Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Woooooooooyaaaawwwwwnn
So I am in the lovely city of Berlin, in an absolutely gorgeous hostel (seriously so pretty and a perfect location) and I am tired beyond tired because I got up at 5 am yesterday and haven't seen a bed since. Trains and planes and automobiles all coordinated quite nicely, no one got lost or killed, there has been an excess of food, and all of my Important Things are locked up nice and safe. Life is good, I want a nap but I don't dare. Instead, we go to bed early tonight and good things happen tomorrow.
Monday, July 23, 2007
More Pictures!
At the end of the loverly Yiddish Camp album, you will find brand new pictures that you have not seen before, including many fine pictures that depict actual working being done!
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| Yiddish Camp |
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Shake Hands
There is a t-shirt designed by the Super Freylikh Team in the works. If all goes well, it will be available for you to purchase. It is an amazing t-shirt.
In other news, David Shneer is a lovely human being and daytrips to klez concerts in New York can be very exciting and it is finally raining. Also, my count of letters completed in the warehouse is up to 5, and I've done the end of Reysh, but the middle still needs to be done, so I'm not quite sure where that puts me. "Me" being of course "me and Mikhl most of the time but he abandoned me today."
Yellow Pigs Day was yesterday and I like the number 17 even more now. 17 is a very good number.
In other news, David Shneer is a lovely human being and daytrips to klez concerts in New York can be very exciting and it is finally raining. Also, my count of letters completed in the warehouse is up to 5, and I've done the end of Reysh, but the middle still needs to be done, so I'm not quite sure where that puts me. "Me" being of course "me and Mikhl most of the time but he abandoned me today."
Yellow Pigs Day was yesterday and I like the number 17 even more now. 17 is a very good number.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Productivity!
Apparently Debi got inspired by Marissa and decided to upload all her pictures today, so if you click on the link in the previous entry, it will take you to a collection of 121 pictures from the past 5 weeks or so. The first 70 are Marissa's, and go chronologically, and then the chronology starts over with Debi's pictures. I have captioned them all with varying degrees of detail, and I will gladly tell stories about whatever, just ask me.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Woo Pictures
Marissa uploaded her pictures from the first 5 weeks of Yiddish Camp, so I can now share them with you! I'm working on captions- I'm heading out to dinner and shmues-kreis in half an hour or so, but I promise I"ll get captions done.
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| Yiddish Camp |
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Where Do We Go Now?
I never did tell you about Canada, did I? Canada is the most crazy mixed-up land ever, except for Vermont. Here's how it went down:
We got off to a great start, with me and Debi and Jessica and Sonia in the small van. Yes, 4 people in an 11-seater. It makes perfect sense, I swear.
A few hours down the road, the phone rings. It is Rachel, informing us that Jonah's car has died in some town called Sharon. As it happens, we are right in front of the exit for Sharon, and we go to save them.
And go to save them. And go. And drive up and down route 11 or whatever godforsaken road we were on for 1 hour. We stopped to ask directions twice, and called Jonah/Rachel/etc at least 4 times. We drove past Dixie's Country Kitchen more than once. For the first 45 minutes, we thought we were seeking Seltz Auto Repair because Sonia is awesome at phones. When I finally got on the phone, I discovered that it was Phelp's, and suddenly life became easier when a no-nonsense lady at a general store gave us the kind of directions I like ("go past the big pile of dirt and there will be a Mobil station on your left and keep going straight and when you see the iron bridge slow down because you're almost there") except there was a detour but Jonah gave us directions we could follow, and we took the National Yiddish Van down a dirt road, certainly the first time it had done such a thing. We passed Rokhl and Mikhl when we were nearly there, and it turned out that they had given up and were going for a swim. We drove on and collected Jonah and Jay, and proceeded to all go jump in the river with our clothes on. Well, Debi and Jonah and I jumped in, and Sonia and Jessica kinda waded, and Jay stood on the shore and told us we were meshugge. Which we were. Once we were all nicely soaked, we got out and Jonah got yelled at by some country lady who told him to go back where he came from and we got back in the van, somewhat more crowded than we had been, and drove to Canada. The border guy made us get out and prove that there was no funny business going on because crazy Canadian Mikhl insisted on being a Canadian citizen with a Canadian passport among a group of Americans and they were very confused as to why he was going to Canada. And then I noticed that Canada is a crazy place where they paint their farm stuff green instead of red, and I drew Don Quixote on Jonah's t-shirt, and we stopped at a tiny cafe for a bathroom break and felt so foreign, and then we finally got to Montreal and got lost and Mikhl and Jay argued but we made it to the hostel at the same time as the other van, so we rock. And we discovered that the boys' half of the hostel had bedbugs. So they were all wimpy and moved to a hostel around the corner, where they would