Conclave re-cap

My mom and I drove up in her car, because she doesn't go on the bus and I don't like to. We arrived at least half an hour before any of the buses, because even though we left at almost-one and hit a bunch of really irritating traffic, we know all the short cuts (our record drive is about two hours).

Arrived at about 3:40, and I ecstatically jumped out of the car, grabbed a bag, and headed in towards Manor House. With Manor House came...Elana! Elana's a very good friend and sometimes Teva (nature program) director. Hugs all around, and then the much-missed smell of Manor House, which I certainly hope is not lost with all of this planned renovation.

I ran around a bit in an empty Manor House (unheard of!). I kept expecting to run into a whole cadre of Machon (CITs) sitting in the Great Room (which we called the Living Room this weekend), but of course I didn't, which was very sad.

When the first buses arrived, I jubilantly volunteered to be the one to lead the eight and ninth graders up to bunks eight, nine, and ten, where they were staying. It was cold. Very, very cold. And I did it at least four times, because I'm a dork and a loser. But a loser who loves Eisner!

Bunk eight, where the boys were staying, was very difficult. I kept looking at the wall, expecting to see a massively huge Israeli flag and a creepy stalker, but thankfully it has been several months since he returned to Israel, and with luck will not return.

Weekend, as a whole, was very very enjoyable after this point.

Sarah and her brother were on kitchen staff for the weekend, and it was fun to hang out with her a bit.

Saw this very cool documentary called Mechina: a preparation, and I shall be joining the facebook group for it as soon as I get home. The film was about six kids around our age getting ready for the army in Israel, and it really brought the human side of Israel to a lot of the kids in Hebrew school.

We (meaning just the seniors) led Havdallah (the Saturday night service that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week). My reading, which was supposed to be about how great Hebrew High is and how much it has affected us, basically consisted of: "I have this song stuck in my head, and because I am uber-Jew it is in Hebrew. The first line is 'Ani v'atah n'shaneh et ha'olam', which means 'You and I will change the world'. What we do here does that. We also have fun." Good times.

After that, we participated in and then led a program (when I say we I mean the eleventh and twelfth graders). The first was a heated debate, and I'll go into it another time. Suffice it to say that one particular senior is kind of a bitch and I really don't like her in any context, as she radiates an aura of hatred wherever she goes and whatever she says. The second was about development of hope and Israeli music. Don't ask, I don't know. We played HaTikva ('The Hope'; Israel's national anthem), then a song by Rick Recht called 'The Hope' (Video here, and tell me if you can figure out the venue without looking), followed by Tikva by Subliminal and the Shadow, an Israeli rap duet. Good videos, I'd recommend the songs.

And I never thought I'd miss Louie, but our song leader was awful. He was conservative, so we didn't know any of the same melodies, and he didn't precisely make an effort to sing things our way, even the songs we all knew.

While in the Beit Am (theater-type building), I found a Grease playbill from this summer. 'Twas hilarious.

Another discovery: In the library, in one of the locked cases, is a binder that looked very familiar, and, peering closer, I discovered that it is, indeed, a Machon binder; it's Robbie's, in fact. I couldn't get the case opened, though, so I couldn't look closer.

I've got lots of pictures, but those will have to come later, as I don't have a connecting cable for my camera on me at the moment. Speaking of, my mom and I went up to Lookout Point.

Oh, and Danny was there at the end of the weekend, which was nice.

And now I've written more than I have for any other post to date, so I'll stop.

Clark

Well, I had fun.

I also had no time to work on my Hebrew, but whatever. Could've gone to a Hebrew class, but then I probably wouldn't have gotten home until about now.

Clark's very nice, although the city of Worcester, which it's very firmly embedded in, is not so nice. The Provost isn't a very good speaker, but what he had to say was interesting. The astronomy class that I sat in on was a bit of a joke, as I knew everything they had to say about quasars, dark matter, and dark energy. Either that or Mr. A, Brett, and I all have very in-depth discussion.

But speaking of the astronomy class! There are four people from camp that attend Clark, and one friend from NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth). Of course, I was avidly trying to reach Jeremy, the NFTY-ite, the entire time, but he never picked up his phone.

In the astronomy class, I spent the whole time staring at the back of the head of this one guy who looked so familiar. After the class ended, he stood up, stretched, and turned around, and I immediately went "Aaron!" He looked up, and we went, "Woah, small world. Hi." He showed me to the building I was meeting my dad in and offered to answer any questions, as he's a tour guide.

Then I spoke to the Hillel director, and while talking to him, he pointed out the window and said, "Oh, there's Dan." Dan and I worked together on the Bonim (entering fourth and fifth grade) show, Peter Pan, this summer. I face-palmed a little, on the inside, and continued the conversation, as I couldn't just walk out. When I looked up again to go find him, he disappeared, and I was very sad. But then he was ten inches away, giving me a hug. Fantastic.

The Hillel director couldn't remember the name of the last Eisner-ite, though he thought she was Israeli. I, for the life of me, could not recall a single Israeli at Eisner who attends American Uni, so I was a little confused, but that's okay.

Later in the conversation, I saw someone very, very familiar walk by. Someone Eisner-y, and...Israeli. Only not. I thought she was Israeli at camp, and I was embarrassed by my assumptions there, so I blocked it. I called to her retreating back, "Yael!" She turned around slowly, and we both went, "Well. I'm confused. Hi. Random."

Good times.

Of course, Clark has more positive attributes than merely the presence of three Eisner-ites that I ran into, another Eisner-ite and a NFTY-ite. But I don't particularly feel like detailing them now, since I've already run longer than most of my other posts.

College Search

Hampshire supplement is eating my brain. They want so much. Five out of their seven questions could be essay topics in and of themselves. Grah. Clark wants a little, too, but it's not due for a while, since I'm applying regular decision.

Speaking of Clark, I'm going to visit tomorrow for an open house, and I'm leaving at FOUR IN THE MORNING. Shoot me now. At least we're just making it a day, and not staying over and the like.

I'm bringing a little backpack of stuff, and the contents are as follows:

• One notebook, for note-taking purposes
• My folder on Clark and the like
• A whole mess of pens and highlighters, for above purposes
• My self-made Hebrew dictionary (a notebook in which I write down Hebrew words in an effort to teach myself the language)
• My real Hebrew dictionary (as in the printed kind - - the pages are yellow, in case you were wondering)
• My Hebrew workbook from the ten minutes I was enrolled in the Independent Study class Freshman year
• My itty-bitty book of Psalms, which is retaking it's position of being taken with me everywhere
• If I can find my Tanach, it's going to be added as well
  

Because I am a dork.