Coral WilsonDelegates from Huntington’s sister cities of...

Coral Wilson

Delegates from Huntington’s sister cities of Waitakere, New Zealand,

and Anjo, Japan, sang and danced for the City Council on Monday night

-- just hours before it cut funding to the Sister City program.

New Zealand students sang songs in Maori, their native language,

and Japanese students performed a traditional dance.

In the more than 20-year friendship between the sister cities,

Huntington Beach has benefited in many ways, said Carmen Erber,

president of the Sister City Assn. Every year, adult delegates visit

from Anjo, making the city a Japanese tourist destination, she said.

And when the Huntington Beach Pier was destroyed in the early

1990s by high winds and waves, the citizens of Anjo raised a donation

of $100,000 for reconstruction, making it the second highest donation

given from one sister city to another, she said.

The money made up the majority of the program’s budget, but Erber

said that with extra effort and fund-raising, the program was sure to

continue.

“The friendships will go on, of which there are many,” she said.

And so, despite the blow to the program, Huntington Beach received

glowing reviews from its sister city visitors.

In town for just two weeks, exchange students and their hosts went

on a city tour Monday to check out the local sights -- Huntington

Beach High School, the Police Department, lifeguard tower zero and

the Huntington Beach Pier.

“It’s very refreshing. The breeze is blowing all the day, and the

people in this city are so kind and nice to us,” said Saiko Kato, the

chaperon from Japan. “We love this city.”

For some, friendships had already been established when four

Huntington Beach students visited New Zealand during spring break in

March. Walking arm in arm, they were happy to greet their new friends

for the second time.

“Amy will be my best friend for life, I think,” said Jessica

Wright, 16, from New Zealand. “And I’ve only known her two weeks, but

it’s like she’s my sister.”

Another group of four local students will set out for Japan on

July 28.

After only a week of hosting their Japanese exchange students,

language differences posed a barrier, but in the end, they would be

just as close, said Janette Carlile, board member for the Sister

Cities Assn.

“A smile, charades and hand gestures go miles,” she said.

The group visited the high school’s tower, football stadium, track

field, swimming pool and Ken Ostrowski’s chemistry class, which was

in session. Of like minds, students from New Zealand and America made

a quick getaway, escaping the dark classroom in search of sun and

fresh air. But Japanese students stopped in their tracks to huddle

around 15-year-old student Tom Bowles as he worked out a problem on

the computer.

Fascinated by an Internet-based program called Mastering Chemistry

on the Web, all four Japanese students, their chaperon and translator

helped Bowles sort out the ratio of positive and negative ions and

then write out the formula and state of matter.

It’s like a puzzle, Kato said. Students work out problems from a

book in Japan, she said, but visualizing it on a computer was

fascinating and entertaining.

The group crossed the street to visit the Huntington Beach Police

Department and the jail, where photo opportunities were plentiful.

Students made faces behind bars, banged on the windows of the

detoxification cell and played on the restraining chair.

But it was the beach that won hearts. While watching surfers ride

the waves with wide eyes and amazement, students from all countries

happily soaked up the sun -- a special treat for the New Zealanders.

“I love the weather and the warmth,” 17-year-old Vanessa Appleton

said. “It’s six degrees in New Zealand, the coldest wake in 45

years.”

In addition to building lasting friendships, such experiences

change lives, said Tracy Luth, whose daughter Renee visited Japan in

1996. Her daughter went on to major in politics and world affairs in

college and now works in Washington, D.C. When her son Phil returned

from New Zealand, Luth noticed the same positive effect.

“I’m going to want to travel more and experience more of the

world,” Phil Luth, 15, said. “I want to see how different it is,

instead of being locked down in a lifestyle here.”