A large group of exchange students from Beijing, China literally waded into central Oregon coast culture Thursday afternoon by exploring Nye Beach on a typical rainy winter day. Several members of the group used an umbrella to protect their shoes as they cavorted barefoot over the sand and through the water at the shoreline. The students and their academic coordinators hail from the Lebanon-based Southern Oregon Region of Cultural Homestay International (CHI), a nonprofit educational exchange program founded in 1980 to foster international understanding, friendship, and goodwill. CHI places exchange students from more than 40 different nations into American homes, where they stay anywhere from four days to six weeks to directly experience the culture, language, and customs - and share their own.

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