Dalat International School: Senior Scribble

 By Alina Yeoh The first week of the fourth quarter ended with an email sent by Mr. Penland informing students that sports games during lunchtime are allowed once again. When I checked out this email, I was in the hallway waiting for the X-block to start. Quite a few students were preparing themselves for sports—some sitting on the benches simply for relaxing and having fun. I walked myself to the tennis court while a smell of vitality floated in the air. At that moment, this place suddenly brought such a freshness to me. Two years ago, I was lucky enough to come to Dalat, but I could also say that I had the misfortune of being enrolled during the pandemic. During these times, students have either had to follow the rules of not being able to participate in activities or take classes online. Even when we finally returned to school, we were unsure when we would be back to the computer and locked up at home. This back-and-forth created a lot of resentment among the students, includi...

 By Eugene Tee The end of the Class of 2022 is around the corner. The tormenting, agonizing, despicable academic school life is finally coming to a grand finale. Unfortunately, we aren’t yet granted the freedom of athletic lifestyles. March 2nd, the date I often recollect: the absence of intramurals’ presence. The day the Ministry of Education barged into our campus due to a sudden pandemic rise and halted all joy and wonders. Disappointment, misery, and unwillingness summed up the emotion of the conclusion. All ball sports were prohibited once again. That led to the top 3 popular sports in school, basketball, soccer, and volleyball, forbidden on campus. “Noooo, I wanna ball so badly during lunch, man!” Darryl Dwumfour (11) cried while munching on his sandwich. The sorrow continued as time flew by. Finally, on March 18th, Mr. Penland announced the plausibility of Intramurals after spring break. Last but not least, sports balls are back! The news was delightful, and students r...

By Alexa Chandra Every day we do our own things repetitively for the whole year. But this pandemic that started in the beginning of 2020 came by and ruined almost everything all of us had planned. We could not enjoy our life and experience as a teenager properly as we were wasting our time alone or together in our own house, quarantining.  All of us, the seniors of 2022, spent our first week and most of the first semester digitally, and time passed by really fast. Gabriel Kontsas (12) said, “Quarantine sets us back physically and mentally. For example, I have a test on Wednesday in my Math class. It feels like I have been in class for five days during the whole chapter.”  It feels like everything is dragged out for all of us. Some of us couldn’t catch up with the work given to us online. Some of us couldn’t pay attention to classes and get distracted with other apps on the computer while online. My GPA did not show good performances at all. It has been a hard time for all of u...

By Jaesung Kim As 12th graders approach graduation day and prepare to turn a new page in their lives, many adults and teachers attempt to assist them via the annual Senior Transition Retreat. The event took place on March 11 to 12, 2022, and answered questions about faith, fear, finance, relationships, sex, etc.  Following the pandemic and half a semester of online schooling (and taking place before Senior Sneak), the transition retreat was rather unusual and surprising. Many students were not able to be present due to the virus, while new students had few opportunities to make an impact in the class. Wayne Khor (12), who hesitated on going to the retreat due to a relative’s case, said, “The virus restricted me from going to school and half the senior retreat.” Students who transferred to Dalat during the pandemic were unable to reach out to all of their classmates due to the cancellation of extracurricular and social activities.  However, despite the oddities, the retreat sti...

By Marissa Yost  Every year, certain classes of Dalat participate in a worldwide – though little known – event called March Mammal Madness, named partly after the college basketball NCAA March Madness. March Mammal Madness places two different animals (not always mammals, contrary to the deceptive title) against each other in battle. The result is simulated based on both scientific research and situational chance. Winners continue, and losers are eliminated until the final animals battle it out for the championship. There are four categories of animals competing. The first is Mammal Collectives, where individuals from the same species work together to win. These groups, as students have found, can have humorous names, such as an embarrassment of pandas. The second category is Wild North America, which features fearsome animals like the grizzly bear. The third is Queens of Sea and Sky, which includes animals where the females of the species are bigger or in some other way supe...

 By Esmarie de Jager At Dalat, there has always been a focus on the spiritual development of students and teachers. We do that through Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW) and Missions Emphasis Week (MEW). Last week was MEW, where the whole school had chapel time on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Although MEW was considerably affected by the current covid situation, a lot of good experiences came from it. MEW has always been an exciting week for me since I joined Dalat in Middle School. Not only are teachers not allowed to give us homework, but we get to go hang out with our friends till “late” at night: worshiping, praying, and listening to sermons. Some of my best MEW memories were in the vintage chapel before the Harbor Hall was even built. Listening to the teacher tell their stories about mission trips and how they live out their love for God struck an interest in me to want to pursue God that way. Every year MEW has a special significance in someone’s life. Covid has obviousl...

  By Grace Bae As an ordinary day after school, I leaned on the counter and ate the after-school snacks. As I started chewing on the cracker with the cheese on top, I heard a loud noise that sounded like rocks cracking. I stopped chewing and froze at that moment, and I knew this feeling because this had happened to me before.  When I was young, I wouldn't say I liked the taste of toothpaste. So I avoided brushing my teeth with the paste, which resulted in four cavities. Since my tooth was severely damaged, my dentist insisted that I should never eat hard food. But I never listened. Crackers, meats, and ice-creams are the love of my life that I can not give up. There was a consequence for following my heart though I had to visit the dentist every few years, and today was the day.  Since leaving the tooth with the cavity for long can end up with it breaking, I went to the dentist with Pastor Bob and Aunt Nancy to get my cavity filled. The process did not take long, and it w...

