Tuesday – Day 95
November 12, 2012
Dad was meant to leave today but judging from the look of things outside, no one was moving anywhere fast. As much as the hurricane overnight had left much of Philly safe and sound, the streets were still empty and much of the city was closed. Thankfully, including Penn. I spent the majority of the day again indoors working on the physics problem set due the following week.
After a good number of hours of hard work I received an email, rehearsal was back on in the evening from 4PM all the way past midnight. As much as I enjoy rehearsing with the PGC, so many hours is a bit much, especially on such short notice. However, the long hours did provide a good chance for me to get to know some of the people in Penn Dance a bit better. Of particular note for his awesomeness is Jon Diamond, a linguistics major of great intellect, matched only by his sleek movement and agile frame. His performance of ‘O Death’ wowed us every time and his friendly demeanor made him a pleasure to be around. Of note from the Penn Dance girl side is Jaynie Anguiano, a biology major, who was probably most comfortable with PGC, out of the entire dance crew. She too, is incredibly friendly and a pleasure to work with.
During the course of the evening I did take a larger than usual break for dinner with dad, and though he didn’t have so much time this evening, I was grateful for every minute.
After finally getting home around 1AM, it was hard at work for another hour before finally some sweet sleep.
Sunday – Day 93
October 31, 2012
Hurricane Sandy is coming! Bolt down the windows and door, keep your children close! This morning also marked the start of PGC hell week and boy was it going to be a whole lot of hell.
I arose early to get a little work down before a lovely breakfast with Dad at ten thirty. Unfortunately it was then we discovered that his flights had been cancelled and together we spent the next two hours trying to get hold of someone at the airlines with the ability to get him from Philly to San Diego in the next three days. At 1PM I had to run to load-in (set up for a show) at the Iron Gate theatre and worked my butt off till 5:05 when we had a forty five minute break. Yup. A long rehearsal. I arrived back at the hotel room to find two things: first, classes at Penn had been cancelled for the next two days and, Dad was no closer to finding a flight out of the city. I grabbed a quick dinner downstairs with him and at 6PM returned to the theater.
A few hours in we were informed that the theatre would be closed for the next two days, thus denying us the 6-12 rehearsal that were planned for every day of the week and that as a result, we would be cancelling our Thursday performance debut! In addition, to compensate for the lost rehearsal tonight ran till one AM. That’s a whopping 13hr rehearsal!
After that I most surely went to sleep pretty promptly.
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.