[21/10/08] And now, the moment we've been waiting for...

... is here.

I'm about to go and get ready for work, but I wanted to begin writing this when I was wearing my year 12 rugby top. I'll tell you what, the school knows how to make a day exhausting. And even so, I'm working tonight, and I'll be pretty bleh. Oh well. I will write more soon. Or in about 4 hours.

Make that 5. Today started with the Korovian Club breakfast. The food was good, and we were presented (seriously, they present us as many times as they possibly can) to the president of the Korovian club and this time we got keyrings. We had to catch the tram back to school, and I love that my school is so small that we can fit an entire year level on a tram. Sure, some people had to stand, but it's not like we were squished in like sardines. It was a double length tram though, I'll give them that.

Oh, the funniest part of breakfast happened after breakfast, which is when Kim and I needed to find the toilets. We decided to ask Mrs Jewell (actually, the funniest part of yesterday was when Kim asked Mrs Jewell how to get a detention because she'd never had one) for the toilets, and to get her attention, I poked her. You know you're getting too comfortable with your teachers when you start poking them. Anyway, Kim said "Mrs Jewell, do you know...? Oh wait, there's a sign over there." It was hilarious. Then afterwards we saw Mrs Pappas and she was reading a card that Cat A had given to her and it said "good luck with Brad", Brad of course being Brad Pitt.

Period 2 was the Revue, and having seen it three times before, I didn't find many of the jokes as funny. We did it in a traditional assembly style, and I loved the way it started, with Sally as the Principal rising from the lecturn with the Darth Vader music playing. One of the best lines was "I hope you keep studying hard, so the school can look better and we get more and more money". Alex was absolutely fantastic as the tour guide lady. I also loved Shannon doing the reading from the Gospel of John Bon Jovi "wo-oah, we're halfway there. Wo-oah, living. On a prayer" - the way she said it was great. We don't even know her name, but it was the best. For once we didn't make fun of Ms Barnes. I think the only teacher that took offense at anything was the psychology teacher, but from what I heard, none of that was exaggerated. Oh, and then Mark didn't know that the "China pictures" were actually the facebook powerpoint. Let's just say that the only reason we weren't merciless is because we would have gotten in trouble. Actually, that last photo was cut out, but I liked it. The video was great too. I'm glad we got the fishbowl thing in. That was weird, but fun. At the end, there was just footage of us, and the group photo from the formal and that's when it started to get sad. So they made it worse with the baby photos.

A short interruption: I had (very) short bursts where I was crying, but my overwhelming emotion was not sadness. I have finished 13 years of schooling, and I was lucky enough to share the last 6 years with a wonderful group of girls, all of whom I am extremely proud. The international students have gone through more than we can possibly understand, being in a country where English is not their first language and fitting in with the rest of us. Alyson and Carol both spoke beautifully yesterday. Citizenship awards at the formal assembly (yes, I did get one, but considering what else has happened in the past couple of days, it's not the most important thing that's happened to me in that time) were plentiful, and all of the captains made the best speeches I have heard in my life. But most of all, we didn't have an accompanist for the opening hymn of the assembly, which was years 6 to 12. And we sang it without accompaniment, and it was beautiful, and it is moments like that I will miss the most. Those moments where everyone does what they know they have to do, whether they're sure of themselves or not, and there is a 'feeling of togetherness', which is more amazing than you can possibly imagine. I'm going to have to learn that German word.

So I have moved onto the part where we have the formal assembly. Oh, back to the Revue, we did a thing with the school chaplain where her stuffed wombat was dead. She brought the actual stuffed wombat (a toy, not a dead wombat that has been stuffed) to the formal assembly. Then there were the captains' speeches. I already said they were some of the best I've heard in my life. And I'm talking speeches in general. Forget Barack Obama. Dani, the Arts captain spoke of how she hated the phrase "think outside the square", because what is this square that everyone speaks of? Grace made a great speech as debating captain, and I really wish I remembered more of it. She used lots of poetry, which I liked, there was definitely Robert Frost there. Oh yes, she spoke of Dead Poets Society (watch it if you haven't, it's an amazing movie), and used what I think was the closing lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and then closed with a Mao quote, which made all of the history students laugh. Oh yes, the thing I liked was that she encouraged everyone to have opinions and to make them known. Grace is an opinionated person, but sometimes it feels like opinions aren't valued, so I really like that she encouraged that.

Cal also used some English references in her speech, saying that she was like Big Brother, only the face of what goes on behind the scenes. I really like that she said being a captain doesn't mean that you're more powerful, it means that you have a responsibility to the students to make them happy. I think she was a great international captain, and that she really deserved it; she wanted to lessen the segregation that we have between the international and local students. Kim was next, and she's always been able to speak, but she lives in that music department, I don't think anyone realises how much she'll miss it next year. Ms Barnes got her a gorgeous bracelet. And she finished by saying the start of the chorus to "Thank You for the Music", and by the end we were singing it. It was cliche, but I loved it. I really like that the Palm Leaf Editors got to say something, because the Palm Leaf is something we'll keep for the rest of our lives, and considering they hadn't made many speeches, the ones they made were good.

Meagan made a great speech as Social Service captain, and she spoke really well about being a community that is outwardly focussed. Next was Keely's Sport captain's speech which was also great. They were just all fantastic speeches this year, and I don't think I could be happier with who we chose as captains. I love the way Keely said that she was waiting for her interview with Doctor Otzen and she decided that when she was looking at the trophy cabinet that she was going to be Sports Captain. I love hearing those stories.

Freya and Georgi began their speech in German by saying "we have mixed feelings about leaving Korowa, as the community has a great feeling of togetherness" or something like that. So the German girls laughed, because that German word for 'feeling of togetherness' is really really long. They said some thank yous together and then separately. Georgi said something about us as a year group supporting them, and how for the environmental quiz, when they were worried no one would show up. She also thanked Freya, which was gorgeous. And of all the speeches, I think Freya's was the best. She spoke about how the school has shaped her, and how being school captain has helped her grow.

Then we were all called up to sing the year 12 song. I love it so much, and I've had it in my head since then. The one time during that whole assembly when I cried was just before singing the line "and is this the last time you'll see us standing here with you?", which was originally the line that a few of us (including me) wanted to cut out of the song, but it was very appropriate. Then (0f course) there was the school hymn, and we did have someone to accompany that. I think it may have been Kim, I can't remember. We sang the descant (fancy word for harmony part) beautifully, and then the year elevens made a guard of honour for us as we left the hall.

Here is possibly the most bizarre part of the day. We did the Hokey Pokey at the back of the hall while we waited for the younger students to leave. It was fun, but bizarre, so I'll definitely remember it. Since at this stage it may have been midday, we all went to the park and had fish and chips for lunch, and it was just a nice way to end everything. Oh yes, and we were signing each others' school uniforms. I'm taking mine to the speech night rehearsal tomorrow. Oh, at one point I went to the toilet and when I came out, I just saw all the navy blue rugby jumpers (I bet everyone wears their rugby jumpers and jeans tomorrow for the rehearsal) and that's when I felt the most pride and love for all those girls.