Education.

I sit in calculus class, staring at the clock. Calculus and I have a love-hate relationship, to say the least. It's consistently my highest grade, because I put the most effort into it. I come in before school to check answers on the homework and do test corrections, and my textbook has pretty much become my left arm. Somehow, after hating math classes consistently through high school, calculus has turned it around so much that I've signed up for higher level maths at the UWC.

On the other hand, I want to shred my notebook and scream every night, around midnight, when I realize I've got another two hours of calculus homework, and barely enough energy to keep my eyes open. I get frustrated when I don't understand. Admittedly, I fail some assignments, and practically give myself a hernia stressing about how I'm going to learn the concepts I still don't understand, while continuing to build on them with new materials.

It doesn't really matter whether I know the material, because I'm not taking the AP test, or the final. I'll be retaking all of this in college in a few years anyways.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm putting in all this effort, when I don't actually need to be here. Why am I bothering to go to TWO extra years of high school?

And then I remember that I'm being handed a free education for a few months. I don't HAVE to sit in the back of a calculus classroom scribbling down integrals like mad. I GET to have my mind blown by "the calculus," as we so lovingly call it. I GET to have my mind blown, each an every day, by physics, government, business, not one, but TWO English classes, and calculus!

However much I hate school sometimes, having it be "optional" for a few months has made me remember that my education is a privilege, not a right, and I'd better be taking advantage of it.

Five Months in Illinois + One Second Grader = The Best.

I have 55 days until I get on the plane. 21 days left of high school here in the States.

I've been getting really, really focused on getting ready to leave, to say the least.

On the other hand, in the few months I've had between camp and leaving for Swaziland, I've been working as a nanny for a seven-year-old named Jimmy. For the record, he's pretty much the coolest kid ever.

"WHOA! DIANA COME HERE AND LOOK AT THIS! MY JACK-O-LANTERN IS ROTTEN! CAN WE DO THIS EXPERIMENT? WHEN DO WE GET TO GO SEE THE CHICKENS AGAIN? LOOK AT THIS BUBBLE IN THE WATER BALLOON - IT LOOKS LIKE A HEAD! I'M GLAD YOU DON'T DRIVE A RED CAR. BULLS DON'T LIKE RED. CAN YOU TELL ME A HISTORY STORY? I'M STEAMING, DIANA! LET'S PLAY THE STATES GAME! CAN I PLAY ON THE COMPUTER? NO? YOU'RE A POO-FACE! SORRY FOR CALLING YOU A NAME! WHEN'S MOMMA GOING TO BE HOME? LOOK AT MY DRAWING FROM SCHOOL! I MADE A ZOMBIE! I'M GOING TO THROW THIS FOOTBALL AT THE WINDOW AS HARD AS I CAN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS! I WANT TO BE A CARPENTER, BUT A FOOTBALL PLAYER FIRST! I DON'T WANT TO PRACTICE MY VIOLIN! LISTEN TO THIS SCREECHING NOISE I CAN MAKE! HOW DO I WRITE THIS LETTER IN CURSIVE? CAN I HAVE A COOKIE? CAN I HAVE FOUR COOKIES? CAN I FEED YOUR LIZARD A CRICKET? YOU REALLY SHOULD CLEAN OUT YOUR CAR! RACE YOU TO THE DOOR!"

And so, with this, I've learned to appreciate the everyday things - jumping in the leaves, playing a board game, making a jack-o-lantern, running back to the car to get a blanket at a football game, going to see the chickens, fishing, doing kitchen science experiments, throwing a football back and forth across the living room, complaining about homework, listening to rock music really, really loud while driving with the windows down. These are the sorts of things that I'll miss once I'm gone, but sometimes forget to appreciate when they're there.

Just kidding  - I couldn't possibly forget about these things when Jimmy is around :)

So, yeah. 55 days left in America, including 21 more days of hanging out with the coolest second grader you'll ever meet, and then getting on a plane to Africa. I can't complain :)

Fifty People, Five Questions.

As a sort of experiment, I've sent a list of five questions to fifty people - all very different people, with very different backgrounds, from all over the United States, and around the world. There's nothing really unifying in this post, other than the fact that each of those fifty people answered the same five questions.

Everyone was oh-so eloquent, and for that reason I felt it was only right to include names. For the internet's sake, I've included first names only. If you'd prefer to be anonymous, feel free to tell me and I can change yours. Thanks to everyone for your participation (I'm so sorry I couldn't include everyone's!).

Without further to do, I present to you,

"Fifty People, Five Questions."