By Emilia Park Last Friday, the dorms went on a two-day trip to Ipoh. Because it was only a short getaway, no one was anticipating the trip. My roommates and I put off packing as much as possible until late the night before we left. On the following day, we drove for about three hours and arrived at Adeline's Villa before lunch. We checked in, and as soon as we heard we were going rafting and caving, we changed our clothes and loaded into the back of two trucks. Five rafting guides were waiting for us when we arrived at the rafting location, and we broke into teams of 4-5 people. The rafting route had breaks between the large and small rapids to swim and take short rests.  Since we had four to five people on each raft, we started to compete. We splashed water on each other's faces and pushed each other off the boat to win small competitions we created. Everyone was so into it that there seemed to be conflicts even between team members. Haylee Douglas (11) from Ziemer Dorm bragg...

By Liwei Koh Will this serve be the last? Ryan Chew (11) thought to himself, feet planted behind the white outer line of the volleyball court following a spree of seven serves in a row. Many call volleyball a team sport, as it is about setting up good attacks through passes and communication. Yet services are an exception to that rule as players can gain points themselves. This match should have been like any other match, the volleyball being exchanged after a few serves from each member succeeding exciting, unpredictable rallies from last-minute saves to quick reflexes. The score was zero to five, with the Lions crushing the Bulldogs in the last fifteen-point set, spirits were high on the other side of the net with the anticipation of victory, but this would soon change.  Following the defeat, Jacky Park (12) (Lions Captain) grudgingly agreed, "Not a bad game plan, but spectators would not understand the pressure on the court." The Bulldog team was preparing for defeat, but...

By Addy Tan Sports plays quite an important role within the Dalat community; students and parents are actively involved with after school sports. The recent re-introduction of intramural sports has sparked joy within the Dalat students; the ability to stay after school to play your favorite sport brings people together as a team once again. Randomized teammates give us a chance to connect with the younger grades and make new friends.  “I was excited because it was the first organized sport in a while and we could actually play full court basketball instead of half court scrims,” said Soo Wei Goh (11).  After almost two long years without sports, almost everyone has been panting like a tired puppy trying to chase the ball. The sweat on their faces brings the joy of playing the sport everyone loves; the pain lasts a second while the memories last forever. Seeing the smiles after winning a game or the frowns after losing gives a sense of ordinary, it is as if Covid never happened...

 By Sophia Kang Exciting talks and whispers of Sneak were heard through the school week before Sneak. Packing lists and plans were made, and students were looking forward to the trip. Some wanted to go to the spa, others wanted to kayak, and a few others were excited for the buffet breakfast at the hotel every morning. Unfortunately, just a few days before Sneak, it was announced that Sneak had gotten postponed due to Covid-19.  A few students felt that “the postponement was a safe choice” – Liwei (Grade 12). The postponement of Sneak was to prevent further Covid complications, especially during the trip. Because of the spike in Covid cases these few weeks in Malaysia, there have been concerns about going on the trip. The postponement of Sneak was a good decision for the safety of the seniors so that we could enjoy Sneak without any worries later on. A few other students were a little sad by the postponement, primarily because of their effort to pack for the trip. Alina Yeoh (...

By Maggie Koay For the first time since the first semester of my Sophomore year, school life has started becoming normal again. Well, as normal as it can be at this unpredictable and unprecedented time in our lives.  Intramurals is the temporary replacement of school sports. Of course, it’s not the same as having our usual varsity sports and competing in big tournaments like the Island Shootout or ACSC, but it will have to suffice for now. It’s amusing to hear people talking about how their game went yesterday and see them rushing excitedly with their sports bag and shoes towards the gym after school, just like pre-covid times. Sadly, other than intramural sports, there isn’t much going on after school and on Friday nights like how it used to be. Beside Intramurals and AP B-Blocks, students have to go home right away after school. There’s still no late Friday nights in school, Music and Monopoly in the student centre, or class parties. The class of 2020 is finally going to experien...

By Chor Ee Ng Fate is something that is very miraculous to me. I didn’t believe in fate when I was a kid but as of right now, fate has happened way too many times in my life for me to neglect its existence. Due to Covid hitting our school and our country in waves, I thought that we would be able to have our senior sneak at the end of February since our cases have been low for the past month. A lot of places like cinemas, restaurants, and other outdoor activities were starting to be reopened by the government. People are going out to dine in at restaurants and people were able to do things they weren't allowed to do during the Movement Controlled Order. There were strict SOPs in the past, but most of it has been either removed or eased up. As for Sneak, I planned out all my outfits and imagined the extra activities I was going to do with my friends, like, scuba diving, riding the ATV, and swimming with turtles. But fate caught upon us and because of the rise in Covid cases, and ...