Family Christmas Party

I received a request a couple days ago to update my blog, because "It's not Christmas anymore!!" Well, I decided to write a new post (Write? Nah. I meant, put up new pictures.), but I can't promise that the topic will be much different. Why, when Christmas is long-gone and the toys have been played with and broken already?

Because the annual Smith family party needs its time in the spotlight!

Every year, my family on the maternal side gets together either on Christmas or a few days after to have food, games, a gift exchange, and the traditional punch. What was particularly special about this year was that the entire family was present. That's usually quite a challenge, considering how many of us there are (2 grandparents, 13 aunts and uncles, and who knows how many of us cousins).
The games are always the most interesting part of the evening. This year was family trivia (this has recently become very popular at most of our family parties). Prizes include getting a present from underneath the tree and scratchable lottery tickets. I lost count of how many of those Mason got. Not only could she answer a lot of the trivia right, she got some for the cute stuff she submitted for the trivia. For instance, "I won't be able to say 'delicious' until I go to preschool." How much cuter can you get?

Here's the rest of the pictures from the evening. Belated Merry Christmas! (Like you haven't gotten tired of hearing that yet)

Merry Christmas!

From my computer to yours, I wish you a fantastic Christmas full of family, friends and food! If you live somewhere with snow...you probably wouldn't be reading this blog right now anyway. If you are, you really need to go out and build a snowman. Or, even better, find someone you have a bone to pick with and have a snowball fight!

Other than the absence of whiteness outside, except for the sunlight glaring off of the other houses, Christmas has been excellent. It's great to celebrate Christmas with my family and American friends again.

In honor of the holidays, I broke out my camera and took lots of pictures to document the Christmas I celebrate. Enjoy!

Christmas party in German class on the last day of school.

Jessica enjoying my German recipe for Herrencreme

Alexandra and her Victoria's Secret cupcakes
The Christmas Card door
Jenn frosting Christmas cookies
...in lots of weird colors.
Mom making sure that odd-colored cookies are edible.
I didn't eat anything!
Jenn taking a break from baking. Isn't she perty?
I assure you that my nostril excretions are nothing compared to hers.
Mom and Jenn playing handbells at the Christmas eve service.
Our tree...it did get decorated this year...somewhat.
The cat liked it anyway.
Too exhausted after cooking breakfast to even
think about opening presents!
David put on a little show for us.
...then the rest of us joined in.
Mom opening up a present which "sounds tasty enough to
season your food with"
Gametime: Guess what Chocolate!
What's the point of having a camera, if not to take
goofy pictures with?
Jon gave me Senet for Christmas (and it's fun!)
Sarah from Germany sent me a hand-crafted wood
nativity scene. I got to talk to her on the phone on
Christmas eve for the first time in months.

Still Alive...

...somewhat.
I took the SAT IIs, on Saturday (I don't even want to know my scores...it was that bad.......see what happens when you mix me and chemistry?), and since then have shifted my focus onto college application essays. I've had a number of projects and reports due this week, but besides those, schoolwork has been taking a backburner. Amazingly enough, though, I actually think I did well on the US History and Civics tests I wrote today, despite my lack of focus. Hopefully after Xmas break, things will fall back into place. Right now, college apps displace everything.
Does it seem odd that they take so long? Well, I'm putting a lot of effort into them. They need to be as perfect a representation of me as they can be, especially since they need to outweigh my SAT II scores. The other reason they have to be so good, is because of how competitive these schools are. You don't have a chance getting into an Ivy League with a mediocre essay.
Other than that, I've been getting Xmas stuff in the mail. I got a package from Germany in the mail this weekend. Milka, Haribo, and pictures! My host family knows what I like :)
Well, it's back to the grinding stone for me. I figured my devoted readers deserved an update. It seemed a good time for a break. Yes, I do take breaks every now and again.

Getting Even Closer

There's a common saying you all have heard, and probably used, which goes somewhere along the lines of, "Everything seems so much closer on this Xmas." Or "Easter." Or "July 4th." Or "Band Finals."

I have a month and a half to turn in my college applications. A few days ago, that deadline seemed miles away. Now, it seems close. Uncomfortably close. College apps aren't the only things coming up fast. There are a number of major projects in civics and German coming up which I wasn't even thinking about a few days ago. Now that band is over, I need to discipline myself in order to get all these things done, and done well.

So that's my resolution for the next couple months: Get things done with excellence.

