AFS San Diego

Location:
Angie and Herb Slocum’s home
14966 Vista de Pauma, Valley Center
(Google Map)

Instructions for liaisons:

• The students should arrive at the Slocum's between 5:00 – 7:00 pm.
• To minimize travel for families and to give the liaisons a chance to spend some time with the students, we are asking that the liaisons take their students to the event.
• Liaisons are also invited to stay longer or come back the next day.
• We suggest the liaison take the student out to dinner (doesn’t need to be fancy) on the way up. We will have snacks available, but not a full meal.
• We would like the liaisons to stay until 8:30 pm for a brief group discussion. We have not truly met with entire group of liaisons. This will help facilitate communication in the future.

If a liaison cannot take the student for whatever reason we expect that the liaison make alternate arrangements for the student to be taken to the camp, perhaps with another liaison or staff volunteer in the area. Please take this under your personal control to make those arrangements. Please let Jeff (our liaison coordinator) know via email or phone call, who will be bringing your student to the orientation, be that you or someone else.

Instructions for families:
On Sunday, the families will pick up the students. Parents and siblings arrive before noon. We’ll all have a barbeque lunch together at noon. Please bring your own meat (buns, if you need them) and something to share.

Families of…please bring enough to share realizing there will be @ 50 people
Remi, Kana – green salad
Manaka, Angelina –fruit salad or fruit
Karl and Vivienne - potato or mac salad
Marvin, Jean, Erlend – chips and dip
Constance, Tu, Joanna – burger fixins’ – (toms, onions, lettuce)
April, Cristina, Onur, Maureen – drinks
Joao, Jariyaporn, Mareenah – dessert

Between 1:00 – 3:00 pm we will have 3 concurrent orientations for parents, siblings and students each led by staff volunteers. At 3:00 pm we will have a briefing for all participants. This will only take a few minutes. After that, we’ll all clean up and make our way home.

This orientation is VERY IMPORTANT for families to attend, since we are going to talk about the classic issues that often arise during this time of the AFS student’s placement, regarding family life, getting along with friends and siblings, as well as school progress and issues. In past years we had situations where families did not attend orientations and subsequent issues created serious challenges for all involved, which could easily have been avoided altogether. The more involved the families are with the student’s experience, the more successful the entire AFS experience is.

STUDENTS - WHAT TO BRING
We’ll be sleeping in tents – so be prepared – I’m bringing a cot!
Try to keep your items to a backpack.

• Camera
• Sleeping bag & pillow or Blankets (It can get freezing cold even in Oct.)
• There are no linens…please bring your own
• If you don’t have a sleeping bag, perhaps a liaison has one you may borrow
• Toiletries – including towel and washcloth, pool towel
• Warm and cool clothes (I’ll try to look up the weather forecast)
• Remember its Southern California weather – “dress in layers”
• Change of clothes for 2 days
• Jackets/sweater
• Possibly shorts
• Walking shoes
• Swimsuit
• Something to share –
• Food – something that you make from your home country – we’ll share it on Saturday.
• Prepare a “talk”, talent about your home country (3-5 minutes). Last year the CD’s wouldn’t play – so make sure they play at home first. This can be anything from showing art, pics of your country, or talents such as…playing guitar (Karl – sorry I forgot to have you play @ picnic, piano (Joanna), sax (Marvin)

What to LEAVE at home…

• NO electronic devices of any kind…We are NOT embarrassed to take them away.
• This includes…cell phones, game boys, computers, ipods, mp3’s…
• This is a time to be “away from it all”
• We need your full attention – not part
• We’re there to interact, not withdraw behind headphones or electronic games

Any questions? Contact Becky Brooks, AFS Coordinator
yarden92084@yahoo.com or (760) 521-9087