Graduation.



The end of the line for formal instruction, graduation day is when society looks at her well groomed offspring, all ready to go out into the world armed with information that would be of no real use, but nonetheless it is considered an achievement to have completed high school here.

Of course back in Malaysia, the education system is such that anyone can advance to the next grade, and completion of secondary education lies solely on whether one is able to pass BM. So schools that still go on to take up the whole Graduation Charade back home anyway would be stopping short of down right stupidity. America does it better anyway.

Only 6 graduated from Starkweather High,



which makes it seem more of an achievement, but the reality is that is all the Seniors there are in the school. Nevertheless, its celebrated with all the pomp(a band, a choir and a full-blown ceremony)







that the bigger schools attach to their graduation ceremonies. Why all the unnecessary cynicism you ask? Well maybe its got to do with the Valedictorian having trouble remembering the year America got her Independence, but hey, she's hot. That makes it all OK. Looks always trumps smarts. In fact both the Salutatorian and the Valedictorian are hot, so its all alright. Nobody's complaining.

So after the speeches and the presentation of awards, the thing was over with and all of the grads had a grad party at the same time and expected everyone to come to all of it. He and Gigih made it 3 of the open houses, of which Carrie's was the best.


It was on this day that most of the kids at school realized that this might just be the last time they will ever see the "exchange students" and suddenly girls you barely know came up to you and hugged you(again, nobody's complaining), people promised to hang out, and everybody says they will miss you. Gosh, it seems like the less you know people, the more they miss you. He promises them he will come back and visit in the future, but he admits that its just something you say in this kind of situation.

To be completely honest, he's too eager to get back to miss this place too much, sure he will miss the rolling plains, the miles of open space, the quiet and basically everything that is opposite of the downsides of living in a city, but he will be looking forward to meeting up with his fellow afs-ers, getting back together with the old ss17 gang, and FORM 6. Nevertheless, he still has much to do here what with a month left, which will be packed with an impending road trip down to Indiana, a camping trip, and numerous outings with friends who "want to do something before you go", he will hardly have time to do anything other than enjoy himself.