BY TONYA Y. MENEFEE
Statesman Journal

September 11, 1997

PORTLAND - America has surprised Colin Bunce.

The 14-year-old from Perth, Australia, arrived in Oregon this week
for the International Youth Environmental Summit, with a picture in
his mind conjured from the movies.

"There's not a lot of shooting and guns, and there's not, like, dead
people on the sides of the road or anything," he said.

Bunce and about 120 other students and their teachers from South
Salem High School, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and Israel
took a mid-week break Wednesday from the 10-day summit, which is
being held in Salem.

During the event, they are presenting research and drafting a
declaration about environmental concerns in their countries.

But on Wednesday, it was time to kick back, with a cruise on the
Willamette River in Portland aboard a posh dinner cruise ship called
the Portland Spirit.

Gone were the dark blazers, ties and dresses.  Instead, many wore
jeans and T-shirts and carries backpacks and camcorders.

"Whoa, man.  That's cool," the students yelled as the cruise ship
passed under the Hawthorne and Marquam bridges during the slow trip
down the river.

Instantly, about a half-dozen camera flashes lit up the sky.

For most of the students, the hourlong afternoon cruise added another
item to their list of firsts since coming to Oregon.

Two girls from Australia were elated to see a live squirrel for the
first time at the Capitol grounds Tuesday.

A handful of Japanese students stopped and stared at a redheaded
woman in downtown Salem early this week.

Students like Daphne McKay, 16, of Cape Town, South Africa, talked
excitedly about getting a chance to buy Levi jeans here for $30
instead of $60 to $75 back home.

And many of Portland's skyscrapers and other modern structures left a
few aboard the cruse ship open-mouthed in amazement.  So did the tall
green trees, public fountains and courteous people.

"Everyone is so friendly here," said Emi Shimada, 17, of Toyama,
Japan.  "When you say 'hi,' they always say 'hi' back to you."

This week has been like a dream, said Anderson Gomes Alves of Brazil,
looking over the side of the ship at the shoreline and speedboats
cruising by.

Behind him, foreign accents became one stew as a group of Australian
and Japanese students awkwardly tried to set up poses for pictures.

This was the first time Alves has been to the United States.  And now
that he's spent a few days here, he wants to come back to Oregon --
never mind the fact that he doesn't speak English.

Plus, a Niketown store a few blocks from where the boat docked in
downtown Portland helped solidify his love for the United States.

"It's wonderful here," the 16-year-old said through interpreter Zepa
Naslavsky, a volunteer coordinator at his school.  "I want to make
sure that I buy something that will remind me of Oregon. I don't ever
want to forget this."