Hello Everyone!
I’ve definitely not been good at keeping up with you guys lately, so I’ll try to make up for it a bit now by giving you an update on my life and sharing my family’s Christmas Eve traditions … maybe I’ll make another post about New Year’s traditions as well later. I guess I’ll start with the Christmas Eve traditions that way I don’t bore you to death with my “life story”.
Disclaimer: There are countless traditions for American families to have when it comes to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Day traditions tend to be similar – and by similar I mean that there’s always a crap load of food. Anyways, this is just what my family does for Christmas Eve. What are your family traditions like? (provided you have any) Now we’ll be moving on.
Christmas Eve is the big day for my family. It starts when we all meet at church for the Christmas Eve service. (We usually sing Christmas carols and read out of the book of Matthew and/or Luke and observe the Lord’s Supper aka Holy Communion aka Eucharist. I usually play some special arrangement on the piano or play the violin for a part of the service, but this year I didn’t have time to prepare anything. I did cover the tech booth by myself though since the other two guys who are usually up there with me are deacons – they had to pass around the things for the Lord’s Supper.) When my mother was a child, my Mammaw started fixing finger food for Christmas Eve, after the year there was some sort of beef liver fiasco. –Don’t ask me what happened with the beef liver. I just know there was some sort of problem, and nobody in the family really talks about it haha– Anyways, these pictures I’ve incorporated show what kinds of finger food we had this year. We always have a vegetable tray, dessert tray, cookie-cutter sandwiches, and little sausages.
For some reason, only one of my picture tags are showing up that describe what are in the pictures. hmmm. if you really want to know then ask about them in the comment section.
After we finish our extremely unhealthy dinner of finger food, we all gather in the parlor (where I have everyone’s presents sorted next to the seats) to read the Luke 2:1-19. Oh, I probably should have said this earlier, but we open our presents on Christmas Eve since my Mammaw and Pappaw (Mom’s parents) leave for Ohio to visit my Aunt Phyllis (Mom’s older sister – only sibling) for the rest of the holidays. Even when we lived close to my aunt we had the same tradition because she spends her Christmas Eve with her husband’s family (they eat tex-mex in case you were wondering). … So after Daddy finishes reading from Luke, we get the cameras out and start filming each other –one by one– starting with youngest to oldest. I’m an only child, so I always get to open my presents first, then Momma, Daddy, Mammaw, and Pappaw. … and that pretty much sums up my Christmas Eve tradition(s).
If you’re bored to death, then stop reading now – here comes my “life story” update thingy.
I believe the last post I made (and the last time I really got to talk to anyone) was in July, so I’ll try to fill in the gaps from August to today. I always knew that senior year would be an extremely busy year, with applying to colleges and all (I think everyone else calls it “university” … nobody here calls “college” “university” – it may be because in the states we apply to a college within a university; I really don’t know), but this has been absolutely ridiculous. I started off the year studying for the ACT (a college entrance exam that tests over English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing – the writing section is optional, but the schools I applied to require it). Apparently for me the third time in taking the ACT was the charm; I topped out with a 28 (out of 36) as an overall score which puts me in the top 9% of the nation – I still think it’s just a load of BS, but I really shouldn’t be complaining. In any case, it was a good enough score to get me into Ohio State University and Indiana University at Bloomington (my top choices) with a small scholarship from Indiana (I still have to wait for more information on financial aid from both schools though). Speaking of scholarships, that’s what has been taking up most of my time. All of the major scholarships out there require one or more essays – I’ve lost count of how many I’ve written now (I know I’m in double digits though). I know that I’ve already been rejected for one of the scholarships I applied for – it was just for a bonus summer trip under the USDS, so I’m not too upset. I also took two college classes this semester; History 121 (World History to 1500 CE) and Math 111 (Algebra 1 – the school told me I still needed to take another math class even though I fulfilled the graduation requirement my sophomore year; I didn’t feel like challenging myself with math this semester after what happened last year with Math 120 [Trigonometry], so I took a class that I knew I could sleep through and still make an A). History was a rigorous class, but I liked it. I still don’t understand how they pick out the material to teach us though. Some countries/cultures we learn a lot about, but I still don’t know much about Africa (aside from Egypt) or Southeast Asia. If I had to live with a native Central/South American tribe, I would be an Incan. … Just thought I would throw that fun fact in there (mostly because I still want to live in Peru for a year haha) … I definitely know a load more about ancient China, but we didn’t cover much of anything on Korea or Japan (unless you count Chinese occupation/influence throughout the area). I also learned quite a bit about the Mongolian Empire; the most resounding fact that stuck with me is the staggering number of Chinggis Khan’s decedents – talk about a man “getting around”! Good Grief! Hahaha … But enough about what I learned in history class … My other classes for the semester were Scientific Research, English 4, Japanese 1, and Advanced Strings. Next semester I’ll take Government (as an independent study course), Scientific Research, English 4, Spanish 4 (well, it might actually turn into another independent study course – I want to focus on verbs), Korean 1 (as an independent study course – it won’t go on my grade card though), and Advanced Strings. If you can’t tell by now, I might be a little obsessed with languages now that I’ve returned from World School. Did I mention that I taught myself a little bit of Old English and Middle English? Hahaha … now to change gears a bit … I’ve also been busy with basketball lately; I love playing it even though I’m really bad. I’ve been a starter since last year, but that really doesn’t mean anything. I can’t believe that this is the last year I’ll get to play it on a real team though. … I also managed to wreck my car in the beginning of November. Never allow yourself to get scared while driving! You will make a dumb decision like I did! The road was slick with rain and I pulled out too fast – I had a rear wheel drive vehicle, it fishtailed. I probably could have pulled it out of the fishtail in time, but there was an oncoming car that I really didn’t want to take my chances with. I’ve always been told that if I had the choice between an oncoming car and a pole, “take the pole”, so I did. My airbags didn’t go off nor was I thrown into my seatbelt. I was completely unharmed, but the front of the driver’s side was a bit crumpled. The cost to repair it would have been $3,600, but the value of the car was only $4,000, so we took the money instead. Right now we’re actually driving to Atlanta to pick up a truck. My parents said that I’ll be driving the impala; it has even more miles than the blazer (the car I used to drive) but has been a much more reliable vehicle. Just last week I started driving on my own again. I thought I would be really scared, but it actually felt really normal. … I can’t really think of anything else to tell you guys that has happened lately. Ummmmmm As for things I’m currently interested in, K-pop is slowly taking over my iTunes library as are language learning podcasts. I keep up with Korean music through a youtube web series, “K-pop Music Mondays,” made by Simon and Martina. You guys should really look them up – Simon and Martina are hilarious and informative.
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I should think that sums things up pretty decently. As far as reunion type things go, Ricarda is the only person who has come to see us. I think Anu was in DC a while back too, but we didn’t actually get to see her. :-( I will probably get to go to the same college as another former World School graduate though. :-) I found out through my friend Dillon Ramos (WSIF2009) that Kinshuk Mitra (also WSIF2009) is at Ohio State University. I’ve not actually met up with him in person, but he seems to be a pretty funny guy – he’s helped answer most of my questions about OSU. Now I know I’ll have a friend when I go off to college in August. Isn’t it wonderful how World School has created so many ties?
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