Sisters' Surprise

                              My sister is currently a senior in high school. As is the custom the seniors apply for college and hope to get accepted. I have lived through the stress of my sister interviewing, applying and writing essays for multiple different colleges. Due to the fact that we do not live in the states and all the schools where she applied are, indeed, in the states, some of the application process is a little more difficult.

                Colleges are advancing every year with technology. Through the computer my sister was able to find out almost everything that she needed for each of her choice colleges. The applications are 100% online so that makes thing easier. One of the hardest things about living away from the US was the interviews (so she says). If we were still living in the states and she was asked to interview with a college advisor, my sister would probably go to lunch with a real persona and discuss things about her and the school there. Here it is not the case. Only a few alumni from the schools live where we do. So in order to solve this problem she had her interviews over the phone. Time differences interfered and made some things difficult for her, but after a few months all she could do was wait for the results.

                It took months before she heard anything. The first schools to make their decisions were the UC schools in California. Of course she got into all of those that she applied to, not such a big surprise considering that she is a good student and all. She was really happy.

                Around a week or so later the Ivy League college decisions came out.  I came home from school as always with my sister, and then I went into my room.  A few minutes later I was just sitting in my room when I heard a scream come from the living room. I thought maybe there was a big bug or something so I decided not to let it bother me. Then there was a louder scream, it sounded like my mom’s this time.  In order to find out what all the fuss was about I decided to go out and see what the matter was. The first thing that I saw was my sister crying…that wasn’t a good sign. The second thing I saw was my mom (still screaming) jumping up and down with a huge smile on her face. As you can imagine I was really confused at this point. I kept asking what was going on, but they were both too preoccupied to reply. Finally my sister blubbered that she had heard from Harvard University and had been accepted!! Way to go sis.

                She was crying tears of surprise and joy. 

Sick

This morning I woke up feeling terrible. My throat feels like tiny elves are inside hammering away in search of jewels or something that they will never find. My ears feel like a balloon has been expanded inside my head and is pushing them out. My head hurts, my nose won’t stop running and don’t get me started on how much my entire body aches. Seems like the flu season is coming around again.

                I remember when I was little and I told someone about flu season, but they just laughed at me and said that there were only four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.  But the truth is, whenever the flu comes around, it is usually around the beginning of fall or spring, so this virus does come in “seasons”. Another thing about the flu is that it can take over everyone. Slowly, every year I watch as seats empty around flu season, one day only 2 people will be gone, but by the end of the week half the school is missing. The difference this year is that I was one of the first victims.

                Another thing that seems strange now is that kids used to fake having the flu, or try to get it in order to miss school. I know that I would always complain to my parents when I was in 1^st and 2^nd grade that everything was too hard, and it was making me “sick” so that I had to stay home and watch cartoons. Boy do times change. Now I dread getting sick. Being sick in high school means more work, not less. For the next week I will probably be seeing all the teachers whose classes I missed and trying to find a time during, before, or after school to make up any tests.  I have to figure out what the teachers did during the classes that I can only find out through other peers…work work work…no play when someone is sick.

                Being sick sucks! I can’t see my friends, I’m loaded with making up work, and all I actually feel like doing is going to bed and sleeping for 3 weeks straight. 

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International Fair

At my school, the families and teachers make up the community. Due to the limited activity provided by the place we live in, the school tries to compensate by incorporating fun activities and get togethers. The biggest get together of the year is International Day. This year I was lucky enough to be the daughter of the woman in charge…then again, come to think of it, I don’t think lucky is exactly the right term to use. For moths I have been hearing the planning and organizing that is put forth in the effort to make the fair run smoothly. At the dinner table we hear the latest updates and catastrophes involved as well. I watched as my house filled up with shipments of American food that were to be sold at the event. So many people contributed so much to the fair, and I believe that it was completely worth it.

                I will try to summarize what the fair is like. Since I go to an international school, there are many different citizens from all over the world. At the fair the country groups join together to honor their country. Booths are set up that are decorated accordingly and filled with food and goodies that are native to those places. Most everyone comes from my school to eat and socialize. The food is one of the biggest attractions, but also there are the games and sports that are played as well. Some of the teachers are sadly the victims of some adolescent fun with the pie throwing.  Teachers are either forced or volunteered (not sure which) to be targets for pies. This year it seemed as if the “pie” was just flower and water, and instead of throwing the whole tin, the kids would throw the mush with their hands. Along with pie, there were balloons too; the one problem was that the balloons were not fully inflated. I watched as one teacher god slapped in the face with a water balloon that didn’t pop, but left a nasty looking smack mark on their cheek…ouch teachers, sorry about that.

                The international fair lets people see aspects of other countries that they normally wouldn’t be able to see. People can praise their country and feel at home, even while living thousands of miles away from where they are from. Walking amongst the different booths made it feel like walking through different parts of the world. It makes living abroad better, and lets everyone have some fun. 

127 Hours

Growing up in Utah there are some experiences that most people don’t have, one of which is hiking in southern Utah. Unless you have actually been hiking down in the Zion slot canyons, or walking along the great red rocks hunting for Moeraki Marbles, you have no idea what it’s like. Let me try to explain what it is to be a southern Utah hiker.

                For one, there is hardly anyone living near the slot canyons. Sure there are hikers going in and out frequently, but it would be a killer place to actually live. The heat is intense. It’s not a humid heat like in most Caribbean places, but heat from the sun heats the red rocks and can overcome the hiker in heat waves and sweat. There is a reason the slot canyons are named as they are, and that is because they actually look like cuts or slots in the middle of a great big rock. If one was looking at the slot canyon from a bird’s eye view, it would look something like a waterless river flowing through a huge empty rock. My dad (a frequent hiker) always told me the two most important things about hiking in southern Utah were: First, NEVER go off by yourself.  Most trails aren’t marked and it is easy to get lost. Second, ALWAYS have enough water. If someone is caught in the middle of the red rock desert without water, they would most likely die of dehydration in about a day, and if you’re lucky, two.

(Me rock climbing in Zion)

                Keeping all this in mind, imagine what it would be like to be hiking alone, with one water bottle, in the off hiking season, in the southern Utah slot canyons….Most people would never take the risk, but one man did. Aron Ralston went hiking by himself and found himself “stuck between a rock and a hard place” literally.

                Everyone in Utah grew up hearing about this man. He was, as I previously said, hiking alone when he got into a narrow gap in the canyon. What basically happened is that it was a tight squeeze; there was a rock, and a man.  While the man was trying to get over the rock and through the gap, the boulder moved and rolled onto his arm, trapping him. Running low on water, and his arm dying under the weight of a huge boulder, there was nothing that Aron Ralston could do. He waited for other hikers to pass, so they could go get help, but no one came. At this point in someone’s life, most people would just give up, and say that they were done, but not him. He had with him a Swiss-Army-knife, and with that he cut off the dying trapped arm. Someone has to have a lot of motivation to live in order to cut off their own arm. But now, he lives on. He managed to hike the rest of the way out of the canyon with only one arm. His story is legend, and now a movie.

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                127 Hours is the story based on this event in Aron Ralstons’ life. James Franco plays Ralston, and does a fantastic job. This film moves everyone, but especially those that know this story, and have been to the same place where Aron Ralston was stuck.

                I would like to remind you all to be safe hikers and explorers. I would also like to recommend to everyone to check out the movie 127 hours. 

Enjoy