[MUSIC] We had a, a joint homestaying program that I ran from the Buffalo Yeongcheon Sister City Association's partnership with Medaille College. They have an international students program where they are immersed in American culture for about three weeks. Part of it is English language assessment and improvement, but most of it is excursions in and around Buffalo. And the one part that they really wanted to beef up was that kind of emotional connection to the language. And that's about making friends. I know from personal experience, being a foreign language speaker in other countries where I've lived and worked, that it's really important to have that emotional connection, to be able to have the confidence to speak the language in any kind of capacity. I have a lot of connections in Buffalo. And I think from a diversity standpoint, it's really important to incorporate the whole city so that people really have an understanding of what Buffalo's all about. Otherwise, why do you come all the way to Buffalo? What's so special about Buffalo? Why not go to New York City? So, I made sure to put the call out to people I thought basically would be nice. Not necessarily the young and spry, the, you know, wanting to go out and go to Darien Lake and ride rides or whatever, but maybe people that are just generally interested. So I got some older folks, I've got folks from the east side, I got some people that were from very diverse backgrounds, which was important and, and I think that my connections throughout the community really made it a rich experience for the kids because they saw sides of America they didn't know existed. Well first of all, I looked at, I tried to look at it from the Korean perspective and I served in Korea, so I happen to know from my conversations with friends, what they think of Americans. So I wanted to combat that the preconception that maybe was a little prejudiced. Also, I wanted to make sure that the kids were forced to speak English because I know that their parents really, they send, they saved all their money to send their kids on this trip so that their kids will come back and be able to speak English well, and that's a really crucial thing for them because it's, it's such a competitive job market there. Speaking English is a real way to distinguish yourself amongst the pack. Then I looked at the Buffalonians, I looked at the Buffalo side. So, I did a whole lot of data gathering on, [COUGH] you know, who would be involved. I did, I didn't want the Korean kids to feel out of place. I didn't want them to feel bad in any way. So there's certain behaviors I, I know would contribute to that and, you know, that's not the kind of thing I wanted them to, to land in. Characteristics and traits as a creative person. I'm, I'm introverted but I don't like to have funs at the exclusion of other people. I very, I, I was bullied as a child so I am very keenly aware of people who are ostracized, or left out, or otherwise having a difficult time integrating. So when I pursue my creative desires, usually that's the direction I go in. I go in the direction of making sure everyone has a seat at the table. I think, what made me the most proud was I, I checked in with all of the families after the kids had gone and I wanted to find out how the visits went. And the ki, the kids apparently, had a really good time, but Koreans are generally going to say they had a great time, so I wanted to make sure. The families regarded these kids as their, their kids. They called them their Korean kids. They took pictures, they some of them wrote to their kid all summer long. I was just in Korea and the kids tell me that when they think about Buffalo, they cry because they miss it. So that makes me the most proud. [MUSIC]