1. Introduce yourself.

• "I am an aspiring polyglot" - Ariel
• "My life is an ongoing journey to answer the question... I am a planner who is finally letting fate take the reins." -Catherine
• "A self-discovered feminist" -Katie
• "Do you eat? Sleep? Breathe? Great! We have so much in common!" -Maike
• "I'm gay." -Emily
• "I really love dead languages... I’m really awesome, I just don’t make any sense." -Jocelyn
• " I am currently a professional high fashion model and am postponing college in order to pursue my career." -Colleen

2. What is the happiest moment of your life?

• "Going to China and getting to see my family again for the first time in 7 years." -Paula
• "Probably some time at some summer camp. I'm always happiest at camp." -Leanna
• "Still looking for it whatever it is." -Ian
• "When I met the love of my life." -Haily
• "...there hasn't been one defining moment of my life which I would label "happiest." I try to make each day and week of my life happy..." -Erin 
• "The day I started figure skating... I never looked back." -Marie
• "The happiest moment of my life was when I overheard a girl who I thought hated me say that she disliked me because I was "too nice."" -Ianka
• "I love any time I'm standing on the edge of something new." -Christina
• "The moment I returned to the One who was the closest to me while I didn't know it. God." -Heba 

3. How would you define your culture?

• "It's a liquid." -Catherine
• "I would define my culture as one that is a river: picking up whatever comes my way." -Ariel
• "Nonconformist... I kinda just do things my own way, and in a way we are our own culture." -Nana
• "I was raised to value one of the best things about America- the overwhelming diversity that permeates almost every part of our country." - Priscilla
• "Secular Ashkenazi Jewish (treating Judaism as an ethnicity and nation rather than a religion)" -Ryan
• "Britain does have a few unique traits... we're very good at queuing, politely ignoring assholes and offering sad people a cup of tea and a biscuit." -Chermara
• "I don't participate in culture." -Emily
• "Classic American... I'm a decedent of European immigrants, and live in a little suburb." -Thomas
• "...Texan, since Texas generally likes to be its own category" -Stephanie
• "I find it really hard to define culture because I see it as cultures within cultures within cultures..." -Kira
• "My culture is very American. Family dinners a couple times a week. Supportive friends and family. We abide by the ten commandments. Creativity is encouraged." -Colleen
• " I live in a mostly all-white, middle-class corner of suburbia. The only thing I don't like is the angst that pollutes the air, the desire to become something more, the desire to get out. But we are the boomerang generation. We get out, see the world, and retreat back to this comfort zone of ours. We're moderately privileged and relatively ignorant to the ways of the world. It's suffocating, but it's our life." -Michaeline

4. Do you live somewhere where you would consider yourself to be in the majority? How has this influenced who you are?

• "I am certainly not the majority, but I'm not sure who is." -Chermara
• "I live in a place where I am the part of the majority, politically speaking... I would have never become this open about my political beliefs if I didn't live somewhere I felt accepted." -Ariel
• "I live in Maine where there is no diversity whatsoever. It makes me, at least, try to distance myself from people... It's all about expression and being comfortable about who you are, and accepting people no matter what." -Katie
• "I'm not sure how many Alaskans currently live in Taiwan..." -Carly
• "Living in New York, I find that I am not part of a majority; from here of all places comes the true definition of diversity, and every small minority living here is a testament to that." -Dante
• "My culture is pretty liberal, atheist, urban. Pretty nerdy. Liberal nerdy people are the majority here." -Garrett
• "I've stuck out my entire life. I've felt misunderstood a lot of the time. It makes me appreciate how nice it feels to blend in when I go to China." -Jessie 
• "Where I live, I would consider myself to be in the majority in the sense that my family has enough money to enjoy some luxuries that most people in the world never get." -Margaret

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live, and why? How would you like to live once you're there?

• "Palestine, just like any other Palestinian, is craved in my heart; it's a piece of my soul and the core of my cause. It's history, heritage and existence, to me it's not just a word in a sentence, it's a part of who I am. " -Heba
• "I feel like I fit in better in China than in America, for whatever reason." -Evangelista
• "I would like to live in a family with three sisters, who speak to me mainly in Hindi, and they go the temple a lot..." -Catherine
• "My dream is to live in South Korea. I want to teach English as a foreign language there, and I hope to go there on a one-year exchange during high school." -Laura
• "I am certainly not limited to America" -Holly
• "Once I live somewhere I just want to live." -Thais
• "Kazan, Russia... I would like to live in an apartment and work as a translator." -Sydney
• "Even if I earn a ton of money I plan to live in a small apartment and use the rest of the money to either donate, buy ice cream or go to Lotte World." -Nana
• "I don't want to stay in the same place too long, I think... Wherever I am, I want to live surrounded by friends." -Kira
• "I'm very bad at being home, so I'm not sure I could stay in Japan forever." -Grace
• "I would like to live with no responsibility at all." -Ian
• "Until France pulls itself together, I think I'd live in Montreal." -Leanna