A Week From Today

In one week, band will be over. In one week, life will for a third and final time make that adjustment from the intensity of marching practice day after day. I'll get sick from the overdue exhaustion. I'll have more time than I know what to do with.
The pattern is the same every season. What makes this year different is how I've realized what the pattern is. I now observe it in other people. I know who the people are who are going to collapse in exhaustion the week after finals. You can read it as clearly as the bags under their eyes and the vibes of stress they let off when they rush from band to school to band to home to band. Being able to identify these symptoms puts me in a state of calm. I accept my fate. Why stress out over being under a lot of stress?
I'm ready for band to be over. I'm ready to have my life back. Band has been life for the last few crazy weeks. Deep down, I know that I will miss that part of my life, and that band will always have a part of me. There's something enchanting about being in uniform in a packed stadium, hearing a deep voice say, "Pacifica High School, you may now enter the field in competition." The intensity of that moment, as you wait for the count-off, I wouldn't give for the world.
But there will be another moment that I will never give away, and that's the moment our horns snap down after the final chord on Sunday, with sweat dripping down our foreheads, our breaths heavy, but contented our final performance. I'll be ready to march off the field for the final time.

For the Love of Your Country

Tuesday was election day over here in the US. I had the opportunity through my civics class to actively participate in the midterm elections. I was one of the clerks at a precinct in Cypress. Most of the time I was checking voters in by finding their name on the roster, but I also worked the computer which issued access codes for awhile and was called on as the eslate (voting machine) expert whenever a voter ran into a problem. Apparently that also entailed explaining to people that yes, you can vote for more than one Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate District, Division One. It was an interesting day. Here's a picture of me doing one of my many jobs:I enjoyed performing a civic duty for my city and country. It was an interesting experience. Even though my particular precinct was slow, we did get a 37% voter turnout, not counting absentee ballots (which is only .5% off from my prediction of the overall election, I might add). I'd say that's not bad for a midterm election. I got to see quite a few interesting figures, and many devoted Americans. I admire the people who spent over an hour trying to find the right precinct so they could vote. I admire the people who come to vote despite physical handicaps or language barriers. I admire the people who take the time out of their day to jog over, bring their whole families to vote, or their toddlers.
I can't wait until I can follow your example to the polls.
I am also contented with the results of the election so far. The Democrats have taken control of both the House and the Senate, though only by about 1~2 seats in the latter. Prepare for two exciting years of vetoes and filibusters. Not that I find that the most effective means of conducting business in our country. But I do hope to see some bills addressing healthcare and welfare reform and minimum wage pass through Congress. We'll see. As for the returning governator, I must admit he is the better man for the job, so I'm content in that area as well.
I'm feeling patriotic now (ie, more so than usual), so here are some pictures which inspire me and make me think of California and our country. Enjoy! And to those of you who wore an "I Voted" sticker on the 7th, I have to thank you. Your voices are the ones which echoed from shore to shore on Tuesday, and moved the United States into a new, positive direction.

Where Did Freetime Go?

After living through a winter which was below freezing, I never thought I'd consider 60 degrees cold ever again. Yet here I am, in my Californian mentality that any weather below 75 deserves a sweater, and under 60 degrees is unbearable. In Germany, I was the only person wearing a winter jacket by this time. I think I actually started wearing it in the middle of October, when it was about 55-60 degrees or so.
I'm tired. Homework and band is catching up to me. This week is all the normal practices, plus a random performance on Wednesday during school, a football game on Thursday and a competition on Saturday. This week also has civics unit homework due Wednesday (the day after major band practice), a test on Friday, a calculus quiz, and english notebooks are supposed to be turned in at some point, but Mr. Barrier keeps us hanging without a specific date, which is a good way to keep all his students stressed.
Life is keeping me busy, as always, but it has crossed the line from being a pleasant busy to being outright stressful. Things are chewing at me which shouldn't be when I'm occupied with a busy lifestyle. I have no time to deal with them, and they only add to the stress.
I'm ready for Christmas break already, and it's not even November yet. Weekends aren't enough time to get pulled together. Actually, I'm starting to think I have less time on the weekend than I do during the week.

The Shock has hit...

Culture shock comes in two waves. The first comes immediately. The different tastes, smells, sights, sounds…the various senses are shocked by what lies before them. The brain couldn’t even begin to imagine what is in the new environment before it was fully submerged in the midst of it. These obvious differences are frightening. They throw you off-balance. They confuse you.

The second wave is the subtler, but in the end it moves more mountains. I’m talking about the different ideals, the different beliefs, the different priorities. You may be lost as to why anyone would think the way these people think. Most of the time you become indignant, because you feel that these ideals that surround you are threatening your own. You believe at first that your way is the only way that can be right, because it’s the only way you know. But once you take down your defenses and open up to the possibility that yeah, these new beliefs are not right, not wrong, but different, then you start to change. The new ideals start to take root in you now that your door is open. They are no longer threatening to extinguish your traditional beliefs, but peacefully coexist. In some cases, yes, there are 180 degree turns, and traditional beliefs are abandoned completely. But the point is, there is an internal struggle which comes with culture shock, and it can send reverberations throughout your entire life.

Reverse culture shock is much the same, but almost all subtleties. There are the two waves, like the initial culture shock, but the first one is only as extreme as walking into Costco for the first time in a year and being appalled by the amount of useless bulk.

The second wave really lasts the longest, or so I assume, since I’ve only been back for 3 ½ months. It consists mainly of the lessons learned from being submerged in a different culture, and being able to compare them to the life back here. This category also consists of shocks you get from realizing the ideals you miss from your second home, which aren’t found here.

I miss my second home, yes. But more specifically, there are certain aspects of it I miss in particular. That realization, that I actually miss the one-time dreaded “Sprechstunden,” hit me today like a pan to the back of the head. Once upon a time I had difficulty being open. I kept all my emotions and opinions to myself, because that’s the environment in which I was raised. It was one of the most difficult aspects of myself I had to overcome that year. And I succeeded, to some degree. Maybe part of my closed-ness is tied to the part of my personality that cannot be altered.

There are few with whom I can now speak openly with. To be frank, most people don’t care about what I’ve gone through, even my friends. I hold nothing against them. They have their own lives to run without having to listen to stories which don’t relate to them in any way.

The only part that bugs me about that is that they are then content to rely on the Old Rachael formula to predict my decisions and reactions. What they fail to realize is how much Germany has shaped me in the past year. Sometimes I feel like the majority of me was changed during the past year. Germany is I. So by refusing to give interest, they are refusing me as a person.

I realize that I am a quiet person. A friend of mine told me recently that I lead such a “mysterious life.” I have to say that I was more open until I realized how little interest most people had in life beyond the border. That would turn anyone off. That could be one reason I have regressed back into my shell.

I’ve been trying to convey emotions and opinions to certain people, though, and most times instead of getting the emotional support I got from my host mom, I get tuned out. Some people don’t seem to have an interest in what or even how I think. Or even if they listen, they discredit it. You’re only imagining things. You’re just a teenager. What you feel makes no sense in the real world, so you can get that out of your head right now.

I miss the understanding. And even when I couldn’t be understood, because of language, or the concept was beyond comprehensibility, I still got advice and help as far as could be understood. People would actively help to seek solutions if you were feeling down or insecure, instead of shirking the responsibility and letting you take care of your own self.

I realize American culture isn’t like this. That’s why this is called reverse culture shock. There would be no shock if the case was the same everywhere.

First Comp, First Place!

Yesterday was the Marching Mariners' first field show competition at Newport Harbor High school. We rocked. Hard.
We won 1st place in our division (AA)
Best percussion (as well as percussion sweepstakes for A, AA, and AAA)
Best visual performance
Best general effect.
Yeah, we definitely rock.
So now we've proven to ourselves that we can do our show well. Now we need to prove that we can hold our title.
Jon managed to make it down to Costa Mesa to see us and hang out. Actually, he got there late, so he really only got to hang out. It was still fun, though. I enjoyed seeing him there.
I was late myself. I had to take SATs down in Long Beach in the morning, so I missed the entire morning rehearsal. I didn't even get to Costa Mesa until about an hour before we marched onto the field. Why do SATs always have to run so late? It's nervewracking enough, so why draw it out by starting a half hour late?
So I feel pretty confident about my test. I have no doubt it'll turn out better that the scores I got in Germany (on the essay, at least). And no, I can't tell you what I wrote about. Not for another few weeks, at least. I'm surprised how many people asked me about that. I signed my name on a paper that said I wouldn't talk about it, people. Be patient.

My Family

My family:These are only a percentage of my cousins. We're getting so much older now. We actually get to take pictures in the street now!Some things never change. That playset has been around my gma's backyard since I was their age. My cousins and I would play with it the same way they still do.

The newest addition to our family. Dylan is so cute!
Nika showing off our pies. We are American. We are, we are. We even bought them.

Reunion of Friends (+Bonfire Pics)

My traveled, dusty feet have been washed, the visual proof of my journey gathered. Now I can proceed with the details of my day.

I just got back from the bonfire with Miguel and Irene. Actually, we were only at the bonfire until about 10:20 (the beaches close completely at 10:00, but the lifeguard only came around once, so we stayed around until we saw the headlights again). You can tell how long we stayed by our parking meter.
We were pretty lucky we didn't get ticketed that time.

We were with a group of all college student (mostly music majors) from Cal State Fullerton and Chapman. Irene and I talked with each other most of the time, and when Miguel wasn't otherwise engaged with the others, he'd be talking with us too. It was a great time to catch up. The three of us were great buddies my sophomore year, and since then we haven't gotten a lot of chances to hang out and just talk.

So afterwards we left the group and went out to Starbucks and hung out there for an hour or so, so that we could hang out and talk. It's amazing how with some people you can seemingly talk forever on a million different topics, while with other people you can't seem to say a word. Irene, Miguel and I could talk forever about coffee, dreams, and various randomness. I can't do that with everyone, and I don't understand why. I guess I should just accept the fact that with some groups I'm more comfortable and therefore more inclined to talk. I'm a shy and quiet person, most of the time. But with these people, I'm as hyper and talkative as anyone. We just click.

Guess who I saw outside of Starbucks? Chris Wood! I haven't seen him since forever ago, back when he graduated from being one of Pacifica's champion debaters and impromptuers to bigger and better things. Apparently he had to drop out of UCI, though, for financial reasons. It's sad. College life has done him some good, though. He says he's done a 180 on his political views. He used to be an uber conservative on the debate team. Now he's a fellow liberal. Score.

I'm going to miss out on running into people I know like that if I go to college out of state, or even out of SoCal. It's interesting to run into people you haven't seen in nearly a year-and-a-half and never expected to see again in your life. What are the chances of meeting up with someone you know randomly, anywhere, at any given time?

What else happened today? Oh, I was kind of disappointed with the Cow Chip Bingo. It wasn't really that exciting, but then again I left before any excitement occured. I didn't stay that long. There are other interesting activities to do besides watching cows wander around. The boredom makes you want to break out the camera and sneak up on people and take a picture of them.

Okay, so here are the pictures of Miguel, Irene and I that I promised. We've been needing to catch up on some new photos as well as on our lives.

The pic of the three of us came out pretty well,
even if they don't really smile :]

Miguel was too lazy to make a s'more at
the end, so he put it together at the beginnning
and roasted everything over the fire.
Needless to say, it burnt. I declined
to try it.Gangsta? Nah...Let's just stick with the normal, "Pacifican"
Miguel and Rachael.I think we need to figure out if we are
supposed to smile or take a funny pic.

Irene got some nice pictures on her camera, and I managed to nick one off her myspace, so here it is:
We really need to pick a pose and stick with it. It was a pretty good picture, though, and the photographer got a bonfire and the background!

School's Picking Up

My German friends in NRW began their two-week fall vacation today. Though we don't get the same opportunities here in the US, we are taking full advantage of their first holiday weekend by organizing a time to meet and chat together online. I haven't had instantaneous contact with most of them since June. You can imagine how ecstatic I am about it.
They'll probably rub in the fact that they have a two-week break ahead of them. We've only been in session for three weeks, and most of my peers and I already could use a break like that. Today we had an English essay test on epics, the first timed English essay I've had in a long, long time. I think my long absence from translating abstract ideas into ink on paper showed. I also had a calculus test, which was very simple. The last question Ms. Jarnagin put on the paper was just a survey question, asking how we felt we did on her test. My answer: "I feel confident. Any error is a stupid mistake." I wish I felt so confident about my English or Civics work.
Actually, calculus will probably be more boring than I thought it would be this year. I imagined it as being a challenging course full of new, difficult concepts. Then the teacher showed some of the more difficult problems we'd do in class (just to show off how simple the class actually is), and I discovered that a lot of it is stuff that I did in my German math class. I never realized that those problems were calculus. They were introduced so gradually and slowly that I never even realized thtat the concepts were new. Remember how bored I was in that class? Well, this course will be faster paced, but the exact same concepts. And if that's what the hardest problems are going to be this semester, then I don't have much to look forward to.
Tonights away game was fun. Pacifica football slaughtered Rancho's. Pacifica pep band left Rancho's in the dust. We need to work on being more disciplined, though. People (mainly brass) keep on playing when we're not playing songs together, and it makes us look (and sound) unprofessional. They're louder than they think they are. Otherwise, the game was great. I got to hang out and chat with awesome people. Football games are basically social time with the altos and flutes and occassional brass player.
Cow Chip Bingo is tomorrow, and I might go just for the BBQ and hang out with the band folks. Later Miguel is holding a bonfire down at the pier with a friend of his from Cal State Fullerton, and Irene and I are going to that. I'm looking forward to that, too, because I haven't seen Miguel in awhile, and he's one of my best friends. He's maturing really fast, handling his life independently and responsibly. I've found myself looking up to him a lot in the last few weeks. I'm sad that our lives have branched apart and we don't have a lot of time to chat these days (we knew this was inevitable), but I'm glad that he's been finding himself, and that we're still pretty good friends, even if time has made our lives more distant.
Will I ever find time around all these awesome weekend activities with friends to get homework done? I sure hope so.

College Applications

If you have never lived through writing college applications, especially applying somewhere which you know does not have a 100% chance of getting in, you have not gone through one of the most emotionally taxing and depressing processes of life. In today's American society, the process has gotten worse. The pool of applying students has expanded. As a result, competition has increased for spots in most colleges, not just for Ivies. There's a saying at my sister's college that the "Freshman are smarter every year." A greater applicant pool means a wider selection for colleges. They can pick and choose who they want. For students, this means acceptance is more difficult.
American society says that you need to work for your own success. In our society, and this is especially extreme in my local community, the "only" way to be successful is to go to college. Our parents may or may not have had the opportunities open to us today. They pressure us to be better than they were. They expect us to be successful to their standards. If we teenagers don't make it into the college our parents think we should be going to, or just college in general, they deem us as failures.
There is no other option. We must go to college or our world will shatter in a thousand pieces. That final rejection letter is not only a rejection from college, but a rejection from family, peers, and mentors. We are deemed as lazy and incompetent. We are the bad example at family gatherings. We are the unnamed failure.
We students work hard to get our applications done. We sweat like we haven't perspired during a game or mile run while writing our essays. The process is nerveracking enough without the outside pressure. Most of us have our own standards to meet, without those of society hanging over us. The extra pressure is far from encouraging. It actually is a depriment to our performance. We start asking ourselves "What if they don't accept me? What if I'm not good enough?" Instead of completing applications and taking what comes of it, we worry about the future. Our uncertainty and fears are apparent through our writing. And if we do fall, the pressure makes the fall all the harder.
I believe that there is life beyond college. When we are applying this fall and winter, we may be planning the next four years of our lives, but life is so much longer than a mere four years. One of the greatest parts about America is the way people can be flexible with their careers. They can move up and be successful without a solid education. The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were Stanford dropouts. Success is not determined whichever degree received from whichever college. Success, in the American sense, is determined by work ethic and passion.
I'd like to dispel some other misconceptions about the college application process. If you are a parent wondering why your high school senior doesn't have a college acceptance letter in their hand right now, it's because colleges don't normally send them out until March or April. The regular deadline for most college applications isn't until early January. Your student doesn't even need to turn their application in for another 2 1/2 months, and it's best to hold onto it until the last possible moment so that the student can make any changes to better it if necessary. It wouldn't be a good idea to harp on them about having a college acceptance right now. In most cases, it's impossible for them to have one at this moment, and it will only make the student more strained, and feel like he or she is doing something wrong.
Students should be encouraged to do what they dream of doing. We are individuals with our own character and personality, not forms whose destiny should be shaped by society. Extra pressure only dampens our ability to soar.

Homecoming 2006, with Guest Appearances from various Bandos

Homecoming 2006:
Pacifica HS slaughters Los Amigos, 52 to 17.
Even better:
The class of 007 wins the homecoming float for the 4th year running! A senior's life for me! Arrr!!
My one disappointment:
Band didn't get to march our show, before or at halftime.
On the other side:
The 8th graders came to play with us today, and we got two flutes who broke ever so slightly from their shells. And they can march pretty well even without instruction! I am excited for the band next year.
To improve:
My knowledge of the game. Becker tried to explain football tactics to me. They went right over my head.
But most bandos don't care about the game anyway, so long as we win so we can play (ie, sing) "Hey Baby" at the end.
What we do instead of watching:
Are these going on the slideshow? You betcha. Don't you love Americans who will play around with your camera for you? You get such great pictures! (For those of you reading this who are not bandos, we really aren't this immature . Uh, most of the time; For those of you who are, you'll get to remember it in June)
Bandos, I love you. Do you love me?
<3s