Today marked the 14th year that we have hosted the AFS International Desserts Holiday Party. This year there are 6 AFS foreign exchange students attending our local area high schools.
They each told friends and host families of special holidays celebrated in their home countries,
and then... we got to taste their homemade international desserts.
(Thanks to Granddad for the box of chocolates.)
We also discussed the origins of AFS ... a brief blip of which is below:
AFS Intercultural Programs began as the American Field Service (AFS), which had its origins in 1914 shortly after the outbreak of World War I, when young Americans living in Paris volunteered as ambulance drivers at the American Hospital of Paris. AFS participated in every major French battle and carried more than 500,000 wounded during World War I. By the end of the war, 2,500 men had served in the American Field Service with the French Armies.
For more information about the transition of AFS from an ambulance and camion service in World War I to the present-day international student exchange programs, please see the descriptions of our archival collections.
You can learn more about the history of AFS at
Mega thanks to everybody for sharing their culture, their desserts and their warm smiles with us. A special thanks to Ebba, who in apparent anticipation of Jake attending, brought a Swedish Princess Cake.
Yummy.
2 comments:
14 years. Maybe we have hosted this party for 14 years. Or, 13? Or, 15? I have been telling people 17 years, but that's wrong. Funny thing about staying in the same house, same jobs, same marriage, doing the same things year after year... those years just blur in a happy way.
However many year it's been I can surely say that it's one of the activities that I ALWAYS look forward to! Thanks so much Helen and Dan! You have never hesitated to host this wonderful event. :)
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