You know you've been to an international school when...

Päris selline ma veel ei ole... Aga mõned asjad peavad paika küll :)

1) You can't answer the question: "Where are you from?"
2) You speak two (or more) languages but can't spell in any of them.
3) You flew before you could walk.
4) You have a passport, but no driver's license.
5) You run into someone you know at every airport
6) You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
7) Your life story uses the phrase "Then we went to..." five times (or six, or seven times...).
8) You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.
9) National Geographic (OR THE TRAVEL CHANNEL) makes you homesick.
10) You read the international section before the comics.
11) You live at school, work in the tropics, and go home for vacation.
12) You don't know where home is.
13) You sort your friends by continent.
14) Your second major is in a foreign language you already speak.
15) You realize it really is a small world, after all.
16) You feel that multiple passports would be appropriate.
17) You watch a movie set in a 'foreign country', and you know what the nationals are really saying into the camera.
18) Rain on a tile patio - or a corrugated metal roof - is one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.
19) You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price.
20) Your wardrobe can only handle two seasons: wet and dry.
21) Your high school memories include those days that school was canceled due to tear gas, riots, demonstrations, or bomb threats.
22) You get back to the states and seriously cannot remember the currency exchange
23) You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
24) You automatically take off your shoes as soon as you get home.
25) Your dorm room/apartment/living room looks a little like a museum with all the "exotic" things you have around.
26) Half of your phone calls are unintelligible to those around you.
27) You go to Pizza Hut or Wendy's and you wonder why there's no chili sauce.
28) You know the geography of the rest of the world, but you don't know the geography of your own country.
29) You have best friends in 5 different countries.
30) It takes 24 hours to reach home in a plane
31) You can only call your parents at 8am and 8pm
32) You never really use a seatbelt
33) School trips meant going to a different country
34) Your high school football team had to play against itself.. if it had one
35) When you were in middle school you could walk into a bar and order a drink without being questioned
36) You got sick a lot and often had food poisoning
37) It wasn't unusual to find a lizard or cockroach in your house
38) You got to go home twice a year ...thats if you're lucky
39) Home almost felt like a museum
40) You are a pro packer, or at least have done it many times
41) Living out of a suitcase, you find, has its pros
42) You bump into your old teachers all the time
43) Family photos you sent every year took months to arrive and often were in front of some exotic statue or endangered animal no one has heard of
44) Your check from your parents takes a month to reach you
45) Talking to your school office and getting signatures from your parents is a week-long event
46) When you return to the States you are overwhelmed with the number of choices in a grocery store ( I stood by the chocolate syrup for about 20 min. because there was a whole row)
47) You literally have real friends (not facebook friends) from different schools all over the nation on your friends list
48) Everyone had a 'staff'; maid, house cleaner, driver and babysitter
49) Most of the 1st graders have cell phones
50) You get excited when a relative sends a video tape of regular TV with commercials.. its in ENGLISH!
51) There was only one grocery store.. usually at the embassy that resembled the ones at home.
52) Once you get home you miss your adopted home and vice versa
53) You are never content in one place, be it city, state or country for long. You're a mover.
54) You never had a job until you reached college
55) Blackouts are quite common, yet after a while no one seemed to notice and sometimes you would find yourself doing homework to the light of your phone or flashlight
56) Class reunions.. are not at your old school.. not even close
57) Police, imported from a different country, guard your school...carrying machine guns
58) you know everyone else in this group, because he/she went to school with one of your friends
59) Your passport has more stamps than a post office
60) When the power cuts out and you sit there wondering when the generator is going to kick on... only then you realize there is no generator
61) When you carry converters because you actually realize there are different types of outlets
62) When people give you funny looks because you are a gold or platinum elite member of your airlines
63) When you constantly feel like you have to catch up with TV programs, actors and other people or songs you are not familiar with
64) You don't think its strange that you haven't talked to your best friend in a while because you know you will always have a unique bond
65) You wake up in one country thinking you are in another
66) You don't feel at home at home anymore
67) When a friend talks about their dreams of traveling to across the world to a secluded country and you can give them all the best restaurants and places to visit. You're like the traveler guidebook.
68) You don't even bother to change your watch when traveling
69) You hate subtitles because you know there is someone that can make an accurate translation.. you!
70) When you have little or no contact with he locals but are best friends with people across the globe
71) When you think everyone else is a foreigner in a county foreign to you
72) When something unusual happens and it just doesn't seem to phase you as being something unordinary
73) You speak many broken languages at once when you are drunk
74) When your friends take you to an 'ethnic' restaurant as a joke and you can read the menu, order food for them and actually stomach the meal
75) When you start introducing yourself followed by your country of origin....
76) Your yearbooks are all different; made of fabrics known to that area and have stuff like elephants on them. Its your favorite keepsake.
77) Famous people like Uma Thurman went to your school and you had no idea until you researched (AES)
78)You have to change your passport because it's full... not because it's expired... and this several times during your school years
79)Paying a cop is not considered a bribe
80)You've dated people from other countries
81)You start to keep your experiences overseas to yourself because people look at you as though you are spoiled for having the opportunity to indulge in a new culture.. sad
82)You are afraid to go back to visit your school because you know no one will be there that you used to know, they all moved
83)You have the opportunity to intern at your Embassy/Commission over summer without qualifications
84)When you have free accommodation in any city you travel to around the world because some friend from the old days lives there!
85) you're scared of going 'home' because you haven't been there in so long, and changed so much, that you think people might not like you anymore
87) You have more than one driver's license, none of which are valid at home, that, or in college, you still can't drive!
88) You always have to think which side of the road to drive on

