May 2019 Most Valuable Participant: Luiggi Alarcon Gonzabay
YAY Luiggi! We selected Luiggi as our MVP because of his engagement with cultural activities and stellar monthly monitoring answers:
What social/cultural activities have you participated in so far?
Hollywood hiking. Know Santa Monica Pier. Talk with different people everyday. Try the best burguer ever (In N Out).
What do you like most about the town you are living in? Most of the people are kind and grateful when you give them a nice service and that feels really good. It makes me word harder and smile the whole day.
What experience has impacted you the most in the past month? Know people that even they speak Spanish, they made me speak English so I could practice it. They care about me. As I say, people are nice, I think have impacted me the most.
Position: Food Service Department at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Location: Valencia, CA
Home country: Ecuador
Studying: Computer science at Espol University
Fun fact: I would say that I always smile even if there's no reason to do it. When I see someone, they smile back and ask me why I'm smiling, and I say " I don’t know, I just remembered something funny"
How do you like living in Santa Clarita? I would say it's amazing. There are Hispanic people, and I can talk to them in Spanish so I feel confident with that. I have met people that are kind, and I like that kind of people.
How is different from your home town? It's totally different - people, weather, the streets. I walk 5 minutes, and I have a Little Cesar's haha (I will miss that). But the most different thing are the buses. I mean in my home country there are a lot of buses that reach most places, on the other hand, here is different, you have to know the schedule of the buses and their stop.
How have you shared your culture with Americans? I shared my culture telling them our weather, how much we pay for gas, what we do on Easter egg, how we greet, what kind of music we listen to, and how we dance, maybe what we drink as well haha.
How did you enjoy living with a host family? I really enjoyed living with a host family. We shared everything from our countries (my host family are from El Salvador) so we can speak Spanish. We compare both countries, and there's no much difference. We shared the food cooking for them.
What have you learned or gained from being on this program? I feel confident speaking English than the first time I came here. I think I have gained that, and that's what I was expecting from this program.