Thursday/Friday – Day 151/152
December 31, 2012
Thursday was snowing and thus I was inside much of the day, visiting various galleries and reading lots of books. Finally I was getting the holiday I needed! In the afternoon I went to see Les Miserables which by my reckoning was good. Just good. Not particularly great as many had hoped. I put this down to the musical character of the movie, which was a little repetitive and thus dull. Many of the actors spent the entire time speaking the songs with trembling lips and tearful eyes, which meant that not that much singing actually took place.
Friday was shorter than I would have liked, largely due to the early dinner and shabbat time of 4:30. Thus my day mostly consisted of going for a walk in the city then catching up for coffee with Irit Shacharai, one of my mentors from the Weizmann Institute, pursuing research at the Rockefeller Institute. After that it was back to Yoni and Rivki’s for dinner with the girls and then some peace to read!
Sunday – Day 101
November 13, 2012
I fear today’s post isn’t nearly as exciting as yesterdays, but I can’t expect to have a show everyday. However, I seem to have at least one per week. This week’s being Legally Blonde the musical, presented by Penn Singers, the premier light opera company on campus, with a standing cast of which I am part of.
Today marked load in for the show and I arrived at the PAC Show (Performing Arts Committee Workshop) to help load things into the truck to take to the theatre. Unfortunately for me, this is the least enjoyable part of amateur theater! At midday I was excused from my duties temporarily to clean up last nights party venue, the ‘Glouse’ (Glee house) aka. J.Ho and Scott Ventre’s (of the Glee Club) rented off campus accommodation. This was fast and delicious with food provided for all the newmen who showed up.
The afternoon was all set building and really a waste of my time as I sat in the corner un-needed, doing my work.
There was a one hour dinner break that I spent at Hillel and, following that it was back to the theatre for a sitzprobe (sing through of the show with the band) before finishing up finally at 11PM for a production meeting that ran till midnight. All in all 14hrs of rehearsal. Not as much fun as Saturday.
Thursday/Friday/Saturday – Day 90/91/92
October 30, 2012
Thursday was an intense day of work with lots due and lots to do!
Physics in the morning was painful as always, and operating systems in the afternoon was daunting. They discussed with us the major project due on the 30th of November and we all got into group to try and tackle it. I have no idea how I will ever find time to complete it.
In the evening I toiled hard at work on an algorithms project and successfully completed the first few parts of a long and annoying assignment. After looking out into the corridor next to where I was working, I saw a huge queue extending down the hallway. I inquired as to what people were waiting for and found out that free tshirts with Penn Engineering on them were to be found at the front. Thus, I joined the queue and waited next to Juanjo, a fellow Penn Singer and CIS380 student. After about thirty-five minutes I received my tshirt, a photo of which I will post shortly.
The evening took me to Molly’s for a drink before Dad arrived in the evening and I had a great time talking to her about the various elements of my experience in comparison to Australia and other assorted topics.
I was really excited for my dad to arrive as I hadn’t seen family in well over three months. When I received the call I ran to his hotel and gave him a good hug, and sat down to spend all the time I had with him. Dinner was nice but much better was the chance to talk to someone close from home, particularly one of my parents.
As he was a bit tired and jet-lagged our evening ended relatively early and I went back to the room to get some work done before the weekend of gigs and the upcoming ‘hell week’ (production week for the PGC fall show).
Friday was lovely. The morning I had my usual class but after that I picked up dad and took him on a tour of most of Penn! From Franklin Field and the Palestra, all the way up to the high-rises.
After the tour we went out for a sushi and miso lunch that wasn’t half bad, before I returned to my afternoon classes and rehearsals. In the late afternoon Dad made it to my Glee Club Rehearsal and Gig for the Alumni award of merit event, a black-tie reception for dignitaries and alums including Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Eagan. Dad was again tired after dinner so he went back to his room to sleep and I did the same.
Shabbat was full of more performances, though thankfully a little schluf too! In the morning we were performing at the installation of the class officers for the Alumni association of Penn. The reason so many alum events were occurring this weekend was because of ‘homecoming’, an event at which a college’s sport teams play a number of matches to which alumni return to view. This meant thousands of people milling about, multiple fancy events and of course flowing alcohol and food. Our performance was lovely and the alums really enjoyed it.
It was then outside to check out homecoming before heading back to Rodin for a few hours before lunch at Hillel with dad. Unfortunately Hillel was pretty much deserted today as an event called ‘mix-em ups’ was occurring with most people set up with random Jews for lunch. However, I’m pleased to say he did get to meet Aviva who will hopefully be coming to stay for a while next year.
The afternoon was my glorious nap followed by yet more PGC performances! The first of which was a book launch for a book that had actually been delayed. The book was a compilation of music by Bruce ‘Monty’ Montgomery, the previous conductor of the PGC and as a result all the people knew the songs and we had a lovely time singing with them.
Following that it was quickly to the Hilton on campus, ‘The Inn at Penn’ to sing for the rowing coach’s eightieth birthday. That gig was a little less spectacular as no one really paid us much attention and we could hardly hear ourselves sing.
After that I raced of to dad’s hotel where I was late for calling him as I didn’t have my phone on me due to Shabbat, though it was now out. For dinner Dad and I went to a fantastic restaurant called ‘Alma de Cuba’ in Center City where the food was as follows:
First up was a delicious bread with cheese and chimichurri sauce
Appetizers:
Striped Bass
aji amarillo, pineapple, vanilla, tomatillo
Lenguado ‘Al Fuego’ – Flounder
habanero, kumquat and sugarcane ‘al carbon’, sweet potato puree, smoked sea salt
Main:
Cilantro Honey Mustard Glazed Salmon
banana, lentil salad, fresh horseradish cream
Sugarcane Tuna
coconut hearts of palm rice, pickled chayote, sugarcane-sesame vinaigrette
The food was fantastically delicious and perfectly balanced. In addition the service was superb and the staff knew their stuff and were highly attentive to our needs. Wholeheartedly recommended.
Returning home I worked hard on my algorithms assignment, finally completing it before heading off to sleep around 2AM.