Courier Online
November 18
Maybe it was her enthusiasm, her wit, her poise.
Maybe she just wished a little more, hoped a little longer, worked a little harder.
Yulduz Yakubova says she still isn't sure why she is fortunate enough to be living out her dream.
The 16-year-old from central Asian city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, has longed to come to the United States. Now she is here for a year.
Three and a half months in the United States, her excitement is still fresh.
"I was waiting a long time to come," Yakubova says, comfy in Pooh Bear slippers. "Maybe I dreamed about (it) more ... I love this country."
Yakubova's enthusiasm is infectious, her smile enchanting. She seems determined to have a good time.
Members of her host family, Sue and Roger Bahe and their daughter, Kimberly, 16, say life with Yakubova is refreshing.
"It is so interesting to see things through her eyes that we take for granted," Sue Bahe says. "A toaster, a microwave, the Mississippi."
Yakubova has impressed the Bahes with her knowledge of the States --- the Mississippi is the third largest river in the world, she notes. And she's stumped them with questions about the English language and phraseology --- Why say "Dad will be home pretty soon?" Yakubova wonders. Doesn't pretty mean beautiful?
The Uzbek teen is studying abroad through Future Leaders Exchange, or FLEX. The competitive program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, sends high school students from former Soviet Bloc states to live in America to experience life in a democratic society. This year, about 1,200 FLEX participants are living in the United States, having been selected from 57,000 who took the English pretest.
Sue Bahe, an elementary teacher, was impressed by FLEX's rigorous and lengthy three-round selection process that includes English tests, interviews and letters to host families. She also liked the idea of getting to choose the student.
"When we read Yulduz's (letter) it was like we were talking to her," Bahe says. She remembers saying, "This is the one."
Roger Bahe, director of Sumner Emergency Medical Service, admits to having apprehension about dropping Yakubova, a teen from a city of 600,000, into a town Sumner's size, about 2,200.
Yakubova shrugs, not discouraged.
"So I saw an American farmer's life," she says, learning about combines and milking cows. "I like it a lot. People are very friendly to each other ... Smile. They just smile."
The Bahes have kept their second daughter busy. Yakubova has worked the concession stands, visited the lock and dams, gone camping. Roger even taught the teen to ride a bike.
Yakubova interacts with her host parents and host sister as if one of the family. Roger teases Yakubova about her "sweet tooths." She pretends to be angry, but her dancing eyes reveal nothing but mirth.
Kimberly says the two share clothes and have the occasional marshmallow fights.
In fact, Yakubova had barely stepped off the plane and already she was asking permission to call Sue and Roger "Mom" and "Dad."
Yakubova may not miss having to boil water or coping with regular power outages. But she does miss her mother, sister and brother, who recently turned 11 years old.
"I can't imagine him fifth grade. Oh!" she exclaims.
But loneliness struck a cord in the earliest weeks.
"I never felt such a feeling," she says.
But e-mail and the occasional phone call home has helped. So have her new friends.
"Now I would say Sumner is my home," she says.
"I am amazed by Americans. Just Americans ... Always in a hurry but so nice to me. I don't see something, really, that I don't like."
