Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By Kevin Kim Spiritual Disciplines is a senior Bible class centered on spiritual formation that is unique to each student’s spirit. Because seniors tend to be busy, this Bible class provides an environment to cultivate one’s spiritual formation using a variety of methods listed by Mrs. Allen. On the 15th of August, Mrs. Allen announced her lesson plans for the class, but her plans caught many seniors by surprise and gave them weird looks on their faces, as they questioned the purpose of the activity: being silent for an entire block. “To be honest, it was a first time for me to put that much time into spending it with God in silence. I was excited that I had a chance to deepen my relationship with Him,” David Unruh (12) commented about his first impression of the activity presented by Mrs. Allen. Silence was necessary for this activity because it prevented students from getting distracted from things, such as games, TV shows, social media, etc. For that entire week, seniors me...

Emmett Balzer             The sun just peeked out between the twin pillars of the Cove, illuminating and warming the mass of bodies collected upon Upper Field. Two great shadows rolled across the crowd as buses grinded their way up the hill, filling our lungs with thick exhaust. The crowds filed neatly into the two iron cages like ants in an anthill, more than eighty people would have to share forty square meters for six drooling hours; nobody was excited to spend their Friday on a bus.             Upon reaching the door, I saw the driver fiddling with some switches on his control panel. Sure enough the hot, damp air followed us all the way into the very back of the bus. We could not find the faintest whisper in the vents above; the air-conditioner must have broken. Keito Watanabe (12) described the feeling as follows: "We were stuck with the worst bus out of the two. The...

Hannah Buhr Eager to miss school, the Dalat varsity soccer and volleyball teams took a bus ride to Kuala Lumpur to face off against the varsity and junior varsity teams from the International School of Kuala Lumpur, but not without disaster. This trip, an annual occurrence, is usually treated as an escape from school to have an amazing learning experience on the court or pitch. Students don’t expect there to be bus trouble or major hiccups in the careful plans; each year, the coaches work hard to ensure that this tournament is a great learning experience for the athletes. Despite the thorough planning of the coaches this year, the bus ride to Kuala Lumpur didn’t exactly go as planned due to something far beyond their control. On Friday, August 26, the two buses left the Dalat parking lot and all the students settled for the long ride. Soon after, the bus holding the soccer guys and volleyball girls got off the bridge and stopped, but not for a bathroom stop. Instead, the bus d...

Justina Cryder On the first day of this month, I walked through Dalat’s gate, not knowing what to expect but somehow still expecting the worst. And it's not that being the new kid is new to me; Dalat is the third high school I've been to in the past three years. Still, I didn't have the best attitude about flying across the world to come to a new school in a country that I'd never visited before. Shortly after my arrival, however, the friendly faces and voices of Dalat proved to me that I had the completely wrong attitude. While sitting in the front office and waiting with my luggage, a woman busted open the door with a grin on her face. "Justina?!" she exclaimed. I nodded my head. "Hi, it's so nice to meet you! I'm Aunt Mary," she told me. "Can I hug you?" I nodded again and she opened her arms to me. She led me to my dorm building where I was greeted with new faces and was told many names that I knew would be difficult ...

By Aster Hng Dalat has many traditions that run back to the good 'ol days. From personal experience, one of our best traditions is the Junior Class Store, which is open every school day before school starts and from X-block onwards. Every year, the junior class is handed the keys to the store, and this store becomes the class baby and ATM. But each junior class is free to put their own spin on the Junior Class Store as bold entrepreneurs. This year's juniors, the Class of 2018, have revolutionized the Junior Class Store, to put it simply. They caught the rest of the school off guard when they leaped into this school year head on, determined to make their new ideas work. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, then let me clarify: the Junior Class Store doesn't sell the iconic Bubble Tea and Oreo Smoothie anymore. But, not to worry, they have something a little more classic—they now sell milkshakes! Ranging from the standard vanilla milkshake to ...