There really ARE three sides to each story, aren't there?

Njah. Sellelsamusel Jumala aastal on LPC tulvil UWC-elamusi. Kõigepealt tahetakse meil ära keelata Overnight'ide (üleöö-linnaload) võtmine (selle otsuse vastu protesteerib muidugi kogu kool ja õpilased on isegi tekitanud spetsiaalse komitee, kes tegeleb ülalnimetet kõhedusttekitava ettepaneku pareerimisega), siis tahetakse meilt ära võtta üks kahest aastalõpu pidulikust õhtusöögist, ja tagatipuks lendas koolist USA poiss, kellel kaelas mitu ahistamissüüdistust. Hoirassaa ja pudel rummi, mina küll ei tea, mida praegu pihta hakata. Ahjaa, ramadani ehk islami paastukuud teen ma ka. Ehk siis päikesetõusust päikeseloojanguni süüa ega juua ei tohi. Päris Metsik (Sirli, pean sind ikka meeles) on siin kliimas 14h järjest joomata olla. Aga ega midagi, huvitav kogemus on. Pean siiski kahetsusega teatama, et tervet kuud ma küll vastu ei kavatse pidada, kuna niigi olen tundides lössis nagu kartulikott, nüüd ei suuda ma ilma seljatoeta pingil üldse vertikaalasendis püsida. Ja Trevor (hiiglasemusklitega bioloogiaõpetaja) vaatab mind kurjal joonlauapilgul. Niisiis hakkan sellest neljapäevast jälle selgroogu toiduga toetama. Neljapäeval on muideks kaks nädalat ramadani peetud, niisiis minu ja Annasilvia ramadan on kokku üks kuu, mis tähendab, et meie paast on peetud. Aga toitu me küll jagama ei hakka. :P

HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, lõpuks!!! Hea tunne on. Kõnnid teadja näoga ringi, annad seletusi, kuspool on ühikad, kuspool söökla (trepid on absoluutselt identsed, ainult ümbruse järgi annab navigeerida, nii et vaesed rebased satuvad söökla asemel alatihti teatriklassi), ütled kaks lauset hiina keeles ja esimese aasta mandariini abikate (ab initio) silmad lähevad pahupidi... Kõiksugu toredad asjad. :) Ja enam ei ole kartust suurte abiturientide ees, kes teavad ja oskavad kõike ja panevad sind ainult siis tähele, kui tõesti vaja on või kui sa midagi ERITI lolli ütled. :)

Minu selle aasta Quan Cai nimekiri:
Service: Caritas Tai Wai
Sellest tahaks küll pikemalt rääkida. Oma nime panin kirja täiesti juhuslikult, peaks isegi ütlema, et kogemata. Tegu on nimelt service'iga, mille käigus tegeldakse puudega lastega. Sellist kogemust mul eelnevalt olnud pole. Eelmisel aastal oli Lok Yukis kari pisikesi kolme- kuni kuueaastasi intelligentidest kisakõrisid, kes kõik eelnevalt mõne aasta inglise keelt olid õppinud ning kellega suhtlemisbarjäär üsna kiiresti kadus. Vaimne puue on minu väike hirm. Kuidas olla, mida öelda, kui laps ei reageeri, ei huvitu mängimisest või rääkimisest (keelebarjäär ka ju), üldse ma ei kujuta ette, kuidas see olla võiks. Niisiis ootan väikese kõhedusega oktoobrit, mil service algab. Aga sisimas on mul ülihea meel, et just selle service'iga seotud olen. See alusetu hirm peab võidetud saama.

