Cheney hosts exchange student from Lebanon

CHENEY – A foreign exchange student from Beruit, Lebanon, said she is enjoying her time at Cheney High School.

Tala Daouk, 16, is a junior staying with host family Scott and Isylma Edge of Airway Heights.

"I enjoy being here at school," she said. "The environment is nice and the high school is really big."

The enjoyment follows a confusing introduction to life here, she said.

"When I first came here, it was really confusing where my classes are because usually back home, we stay in one class," she said. "The teacher is the one who comes in and out.

"But here, I like it that we change the classes."

She said she believes changing classrooms makes her stay focused and energetic.

Daouk is involved in the Key Club and has just completed her soccer season; the Blackhawks made the state playoffs.

Now, Daouk is focused on basketball team.

Off the court, during her free time, she said she likes to "maybe read a book, hang out with friends, and just take the day, like smoothly."

In school, she said her favorite class is robotics.

"I used to have robotics when I was younger in school," she said. "But in this age they don't provide it for us back home, but here it is like.... more in depth and you get to build robots with Legos and code them."

Back home in Lebanon, her school is K-12, noting students of all ages go to school together.

Here, the grades are separated.

Her Lebanese school is bigger and there is more people, no clubs and very few sports, she said.

"We have sports as a session, as in like P.E., but we don't really have teams or professional sports, and the sports are limited to basketball, soccer, volleyball, and badminton," she said.

America differs from Lebanon, she said.

"Here, um, it's different that places are like, far away from each other," she said.

In Lebanon, she lives in a city where everything is close together, she said. She isn't used to things being spread out so far.

Her favorite places in Airway Heights are the library and Panda Express, she said.

"I like the library because you can borrow books and stuff," she said. "Back home, there is no library when you can borrow books ... you have to buy them."

The weather here, too, has surprised her.

"Before I even knew that I was coming to Cheney, I was expecting to be in warmer weather," Daouk said. "Now here, it's getting colder ... way colder."

Snow falls in Lebanon only in the mountains, she said.

"Where I live, it never snows,' Daouk said. "It rains and stuff, and there is wind and everything. But it doesn't snow. When we go, like, skiing and stuff, we tend to go to the mountains."

Daouk said this will be her first real winter and that she misses her family.

She said she is planning to spend Thanksgiving at home with her host family and a small dinner.

Looking towards the future, Daouk said, "I hope to become more independent and get to know more international friends and make the best out of the moments I will be here."

Upon her return home, she will continue her last year of school and then start searching for colleges to apply to study aeronautical engineering, which is only offered at one school in Lebanon.

She is considering going to college in France, because it is closer to her home than the U.S. She would like to be a commercial airplane pilot for Middle East Airlines someday, she said. She may also consider a career at Boeing or Airbus after she completes school.

Features reporter Sarah Stephens can be reached at [email protected].