Letter XX: Volleyball and School til Nine

Hello, Tim!

As I had aforestated, this has still been yet another busy and event-crammed week, and therefore I would have to finish this letter as soon as possible. This doesn’t mean that I am neglecting the importance of this assignment; hey, I still write a lot more than the class average!

The weather this week was quite very sunny and quite very hot.

Contents of the Week

-Girl’s Victory and the Boys who Got Badly Beaten (In Volleyball In-school Tournament)
-Not Finishing Even One Book This Week and Getting Spoiled
-William’s Birthday and a Morning Volleyball Practice
-Staying after School and the Preparation Starts
-End

This is a week with a jam-crammed of events, but I will keep it as simple as possible.

Girl’s Victory and the Boys who Got Badly Beaten (In Volleyball In-school Tournament)

As you might have heard from my fellow classmates, we had our class-to-class volleyball tournament this week. It is the first sport-related tournament I have ever participated in, and also one that I put a full heart in.

For a week and a half prior to the volleyball competition, we agreed to arrive at school a whole hour before class time to practice. Living far away from school, I had to wake up every day at 5:30 in the morning to get myself ready for school and catch the first metro. It was an energy-taxing thing to do for a high school student, but we did it nonetheless.

The girls won their components, but we the boys lost theirs.

The girls in my class are all awesome.

The girls were acting awesome like the Amazon Warriors in Greek mythology although they were just playing a game of getting a ball to the other side of the net. The same day before their match, Candy had a frustrated breakdown but soon recovered since she was pacified by Angela and several classmates. I tried to comfort her myself, but to my further frustration, I have no idea of what to say to console someone, so after some awkward attempts to calm her down, I stepped aside and let the others take hand. She performed almost impeccably on the volleyball court afterward, though.

For the boys, though, it was very tough.

In the not-so-lucky lucky draw, we got one of the so-called ‘nominee of the champions’ and even though with all the intense straining and training we had, we still didn’t have what it takes for them to take us seriously. Our components practically toyed us and very obviously and intentionally letting us get many points. It was fine with me, for they had what it takes to do so while we were helpless; it did not go so well for William and the others though. We could all see that he was burning with a tangible upset.

Me sending the ball to the other side.

We tried and I enjoyed.

Needless to say, this was the only match we are going to have in the tournament (the girls have the chance to go farther) but for me, I had a lot of fun.

Not Finishing Even One Book This Week and Getting Spoiled

Last week, I had started with the book The Alchemist, a novel written by Paulo Coelho. However, I was so busy that I had not much time for it…

Allison accidentally spoiled the ending of this book when she was talking about a book she had read years ago, which is actually the book I was holding in my hands. When I realized what she had (accidentally) done. I was really, really upset. Nevertheless, it didn’t stay with me for too long.

This is a book with the same feeling I got when I was reading The Little Prince; it is very philosophical and seemingly, thinking about the lines and words inside the book was crucial to make it have any meaning to you.

William’s Birthday and a Morning Volleyball Practice

This day (which is Saturday, by the way) is our class clown’s birthday!

Since the girls are still going on with their girls’ volleyball tournament, William and I agreed to practice with the girls. It was also his birthday, so upon his arrival, we sang him a Happy Birthday Song and he seemed to be in a great mood.

William is a weird guy. He can simultaneously be hard to deal with and funny at the same time. He is sometimes so obstinate that we were about to be in a large verbal fight but I know it is partially my fault for most of the time. Besides all that, he is a nice guy. A sweet one, in some cases. He can be convinced and sometimes he can’t see what the real problem is. He mostly says what his feelings feel, and the whole class all like him for that. He is possibly now in some restaurant, celebrating his birthday with his family.

Happy birthday, William, I think you are an okay guy. :D

William Hong.

Staying after School and the Preparation Starts

May 31^st is the date our performance will take place, and we are rushing to get all the work done in a short time. This week and the following weeks, after school ends on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, we would have to stay at school until nine in the evening and do whatever we have to prepare: Making props, rehearse, and makeups.

Yes.

To go on stage, makeup has to be applied, so Allison gave small tutorials to let us know the basics of putting on the makeups I don’t know the names of.

To be honest, a few years ago, I would refute the idea of men putting on makeup, but somewhere in between the initial disapproval had vanished, and now, who would imagine that I find the experience quite interesting and it was literally the first time in forever!

Below are some of the pictures we took when we were doing our work.

Script reading.

I was modifying the script while the others just came and some pretending to be discussing with me even though they aren't and some just failed to pretend to be doing so.

Stairway to home.

End

This is the end of this week’s letter, and I am glad to see that it is still around a thousand words.

Sincerely,

Hugo