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Foreign student returns to Ogden after 24 years
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| by Kathy Pierce, Reporter Staff Writer |
November 04, 2009 |
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Former foreign exchange student Inga Nabinger, front, has a special bond with a lady she still calls Mom, Mary Ellen Carlson.
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"SHE LEFT A SILLY young girl and returned a beautiful businesswoman and mother," says Mary Ellen Carlson of Inga Nabinger of Germany who made her first trip back to Ogden in 24 years to visit her second family.
Nabinger was a foreign exchange student at Ogden High School during the 1985-86 school year, staying with the Gaile and Mary Ellen Carlson family. She still calls Mary Ellen "Mom."
"I especially wanted to come and see Mary Ellen," said Nabinger. "We have had so much fun together these past few days." Carlson shakes her head in agreement and tells, "She's like a daughter to me."
Nabinger flew into Des Moines, via Chicago, from Heidelberg, Germany, last Saturday, Oct. 24 and is enjoying her week's stay visiting with the Carlson family, doing lunch and shopping, shopping, shopping.
"I'm all shopped out," said Carlson.
Included on Nabinger's shopping list were Ugg fleece-lined boots and a down coat. "I can't afford these back home," Nabinger explained. She also found some gifts to take home for her seven-year-old daughter Emilia, who is staying with her grandmother while mom is away.
"I wanted to bring her but she doesn't speak English and I thought it wouldn't be fun for her to sit around us older people while we talked."
The open house of the newly-remodeled high school provided an opportunity for Nadinger to revisit her old stomping ground and former acquaintances.
"I know that woman," Nabinger exclaimed after seeing former teacher Judy Paulson. "And I know her, too," pointing to Pat Cook. Faces were familiar but she couldn't remember what they taught or did at the school. Faculty members Brian Reimers, John Emerson, Jan Froning and Terry Wendt were re-introduced to the grown-up foreign student.
Her senior write-up for the newspaper that Carlson pulled from a scrap book includes a list of Nabinger's school activities while a student here: track, softball, basketball, newspaper staff, yearbook staff, French Club and Art Club. A very busy girl.
And her lifestyle hasn't changed much in all these years.
Nabinger laughs when she tells of her three high school diplomas. She attended the OHS graduation, but upon returning home was told her diploma would not transfer. She attended school in France for two years and graduated there, then returned to Germany and after testing, was awarded her third diploma, qualifying her to attend University.
Nabinger studied languages at the University of Heidelberg, then took a different direction and found her passion while working as an apprentice for a jeweler, making and designing jewelry. She moved to the city Mannheim and worked two years. She applied for and received a scholarship for further study and chose to work under a jeweler in Sydney, Australia while studying a semester at the College of Fine Arts.
After "getting a taste of the big city" Nabinger found it hard to move back to her small hometown, so chose Munich where she did free lance work. Missing her friends and family, Nabinger moved back to Heidelberg in 2002 and opened her own shop.
She later moved her shop to Mannheim and was open for 1 1/2 years until the Euro was introduced in Germany.
"That changed everything. It was so hard to make a living then that I had to close down my shop." She now supplements her jewelry business translating at the shows. Nabinger is fluent in five languages: German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.
When asked if she would ever consider living in the United States Nabinger said, "My heart . . . I'm European."
Nabinger says she loves the outdoors, biking, swimming, and walking around collecting chestnuts. She and her daughter often take day trips by train, visiting friends in neighboring towns. She doesn't have a car, so where she can't walk or ride a bike, she takes the train.
Carlson and Nabinger communicate mostly by e-mail although they both say not on a regular basis.
Carlson got a first-hand look at Nabingers artistic talent when she was presented a gift - two intricate pairs of handcrafted gold and gem earrings.
'I'll treasure these forever," said Carlson.
Nabinger visited one Iowa "brother", Mike, on their outing in Des Moines. Her "sister" Jenny was also coming to visit as well as Jim's wife Suzanne and daughter Emma from Wisconsin.
The vacation sadly ended Saturday when Nabinger returned home to Germany. |
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©The Ogden Reporter 2009
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