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Coming events/meetings Visitors from Vinnitsia, Ukraine Sister City to be in Birmingham Nov. 26-Dec. 3.
Birmingham-Hitachi Japan Youth Exchange 2008 We would like to invite your students to participate in a wonderful opportunity sponsored by the Birmingham Sister City Commission. For 25 years Birmingham and Hitachi, Japan; have been Sister Cities. During that time hundreds of youth and adults have participated in exchanges between our two cities. Young people from around the Birmingham area have hosted Hitachi
students and have traveled to Hitachi as part of this program. There
have been annual exchanges between our two communities for almost
every year of our relationship. After 9/11/01 we had a hiatus in
this program as both communities had security concerns; but this
year we hosted our This trip is open to all youth in the metro area. We have taken
youth as young as 15 in these groups and as old as 19 (recent high
school graduates).The cost will tentatively be $2200.00 per person.
We are still negotiating with the providers so we hope it will not
increase. We also are pursuing grants and sponsorships to further
reduce costs that would be passed on to the participants. This cost
will include coach air fare round trip Birmingham to Tokyo, hotel
and home stay accommodations, most meals, tours of Tokyo and sites
around Hitachi We plan to leave on Saturday, May 31, 2008 flying from Birmingham to Tokyo Narita Airport (with 2-3 changes of planes-the International route is tentatively planned to be Los Angeles to Tokyo on Singapore Air). We will arrive June 1st and spend the first night at a Youth Hostel in Hitachi after being met by the City of Hitachi personnel. Then participants will stay in a home of Japanese family the evenings of June 2, 3, 4 and Hitachi will provide tours and other entertainment for the group and interaction with Japanese youth. We would then be transported by Hitachi to Tokyo to the a hotel (probably the Keiro Plaza) with double occupancy for the nights of June 5, 6, (7)with guided tours of Tokyo and tours guided by the chaperones and contacts in Tokyo. We will leave Tokyo on June 7/8 and return to Birmingham June 7/8. There may be some minor adjustments to these plans based on ongoing planning and negotiations. There will be a chaperone ratio of 1 chaperone to every 4/6 youth.
We will have a series of mandatory orientation sessions for the youth
and chaperones so they can learn about Japan, some Japanese phrases
and other useful skills and information for their trip. Youth will
be For interested people we need to have the following form returned
to us by Feb. 1, 2008 and a non-refundable down payment of $450.00
payable to Birmingham Sister Cities Commission by Feb. 21, 2008.
After our group is formed we will have our first orientation meeting
where we will begin the passport process and will finalize the other
mandatory orientation sessions and schedule. We plan on a group between
10-16 youth for this This is a fun opportunity that has been a life changing experience
for many youth. This year I will be the head chaperone and group
leader and my own son is in the process of earning and saving money
to pay for the trip. The Birmingham Sister Cities web site is www.birminghamsistercities.com
for more information on our program. If you have any question please
call me at 254-2317, or email me at rscolso@ci.birmingham.al.us or
mail at: I thank you for your help and look forward to hearing from you and your students! Sincerely,
NAME (as it appears on your birth certificate or other official spelling of your name) FIRST NAME NAMES OF PARENTS/GUARDIANS WORKPLACE ADDRESS AND NAME OF PARENTS/GUARDIANS ADDRESS WITH ZIP
PHONE NUMBERS OF STUDENT AND PARENTS/GUARDIANS SCHOOL AGE-BIRTHDATE (DAY/MONTH/YEAR)
Nov. 14, 2006 Dear School Counselors We would like to invite your students to participate in a wonderful opportunity sponsored by the Birmingham Sister City Commission. For 3 years Birmingham and Pilzen, Czech Republic; have been Sister Cities. During that time many adults have participated in exchanges between our two cities. Young people from around the Birmingham area have hosted and visited our Sister Cities in China, Japan, Hungary and Italy. This year we want to start a new tradition with our Czech friends. There have been annual exchanges between our two communities for almost every year of our relationship. This year the Czech Republic is being saluted by the Birmingham International Festival. This trip is open to all youth in the metro area who are high school seniors (rising or just graduated); we also will allow students who are up to sophomores in college to participate. The cost will be between $2,200.000 and $2,500.00 per person. We are still negotiating with the providers so we hope it will be on the low side of this range. We also are pursuing grants and sponsorships to further reduce costs that would be passed on to the participants. This cost will include coach air fare round trip Birmingham to Prague, hotel and home stay accommodations, most meals, tours of Prague and Pilzen and sites around the Czech Rep., travel health insurance and orientation expenses. The cost will not include the cost of the person’s passport (we will provide passport forms and help), some meals, some local transport in Prague and any souvenirs they students would want to buy. We tentatively plan to leave on Wed. May 30, 2007 flying from Birmingham to Prague Airport. We will arrive May 30/June 1 and go to Pilzen for home stay and a series of sightseeing and other events in our Sister City (http://www.zcu.cz/plzen/). Then participants will stay in a home of a Czech family the evenings of June 1, 2, 3 and Plzen will provide tours and other entertainment for the group and interaction with Czech youth. We would then be transported by Plzen to Prague to a hotel (probably Hotel Clarion) with double occupancy for the nights of June 4, 5, 6 with guided tours of Prague and surrounding areas guided by the chaperones and contacts in Prague. We will leave Prague on June 7 and return to Birmingham June 7. There may be some minor adjustments to these plans based on ongoing planning and negotiations. There will be a chaperone ratio of 1 chaperone to at least every 5/6 youth. We will have a series of mandatory orientation sessions for the youth and chaperones so they can learn about the Czech Rep., some Czech phrases and other useful skills and information for their trip. Youth will be expected to follow rules set down by the chaperones, regarding lights out times and all other aspects of the trip. Chaperones will be people experienced in taking youth groups abroad. For interested people we need to have the following form returned to us by Feb. 1, 2007 and a non-refundable down payment of $550.00 payable to Birmingham Sister Cities Commission by Feb. 21, 2007. After our group is formed we will have our first orientation meeting where we will begin the passport process and will finalize the other mandatory orientation sessions and schedule. We plan on a group between 10-16 youth for this exchange. This is a fun opportunity that has been a life changing experience for many youth. This year I will be the head chaperone and group leader and my own son is in the process of earning and saving money to pay for the trip. The Birmingham Sister Cities web site is www.birminghamsistercities.com for more information on our program. If you have any question please call me at 254-2317, or email me at rscolso@ci.birmingham.al.us or mail at: Scotty Colson Mayor’s Office City Hall 710 North 20th Str. Birmingham, Al. 35203 I thank you for your help and look forward to hearing from you and your students! Sincerely, Scotty Colson Asst. to the Mayor/Sister City Director 710 North 20th Str. Birmingham, Al 35203 254-2317/fax 254-2926 2007 BIRMINGHAM-PLZEN, CZECH REP. SISTER CITY YOUTH EXCHANGE NAME (as it appears on your birth certificate or other official spelling of your name) FIRST NAME MIDDLE NAME FAMILY NAME NAMES OF PARENTS/GUARDIANS WORKPLACE ADDRESS AND NAME OF PARENTS/GUARDIANS ADDRESS WITH ZIP EMAIL ADDRESSES OF PARTICIPANT AND PARENTS/GUARDIANS PHONE NUMBERS OF STUDENT AND PARENTS/GUARDIANS HOME WORK CELL SCHOOL AGE-BIRTHDATE (DAY/MONTH/YEAR) ALLERGIES OR MEDICAL CONDITIONS DO YOU PRESENTLY HAVE A PASSPORT VALID THROUGH JAN. 2007? |