Boarding School

Karla Zabel

English 101

Dr. Sonia Apgar Begert                       

Formal Term Paper 1 1-31-13

And The Seventh Day Shall be Kept Holy

        I had attended religious schools in the past, but I was fourteen when I was sent away from home. I had a fight with my boyfriend and came home well after curfew, I remember my mom coming up behind me that night screaming, “That’s it you’re out of here, gone.” There was nothing more to say on the subject, her mind was made up. The very next day she was on the phone and arrangements were made.

        I was on my way to a whole new life, new school, new teachers, new friends and, oh so many new rules. It started with wardrobe. We had to go shopping for appropriate Seventh Day Adventist attire, not a uniform exactly but it may as well have been. Girl’s shirts had to be at least fingertip in length and four fingers past the collarbone. No shorts or jeans and no form fitting pants, skirts were permitted but had to be past the knee. There was absolutely no jewelry or makeup of any kind. I can even remember the tissue test; if faculty had any suspicions that you may be wearing makeup they would wipe your face with a white tissue to be sure. There were so many new rules to get used to.

        The day I arrived I was shown to my dorm room and introduced to my new roommate; I would now be living hours from home with a person I had never met. Each room had two twin beds, two desks and a closet for two. You could basically draw a line down the center of the floor, hers and mine. There were 20 rooms in a hall that made up the girls dorm, with a living type room at one end and a bathroom with five showers and stalls at the other. We were permitted no radio, no television or even a phone. We were completely cut off from the outside world. What a change from the life I once had.

        I was informed that worship was promptly 6:00am to 7:30am each morning in our chapel and we were expected to be there every day, except Saturdays (we’ll talk about Saturdays later). Breakfast was 7:45 to 8:30; it consisted of artificial eggs, soy cheese and milk and some vegetarian sausage, bacon or ham. Millet or oatmeal were the other choices.  I would be given my chore along with my school schedule and tour following breakfast the next day.

               I was exhausted. That first night in a strange room with a strange person at a new school in a new town I slept soundly. It was 4:30 in the morning when my alarm went off, time to begin. But why did I think it would take me so long to get ready with no blow dryer or makeup. Well at least I didn’t have to wait for a shower. By 5:30 the halls were filled with girls I didn’t know wearing finger length shirts and long skirts hustling past me, preparing for the day. There was nowhere I could hide; I wanted to run away. But where would I go, we were in the middle of nowhere without a phone. I missed my friends, my family, everyone I knew. Everything I knew.

               My mind was racing that first morning in worship, I felt so alone. I sat by myself at breakfast too, and then I was introduced to Vicky. Vicky was obviously raised a devout Seventh Day Adventist from birth and she would be my go to girl, she was assigned to be my mentor. Mentoring me was Vickie’s chore for the time. She would explain how things worked, my chores, my classes, who was who, and when to be where. Vicky was a plain looking girl, very simple, a senior who carried her bible everywhere and knew each page by heart. I grew to admire her loyalty and devotion, she was the only friend I had and I looked up to her.

               First we started with my assigned daily chore; I was to mop our school building from one end to the other (someone must have gotten a promotion). Then I was off to my classes, just your everyday ordinary classes, math, English, social studies and science. Except there were only fifteen students in each classroom and men were on one side, women on the other and the funny clothes and no makeup. I would never have been caught in the real world like this, and that’s what I began to call it “the real world”, my old life.

               Lunch - would I ever get used to soy cheese and fake meat? After school, we would participate in soccer or volley ball. But it was Florida and we played in dress pants and fingertip shirts. Dinner, fake meat and soy cheese, oh yes, and fried okra, I haven’t eaten okra since. Then it was worship from 6:00pm to 7:30pm, homework and off to bed. One day down, only four years to go.

               The next morning I didn’t set my alarm as early and woke up to my roommate Valerie moving about the room. Valerie had shoulder length red wavy course hair and was covered with freckles, she was another devout Adventist who knew all of the rules forwards and backwards, she would later be known to me as the snitch. I was off to shower, in the hallway Vicky my mentor, introduced me to some of the other girls like Ronda, she was a model in the real world and she, like me, wasn’t there of her own freewill. She would become my best friend here and on the outside. Then there was Bonny or Bonbon as I call her now. She would become a great support, someone who watched out for me and tried to keep me in line and Cindy a very large girl, a senior who was always good for laughs. I was starting to settle in.

               That morning even worship seemed a little calmer, Ronda started passing me notes and Bonbon braided my hair. At breakfast I was introduced to some of the guys, Charles a big jock and another devoted Adventist. Mike, a tall lanky blonde who became my boyfriend, although we were never even allowed to hold hands, and Laurence the bad boy; he was always in trouble for something. I started to realize that there were two types of students, those who lived and breathed the Seventh Day Adventist life, and those whose parents wanted to straighten them out.

            I quickly learned how to join the hot, sweaty, disheveled kids as we finished our choirs and rushed to first period, but I never figured out what lesson I learned from one grumpy teacher, Mr. Finney who loved singling students out by raising his voice and making them look stupid. I was however thankful that I had new friends in some of my classes taking a bit of the sting out of being the new kid.

               The routine of fake foods, continuous mopping and endless worship, it astounded me that kids my age were choosing to live like this. But as time went on I began to respect them for their discipline. Now let’s talk about Sabbath. According to Adventists the seventh day is Saturday and the seventh day shall be kept holy. On Saturday we could sleep in because worship didn’t start until 8:00, but don’t get excited, it’s an ALL day thing, breaking only for soy cheese and mystery meats. The last Saturday of the month of course everyone fasted to cleanse the body, 24 hours with nothing to eat, only water. Four years of this?

        I wondered throughout my time at school whether I would make it. But I found this experience has given me patience, taught me that I am capable of growing to the occasion, that I’m stronger than I ever thought I was and that I can survive with much less than I feel I must have. Fake it till you make it, a strategy that served me well throughout the years. When I’m afraid of walking into a room, maybe a meeting a classroom, or Heaven forbid a presentation, this works for me. I tell myself “You got this, or act as if” I told myself this throughout this experience and still more so today.

        I can’t imagine sending my children from their home, or from me, and expecting them to live without the comforts we all take for granted. I think even though I no longer consider myself Seventh Day Adventist I do believe in the seventh day. The seventh day on my calendar is Saturday, and the seventh day to me shall always be kept holy. Saturdays in my house I save for worship and spending time with family and remembering how lucky I am for the lessons learned along the way.