We left home early at 6:30am on Saturday, March 4th, to head to Bowling Green for Jacob’s interview at Gatton Academy. We stayed that night in Bowling Green and came back home after breakfast on Sunday morning. The hotel we stayed at has an indoor heated pool, so David took James swimming after our parent session in the morning. We skipped the parent panel in the afternoon because David, James and I were ready to rest and relax after the busy morning. David and I were already quite tired from our working week. Besides, we had attended a parent panel with Qs and As on Preview Day, so we thought we had heard enough of what we needed to know.
Jacob on Interview Day
The dress code for that day as said in the invitation was professional/business. We could tell that morning that Jacob felt more grown-up after he had put on his clothes bought especially for the purpose of this interview. Jacob usually hates being dressed formally; therefore, he wears sweatpants and hoodies everyday. When we arrived, we saw many boys in suits and ties as well as bow ties. There were a couple of other boys who were dressed in button-down shirt like Jacob. The girls were much less formally dressed than the boys except for one girl in a business pant suit.
WKU’s auditorium before the day’s program began
Gatton Academy’s residential challenges
During the parent session, the residential director and a mental health counselor presented to us the challenges they have come up against during their 15 years at Gatton Academy. Both people have been with the Academy since it opened its doors in 2007. They kept repeating that not every academically gifted teenager is a good fit for the residential life at Gatton Academy. Over the years, some high school juniors have turned out to be too emotionally immature and practically unprepared for an almost independent life on a college campus away from home.
I took a photo of these slides so that we can prepare Jacob for Gatton’s residential life should he get accepted.
Dinner at Thai Thai restaurant
One of our two favorite places to hang out in Bowling Green is a Thai restaurant called Thai Thai. The food there is authentic and delicious. The exquisite wood-carved decor of that restaurant was made by a Bosnian immigrant. We started going there years ago when it was owned and operated by a Vietnamese Thai family. The mother moved from Vietnam to Thailand with her family when she was a small child. The current owner is a Thai woman from the Northeastern region of Thailand. David and I did a mountain retreat there with Ted Mayer, our Anthropology professor, during our first year in Thailand. We love the traditional food from that Thai Northeastern region as it is delectably savory, sour and spicy.
At dinner, both Jacob and James had the Sriracha pork fried rice; David had a minced pork salad and a papaya salad with sticky rice; I had the duck noodle soup. Jacob and I shared a spicy shrimp and mushroom soup bowl; he drank all the soup while I ate all the mushroom and shrimp. That night, there was a very friendly waitress from Chiangmai, a Northern Thai city we have been to, who chatted to us in both English and Thai. It felt good to me to speak Thai — a very charmingly feminine language — again.
We all felt so relieved after Jacob’s interview that we really enjoyed our food and conversations at Thai Thai. Below are three links to the accounts of some of our previous trips to Bowling Green.
Lost River Cave in Bowling Green
Baker Arboretum and Downing Museum in Bowling Green
Thank you for reading! Enjoy!
David and Lam 