLAND � Mattresses pad the living room and family room and stretch out to the back deck. Suitcases, some still open, are crammed in corners and under chairs and tables. Clean and dirty breakfast dishes are piled around the sink. The TV is tuned to MTV, the sound off. The computer is bringing up the newest e-mails. Around the rambling two-story Ashland house mill 18 teenage boys. Some are just getting out of bed; others have finished breakfast and, cameras in hand, are ready to go. "I know it looks chaotic, but really it isn�t," says host Rick Foertsch, standing in the midst of it all eating a bowl of fried rice. "Really, the house is in better shape now than when it is just us.�� "Just us" is Foertsch and his teenage son and daughter. But last Tuesday, the family opened its doors to the region�s first Korean student exchange hosted by the Southern Oregon Commission on American-Asian Affairs. The commission�s Friendship School program with Inchon, South Korea, is the junior version of a cultural outreach to expand economic, educational and cultural opportunities for Southern Oregon. In April, the commission brought Inchon business and development leaders to Medford to encourage trade and Korean investment. They toured the airport and White City industrial sites. The commission�s activities are supported by Medford and Jackson County governments. Months before their elders arrived here, plans for the students� visit were underway. Foertsch, a commission member and private contractor of alternative high school programs for local school districts, outlined daily itineraries. He thought of everything from English language instruction with a former U.S. interpreter to a trip to the redwoods to swimming in the Foertschs� backyard pool. He arranged to have the group meet with Medford Mayor and exchange program supporter Lindsay Berryman at City Hall, participate in a workshop on American Indian culture, and attend a llama festival. Before they fly back to Korea next Monday, the boys will float the Rogue, tour Wildlife Images animal rehabilitation center and join Sierra Club members on a hike. The one aspect of the trip that escaped Foertsch�s planning, however, was lodging. He didn�t realize how difficult it would be to round up a dozen or more host families in the middle of summer vacations. As the Friendship School�s arrival date drew near, Foertsch could see only one reasonable alternative. "It just seemed easier to me to say, �y�all come�.�� That�s 15 Korean boys, their English teacher and the principal at their 1,650-student, all-boys high school. The school is the same one attended by the son of Oregon�s Korean trade representative. Then Foertsch�s son, Matt, brought over a couple of friends. "I guess he didn�t want us to get lonely,�� Foertsch says. The crowd spreads through four bedrooms and a camper, as well as the living room, family room and decks. They share four bathrooms and one laundry room without fuss. Foertsch�s 18-year-old daughter, Summer, gives up her room to the guests and sleeps on a futon in the family room � sleeps blissfully through the comings and goings of breakfast. Teacher Youn-Oh Noh has divided his students into three work groups for cooking and cleaning. "They politely moved me out of the kitchen,�� Foertsch says. Sixteen-year-old Wonbin Lee, with the morning off from chores, lingers over breakfast to talk about the group�s first trip to the United States. "The view of nature, the air, all of this makes me happy," Wonbin says in clearly understandable English. Classmate Byung-wook Lee, also 16, joins a crowd at the computer checking e-mail from home. Teacher Noh wanted them to e-mail in English, but someone downloaded Korean software from the Web, so the screen fills with calligraphy. Byung-wook says he is keeping friends posted on the tour. He says that while Southern Oregon is much like he expected, right down to the hot weather, people here have surprised him. "The people are so kind,�� he said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA