Highlights from DC

Just for a quick rewind, I was chosen as one of 12 freshmen to go to the Georgetown main campus in DC over Spring Break.  Our group was very diverse including people from:  Sudan, Afghanistan, Somolia, Bosnia, Qatar, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, and the US.

DAY 1

“DC, Here we come!”—Nada and I on the bus heading to the airport.

Top 5 Ways to Survive 14 Hours in the Air (and make everyone on your plane hate you at the same time):

Please Note:  I do not personally partake in any of these pastimes. 

5:  Find people who are using the complimentary eye-covering, sleep things.  Inconspicuously poke and prod them then stand back and watch as they fumble around drowsily trying to get the eye-thing off.  When they look up at you with beady, red eyes say, “Oh, I’m sorry.  I though you were my uncle” (especially if it is a woman).

4:  Go to the food and bathroom area where the flight attendants hang out and pretend to be doing your “In-flight Exercises”.  Shake, rattle, and roll making each exercise RIDICULOUS!  Block the bathroom doors if possible. 

3:  Traverse the plane several times seeing how many people you know—when you find someone you know, be obnoxiously excited to see them.  This is particularly entertaining if they are only a vague acquaintance.  If they are sleeping, be sure to wake them up just to say “hi”!

2:  “earthquakes”—shake the seat in front of you while yelling “earthquake”.  Repeat at various points throughout the flight, particularly if the said person appears to be sleeping.

1:  Go visit your chaperones in First Class—the appropriate time to make this visit is of course at the exact moment dinner is being served.  By timing this correctly, one simultaneously gets to . . .

A)    make the flight attendants move their little carts to the side of the aisle (something they hate almost as much as smiling)

B)   squish one’s rear end up against the person who just “had to have the aisle seat” in order to squeeze past the aforementioned cart.

C)   Bother one’s chaperones at precisely the moment when they’re trying to enjoy a nice bottle of Merlot.

So you get the point.  It was an interesting and exhausting 14 hours.  We arrived in DC at 7pm.  As you can imagine, getting through immigration and customs with a bunch of Arabs is no easy task.  Almost everyone in our group was stopped at customs—some for up to 2 hours!!!  Fortunately, my friends were with me when I got to customs.  We all handed him our passports, and he asked me if these people were with me.  I said, “Yes” and he just said, “welcome home” and didn’t stop any of them.  So we chilled in the airport while waiting for the rest of our group.  Of course, that was an interesting sight—5 Arabs and 1 white girl just plopped down in the middle of the airport.  People kept looking at us strangely as if we were terrorists or something.

DAY 2

A few much-needed hours of sleep later, we were up once again.  We set out for our true indoctrination into Hoya-ism—the Georgetown vs. Louisville Basketball Game!

We went all-out Hoya and painted our faces:

Nalani, one of the coolest Student Affairs people ever, didn't stop screaming the entire game.  I think she set a record or something...

The score was tied with 40 seconds left, and Georgetown’s star player hit an incredible 3-pointer leading Georgetown to victory!  Who-hoo!!!

DAY 3

The next day was our “monuments and museums” day. 

We visited the Holocaust Museum, which was very well done.  Then we walked around, and Dalal and I headed to the National Art Gallery. 

They had some INCREDIBLE art!!!  Being the art nerd that I am, I couldn’t resist snapping a few shots…

Randomly, there was this huge flower and fountain thing in the middle of the Gallery…Dalal LOVED it!

Later that evening, we set out to see the presidential monuments.  Apparently, the new “fashionable” thing to do is to see the monuments at night.  Hypothetically this would be really fun.  However, the temperature felt like about 0 degrees…

DAY 4

The next morning we headed to Georgetown University—the coolest University EVER!!!

Even the buildings are cool…

We spent the day attending sample classes and meeting with students and organization leaders to discuss connections with the Qatar campus.

DAY 5

Next Morning:  we were off to the capital…  We toured the capitol and met with a Congressman.  This fellow was deceivingly a “Republican” although his policy views were strongly un-Republican in my opinion.  Of course, what would you expect from a “moderate”… Ugh!

Later that evening, we passed out food to homeless men in one of DC’s less affluent areas as part of Georgetown’s Hoya Hope Project.  The goal of the evening was not only to pass out food, but also to talk to the men.  The guy I talked to characterized me as “a pale-faced, white girl”.  My friends were in hysterics when he said this because they LOVE giving me a hard time about how white I am!

DAY 6

We went to the Pentagon and met with the General who is the Director for the War on Terror.  She and her staff were interested to hear Arab perspectives on the situation in the Middle East.  Obviously, my perspectives weren’t Arab, but I was able to chime in with views from an American who knows Arabs and lives in an Arab society…

Unfortunately, we couldn’t take cameras into the Pentagon, so no pictures from this day.  =(  After this meeting, we met with CIA and State Department Agents.  Then, it was off to Vienna, Virginia for me.  I got to visit with Aunt Glenda, Uncle Stuart, Nate, and Ian for the evening.  Aunt Glenda made a great dinner, and Nate entertained me with several selections from his ever-growing piano repertoire.

DAY 7

After a short meeting with the Dean of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service to discuss the Qatar campus, we headed to Tyson’s Corner and SHOPPED, SHOPPED, SHOPPED!!!

DAY 8

We did some more last minute shopping, hung out, and made one last-minute run to CVS.  One of the most amazing things about the trip was CVS.  Seriously, folks, we went to CVS EVERY EVENING of the trip!!!  CVS is one of those places where you can always find something you need.  In fact, even if you don’t need anything, you are guaranteed to walk out with at least a new package of lip balm or gum—it’s just THAT tempting!

Anyway, if you cannot imagine how the plane ride was passed, please refer to the above list…  =)  Fortunately, it was only 12 hours this time thanks to the winds.  Arriving home again, I climbed into bed for a few hours before dragging myself up for my 8am Arabic class—that’s devotion, people!

We had some very fun, Worldview Academy guests all week, so I was busy just balancing school and guests!  Then, of course, Easter snuck up on us before I could even get a decent night’s sleep.  We had our usual Easter party and ate enough food/candy to hold us over to next Easter.  In fact, as I lay here on my bed typing this blog, my stomach and the pile of chocolate wrappers next to me are having a competition to see who can climb higher.  Currently, my stomach is in the lead, but it’s a tight race, and the wrapper pile might make a last minute pass.  I’ll leave you with that rather disturbing image.  =)

Despite my lengthy repose from blogging...

No, the Kent’s have not been abducted by mutant, pink-slime-oozing creatures.  We have not fallen into an evil genius’ desert lair.  We have not eaten with the “Lotus-Eaters” (The Odyssey).  In fact, despite my lengthy repose from blog writing, life has continued at much the same pace as always.  I apologize for the monotonous, boring relations in this blog post, but a factual update is long overdue.

School continues to be a challenge in every aspect.  I love my classes, particularly Arabic and Philosophy!  I was overjoyed this morning when I was sitting with my Qatari friends and I suddenly realized I understood what they were saying to each other in Arabic!  Also on the subject of school, congratulations to Emily for making High Honors with a GPA of 3.97!  The American School semester here doesn’t end until February, so Emily just received her grades.  She is such a star, and I am SO proud of her!!!

On a less pleasant note, I had a terrible bout with illness last week.  I have a strange affinity towards illness between February 6^th and February 15^th.  In fact, I almost always come down with something during this time period.  If it’s not the flu, it’s some other virus…  Fortunately, after a few days in bed, I’m back in the land of the living!

In other news, one of my personal dreams came true last night!  I have LOVED watching Venus Williams play tennis ever since I watched her win Wimbledon for her first time!!!  I’ve always said, “Someday, I want to watch Venus in person.”  Well, last night, that’s what I did.  The WTA Women’s Tour is here in Qatar this week, and it’s a Tier 1 tournament.  That means ALL the big name players are here.  Yesterday, we watched three matches.  The players were Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, and Venus Williams—any tennis buff’s dream lineup.  IT WAS AMAZING!!  I couldn’t believe my childhood dream was coming true.  Our “season tickets” are only about 7 rows up from the court, so we could see everything clearly!!!

Looking ahead, there’s no chance of anything slowing down anytime soon.  I’ve been chosen to represent Georgetown Qatar at the Main Campus in D.C., so I’ll be there over Spring Break.  A small group of us will spend the week in Washington touring, sightseeing, and meeting with Georgetown officials/clubs/student groups.  It’s going to be a whirlwind trip, but I’m sure it will be a blast!

I think those are the main highlights of the past few weeks.  Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to do some real writing over the next few days instead of just relating these tedious and uninteresting “factuisms”.

The Ants Go Marching . . .

Our most recent adventure took place in our own kitchen . . .

Under our kitchen sink.

Sergeant Chip:  “All right, troops!  This little shin-dig just got a little more interesting.  Pointing to a map of our kitchen. They’ve set traps here, here, and here.  So lets give’em something to talk about.”

Private Cookie:  “Permission to speak, sir?”

Sergeant Chip:  “Yes.”

Private Cookie:  “What exactly is the risk level of this assignment?”

Sergeant Chip:  “Given that none of you are dim-witted enough to touch the bait they naïvely expect us to carry back to our colony, the risk is almost zero.  That, however, is beside the point.”

Private Cocoa:  “This assignment includes ant killer bait??  Awwesoooommeee!!!!  This is totally cool, man!”

Sergeant Chip:  “OK, if we’re all clear, let’s move out.”

The children’s tune “The Ants Go Marching One by One, Hurrah!” plays in the background as the company marches out.  Scene switches to the kitchen where Elisabeth is pouring her morning coffee at 6:03am.

Elisabeth:  “Ahh!”

Brenda, entering the house from her morning work-out:  “I know.  We’re being invaded by ants, but I know how to get rid of them.  Just spray this Clorox Spray and drown them.”

Todd, dragging through the kitchen door just in time to hear Brenda’s remark:  “What!!!!  That will never work!!!  The only way to get rid of them for good is to let them take the bait back to their colony."

Elisabeth:  “Well, we can’t let them crawl around our kitchen!”

Sergeant Chip (who has been intently listening to this conversation):  “Hear that, boys?  The sweet, sweet sound of dissention.  They’ll spend enough time arguing for us to complete this devil of an assignment.”

Private Cookie:  “Whew.  That’s a relief!  I was starting to sweat there for a minute.  Oh wait, I wasn’t sweating.  The weird girl dripped her coffee creamer on me.”

Private Cocoa:  “I’m not worried.  This is the best!!”

A few moments later they have completed their fiendish mission and begin to march out.

Private Cocoa, skipping along behind the others and accidentally trailing his tail through the poison:  “See, this is like, totally, no big deal!”

Thus, the over-zealous compatriot proved to be the downfall of his company.

Other than this rather distressing experience, we’ve been plugging along as usual.  Georgetown is holding their annual Model United Nations conference this weekend, so I spent last night at the airport greeting the Israeli, Jewish delegates.  Apparently, the Arabs didn’t want to greet the Jews, so they had to get the “Christian, American girl” to do it.

Emily heads off to Malaysia in a few hours.  We’re placing bets on how many leeches she’ll have to ward off during the trip.  No, just kidding.  I wouldn’t wish a leech on anyone, especially not in the middle of the Malaysian rainforest!  I would, however, give anything to see Emily in a Malaysian tree with natives hunting for dinner with blow-darts.  She has always been an adventurous one . . .

I’ve commissioned Nicole to take a plethora of pictures, so hopefully we’ll feel as if we were almost there when they return.

That’s all for now, folks.  Sorry it’s so short, but we’ve got quite a lot going on between ant invasions, Jewish MUN delegates, and Malaysian explorers.  Until later, then.

"The Apple of my I"

I hit the books again this week.  Yep, that means dusting off those notepads and pulling out the rusty Arabic vocabulary.  However, rather than bore you with excruciatingly predictable comments on “the first week of school,” I’ve decided to utilize this moment to bring you a random but fun “school secret.”

I have always been overjoyed at the fact that my name contains the letter “I”.   For one little line, it is a remarkable letter!  There are endless possibilities in the “dotting” of one’s “I”.  I have experimented open-mindedly but usually end up back at the classic "heart" for a dot.  If you are wondering what this has to do with the school secret, don’t lose faith yet.  For you see, I liked my writing class a lot in Junior High.  For several years, we focused on creative writing, which involved tenacious vocabulary expansion.  Now I don’t mind telling you I had a fairly good vocabulary.  The embarrassing part is that this vocabulary expansion was in part fueled by my desire to find new, exciting words containing plenty of “I’s” for dotting with hearts.  Yes, I was known for slipping in an unnecessary use of “ubiquitous” just so I could dot both “I’s” with hearts and make a curvy little “q”.  Even in Latin class, I would choose to write sentences with words requiring “I”.  This was rather clever of me even though it was pretty dippy.  The only problem with my mastermind determination in this area was that Joey figured out what I was doing from the beginning.  And he was relentless in his teasing about things such as this.  His persistent banter about my strange obsession drove me to give up the quest for “I” words.  Thus, if my vocabulary has dwindled from its former mélange of meaningful expressions, I know whom to blame.

So, the school secret of the day is indeed the letter “I,” which has always been the “apple of my ‘I’”—sorry for that rather ridiculous pun, I just couldn’t resist.  :-)

In other news, my past two posts appear to have been extremely full of foresight.  For you see, this week I was treated to that odious—oh, excuse me.  Did I say odious?  I meant edible of course . . . wink, wink.—brew which my mother is so very fond of.  Yes, the resplendent halls of our villa overflowed with a whiff of broth (note the sarcasm as this broth obviously has no flavor or scent).  In any case, I slurped it up like a four-year-old with a slushy.

My post prior to the one on stew also becomes rather ironic given the times.  It was, as I am sure you remember, concerned with “The Road to Plato’s Academy”.  Well, I have once again departed down this highway of knowledge over the past few days.  In my Political and Social Thought class, we are reading none other than Plato’s own little devil, The Republic. 

Interesting read altogether, but I am most fervently troubled by Plato’s view of human nature.  I seem to have an uncanny knack for finding “human nature” discussion questions.  When I brought up the subject in class today, my querulous classmates bemoaned my persistence on the subject, asking if I “try to find human nature problems in everything we read”.  I responded that one’s view of human nature is key to one’s worldview.  It becomes a question that merits scrutiny no matter what text one is reading.  With an apathetic groan, my ever-intrepid classmates acquiesced to my request, and I had my say about what I consider Plato’s huge fault.  While he acknowledges that humans are driven by “appetites” and “desires” for unworthy things, he tries to find a remedy within the human saying that each human being contains a “divine spark” of goodness which must be enkindled into a full flame of goodness.  In this soul, according to Plato, Reason would rule and all other “desires” would serve Reason.

Now I could go into a loquacious tome on the problems with considering Reason the highest good, but I really must get back to actually reading Plato instead of writing about it, so I will be brief.  Can one really suggest that a disillusioned soul (seeking fulfillment of its appetites and desires) would find something better on its own or even within itself???  That is what Plato is suggesting, is it not?  That humans have the divine spark (of Reason) within them and that they can enkindle it?  While Plato astutely realized the human condition to be plagued by a problem, an imperfection, he couldn’t see beyond the human.  He looked for the answer within the human instead of within God.  And it just doesn’t work like that.

OK, enough fun for now . . . back to my innumerable readings.

Walking the "Road to Plato's Academy"

One of the entertaining tidbits we found in Athens was the ancient "Road to Plato's Academy".  Of course, being the history buffs we are, we couldn't resist taking our own little stroll down that proverbial highway.

As I reflect on my life, however, I realize this has not been the only time I’ve walked this road.  Surprise you though this may, I was not born reading Plato, Thucydides, or Herodotus.  Just like normal human beings, I had to learn my alphabet.  I too “sounded out” the onerous tales of “Dick and Jane”.  Despite my natural affinity for all things literary, I have worked up in my reading from the meanest of stories.

Thus, it seems that “walking the road to Plato’s Academy” symbolizes my intrepid journey along the path of words. 

What, you ask, did you read as a child?  Well, those of you who see what I read now will no doubt find my former reading lists juvenile and jejune.  I, however, refuse to let these books be denounced.  While they may not satisfy a cultivated reading taste, these books became my stepping-stones on the way to Plato’s Academy.  Without these volumes, I might have slipped in the mud, fallen down, and gone running home without ever arriving at my reverential destination.  

It is with this said that I give you, “Elisabeth’s Reading List for the Young and Young-at-Heart”. 

Please understand that however many times I may read “Jane Eyre”, “The Age of Innocence”, or “City of God”, I will always hold a special place in my heart for the following books.  They have served as milestones in a great journey and conversation.

According to Madeleine L’Engle, “The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.”  That’s how I feel about these books.  It’s all right to move past them because I’ll always have them in the deepest reservoir of my mind, just waiting to be recollected and reminisced over.

A GINORMOUS thanks goes out to Mom for teaching me to love reading from such a young age!  Without her, I would still be at the Athen’s city gate, not even realizing I should walk towards Plato’s Academy.  Seriously though, Mom has been the driving force in my education!  Although I always loved reading (due to her unending read-alouds when I was too young to read for myself), I did not always want to read “books for school”.  Thanks to Mom’s tireless efforts, however, I did not lay down in the “road” and say “I’m sitting right here, and you can’t make me move.”  When I tried to quit, she kept metaphorically dragging me by my hair towards the Academy.  :-)

So, here’s the list . . . it’s by no means comprehensive because I probably read about a million other books besides these, but these are some of my favorites.  And by the way, I’m a “series girl”.  If it includes 65 books, it’s got to be good, right?  Not really, but that was my naïve, childhood reasoning.

• The Boxcar Children—these were some of my favorites from very early childhood!  I think I was reading these in the figurative cradle of reading.
  
• Little House on the Prairie—Mom read these aloud to me when I was about 4, and I loved them!
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia—Another awesome read-aloud from Mom when I was 6 (My, what a wonderful mother I have!).  The only problem was that we had a hard time finding quiet times to read together.  Often, Mom would be completely engrossed in the book and keep reading while I went to bed.  Then I would wake up and be furious, so I would start reading and get ahead of her during the day while she was taking care of Emily and Abby . . . good times, good times.  We could never stay together, but we tried.  My favorite was “The Horse and His Boy”.  Everyone is always like “Boo!” about that one, but I loved it (just goes to show how unusual I am.)  I remember one night when Mom read almost the entire “Horse and His Boy” to me in one evening.  It was like a marathon or something.  We would get to the end of the chapter and Mom would say, “You need to go to bed.”  But I would BEG for “one more chapter” and she would acquiesce because she wanted to keep reading just as much as I did. 
  
• The Betsy Series—You know, “Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill”, etc.  I’m embarrassed to say I still like picking up one of these (the one’s where she’s in High School) every once in a while.  They bring back wonderful memories of being curled up in bed late into the night because I didn’t want to stop reading.
  
• Nancy Drew—Oh yes, I read every one from 1 through however many the author could think up.
  
• The Hardy Boys—you would think I would have gotten tired of the same-old, same-old, but nope.  I read all of these too.
  
• The Bobbsey Twins—It was like Nancy Drew or The Boxcar Children as twins.  How cool is that?  ;-)
  
• A Wrinkle in Time—SUCH a good book!  That whole series is good, but this one definitely deserves its place in the shelf of classics.
  
• The Redwall Series—Hey man, you can’t go wrong with talking animals!
  

Some of the series above are perhaps slightly unworthy of praise.  The following books, however, deserve enthusiastic acclamations!

• The Witch of Blackbird Pond--It reminds me of a sort-of children's version of The Crucible.
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
• Johnny Tremain
• From the Mixed up Files...
• The Iliad and The Odyssey (abridged versions by Rosemary Sutcliff)
• The Eagle of the Ninth
• The View From Saturday
• The Black Arrow

The list could go on and on and on and on . . . eventually, though, even The Boxcar Children ran out of mysteries to solve (teardrop).  Bereft of all reading enjoyment, I set out on the Quest for Bold, New Books!  Soon, I found, the Puffin Classics!  Oh yes, delving right in, I read every classic on the shelf (albeit slightly abridged) from “Jane Eyre” to “Pride and Prejudice” and “Great Expectations”.  This was truly “The Start of Something New” to quote “High School Musical”.  Suddenly, I not only had enjoyable reading material, I also had thought-provoking, challenging, interesting, timeless, reading material.  The world became a whole lot brighter, metaphorically and literally—I had a great time reading these new books and I also began to understand the world in which I lived (if only a little bit).  This “sea change” to return to “Hamlet” occurred around the time I turned 10.  Slightly before this, Mom became a strong proponent of Classical education, so reading these classics at a young age fit right in to her teaching philosophy.

After a few years rushing through these somewhat abridged versions, I was ready to progress to “THE REAL THING”!  From “The Great Gatsby” to “The Odyssey” and “As I Lay Dying”, I have been reading these classics voraciously ever since—both in the classroom and out.

Now before you say, “That’s great for you, but I am SO not that nerdy.  The classics just aren’t my type,” you have to understand that I don’t particularly like these books because they are nerdy.  I continue reading them because they are expository in a certain way of the world in which we live.  Each book brings up a new question and exhibits a new worldview.  When these texts interact with one another, suddenly tentative answers to unspoken questions begin to formulate in the mind.  Yet these tentative answers only require more reading and thinking and hypothesizing and theorizing.  The only book I have ever found to be completely true is The Bible.  Everything else is full of right and wrong, Biblical and unbiblical, true and questionable, difficult and obvious.

Besides, the classics were written for normal people, not nerdy scholars.  The philosophers sitting in their high towers contemplating “great thoughts” weren’t the only people who read “The Iliad”.  This book like so many others was used as an educational tool.  Apparently, somewhere in the time since the Ancients, we’ve lost an appreciation for great literature because we deem it “too difficult” or “too boring” or “not useful”.  The problem with this is that if students are only fed information while they are in school, they never learn the ability to think originally for themselves and be self-learners.  Reading and not only reading, but struggling with a text as you compare it to the objective truth, The Bible, is crucial in learning to think well.  Thus, I am convinced that Classical Education has it right, the Socratic method is truly “the way” to go! Sorry, but I had to get my little plug for Classical Education in here somewhere.  :-)

Anyway, back to books . . . the wonderful (or frightening) thing about all of this is that there is always another book!  For each book I finish, there is invariably another one on the list, screaming my name.  It’s a never-ending conversation, which brings me back to Plato’s Academy.  In some ways you could say that I’ve reached Plato’s Academy by joining the great conversation of classical literature.  However, Plato may have been the end of one segment to this journey, but he was only the beginning of this odyssey to date.  Thus, by reaching the end, I only reach a new beginning.  Perhaps I should travel across to Augustine and then continue on until I reach Tocqueville.

Wherever I travel, though, I will always remember how far I’ve come.  To end this post any other way than with a heartfelt thanks to my mother would be entirely hedonistic, or at least wrong of me.  Without my Mom’s undying enthusiasm towards my education and her commitment to helping me learn to the best of my ability, I would probably still be reading The Boxcar Children.  Now remember, I have a very special place in my heart for those four adventurers, but it was time to move on to bigger and better things.  Thanks to Mom, I press on each day to reach my full potential as a student who thinks well with a Biblical worldview about history and the literature it has produced.

Note:  No, it is not suddenly Mother’s Day although you would think it might be from the way I’ve been writing.  In any case, however, every day should be Mother’s Day because my mother is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!  :-)

Also, for a fabulous essay on Classical Education, particularly the Socratic method, see this article.