meet the most interesting characters, but that's for later. We settled in and wandered for a few minutes, then it was dinnertime! Our chosen restaurant had a strict no-reservations policy, but there were 25 of us and apparently that meant we had an "agreement." So Sonia and Hector and I wandered over a bit early to see about said agreement. And talked to about 4 people before someone remembered something about maybe someone called, and then they agreed that they could seat us inside. So Sonia and I waited around a while and then everyone else began arriving, and we got seated. And this restaurant turned out to be amazing and the Book Center was paying for everything, so we went all out. It was all delicious and we met Naomi's lovely family and had a great time hanging out and having a very very long dinner. Afterwards, we figured we should hit up some local bar. But Naomi's sons were like "wait we know something better" and took 13 or so of us off on a long and winding trek across Montreal. We walked for like 45 minutes, losing half of the group or more along the way. It started raining, torrentially, 3 blocks before our destination. The rain made the boys determine that we would not go all the way to their intended destination, and they took us to a different bar. Dripping, we stumbled in to look at a crowd of late-20s/early-30s and up men around a bar decorated with outer space holograms. So, you know, classy. We were glad just to be dry and huddled in the corner around our drinks, attempting to salvage the night. We were smart enough to take cabs home, and I collapsed into my warm dry bed. The other hostel was not so lucky. The only bathroom was occupied by a woman taking a shower. At 1 in the morning. And she proceeded to shower for the next hour or so. In spite of them knocking on the door and asking her to hurry. Apparently, when she finally exited the shower, she made some comment about how she didn't expect anyone to want the bathroom at 1:30 am. Klaus reports that he saw her get up and take a 15 minute shower at 7 the next morning.
Our next morning, we had an appointment at the local Yiddish elementary school. So we deemed that we would meet 45 minutes before we should be there, since it is a 20 minute drive. So of course we left about 10 minutes before the appointed time. I am not learning Jewish time well- a year in Germany and a mother who thinks half an hour early is on time have gotten me pretty unable to be late to things. No one seemed to mind, and we toured the quadrilingual (English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish) school and were all immensely jealous and began figuring out how to marry Anglophone Montrealers in order to send our children to said school. We then hopped back in our vans and went off to look at a synagogue and meet a somewhat racist gabbai and then we went to a delicious deli for piles and piles of smoked meat. Smoked meat is absolutely delicious and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I would live off smoked meat if I could. Sonia and I went off and wandered a bit in the immense free time that followed, and Sonia was sad that none of the shopkeepers would speak French with her, so I spoke German with her, and we coveted some pretty dresses and bought some great ice cream and met back up with the group. Back in the vans, we had a driving tour of Jewish Montreal (driving tours are for yes) and went to get some (very good) Montreal bagels. And went to a very swanky condo complex to pick up 16 boxes of books from a Zamler, and then it was back to the hostels, where we wandered a bit to find some food, and then all hopped on the Metro to go to a Yiddish play. It was a very exciting revue of many classic Yiddish theater songs, and we recognized many of them (of course, we were previously schooled), and we were the youngest people there by far, but the whole audience was so energetic and into it that it was an amazing experience. We came out so excited and energetic. Some people broke off to go to some jazz stuff, but a group of us decided we were hungry, and made our way towards some sort of food (after much wandering)- it was once again absolutely delicious. We gave the poor waiter a giant pile of small bills and change, for which I still feel bad, but I did at least get rid of all the excess Canadian money I was in possession of. Friday morning led us to a delicious brunch at Nomi's, and a random theater workshop. It was fun to do all these physical theater exercises, though, and a nice way to spend an afternoon before having to face another 6-hour drive. Hector was driving the big van back, and me, Debi, Sonia, Jessica, Jason, and Klaus were his passengers. We got kinda lost on the way to the border but got directions at a gas station, got through the border with no problems (Hector said he'd never brought books over that fast), and had a very scenic route through upstate New York to get back to Vermont. Once in Vermont, we tried valiantly to find food, failed for exit after exit (rural Vermont is seriously rural), and finally found a really cute little town where we got really good food at a cute little restaurant and, thus fortified, made it back to Massachusetts without incident. It was late when we got in, and sleeping felt amazing, and we had a nice relaxing weekend that ended with me getting deathly ill. I'm slightly less on my deathbed now, and the sickness is continuing to spread (I was not the first to have it and I shall not be the last), and life is proceeding nicely. Klaus got engaged, and we are having a shindig at his and Debi's houses tonight (they are neighbors so it makes sense). I was very productive at work, so the sweat and grime that cover me feel really nice. Life is good.
