Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Japanese exchange student Rin Hamada said her first Thanksgiving was "awesome."

Hamada, 17, is a Haines High School junior from Tokyo who is the school’s only exchange student this year. She spent Thanksgiving with the Podsiki family of Haines.

"I love turkey and I enjoy cooking," Hamada said. "I learned how to bake turkey and how to make stuffing and mashed potatoes."

She traveled to Haines in August to stay with host parents Greg and Teri Podsiki and their 17-year-old daughter, Teslin.

"We’ve had a lot of exchange students," Teslin said. "It’s really fun."

The Podsikis also have three older children.

"When we had our first exchange student, all the kids were here, and we did it because we thought it would be an enriching experience, and it was," Teri Podsiki said. "That’s why we keep doing it."

Hamada is the family’s fifth exchange student in the last eight years. "We’ve had three from Germany, one from Thailand and then Rin from Japan," Podsiki said.

Hamada previously attended a Japanese school with about 1,000 students in three grades, and wore a uniform to classes.

"I wanted to study English and American culture and make friends," said Hamada, who visited Chicago, Dallas, Hawaii and San Francisco before her arrival in Haines.

She has a 14-year-old brother who plays baseball, karate and table tennis. Hamada’s mother is an English teacher and her father works for a home delivery service company.

In Tokyo, Hamada participated in a school club for naginata, a Japanese martial art. "I use a long pole," she said. "It’s about seven feet."

Now she is a member of the Haines Dolphins swim team and will travel to Ecuador with the Venturer Scouts for spring break.

"In their school (in Japan), she can only take one activity, and she has to be in that for three years," Podsiki said. "Here, she’s really enjoyed the idea of being able to choose. Unfortunately for her, because I am a coach, she is not allowed to be in school sports. That’s an (Alaska School Activities Association) rule."

Podsiki, who coaches cheerleading and dance, said the rule aims to limit recruiting of international students for athletics.

Hamada first studied English in school as an 8-year-old, and her lessons in Haines have covered Alaskan and American history, English, music, physical education and public speaking.

"It’s a small town and a small school, with only 100 students," she said. "In P.E. class, boys and girls are in the same class. In Japan, they are separate."

Hamada would like to visit Anchorage before her June departure from Alaska.

She will have another year of school in Japan before she graduates. Hamada plans to attend college in Japan, and international government is one of her top interests.

Hamada said she doesn’t feel homesick, even though she was a bit nervous when she first learned Haines would become her temporary home. "I thought, ‘Alaska is so cold, and a lot of snow and bears.’"

Podsiki said exchange students like Hamada often develop a lasting connection with their host families. She is the Haines coordinator for AFS Intercultural Programs, which helped bring Hamada to the United States.

"I actually just spent a few days in Sweden with our very first exchange student," Podsiki said. "I stayed with him, and we’ve kept in contact. He’s truly like a son to us, and we will always remain close. He’s going to come back to Haines for a month this summer."

Viewing the latest Harry Potter movie and Thanksgiving festivities have been two of the highlights during Hamada’s stay in Haines. "She wants to go back to Japan and be able to make a turkey with stuffing for her family," Podsiki said.