Happy Spring!

I was under the impression that the equinox and the first day of spring were tomorrow, but I guess they're today, so, well, happy spring to everyone! Back in Boston it seems they're really noting the arrival of spring - it's practically summer weather there, and warmer than it is here. That's not supposed to happen!

I'm going to join this with my quote of the week. It's an interesting quote, not necessarily celebrating the arrival of the season, but one which puts forth a thought which has crossed my own mind.

What does winter or autumn or spring or summer know of memory. They know nothing of memory. They know that seasons pass and return. They know that they are seasons. That they are time. And they know how to affirm themselves. And they know how to impose themselves. And they know how to maintain themselves, What does autumn know of summer. What sorrows do seasons have. None hate. None love. They just pass.

• Giannina Braschi, "Pastoral or the Inquisition of Memories" from Empire of Dreams (1994)

I found it on Wikiquote, which has got to be one of my favorite websites - I am, after all, a quote enthusiast. I have expressed the point it makes before - time is no more than time, unknowing, ever-moving. There is nothing anyone can do to stop it (unless someone can procure a TARDIS, which would actually be amazing). So enjoy your time, use it as you may. And happy spring!

Open Class

Today in Theater we had an open class day. That means that all the other eighth graders came to watch us, two classes at a time.

In first period we had our first open class, which was an iffy performance. We were all a bit embarrassed and we hadn't really gotten into it yet. But after that show we had almost two hours to do nothing - they didn't even make us go back to class. We got into heated conversations, so loud that we were yelling, and went sort of crazy. Everyone was particularly surprised at me, because it was the first time I really showed off my loudness when I'm hyper. I'm actually still a bit hoarse from that. We got so utterly hyper that we went into various displays of randomness, and being that it was theater and we're all psychos, it got to be handstands and cartwheels and splits and imitations of drunkards. Someone summarized The Butterfly Effect, which is a movie, except he didn't make it short - it took 45 minutes for us to get through the random plot points and for him to impress upon us the creepiness, violence, and just wrongness of much of the movie. One girl did my makeup, as she'd done for most of the girls in the class before the first show. The whole day, from 8 to 1, I was barefoot - no shoes, no socks.

At 11:30 we had our second "show," which was considerably better than the first one, and much more fun. By then I wasn't embarrassed in the least, not anymore. They're just people, same as us. After our last show, which was by far the best, we all congratulated each other. I skipped around the now-empty studio and drank out of the giant water bottle that was being passed around. We had spent the whole day performing and hanging around with the psycho class. We're all mad, but all the best people are.

Accents and Languages

Now, I'm bilingual, and I've always had a certain fascination with language, speech, and writing. I have a fairly long list of languages which I'd very much like to learn and I love trying to imitate accents.

So at the moment, I speak English, Hebrew, and I'm learning French. On my "to learn" list are German, Dutch, Italian, Russian, and Arabic. I'm a German citizen, so I'd like to learn German, and it's quite close to English in many words. So far I can only count to ten, but...it's a start, isn't it. As for Dutch, I'd really love to visit the Netherlands, and my mom went to school there. I know a few words here and there, among them eighty-eight and rainbow. Italian is a really cool language which has a nice sound, and I was in Italy a few summers ago, which made me appreciate it more. Russian - part of my family is Russian and half of Israel speaks it, so it would be fairly useful, I guess. Arabic is, well, useful as well, because the other half of Israel speaks that, and Hebrew borrows words from it all the time, so it would be easier.

In English, I can currently do an American accent (No! Really?), an Israeli accent, Estuary English, and I guess a bit of southern United States. I'm trying to figure out Scottish accents by watching tons of David Tennant and Karen Gillan interviews, and I suppose I'd like to be able to do a German one.

Sometimes, when I'm listening or watching British people talk, I think, "Why on Earth was I cursed with a bland American accent? I mean, listening to them talk sounds so much better than listening to me talk." I don't know, maybe I watch too much British stuff, but why oh why couldn't I get a British accent? Sigh. Life isn't fair.

Quote of the Week: from three weeks ago

Okay, this is my first quote to make up for my absence. It's pretty long but it's one of my favorites ever.

"It's a paper town. I mean look at it, Q: look at all those cul-de-sacs, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years and I have never come across anyone who cares about anything that matters."

~ Paper Towns by John Green

There is something about this quote that makes you look at the world in a different way. The whole book, Paper Towns, has got to be one of my favorites. The characters are people just like me (albeit a bit older) and I don't have to imagine much to understand their feelings and reactions. The book makes you think, and it made me look at the world in a different way. I definitely recommend reading it, if you weren't convinced by the quote.

I am Lazy

I haven't updated my blog in a week...

And I can't make any excuses, I mean...I was on vacation most of last week and today double geometry at the end of the day today was canceled so I got to go home at 1 o'clock instead of 2:45.

