Holidays Abroad

With Thanksgiving in just a few days, and no plans to celebrate, I realized that I have spent more Thanksgiving holidays away from the U.S. than actually being there engorge in delicious Thanksgiving meal and then past out in front of TV watching marathons of the latest popular series (I don’t care for  football – the American kind).

I think I am actually reaching the point where I am not too affected by missing holidays. I think this is the way it needs to be as someone who move all over the world.

There are two options in dealing with holidays of multiple cultures. One, the way my family and American governments all over the world – you celebrate your home holidays and also the holidays of the local culture. In the case of my family, we celebrate all Chinese and American holidays, leaving us with a reason to have a big meal and hangout at least once a month. In the case of American governments, I have personally experienced the Embassy in London and now the Peace Corps/US Embassy in Cameroon – they have days off on both American public holidays and official UK/Cameroon holidays. Leaving them barely at work. Now you see why people are rushing to join the Foreign Service.

The other option, which is the only I have to adopt here in Cameroon – forget your home holidays even exist. Completely melt into your local culture. In Chinese, we call this 入境隨俗, which literally means: once you cross the border, you follow the local customs. (See? I do love the terse nature of the Chinese language. 4 characters said so much.)

There have been so many occasions over this past year when I simply had forgotten American holidays; ironically, I celebrate more Chinese holidays here because my “adopted Chinese family” always call me up to go have a meal for whatever occasion it may be.

So, my fellow globetrotters, how do you incorporate the holidays of your heritage and the holidays of your local place of residence?

GRE Blues

One month after taking the GRE in Cameroon, I was able to find out my scores today via the telephone. I really didn’t intend on re-taking this excruciating test, since the scores I had from the first try were respectable; not fantastic, no, but passable. I suppose I thought I would give it another shot to improve my score.

What a bad idea that was.

I was never good with standardize tests. In the process of applying to college, I think I must have taken the ACT/SAT at least 6 times, and my score more or less stayed the same. Why I thought it would be different 5 years later is beyond me.

True to my Asian upbringing, I have a predisposition to brand name schools and the Ivy world. And with those institutions, comes the emphasis on standardize testing. While I more than understand that gaining admission to prestigious programs/institutions requires more than a perfect test score, I still hate the idea of having such blemish on my otherwise fantastic application.

I was brought up in the school of thought where your effort is positively correlated to the outcome that you will achieve. More time and effort in your studies yield good grades, performing well in your current task will be beneficial in your next move, etc. That school of thought has more or less applied to every aspect of my life; all except in the arena of standardize testing.

This evening, I attempted to understand why my emotions went array from the disappointing score. I realized it’s not necessarily the score itself, but rather that it did not reflect the effort that I invested. Also, I am kicking myself for letting ETS take another $180 of my money and wasted several weeks’ time preparing for this exam, when I could have been doing something far more noble – say, helping African people.

The more I thought about this test, the more annoyed I became. What is the point of this test? It is in no way an accurate depiction of my abilities. When will I EVER in my entire life find myself in a situation where I have to write an essay by hand analyzing an argument within 30 minutes? NEVER. How is my ability to recognize mathematics trickeries and calculate the distance between two point an accurate measure of how I will perform in economics or other quantitative-related courses? Furthermore, what is the point of knowing hundreds, if not thousands of esoteric vocabularies? Have we not heard of the dictionary?

I understand that these scores do not define my intelligence, but the mere idea of submitting them with the application means there are someone out there who will take those numbers as a measurement of my intellect. To the admissions committee, I am just another random person. *sigh* On the other hand, if some numbers will trump my two years living without running water, shotty electricity, all the while building 30+ libraries, then well, that’s just too darn bad.

Life Lessons from Audrey

A few weeks ago, I watched two of my favorite movies starring Audrey Hepburn – Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I had two thoughts after watching these movies. 1.) They sure don’t make movies like that anymore. 2.) I still believe in great romance, and despite of my will to help others, I still pine for a life with luxury and high fashion.

I am never going to be the kind of girl who gives up all her material possessions for the well-being of others. I am just no Mother Theresa. As selfish as that may come off, I think it’s more important to be true to myself. I can still continue to contribute to the world, but simply in a different manner.

Tonight, I discovered a great blog – Live the Charmed Life with a great post on lesson learned from Audrey Hepburn. Some of it really spoke to me, and is the way I’ve been living my life, or at least strive to. Below are some that really stood out to me.

Smile

A black turtleneck looks great on anyone

It’s always alright to be a lady, even in the toughest of businesses and during the toughest of times.

Help others

Pour everything you have into your work

True style is in its simplicity

Fall madly in love

Laugh often

Travel everywhere

Dancing is the best way to stay fit

Always wear lipstick

This is the person I strive to become – a lady of great style, poise, wit and compassion.