Their luck is our luck: Cultural Exchange workers help local businesses

By Norm Wheeler

Sun editor

Thanks to the U.S. Department of State’s J-1 visa Cultural Exchange program, Empire and Glen Arbor businesses have a rich diversity of young folks from all over the world working here through the busy summer season. Cherry Republic and Anderson’s Market in Glen Arbor, for example, have staff from countries including Turkey, Jordan, and China working through August and into the fall.

Jody Hayden at Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire explains: “Last year we had a part-time J-1 work visa student from Jamaica sponsored by Anderson’s Market helping us make gelato and cookies, so we learned about the program through her. She recommended Spirit Exchange, a cultural exchange program that is also a work program. We posted for free on their website after we were approved through a process where you show that you don’t have enough workers and are not taking jobs away from Americans. You then post job descriptions on their website and wait for applicants. After we posted in March we got applications right away. Working in a chocolate shop in northern Michigan must have sounded interesting!”

“We got resumes from four young women, including their educational backgrounds and a video showing their English skills. We must provide housing, and they pay around $130/wk. for rent, but they can work some of that off by cleaning.  All four have been great, we feel so fortunate that they’re here, we’ve learned so much from them, and now we want to go visit them in their home countries! They’re so well educated, they are multi-lingual, and even though they say they are lucky, we are really the lucky ones!”

Using her English name “Daisy,” one young woman in the gelato shop comes from the Sichuan Province in China. She is from Cangxi County and lives in a city of around 500,000 people. She is a student at Shanghai Normal University where she’s studying to be an English teacher. Daisy learned about Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate through an international program called Summer Work & Travel.

“I chose Empire because of the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Lake Michigan,” Daisy says. “Making gelato sounded interesting, and the salary is very suitable for me. Everybody is so nice, I feel lucky to be here.” When asked about the differences she has noticed, Daisy says, “Your eating habits are so different! Some food is too sweet, some (the sausage) is too salty. Americans don’t eat spicy food like we do. Here much food is fast food. In China we have more noodles and rice. Also, the way we greet each other is different. In China we shake hands: here you hug. Here you speak with more enthusiasm and are more nice and friendly, also more patient and helpful. In China we have less contact with strangers. Here you have bonfires, picnics, beach parties. Americans know how to enjoy life. Chinese people are so busy making a living, there’s more pressure. Here you know how to have fun.”

Daisy will return home on September 14 to begin a three-year program to get a master’s degree in English literature.

Paula Mena is from Ocana, Colombia. She studies civil engineering at the University Francisco de Paula Santander, with “five years down and one to go,” says Paula.  “After another year I will either seek a job as a civil engineer, or join my parent’s business. They make clothes, uniforms mostly, with a staff of eight who sew. I want to expand their vision into making other kinds of clothes, not just school uniforms.” What has Paula noticed since she arrived in Empire? “How nice people are was unexpected, they want to help me with everything.”

(Paula also works part-time at the Empire EZ Mart gas station in Empire and at Joe’s Friendly Tavern.) “Empire is like a town in a movie, so comfy and with a beach so close. I will absolutely return. Jody has been SOOO nice. I feel so lucky!”

Karina Gaiazova comes to us from Kazan in the Republic of Tatarstan in central Russia where she is studying public relations and advertising at Kazan Federal University. She already works with a Russian girl who is a blogger in NYC. They produce online courses in Advertising.

“I have been travelling all my life with my family,” Karina says, “I really like new places. This is my first trip alone, from Kazan to Istanbul to Chicago to Traverse City. The Work & Travel Program gave me two options: to go to Moab, Utah, (no thanks, too hot!) or take a random assignment in Empire. I was looking for something in a big city, a way to see America and the people, but when I checked out Empire and GDC on-line, and Jody’s message was so sweet, I decided to come here, and I am so happy!” (Karina also works part-time at the EZ Mart gas station and at Joe’s.) Differences? “Here everybody drinks water with ice, while in Russia we always have warm lemon water every morning. Now I’ve switched over to bottles of cold water! The 8-hour time difference makes it hard to talk to my mother. At first the house didn’t feel safe because it didn’t have a big, heavy, double-glass safety door like in Russia. Here I feel like a teenager staying with my grandparents in a rural village where it’s so calm and safe, a place to rest. I am here until October when I’ll return for two more years of college. I would like to continue my education somewhere outside Russia, but I don’t know where yet. I love the new friends I am making here!”

Over at Laker Shakes in Burdickville, Ellen O’Neill hired Kendese Roberts from Montego Bay, Jamaica. Kendese has studied Business for two years at Montego Bay Community College. Next she’ll go to Caribbean Maritime University to study Maritime Tourism and then work on a cruise ship. Her J-1 cultural exchange sponsors in Chicago (Spirit Cultural Exchange) placed her in Burdickville. “It’s very quiet, and I like the green,” says Kendese. “I’m used to city noise, so I like the nature around here. The food is different, kinda flat, it needs spice! We love curried chicken, jerk chicken and jerk pork, rice and beans. But I love Big Glen Lake!!” Kendese heads back home on September 12.

So when you get your mint gelato in Empire, or your chocolate malt in Burdickville, get served a Hoppy Bobby at Cherry Republic, or check out at Anderson’s Market in Glen Arbor, please greet the variety of working visitors from many countries who have come here to learn from us and to teach us about their corners of the world. We are so lucky to have them!