Formal Dance

This week has been absolutely crazy for me! There's been so much to do in so little time! I spent most of the week finishing my last big research projects/papers, studying for a test, and preparing for a very, very important and big presentation on Monday. I call my bedroom "The Cave" because it is separated from everything else, and kind of dark and small. I spent most of my time in my cave this week in order to keep myself focused. I felt bad because mom and dad barely saw me! I'm hoping to be much more present this next week. I ended up getting very high marks on one of my research papers, in science which was fun! That particular teacher is an extremely strict grader, so to get such good marks was definitely something to celebrate! I am extremely scared and nervous for my presentation tomorrow. It's for a class called Theory of Knowledge and if you don't say the right things you don't get the marks. Anyway, enough of that! It's been really good for me to have Sunday before the big day tomorrow and just remember that this presentation does not equate to probably even a millionth of a second in the eternal scheme of things! :) 

Saturday night was a very fun night. The high school had a Formal Dance. It's "prom" Cambodian style! There's no dates or anything though. I had a dress made at a local tailor. Unfortunately they didn't get it done until Thursday/Friday. We went to try it on Friday afternoon and told them to fix some things. When we went to get it on Saturday (2 hours before the dance!) there were still some things wrong so mom was the greatest and came home and quickly finished fixing things. She also curled my hair while I practiced for my presentation. At this point I was nearly in tears because I was so stressed out. It seemed like nothing was going right (typical right?). My dress didn't turn out like I was hoping, I couldn't find the right curling iron, I couldn't memorize my presentation, and on and on. I just felt like everything was piling on top of each other. At one point I was having difficulty opening my computer with one hand and finally mom and I just started laughing at how ridiculously bad everything was going. In hindsight it's all very funny! Anyway, eventually I made it to the dance. I thought I was being "fashionably late" (like at home) by being a half hour late. Well, I guess that's not how things work here. My friends called my like 3 times in the space of 10 min. asking, "where are you?! are you coming?) I had no idea it would be like this, but it was apparently a dinner and then a dance (kind of like a gala with dancing). They had a nice buffet and fancy tables. Then, after an hour they started the dancing. The music wasn't that great, but we still danced. Unfortunately there were only about 7 or 8 of us 12th graders. Everyone else is "too cool" :). It ended up being a really really fun evening, and good for me to get out and relax for a little bit. The only downer to the evening is that I found out that a couple of the other kids were taking drugs (spiking drinks, taking pills, etc. ), so that made me kind of sad. I tried not to be bothered though and just had fun instead! (pictures are attached)

Mom was very sweet today and was the "Easter Bunny" (I guess I shouldn't say that! :). She hid some eggs that we had colored the night before in the living room and in the afternoon we had a little egg hunt. She also put together some yummy baskets! It's fun to still do traditions-makes it feel more like home. :)

Well, that's my life as of now. Have a happy Easter! I love you all so much!!

Love always,

Kenzie

Mom hard at work fixing my dress.

Some of my friends. Left to right: Me, Panda, Holly, Chan, Nathaniel, Tushar

The theme was "Bond Night", referring to James Bond.