Quick Words:

AFS-student-Mete-Yurtyapan

Full Text:

Mete Yurtyapan:`We Match Each Other'

1996/97 AFS student Mete Yurtyapan of Gaziantep, Turkey. -Bee Photos, Evans

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Like many AFS students, Mete Yurtyapan, 18, from Gaziantep, Turkey, was

worried that his English wouldn't be strong enough to get along in the United

States.

"I took classes in middle school but didn't continue. I came over here being

able to say the key words, at least," he said.

Mete was interviewed at Newtown High while he was waiting after school for a

ride home with Heather McCusker, the older daughter of his host family.

So far, he'd found his year as an AFS student to be very rewarding and very

different from his previous years attending a small boarding school in Turkey.

Newtown's educational system is "totally different," he said.

"At home, we would stay in the classroom and the teachers rotated."

Despite his language "problem," which he seems to have overcome very nicely,

there's no doubt Mete has been able to handle the academic load. He is taking

a full array of courses at Newtown High: economics, American history, Spanish,

astronomy, American government and oceanography.

When Mete goes home, he will have already graduated so he will start college.

He plans to attend the Technical University of Istanbul and study engineering.

Despite his strong work ethic ("Life is not easy. You need to work hard," he

said), Mete obviously knows how to have fun and has found his experience

living with Patty and Mark McCusker and their two daughters very enriching.

"They are my second family. We match each other. They are so warm," Mete said.

Living in a "real home" instead of a boarding school has also been an

experience he treasures.

As a Muslim, Mete had never experienced Christmas before. He called it a "joy

time," celebrating the holiday and going to Radio City Music Hall to see the

traditional Christmas Show.

As for the food, Mete said he's been easy to feed.

"I don't have a problem. I eat everything. My small [host] sister Amy makes

cookies. She's really good at it," Mete said.

He'll remember "first the smell," then the look and the taste of those

cookies, long after he returns to Turkey.