At Maddy's new school, all of the students in her grade do a work experience/internship at the end of the year. Thanks to the help of a kind teacher and a bit of lucky timing, Maddy interviewed and got an internship at the Japanese embassy where she's helping to support a fellowship program--organizing applications, putting together a database, and entering data.

She was nervous--especially since she doesn't actually speak Japanese!--but it's been a great experience and everyone has been supportive and welcoming (and everything's been in English, mostly). She even played tennis with some of the diplomats at lunch one day and reported that they were indeed very diplomatic about her comparatively lower level of tennis ability. Whew! Peace between nations maintained.

Organizing things, dressing in work clothes, international relations: If you know her, you know that's pretty much Maddy utopia.