Campus Support: too many
Campstore - suht mittemidagitegemine, ainult jõulude, China Week'i ja Project Week'i ajal on meil palju tegemist. Ja hiljem on palju küsimist ja meeldetuletamist, et väljarenditud asju tagasi saada. :P
Student Consultative Committee - mainisin vist juba seda organit, mis peaks olema ühendavaks lüliks õpilaste ja õpetajate vahel, suhtlema mõlema poolega ning vahendama õpilaste huve. Hetkel tegelemegi üleöö-linnalubade, aastalõpu õhtusöökide ja õpilaseelarvega. Tore oleks paar õmblusmasinat saada... :P
2x Student Leadership (jalg- ja sulgpall)

Action: Tüdrukute jalgpall
28 TÜDRUKUT!!! see on täpselt neli naiskonda! Uskumatu! Absoluutne fenomen! Tundub, et kõige populaarsem spordiala üldse LPC-s (sel aastal). *Särab, oh ei, LEEMENDAB uhkusest*
Sulgpall
Nii algajad kui edasijõudnud - kokku pea 30 inimest taaskord. Kogu grupi peale olen ma ainus mitte-asiaat ja üks vähestest hiina keele mitterääkijatest. Eks üritan siis sisse sulanduda ja oma tiimikaaslastega hiina keeles rääkida. Kahjuks ei suuda ma mitte alati kogu lauset hiina keelde panna, niisiis kukub välja mingi hübriidkeel, mida kohalikud kutsuvad 'chinglish'. I'm a flippin' expert.

Creativity: fotograafia
LÕPUKS! Otsustasin, et Art for Non-Artists ei annaks vist eriti midagi, samas kui fotograafias üritame õppida nii ilmutamist kui kompositsiooni jms. Ootan huviga. Meil Silaga (Küpros) tuli plaan teha sellega seoses väike heategevusprojekt, nimelt teha näitus või anda välja väike raamatuke Hong Kongi 'varjuküljest' n-ö, ehk siis üritame jõuda HK shanty town'i Sham Shui Po'sse, teha seal pilte, üritada tabada võimalikult palju kontrasti (sest seda siin leidub) ja pressida see kõik kokku mingiks väljapanekuks mingis vormis. Idee on hetkel täiesti lahtine, eks annan progressist, kui see toimuma peaks, ka teada.



Otsustasin eile õhtul, et ajakirjandus on ikkagi minu Mr Right. Et kui võimalik, siis ajakirjandus põhierialana ja hiina keel kõrvalerialana. Jee lampkompositsioonidele! Aga tegelikult oleks süvendatud Kaug-Ida õpingud ka mõte. USAs annab kindlasti miskit kombineerida. Rääkisin just täna ühe lõpetanuga, kelle selle aasta ained on järgnevad (ilma tõlketa, kuna äkki läheb miskit kaotsi, küll te mõistate):

Fiction Writing II
Geology
History of Holocaust
Abnormal psychology
Intermediate Chinese

Tere hommikust, juhus! Õnneks ei pea enne teise aasta lõppu oma põhieriala ära otsustama. Nii et palju edu. Steve pani mind mõtlema Florida State University peale. Ja endale pakkus huvi Kenyon (Kirderanniku loodeosas). Ja muidugi Brown (Rhode Island), kuna kõik armsad inimesed sattusid just sinna kokku. Kaasaarvatud ülalmainitu oma viie lambist võetud kursusega. Ameerika kolledžid on nagu rootsi laud. :)

OK. 2:25 a.m. Side lõpp. Kallistan kah (pole seda ju üsna ammu teinud).

P.S. Ostke ikka Kalevi komme! Ja kirjutage miskit. Vanaema-vanaisa, andke teada, kuidas läheb!