EXTENDED—The Mirandas of Simi Valley are hosting Japanese exchange student Mika Furuta, 17, for a year. The family, including David and Tristie Miranda and their children, Desiree and Casey Miller, pose for a photo with Mika, center, and other family members. By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

Several area families are learning about other cultures firsthand without leaving home.

The Andrews family of Westlake Village is hosting exchange students from Italy and Germany. The Miranda family of Simi Valley has a student from Japan staying with them. Along with 15 other Southern California families, they are participating in a program offered through the Chicago-based Center for Cultural Interchange.

Students come for a semester or a year. Carol Casden, the center’s area representative, places them with various families throughout Southern California.

“I’m always looking for host families. California is a really difficult place to get people to host; I don’t know why,” Casden said. “Maybe they’re just too busy working or just don’t want another kid in the house.”

This year it was particularly difficult to place students, perhaps due to current economic challenges, Casden said.

Families host students voluntarily. They are not paid and do not pay. Students have their own money and their own health insurance, and many speak two to four languages, Casden said. Host families may choose who they host based on student profiles provided by the center.

The exchange students’ lives are different from their American counterparts, Casden said. Many live in multigenerational households and travel often.

“The American kids learn so much. They look at this kid who’s 15, 16, 17 and wonder, ‘How do you leave home for so long?’” Casden said.

Mika Furuta arrived in Simi Valley from Japan in August. The 17-year-old is staying for a year with the Miranda family—parents David and Tristie and their children Desiree, 18, and Casey Miller, 12. Mika joined Desiree at Santa Susana High School this year.

The family decided to host an exchange student after Desiree expressed interest in someday studying in Japan.

“Mika has become one of our family in every way. She fits in so well and is so kind, helpful and respectful,” Tristie Miranda said. “She is eager to learn English as well as everything American.”

The family has taken Mika to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles to “see how our Japanese area looks,” Tristie Miranda said. She has also accompanied them to two weddings and a Lake Tahoe ski trip, and she enjoyed her first American Thanksgiving. The family threw Mika a 17th birthday party and a Halloween party in her honor.

“This experience has been amazing. It exceeds all of our expectations tenfold,” Tristie Miranda said.

The family hopes to someday visit Mika and her family in Japan.

The Andrews family hadn’t planned on being a host, but an unexpected call in September from Casden motivated them to volunteer. Casden found the Andrews early on in an alphabetized directory she had of Oaks Christian High School families. Parents Joel and Elizabeth Andrews and their children Rachel, 16, and Julian, 14, who attends Oaks Christian, agreed to take in Clelia Colombina, who’s from a small town in Northern Italy.

“A girl needed to be placed in a different home because it wasn’t working where she was in Norwalk. We simply did it out of kindness,” Elizabeth Andrews said. “We felt so sorry for her.”

Due to school district policy, Clelia could not join Rachel at Westlake High School because classes had begun two weeks earlier. Instead, Clelia enrolled at Agoura High School.

The Andrews family took Clelia to a number of Southern California sites, including Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, the Fairfax district, Long Beach Aquarium and Griffith Observatory.

“There was a lot of cultural exchange,” Elizabeth Andrews said.

Rachel felt like she had a sister in Clelia and is sad she’s returning to Italy, Elizabeth Andrews said. Rachel leaves today and a new exchange student—Franziska “Franzi” Meisterernst from Munich, Germany—will move right in. Franzi will stay through June and will attend Agoura High School. The Andrews family will take Franzi with them to visit Elizabeth’s parents in San Francisco.

“We’re ready and welcoming,” Elizabeth Andrews said. “We’ll be sharing Christmas with a new person.”

Casden has been a center representative for five years while working as a guidance counselor at Van Nuys High. After helping a friend locate host families, Casden was hired by the center. Now 62, she retired from the guidance counselor job this year. She says she enjoys seeing how families grow from the hosting experience.

“Many of these families keep in contact for a long time with many of these kids and even visit them,” Casden said. “It’s so exciting. I feel like I’ve given birth to a new family.”

Elizabeth Andrews said she highly recommends the program for those who “don’t mind going a little bit out of your way to incorporate another human being into your life.”