Before we get to Monday: This writer observed the other day that another ראש עדה (unit head) called themselves “this correspondent.” It got us thinking that perhaps these blogs posts are reporting, and that as journalism creates ideology and media forms culture, we too are forming the weltanschauung of עדת מעלות (the unit of Ma’alot, our age group)! It is worth acknowledging the dialectic of the summer, the חניכים (campers) as thesis with Yavneh and its excitement the antithesis. A perfect קיץ (summer) is the synthesis thereof! Hegel’s geist, for us the feeling of joy, is already being realized. While dialectical materialism may not be our kid’s specialty or even interest, they really do resemble Marx in their thirst to make this summer revolutionary for being the most fun! They are also like Karl Marx in that both our עדה and Marx are the most widely cited scholars across academia. Interesting!
Back to Monday. That evening we began practicing for KTV (a lip sync competition hosted by כרם (CITs and the oldest עדה (age group))). The בנים (boys) and the בנות were assigned the theme of Glee. If you want to know how they did RIGHT NOW AND JUST CANT WAIT, skip to the second to last sentence of the next paragraph!
We woke on Tuesda
y as bright tailed and bushy eyed as–wait, I got that wrong. Hold on, how does it go? Hold on. Bushy tailed and…? No, that’s still not it. This really never happens, I swear. Either way we did the usual wash, rinse, and repeat of the morning לו״ז (short for לוח זמנים, the daily schedule), with כיתה (class) as the wash, מעלות פעולה (Maalot activity, time where we do leadership development and fun activities) in place of rinse, and then repeat is חוג (elective). In the afternoon we practiced more KTV! As the night approached the חניכים donned their best תחפושות (costumes) to perform. The בנות had a rousing rendition of “Walking on Sunshine/Halo”, “Oh Chanukkah”, and “Baby”, while the בנים had a rousing family friendly rendition of “Wrecking Ball”. While it was very close, the בנים came in third and the בנות had lots of רוח (spirit or energy)! Satisfied and still feeling the רוח, the חניכים went to sleep with a smile.
Wednesday was אחלה יום (literally awesome day, our non-wash/rinse/repeat schedule day where we often leave camp!!!!!!!)!!!!!!! We went to Wallis Sands, a beach not too far from good ol’ Northwood. We had a fun day of tossing the ol’ pigskin, throwing the rock, flipping the disc, and honestly whatever other phrases children use to describe using sports equipment. We also swam and had a blast!! Something about ימי אחלה at bodies of water always puts the חניכים in a serene state, where they’re closer to each other just playing on the sand or in the water. We have to say it’s pretty grand. Upon our return, a sizzling BBQ was ready for the eatin’! If you recall this writer’s previous post, the charred part of the dog is the best part. Just a quick reminder. Wednesday night brought with it Erev Hipster for פעולת ערב (evening activity). Predictably, it was so awesome that I saw at least 3 people step out to collect themselves after an overload of excitement. Predictably, I was all 3 of them.
Thursday’s morning again led the חניכים through a normal morning. If you were to read this blog next week, you’d find out not only what the חניכים had for the afternoon פעולות, but how they did in ריקודיה. Tune in to the live stream to see and get excited for my overzealous commentary next Monday parents!!!!!!!
