Cuantos anos tienes tu?

Spanish exchange student Raul Alvarez brightened up during a July 28 interview at the sound of his native tongue.

Using English far less broken than this reporter’s Spanish, Alvarez explained that he is 13 years old.

For the past month he and others from Spain, through an exchange program, have traveled throughout the Western New York region, learning about an array of cultures in the United States and brushing up on conversational English.

But also for the past month, Alvarez has called North Tonawanda home.

The shaggy-haired, outgoing teen looks just like any other you might expect to see in the U.S.

He played baseball for the first time this weekend. During a trip to Pennsylvania — where host family matriarch Alberta Roman of North Tonawanda has property — he met an Amish youth (one who enjoys skateboarding to boot).

“The Amish people, I can’t imagine my life like theirs,” Alvarez said.

He said he wants to stay, but also is ready to go home. Things here, according to Alvarez, may not be so different after all.

“It isn’t very different but the culture is different,” he said, “And the people are more friendly.”

Aside from a bout Raul had with lactose intolerance from all the ice cream at events like Canal Fest — which Alvarez said he loved mainly for the empanadas — Roman enjoyed opening her home and felt supported throughout the process.

Addressing the dairy issue, Roman was able to call a chaperone who accompanies the children from Spain in order to make sense of Alvarez’s unsettled condition.

“I thought it was very well organized,” she said. “Pastor Pat and his wife helped with any problems. We would certainly do it again.”

As many as 38 other students from Spain, between the ages of 13 and 17, have been sent by their families to visit the United States through a program offered by Global Friendships exchange program.

A group of about 21 were sent to families in the Niagara County region.

The sponsor/organizer for the program in North Tonawanda, who performed the bulk of local advertisement that led to the host families getting on board to receive their European counterparts, was Pastor Patrick McKenzie, of St. Mark’s Lutheran church on Oliver Street.

He said 15 of the students and one chaperone participated in the program.

McKenzie, spiritual leader at St. Mark’s for about a year and a half, was drawn to the idea through the company’s Web site. He said the children’s families pay between 2,000 and 3,500 euros for the chance to improve English skills that may serve them if they choose to attend college here, as he said many do.

“It gives us the chance to practice what I call the ministry of hospitality,” McKenzie said.

Students visited places like Darien Lake, Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park and Niagara Falls. They traveled to Tops grocery store, where they worked to hone their transactional skills.

“One thing is to help them with their language. They learn what I call British English. There are some differences between British English and American English,” McKenzie said. “The reason for that is some of these young people may at one time attend college here.”

An itinerary is part of the program, Vice President of Global Friendships Nikki Gazis said. It is up to the host families to decide when the trips are done, so as not to meddle with quality host family time.

She started the company along with it’s current president Jeffrey Tralow in 1994. The two had worked together at IES (Institute for the International Education of Students) and wanted to start a smaller program with a less corporate feel.

Before that, she had taken part in an exchange program that, evidently, changed the course of her life.

“(Originally) I was just a host mom who got involved with it . . . because of a loss in the family and I was just rambling around not knowing what to do with myself,” she said.

“We formed Global Friendships because we were working for one of the largest exchange organizations and we wanted to have a small, personal, family-type organization.”

Gazis said they used to place young people from Norway, France, Brazil and Sweden before Sept. 11, 2001, but now, for whatever reason, students from Spain and Japan account for the bulk of business.

“(Before that) we had students from any country. Immediately, when (Sept. 11) hit, everything hit,” she said. “And now we do Spanish and Japanese at this point. Oh, because who’d send their kids here after (Sept. 11).”

Contact reporter Neale Gulleyat 693-1000, ext. 114.