Friends of Merzifon Board of Directors Front row, from left to right: Bonnie Harrigan (Director), Peggy Blake (Vice President), Jean Hambleton (Director). Back row, from left to right: Richard Brewer (Secretary), Thierry Guichard (Director), Ted Winslow (Director), A BEAR!, Mustafa Copur (Treasurer), Earl Rupp (President), John Searles (Director).

"Sisters" from Merzifon Visit Pleasant Hill, CA
"It was like a dream come true," said Sevil, one of the students
John Blake, Special for The Turkish Times (www.friendsofmerzifon.org) - Two teachers and four students from Merzifon, Turkey, recently completed a two-week visit to Pleasant Hill, Merzifon's sister city. What did they like best? Their host families and College Park High School. "I think your high school is much looser than ours," said Fadime Ozen, an English teacher from Merzifon. "At our high school, the students wear uniforms, and the teachers, not the students, change classes."

The students were amazed at their reception at College Park, and they were impressed by the participation of our students in so many sports, drama, music, and other activities. They thought the block classes at College Park were very long. They saw two movies: "Bend It Like Beckham" (which they loved) and "Chicago" (which they didn't).

The group hiked and climbed Mt Diablo, had a personal tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, took BART and the ferry to Pier 39, shopped in Chinatown, rode cable cars, walked the Golden Gate Bridge, and attended several local events. They attended Cal Day at UC Berkeley and learned what "Go Bears" meant. They had a tour of DVC and were treated to lunch at the Norseman Restaurant, with an inspection of the culinary school kitchen. They were surprised and delighted to find out that the head of the culinary school, Nader Sharkes, has a father from Iskenderun, Turkey.

Two special events in which they participated were a welcoming reception attended by over 100 local folks and a host family picnic and farewell party. They met many Turkish-Americans while they were here. "It was like a dream come true," said Sevil, one of the students.

Friends of Merzifon, a Pleasant Hill sister city organization, received a grant from Sister Cities International for this project.