I forgot to tell you about Celto, but Celto is a story unto himself, and is best expressed via Paul's impression of him. Paul will be playing Celto in the intern show. There will be video.
We got off to a great start, with me and Debi and Jessica and Sonia in the small van. Yes, 4 people in an 11-seater. It makes perfect sense, I swear.
A few hours down the road, the phone rings. It is Rachel, informing us that Jonah's car has died in some town called Sharon. As it happens, we are right in front of the exit for Sharon, and we go to save them.
And go to save them. And go. And drive up and down route 11 or whatever godforsaken road we were on for 1 hour. We stopped to ask directions twice, and called Jonah/Rachel/etc at least 4 times. We drove past Dixie's Country Kitchen more than once. For the first 45 minutes, we thought we were seeking Seltz Auto Repair because Sonia is awesome at phones. When I finally got on the phone, I discovered that it was Phelp's, and suddenly life became easier when a no-nonsense lady at a general store gave us the kind of directions I like ("go past the big pile of dirt and there will be a Mobil station on your left and keep going straight and when you see the iron bridge slow down because you're almost there") except there was a detour but Jonah gave us directions we could follow, and we took the National Yiddish Van down a dirt road, certainly the first time it had done such a thing. We passed Rokhl and Mikhl when we were nearly there, and it turned out that they had given up and were going for a swim. We drove on and collected Jonah and Jay, and proceeded to all go jump in the river with our clothes on. Well, Debi and Jonah and I jumped in, and Sonia and Jessica kinda waded, and Jay stood on the shore and told us we were meshugge. Which we were. Once we were all nicely soaked, we got out and Jonah got yelled at by some country lady who told him to go back where he came from and we got back in the van, somewhat more crowded than we had been, and drove to Canada. The border guy made us get out and prove that there was no funny business going on because crazy Canadian Mikhl insisted on being a Canadian citizen with a Canadian passport among a group of Americans and they were very confused as to why he was going to Canada. And then I noticed that Canada is a crazy place where they paint their farm stuff green instead of red, and I drew Don Quixote on Jonah's t-shirt, and we stopped at a tiny cafe for a bathroom break and felt so foreign, and then we finally got to Montreal and got lost and Mikhl and Jay argued but we made it to the hostel at the same time as the other van, so we rock. And we discovered that the boys' half of the hostel had bedbugs. So they were all wimpy and moved to a hostel around the corner, where they would meet the most interesting characters, but that's for later. We settled in and wandered for a few minutes, then it was dinnertime! Our chosen restaurant had a strict no-reservations policy, but there were 25 of us and apparently that meant we had an "agreement." So Sonia and Hector and I wandered over a bit early to see about said agreement. And talked to about 4 people before someone remembered something about maybe someone called, and then they agreed that they could seat us inside. So Sonia and I waited around a while and then everyone else began arriving, and we got seated. And this restaurant turned out to be amazing and the Book Center was paying for everything, so we went all out. It was all delicious and we met Naomi's lovely family and had a great time hanging out and having a very very long dinner. Afterwards, we figured we should hit up some local bar. But Naomi's sons were like "wait we know something better" and took 13 or so of us off on a long and winding trek across Montreal. We walked for like 45 minutes, losing half of the group or more along the way. It started raining, torrentially, 3 blocks before our destination. The rain made the boys determine that we would not go all the way to their intended destination, and they took us to a different bar. Dripping, we stumbled in to look at a crowd of late-20s/early-30s and up men around a bar decorated with outer space holograms. So, you know, classy. We were glad just to be dry and huddled in the corner around our drinks, attempting to salvage the night. We were smart enough to take cabs home, and I collapsed into my warm dry bed. The other hostel was not so lucky. The only bathroom was occupied by a woman taking a shower. At 1 in the morning. And she proceeded to shower for the next hour or so. In spite of them knocking on the door and asking her to hurry. Apparently, when she finally exited the shower, she made some comment about how she didn't expect anyone to want the bathroom at 1:30 am. Klaus reports that he saw her get up and take a 15 minute shower at 7 the next morning.
