Future Leaders Exchange

The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program was created by Congress to provide people of the countries of the former Soviet Union long-term exchanges. For 16 years secondary school students have traveled to the US for one year to live with an American host family and study in our high schools.

I was chosen to serve as a pre-departure orientation teacher for the 2008-2009 group. This summer I'll be able to teach approximately 50 young Armenians about American culture, US high schools, friends and family life.

For now, it's the training in April that I'm most excited about. Syd and I will travel to Moscow early to see the city and then work for four days with people from other caucus countries.

We can't wait to visit Red Square and see Grand Kremlin Palace and St. Basil's Cathedral. I'd really love to have tea in the Ostankino TV tower (the tallest in Europe) and it would be interesting take a boat tour and enjoy the museums and parks too. Who knows, we might even visit the Moscow Circus!