Teva Fall 2006 - New Beginnings
"Rice cakes depress me." That's what Eli said last Tuesday night when I offered him the last few bites of my rice cake–PBJ sandwich, which was especially funny because a couple nights before, JR, Chelly, and I had watched the new version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hey, at least it wasn't the PBJ on sesame tamari rice cakes that I made a few nights later. That was actually kind of interesting, because my tongue on the edge about to take each bite I tasted the tamari, and then there was no other flavor but peanut butter the rest of the way through.
A month ago, someone was telling a story about the need to journal about experiences before forgetting about them. I took this as a final reminder to share my first three weeks of Teva fall 2006 with you. Then, I promptly got sidetracked and continued to neglect this need. Now, I'm ready to force myself to begin again.
Backpacking
Less than 24 hours after Casey and I arrived in August, the group departed on its annual backpacking trip (which was missed last year due to the timing of the chaggim). We spent four days hiking, working together, cooking, teaching and learning from each other, and having a blast. Wednesday, we hiked over Bear Mountain, the highest peak—but not highest point—in Connecticut. On the way and at the top we met with several groups of freshman orientation hiking groups from Yale and Smith.
Thursday afternoon, we dined, packed up camp, and hiked to the turnoff from the Appalachian Trail to Paradise Lanes, which would lead us to the bottom half of the Undermountain Trail (I hiked this route up and back last year for Rosh Hashanah). We did our last togetherness activity (Negotiating Squares) and then, around sunset, started our hike down the mountain. Yes, this would be a night hike, without artificial lights glaring until space was too dark to walk with night-vision alone. We made great time, so we stopped for an extended snack and rest near the end of Paradise Lanes where we also waited for Eli to make his second descent. He had hiked out a while ahead of us to support a girl who'd injured her ankle (she also left Teva), and returned to camp to get his stuff. Soon enough, he joined us and we hiked the rest of the way down. Arrived at the trail head at 11:15, so far ahead of our midnight pickup time, so we napped and chilled in the parking area, trying not to get run over when the vans finally arrived.
Bike Ride
After a good night's rest, we switched gears in a flurry to get ready for the Hazon Ride weekend. The ride was fantastic as always, with a new route on the first day. I saw enormous pumpkins on Sweet Corn Lane, narrowly avoided a Rusted Bark salamander that was moseying across the road, and nearly ran over a snake was squiggling the other way a while later. I rode the century again and was the last rider to roll in at the end of the day. However, I made better time than last year, arriving about 45 minutes sooner.
I offered moral support to one flat tire repair on the first day, got frustrated that Surprise Lake Camp staff considered "regular plates" to be those made out of 100% virgin paper compared to my Frisbee, and supplied my pump to two flat tire fixes on the second day where two riders hit nails in the same place along the Manhattan Greenway. There was rain during the Shabbaton weekend but after only a bit of drizzle Sunday morning, the rest of the ride was greeted with gorgeous weather.
Thanks to all who supported me through my training and sponsored my ride. If you'd still like to donate, I'd really appreciate your help getting my total sponsorship up to my $1800 goal (I'm at $1200 so far). You can do so for another couple weeks.
Work
I've developed quite a routine working for Teva and Freedman this season. I've got scheduled hours for each and I'm spending most of my time uploading photos of kids to Teva's Web site and assisting Freedman's maintenance staff with various projects. There's been painting, pine needle blowing, and lawn mowing, along with dishwashing, food prep, pot washing, sukkah construction and deconstruction, and much more. Plus, there's my tech support for both offices, including Elat Chayyim, which moved in early last month. And, I'm Energy Man again, monitoring thermostats, turning off lights, checking for air and water leaks, and trying to save Freedman some money on its bills.
I've made myself available for almost anything and many more people than last year are noticing and asking me, "Is there anything you can't do around here?!" In truth, the one thing that could stand out is that I don't drive, but I'm validating the nickname, Super Ben, they gave me last year and proving that it's the best title I could have.
People
Other than that, life is great! Would be nice if the weeks didn't seem to fly by as fast, but at least there's no shortage of stuff to do … which obviously has kept me from writing for so long. And the people are so wonderful to living. Back from last year: Casey, Eli, Jonathan, Risa, and Sara; new faces: Pesach, Mati, Chelly, Miriam, Yona, Shira, Annie. And Simcha, who was an educator some seasons ago and is back as Program Director.
