"It gets so much better"

The other night I hung out with some of my new high school friends.

[Let me just pause here to say that I am so excited to be a part of these kids lives and it's so much fun to have high school friends!]

So, I was hanging out with these girls, you know, baking brownies and chatting about life. They are three seniors, Jerone, Renee, and Gretchen, who have been in Singapore for 10 years, 7 years, and 2 years respectively. Like the majority of the kids at SAS, they are expat kids with dads who work for oil companies and travel a lot.

As the conversation progressed, I got to hear about all of the ups and downs that high school girls experience (which aren't that different from what I went through in high school, surprise surprise). And then it dawned on me: High School sucks.

Even if you go to a ridiculously awesome school in Singapore, High School still sucks. Teenagers are mean to each other, they do and say stupid things, they place importance on things that don't really matter. I was hearing stories about the cliques at SAS and how extreme they are. I thought my high school was cliquey, but it's nothing compared to this school.

My high school had it's run of the mill issues with cliques, bad teachers, drugs and alcohol, gangs, crappy facilities, and stupid teenagers. And because of all those things I wouldn't choose to go back to that period of my life. I sort of assumed that SAS wouldn't have the same problems because they have a fairly elite teaching staff, amazingly nice facilities, and no gangs. As it turns out, this unique school has it's own set of unique issues.

I was told about the insane amount of drinking that goes on, backstabbing, and poor attitudes that overrun the place. It honestly sounded like the movie Mean Girls, a writhing cesspool of passive aggressive meanness.

These poor girls seemed so discouraged and are just biding their time until they graduate in June. Thankfully, I got to tell them that it gets better. Way better. Social order in high school is based on physical appearance, age/grade, rumors, and other stupid things like that. At some point after high school, we just realize that it isn't important anymore.

It's nice to be the one a few steps further ahead in life, and to be able to offer encouragement for the season they're in right now.