CENTRAL AMERICAN FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS ADJUSTING TO LIFE AND COLD IN AMERICA

Sunday's damp, cold and dark skies were hard on 12 college students from Central America.

In their home country, there's no cold mist that soaks through clothes. They don't need heavy coats and mittens to deal with winter.

But despite the weather, the 12 were all smiles as they gathered to dye Easter eggs at Dr. Adelaide Parsons' house. They shed their coats and chatted in rapid-fire Spanish.

The students will be in Cape Girardeau for the next two years and plan to make the best of it.

The students are Fulbright Scholars from Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua. They arrived in January to study at Southeast Missouri State University. Later, they will use their skills at home to improve their native countries.

To become Fulbright Scholars, each student had to pass Spanish and English proficiency tests, write essays and answer questions about the world situation and his own country's economy. In return, the U.S. Information Agency paid for each student's tuition, housing, food and expenses.

Parsons, professor of English and secondary education, directs the program for Southeast. She constantly searches for host families in Cape Girardeau who invite a Central American student over at least once a month and take him or her to various locations in the area.

Life in the United States hasn't been easy on the Central Americans, especially during the cold winter months. Their sense of humor about U.S. technology, the weather and English has helped.

Katia Torres of Costa Rica remembered a wool sweater given to her when she arrived in Cape Girardeau. She washed it, then put it in the clothes dryer. It shrank.

"In my country, we dry the clothes outside," she said, laughing. "The sun is hot."

On another occasion, she fought with an automatic door at Wal-Mart, trying to pull it shut while standing in front of the sensor. Still, Torres is eager to come to terms with technology.

"Here, we have the opportunity to use technology and the Internet," she said. "In our country, there is technology, but the use is limited."

Karina Marroquin of Guatemala said getting accustomed to the flatlands and food was challenging, too, but she and the other Fulbright Scholars gather for cooking and parties when they get homesick.

And they have supportive families at home. The students are 20-29 years old, and some of their mothers and fathers found it difficult to let them go.

Karen Romero of Panama said her family was excited yet sad to see her study in the United States.

"My mother, my uncle -- everybody -- said it was an opportunity to learn the language," she said. "We had to be separated, but in my country, my major is very expensive."

Romero is studying early childhood development.

Some of the scholars already are working at home. Ruben Mazariegos, a secondary education major, is a teacher in Panama. And Balford Vargas, a public relations major, helped with voter registration in Nicaragua. He wants to work for the government when he returns.

"I feel a lot of the problems in my country are because there is not a good system of communication between the branches of government," Vargas said.

While they are visiting, the scholars are helping others here. They are available to speak with classes. Over spring break, several helped on Habitat for Humanity homes and assisted refugees in Texas.

It is work they were glad to do.

"The people in the U.S. have been very friendly with us," Marroquin, the Guatemalan student, said. "We are feeling very welcome."

After their studies are finished, the students are required to use their degrees in their native countries for two years.