Our next morning, we had an appointment at the local Yiddish elementary school. So we deemed that we would meet 45 minutes before we should be there, since it is a 20 minute drive. So of course we left about 10 minutes before the appointed time. I am not learning Jewish time well- a year in Germany and a mother who thinks half an hour early is on time have gotten me pretty unable to be late to things. No one seemed to mind, and we toured the quadrilingual (English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish) school and were all immensely jealous and began figuring out how to marry Anglophone Montrealers in order to send our children to said school. We then hopped back in our vans and went off to look at a synagogue and meet a somewhat racist gabbai and then we went to a delicious deli for piles and piles of smoked meat. Smoked meat is absolutely delicious and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I would live off smoked meat if I could. Sonia and I went off and wandered a bit in the immense free time that followed, and Sonia was sad that none of the shopkeepers would speak French with her, so I spoke German with her, and we coveted some pretty dresses and bought some great ice cream and met back up with the group. Back in the vans, we had a driving tour of Jewish Montreal (driving tours are for yes) and went to get some (very good) Montreal bagels. And went to a very swanky condo complex to pick up 16 boxes of books from a Zamler, and then it was back to the hostels, where we wandered a bit to find some food, and then all hopped on the Metro to go to a Yiddish play. It was a very exciting revue of many classic Yiddish theater songs, and we recognized many of them (of course, we were previously schooled), and we were the youngest people there by far, but the whole audience was so energetic and into it that it was an amazing experience. We came out so excited and energetic. Some people broke off to go to some jazz stuff, but a group of us decided we were hungry, and made our way towards some sort of food (after much wandering)- it was once again absolutely delicious. We gave the poor waiter a giant pile of small bills and change, for which I still feel bad, but I did at least get rid of all the excess Canadian money I was in possession of. Friday morning led us to a delicious brunch at Nomi's, and a random theater workshop. It was fun to do all these physical theater exercises, though, and a nice way to spend an afternoon before having to face another 6-hour drive. Hector was driving the big van back, and me, Debi, Sonia, Jessica, Jason, and Klaus were his passengers. We got kinda lost on the way to the border but got directions at a gas station, got through the border with no problems (Hector said he'd never brought books over that fast), and had a very scenic route through upstate New York to get back to Vermont. Once in Vermont, we tried valiantly to find food, failed for exit after exit (rural Vermont is seriously rural), and finally found a really cute little town where we got really good food at a cute little restaurant and, thus fortified, made it back to Massachusetts without incident. It was late when we got in, and sleeping felt amazing, and we had a nice relaxing weekend that ended with me getting deathly ill. I'm slightly less on my deathbed now, and the sickness is continuing to spread (I was not the first to have it and I shall not be the last), and life is proceeding nicely. Klaus got engaged, and we are having a shindig at his and Debi's houses tonight (they are neighbors so it makes sense). I was very productive at work, so the sweat and grime that cover me feel really nice. Life is good.
I forgot to tell you about Celto, but Celto is a story unto himself, and is best expressed via Paul's impression of him. Paul will be playing Celto in the intern show. There will be video.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Summer in the Orchard
When you put 18 college students under an apple tree and hand them a box of Hebrew religious literature, what can result but the beautiful tableau you see below you, soon to be winging its way to the mailboxes of proud yiddishe bubes the world over?
For your identification purposes, Jonah (Joinaleh) is at the top of the tree, Michael (Mikhl) is below him, Marissa (Jungle Jew) and I are on the branch below that, then it's Kaile, Ava, Paul, Arielle, and Nick (Klaus), Jason in the chair, Christa, Sonia, Jay, Jessica, Rebecca, and Marika, and Jeremy and Rachel (Rokhl) on the ground in front of them. Look how excited we all are by the prayer books we are holding! Check out our fabulous acting skills! Look how Jonah gazes boldly into the future we are all creating! There is no propaganda here at all!
Inside the magazine, they managed to find a 50% unflattering picture of a horizontal nature.
That's Sonia on the ground, then Jeremy, Rokhl, and Jessica. The next row has Jason, Ava, Jay, Jonah, Arielle, Rebecca, and Marika, and the row behind them goes Marissa, Kaile, Christa, Paul, yours truly, and Nick. Mikhl, in classic Mikhl style, is standing at the very top.
And there you have the future. Enjoy.
For your identification purposes, Jonah (Joinaleh) is at the top of the tree, Michael (Mikhl) is below him, Marissa (Jungle Jew) and I are on the branch below that, then it's Kaile, Ava, Paul, Arielle, and Nick (Klaus), Jason in the chair, Christa, Sonia, Jay, Jessica, Rebecca, and Marika, and Jeremy and Rachel (Rokhl) on the ground in front of them. Look how excited we all are by the prayer books we are holding! Check out our fabulous acting skills! Look how Jonah gazes boldly into the future we are all creating! There is no propaganda here at all!
Inside the magazine, they managed to find a 50% unflattering picture of a horizontal nature.
That's Sonia on the ground, then Jeremy, Rokhl, and Jessica. The next row has Jason, Ava, Jay, Jonah, Arielle, Rebecca, and Marika, and the row behind them goes Marissa, Kaile, Christa, Paul, yours truly, and Nick. Mikhl, in classic Mikhl style, is standing at the very top.
And there you have the future. Enjoy.
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