bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Lee Wing-Sze

ENJOYING A PRIVATE sauna in temperatures of minus 26 degrees Celsius would be a welcome treat for anyone.

But then running out and plunging into snow is not everyone's idea of fun.

Exchange student Tang Wai-hong regards this as one of the highlights of the past year he spent in Latvia, once a member state of the former Soviet Union.

He and 19-year-old Kathy Ng Teng-chee participated in the one-year exchange programme offered to students aged from 15 to 18 by the educational organisation American Field Service.

With his friendly personality and open-mindedness, Wai-hong, 18, jumped at the chance to be probably the first Hong Kong exchange student in the Balkan country. Meanwhile, Teng-chee spent her 12 months in the less chilly state of Michigan in the United States, where she took up marching and won her first trophy.

'The whole year was very special to me,' says Wai-hong, who stayed with a family of four in the city of Rezenke.

He fell in love with the eastern European countryside.

'I loved walking around there, I felt very comfortable,' he says.

Not surprisingly, Wai-hong did not know a word of Latvian or Russian, two of the main languages spoken there, when he arrived.

'I had to use body language with a little English - luckily, some people do speak it.

'My host's children - a brother and sister - know a bit and they would also try hard to understand what I wanted to say and help me out,' the Institute of Vocational Education student explains.

After staying there for a year, he knows enough Latvian and Russian to deal with everyday communication.

He says Latvia has a profound arts atmosphere.

'All the plates and bowls in the house were homemade and some families even have their own kiln,' he says.

Wai-hong's host family had also hand-crafted some of their own furniture and decorations.

On weekends Wai-hong would become a farmer.

'We ate the vegetables that we planted. We also used the strawberries that we planted to make jam,' he recalls.

His most memorable experience came during winter. 'My host father would take us to a sauna at his friend's house when it was snowing, and we would dash out of the sauna room and plunge into the snow.

'It was great fun,' he says.

Teng-chee also soaked up the new culture and especially enjoyed her extra-curricular activities.

'In Hong Kong, there's little time for us to take part in activities,' Teng-chee says.

'In the United States, there were many opportunities for me to try all sorts of things, so I grabbed every chance.'

She joined several sports clubs, including the marching band, which won her the most-improved marcher award. 'I was so excited - it was the first trophy I have won in my life!' the music-lover recalls. Making numerous friends was also an important part of her overseas adventure. She has since enrolled in the School of Hotel Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

'It's a very valuable and special experience to learn others' culture,' she says.

'It has helped me see things from a different perspective. I have learned a lot.'

Having been back in Hong Kong for more than six months, the students are beginning to miss the friends and families they left behind.

'I really want to go back [to Latvia],' says Wai-hong.

For more information on the exchange programme, go to www.afs.org.hk



Strange and wonderful experiences awaited two exchange students who went to live in Latvia and the United States