I admit it. I have been Lazy. With a capital L. And I already missed three quotes of the week. Harrumph.

Right then, time to get cracking. Triple QOTW, updates, and the like. It's actually kind of nice to make myself do work that I decide on.

Kony 2012

We live in the age of connection, the age of knowledge, the age of internet. It's a strange thing, how much we know about people thousands of miles away.

This video tells the story of Joseph Kony. Heard of him? Probably not. However, he's number one on the International Criminal Court's Worst Criminal list. Why? He abducts children and forces them to do what he says. He forces them to kill, sometimes even to murder their parents. They become soldiers and slaves.

So why has no one done anything? Because no one knows. But we're in the age of internet. I'm writing this blog post and I've already shared the video on Facebook. It's easy to spread the word. And that's exactly what we need.

Purim: PARTY!

At school today there was a Purim celebration. The whole school and the teachers were dressed up. I was running a little late, but it didn't end up mattering because everyone was.

The first thing that happened was that we exchanged Mishloach Manot, which is a small bundle of fun stuff that you exchange on Purim. Generally the "fun stuff" is candy and Hamentaschen. I have the feeling I explained this before. Oh well.

So I received a considerably large package, after which everyone began pigging out on what they got. That lasted for maybe ten minutes. After that, everyone went to join the festivities.

The whole school had been decorated with colorful posters and fairly random decorations (there was some sort of curtain which was decorated with fake money...and a giant spider). The basketball court had been turned into a dancing space. There was a DJ and music blaring. Groups of students had set up little food stands - I saw smoothies, candy, and hot dogs. I found some of my friends from another class and we went around finding out what people had dressed up as. There were a lot of pirates, since all of the twelfth graders had dressed up as that, and a considerable amount of boys cross-dressing, but none vice versa. I actually went into the girls' bathroom at one point and this guy in a dress came in and started making poses in the mirror the way I guess boys think girls do. There were two girls dressed as light and dark, which really freaked me out because my friend and I did that this past Halloween, and tons of people as Stabilo brand highlighters (which here are called markers, just in an Israeli accent). I found vampires, James Bond, smurfs, people in togas (not sure if they were Greek or Roman), bees, angels, a hypnotist, ladybugs, a cat, and probably so many more.

Most of the day was a photo opportunity. I took pictures of and with my friends and after I was tired of that it was basically just waiting. We couldn't go home until the gates were opened, but there wasn't much to do after the first two hours. Someone brought some sort of popping firework-ish noisemakers, which they banged on with a cane from a costume. It was extremely loud and the whole area smelled like gunpowder after that.

The thing I love most about Purim is its randomness. Purim isn't anything, not scary like Halloween or Christmas-y like Christmas. Purim is, well, Purim. (I mean, where else do you find a curtain with fake money and a giant spider?) You can dress up as anything, it doesn't have to be scary or any specific kind. You get candy, you dress up, you party. What more could you ask for?

Purim: sort of Day 1

So this week we have Purim, a Jewish holiday. The story, set in Persia, is that a guy named Haman wanted to kill all the Jews because one guy Mordechai didn't bow to him (supposedly, Jews only bow to God). At the same time, the king, Ahash Verosh, kicked his former wife out of the palace and was looking for a new one, so Mordechai's pretty daughter Esther went to the gathering and lo and behold, the king chooses her as his new wife. Of course, he doesn't know that she's Jewish. And it's all about how she saved the Jews against all odds and Haman got hanged and everybody lived happily ever after.

So on Purim, we dress up in costumes and party and eat triangular cookies with various fillings (Hamentaschen). And we exchange gifts, sort of. It's not like they're Christmas gifts. It's mainly at school, you organize who gives gifts to who. They're generally large bundles of candy and Hamentaschen, which is awesome.

At first I was thinking of just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and taking along an American flag and saying I was dressed up as an American, but then I decided I'd be a doll. It's an easy costume, really, and I've got a puffy dress to wear. I have long hair to put into braids and blush to make my cheeks very, very red and a blank expression. It's great, really.

The best thing about Purim is that no one's too old for it. It's a proper holiday, so everyone celebrates it to some degree. It's not like Halloween, which is based on kids. All through high school you dress up. How cool is that? And you get lots of candy and sweets. And we get a four-day weekend. It's absolutely brilliant.

My Windows

I love the window style here. It's a decorative grate, shutters, and a glass pane that opens and closes like a door.

In my room, there are two windows. One is slim and one is normal-size. The slim one is okay. But the normal-sized one has a loose frame.

Which means that when the wind blows, it shakes. And when it shakes, it makes noise. Now, with all the stormy and windy conditions here, the window is always shaking.

Last night I was trying to sleep. I would almost drift off and then -

BANG. The window shakes.

So today was spent in an annoying sleep-deprived state. I do not function all that well lacking sleep. And today was cold. Sigh.