Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

By Jun Lee   “All right, spread out across the library, we’re testing Zoom.” In case Covid-19 prolongs school shutdown, Mr. Roberts (Sr.) conducted a test-run of online video conferencing for his Web Design class. As Mr. Roberts paced back and forth along the library hallway, checking if each student could connect to the conference, students explored various utilities of Zoom: the online video conferencing platform employed. Five minutes of clicking and giggling passed as students successfully logged-in and poked multicultural jokes at each other as usual. Tien Min Tan (G12) called Nicole Lee (G12) “ 笨蛋 (idiot)” and Nicole replied, “ 愚蠢 (stupid),” while Seong Jin Kim (G12) and I (Junyong Lee, G12) exchanged Arabic greetings out of nowhere: “ ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُم ْ,” “ وَعَلَيْكُمُ ٱلسَّلَام ُ ” (“peace be with you,” “you be with peace”). A cheery and jocular Dalat spirit never ceased as random laughing faces shined on the screen (although accidentally; they did not realiz...

By Onyu Kwak Going once, going twice, sold! Another year of Junior for Hire opened this week with a variety of bidders and ideas. Junior for Hire is an event that juniors open to raise money for their class to prepare JSB, senior sneak, and other activities. During the event, Juniors advertise themselves in front of the crowd to sell their services. Just like every year, the juniors had millions of creative ideas starting from “Making Messi” by Andrew Kaney, Sumin Park, and Sean Park to “Shiny day” by Jiah Choi and Ally Kim, which earned the most money. When I interviewed Jiah Choi (11) about her thoughts about the Junior for Hire this year, she said, “When I first came up with this idea, I never expected to earn this much because it was a typical service that anyone could do. As the price of my service excited the crowd and slowly went up, my heart started to pump faster and faster. Overall, it was an interesting experience.” Junior for Hire not only helps the junior class...

By Niki Tsumagari Due to the fast-spreading of the Coronavirus all over the world, all international trips that were planned in the remaining time of this school year have been cancelled. Just like it did to the rest of the world, the disease, COVID-19, has brought fear, worry, and grievance to many students and staff here in Dalat. The spreading of this virus has led to the cancellation of many festivals, concerts, sports matches, and flights everywhere; and all events that our school had a part in were no exception. These include honour choir ACSC, track ACSC, girls’ soccer ACSC, and impact trips. On February 26 th , 6:33 PM, honour choir students received an email from their choir teacher, Ms. Joyce Goh, saying that the honour choir ACSC 2020 had been cancelled. Merely two hours before this email was sent, honour choir students were in the choir room, talking about how excited and glad they were that this trip was going to happen. Many of them received this news during...

By Rebekah Lee Pause, Refresh, and Play. The three banners hung high up in the Harbor Hall as the Dalat high school students were chattering amongst themselves, preparing for 2020’s Mission Emphasis Week (MEW). MEW week is a time where the whole Dalat community can learn how God calls us to serve Him by serving others. For three days, elementary, middle, and high schoolers go to the Harbor Hall to worship and listen to the words of God. Later, students, teachers, staff, and parents are also welcome to come to the night sessions. For most, MEW is an exciting and relaxing week. Students are not given homework to encourage them to take a break from academics and attend the MEW sessions with no stress. MEW gives me a chance to breathe and lets me pause from my busy school life. I’m always rushing to finish my homework, submitting my assignments, and studying for tests. Thanks to MEW, I’m able to lay everything down and focus on my relationship with God.  Sadly, for the clas...

By Jong Min Park The three words “Pause, Refresh, and Play” hung from the rails of the Harbor. With the purple, green, and orange verbs providing a striking entrance to the school, they marked the start to a new week. To many, seeing this banner meant having a week with no homework at all. But more importantly, this banner signified a week full of intimate spiritual moments; it signified Missions Emphasis Week. The dance team took the crowd by surprise with a pumped choreography of Francesca Battistelli’s  This Could Change Everything  on Monday night, earning the woos and cheers of the shocked spectators in Harbor Hall. On Wednesday night, the worship team opened the night with the classic  One Way , followed by  I’m Trading My Sorrows , both of which had the entire room standing and jumping on their feet. Seniors led the way as they courageously strolled down the Harbor Hall steps and gathered the rest of the crowd to worship with energy.  De...

By Maddie Rude February 27-28, the seniors walked to Rainbow Paradise hotel in the scorching heat for the Senior Transition retreat. Once the seniors got there, they were able to sit and relax in the cold room, which felt good after the long, treacherous walk. The seniors started with some activities, they talked about the differences between the foreign TCK's and local TCKs, but with an added twist: as the students read the lists, they spoke in hilarious accents. They discussed the grieving stages of transitioning and built little paper boats to help us say goodbye to people. "I've moved four times in the past two years, each time I've made a boat, and each time I've sunk; moral of the story: boats are pointless," said Georgia White (12). After the morning session, there was a four-hour break for lunch; some people went swimming, chilled on the beach, went tubing. After lunch, Mr. Brewster ambushed the seniors with a combination of physical ...

By Georgia White In the experience of most, a retreat takes place somewhere a considerable distance from their place of work or education. In the seniors' recent experience, a retreat could be simply three meters away from school. At 8:25 a.m. on Thursday, February 27, 2020, the senior class embarked on the long trek to Paradise Hotel. After their arrival at 8:27 a.m., all the seniors met up in the conference room, and Senior Transition Retreat had officially begun. The purpose of the retreat is to prepare seniors for their lives after Dalat through a series of sessions. Some of which included lessons like life as a TCK (third culture kid), the cost of college, relationships, personal finances, and self-defense. Daniel Lim (12) said, "The session that taught me the most were the ones about learning how to say goodbye. Being someone who hasn't experienced leaving a place, I think it was good for me to know what to expect when the time comes for all of us to sa...

By Nicole Lee Eight girls from different grades started their dance journey since the beginning of 2020. Their passion for dance, music, and God made them more determined to perform a meaningful dance piece for Mission Emphasis Week (MEW) to worship God. This dance club includes eight girls from four different grades. We have Nicole Khor (9), Helen Jang (10), Saebom Won (11), Mandy Liao (11), Anya Kaloo (11), Grace Wan (12), Nicole Lee (12), and Grace Moon (12). Practices were four times each week; two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Although we often complained about long practice hours, in the end, it was all worth the hard work. We had been dancing contemporary style dance pieces for the past years, but we decided that this year was going to be different. We went with more of a hip hop mood with an upbeat song alongside some pop moves. We also added different steps that required some power, and we incorporated a little flashmob to create a lively mood for the ...

By Inkyul Kim Silence rang through the air as Mr Dobson readied his hands on the play button. Our attention was driven fully onto the screen, as the sounds of 2000’s pop rang through the hall. “I felt my heart suck into the music”, said Dael Kim as she reminisced on the beautiful moment. The song, I’m Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado blessed our Senior Transition Retreat during our first seminar. “Honestly I was getting bored with all the talking but Nelly Furtado’s deep and thoughtful lyrics kept me awake” says Jong Min Park. And deep and thoughtful the lyrics were. The seminar was centred around TCK so Mr Dobson, being the absolute Chad he is, picked Nelly Furtado’s piece about her own background as a TCK. Some of the lyrics talk about how she is “like a bird.” This is a clear and beautiful metaphor on why she, indeed, feels like a bird. She comments on how she doesn’t know where her home is or where her soul is. I’m sorry folks, but if that doesn’t make you cry, then you’re...