Over in Afghanistan, they have the whole government like is gone and the Taliban is now in control and then they have COVID and the Delta variant and everything else that everyone is dealing with. And people, some like the scientists are calling like COVID like a war, you know, ’cause it’s like the death toll is similar to a war. So then, in Afghanistan, they just had this huge- this huge um insurrection? I don’t know what you would call it, but the, the huge- this huge takeover and then they have COVID, so it’s like a double war.

I feel like I have this one really close friend who I would think of as a yellow. So I think of this person as a yellow ’cause their favorite color is yellow and they’re always so bubbly and bright and optimistic. They like to think of everything with like a half, like the cup is half-full type mentality and they’re just one of the sweetest person, one of the sweetest people I know. And that’s why I associate the color yellow with them. But yeah, I really like this question and I definitely have thought about it before. Sometimes I wonder like how others people perceive me, like what color they see me as, and it’s a really nice way of like seeing how other people’s minds work and how you showcase yourself to them and how they perceive it. So yeah, I see friends as like pinks and purples and blues. Sometimes, even like people can change colors. Like they don’t have to be one color all the time.

So yeah, does orange represent anything in my culture? So I’m an Indian-American. I have an Indian culture. Our flag. Our flag, had one of the stripes in our flag is orange. A lot of our foods, like, you know, our spices, our sweets, they’re orange, or like a shade of orange. I don’t why I didn’t think of that. We have a sweet called laddoo. That’s probably my favorite orange colored food. It’s a delicious sweet. You guys should go try it. Any Indian store, they’ll have it. Its laddoo, L A D D O O. Best Indian sweet. A lot of clothing in Indian culture is also orange. I know for weddings, we have a ritual where everyone wears yellow or like a shade of yellow or orange and it’s just part of the ritual.

Can you think of some words that rhyme with orange? Almost rhyme? Okay, okay. Orange, orange. Orange. Or… hinge. Door hinge. A door hinge! Is that even a word? Is that like a thing? I think that’s a thing, right? A door hinge. Yeah, orange, door hinge. That rhymes somehow. Door hinge. Yeah, isn’t that like the thing that like keeps the door attached to the wall? Is that even what that is? Am I thinking of the wrong thing? That’s what that is. Right? A door hinge. Yeah. Why am I forgetting what a door hinge is?

Yeah, going into that, I guess and then and then COVID hit. And that just changed everything. I lost like a year, sophomore year, just of like how to like properly be organized, manage school, how to like go with that. But it also taught me how to be adaptable, you know, adapt to everything like that, even though the curriculum for this thing was always just like vastly different. Thought it was gonna be so much harder than it was. And I just got out using the bare minimum. And of course, I was dealing with a mental strain of being in isolation. So, probably after about half a year, I probably just burnt out and did not care anymore. Plus there was a month in time, actually right around the one-year COVID anniversary woohoo! March was such a fun month, just a lot of just horrendous mental health issues happening in every aspect, you know. Friends, family. Just all of that just kinda happened. So, yeah. Actually funnily enough, got an email from my French teacher being like, “Hey, you disconnected in class. Are you ok?” And then I kinda spilled the beans to her and everything like that. Then I got an email from my counselor about two hours later. It was like, “I’m always here if you need to talk” and I’m like, “You know what, I’m doing ok. I’m keeping an open dialogue with my parents.” So yeah, we’re looking into whatever that is, I guess. But it definitely changed how I viewed school and just like, I wanted a break too the summer, you know. Truly take some time and like hang out with people, you know, just have a relaxing summer, you know, take a break. That didn’t happen because I had to take a government class due to scheduling issues, they could not work it into my schedule. So yeah, that was oh it was so, so much fun. So, I truly never did get a break. So yeah, that was definitely fun. Still not done with the class as of August 19, 2021.