Graduation!

Less than two weeks ago, we learned that our dear friend My was graduating from university--ranked number 1 of nearly 800.  Yesterday we attended her graduation and it was fantastic to see her give the valedictorian speech. We are so very proud of her!

Many of you will remember that My came to study on the U.S. for a semester, fully paid by the U.S. Government. You may also recall that we wrote about My and her family in our book. She was the first person in her family to go beyond sixth grade. Back in the late sixties, her father, Can, passed an exam that would have allowed him to jump from sixth to ninth grade, but the "American War" started, and he wasn't able to go to school.  And like most other counties in this region, there are no second chances for education. After the war, money was too tight for the first three children to goo very far; like their father, all three boys stopped after sixth grade.  Can was determined to change the pattern, and worked dangerous jobs to ensure his fourth child, My, wouldn't have to drop out of school.

You can imagine that My doesn't take her education lightly, and she has always worked very hard. When we met her ten years ago, she was in junior high and was already reading classic English literature the likes of John Steinbeck, Earnest Hemingway and Charles Dickens. With that literature, it's no wonder that she was first in her class for her English degree! 

But My's accomplishment is all the more impressive when you learn that she's simultaneously working on a degree in Business at another university, and it's the business degree that brought her to the U.S. to study. So obviously she's kicking some butt at that university too.

My had a great group of people celebrating her accomplishment, with friends her parents, from the university, friends from Scottland (living in Honk Kong) and her boyfriend Kieu, who took the photo below.

On the Fourth of July, we head back to Indonesia, for the remote island of Flores, which is part of East Tussa Negarra. It's mostly known as the island you fly to to visit Komodo National Park.

Photos courtesy of Tadashi Tsuchida and Kieu Nguyen.