Casey was my roommate last year. He, Eli, Jonathan, and I decided to switch up our rooming arrangements to keep life fresh, so Eli and I are rooming in his old room, a wide room with a wall of windows facing the lake. The other two are upstairs in the largest bedroom of the house, which has become known as the B&B, because it has an extra bed space and then some. The main hall of Brown House is full of all the girls while the back and upstairs plus one room in Cedar contain the guys.
More
Recent highlight before I publish for the night: I spent this past weekend, Simchat Torah, the last of the autumnal chaggim, in New York City. Like last year, a bunch of us went to B'nei Jeshurun, an unaffiliated congregation somewhere between Reform and Conservative in the Upper West Side, for an evening of dancing and singing with their 14 Torahs. It was as crazy a night as last year, though I wasn't as much in the mood for the dancing, but the experience peaked when Shir Ya'akov, Elat Chayyim's techie, started beat-boxing during the last round of dancing and the rest of the jam session that followed the service. He and songs he'd taught the Freedman community earlier this season, along with Tamuz' always-amazing voice, were the best of the night, one-upping last year's Teva-led jam.
Other features of the weekend included Friday evening's Shabbat pot-luck party at Chana and Kevin's apartment in Park Slope (Brooklyn). Chana is the sister of JR, who was a Teva educator last fall. JR visited Teva for Sukkot (all last week) and joined those of us who headed to the City for the weekend; he's headed home to Toronto later this week. I stayed at Noam's place in Brooklyn again and also connected with one of his housemates, Jon Lev, who was one of Mike Tidwell's first interns when Mike was getting Chesapeake Climate Action Network started five years ago.
Saturday morning, I decided not to wake up uber-early to head uptown to Romemu, a new Renewal congregation formed by Rabbi David Ingber, as was my original desire. Instead, Noam and I headed back to Chana and Kevin's for an afternoon of brunch, singing in the sukkah, a walk to Prospect Park, some Frisbee and disc golf in the park, and a while just chilling and singing in the sun and wind. Eventually, we left to head toward BJ for the night and after that we went to Jay Michaelson's new apartment, above which there was a rooftop party. And who just happened to show up? Ilan Glazer!
Sunday was filled to the brim with a noon lunch at the Veggie Dim Sum House in Chinatown, the first half of Noam's street hockey game, a walk down East Broadway where a street festival was taking place, and one more party to close the night … a pot-luck-turned-pizza party at Yoni's apartment back up town with great company, great falafel (which we'd picked up at the street festival), and lots of smiles. We wished we didn't have to leave.
So, perhaps this year I'll make the time to regularly log my sights and sounds. A weekly post couldn't hurt, I suppose.
A month ago, someone was telling a story about the need to journal about experiences before forgetting about them. I took this as a final reminder to share my first three weeks of Teva fall 2006 with you. Then, I promptly got sidetracked and continued to neglect this need. Now, I'm ready to force myself to begin again.
Backpacking
Less than 24 hours after Casey and I arrived in August, the group departed on its annual backpacking trip (which was missed last year due to the timing of the chaggim). We spent four days hiking, working together, cooking, teaching and learning from each other, and having a blast. Wednesday, we hiked over Bear Mountain, the highest peak—but not highest point—in Connecticut. On the way and at the top we met with several groups of freshman orientation hiking groups from Yale and Smith.
Thursday afternoon, we dined, packed up camp, and hiked to the turnoff from the Appalachian Trail to Paradise Lanes, which would lead us to the bottom half of the Undermountain Trail (I hiked this route up and back last year for Rosh Hashanah). We did our last togetherness activity (Negotiating Squares) and then, around sunset, started our hike down the mountain. Yes, this would be a night hike, without artificial lights glaring until space was too dark to walk with night-vision alone. We made great time, so we stopped for an extended snack and rest near the end of Paradise Lanes where we also waited for Eli to make his second descent. He had hiked out a while ahead of us to support a girl who'd injured her ankle (she also left Teva), and returned to camp to get his stuff. Soon enough, he joined us and we hiked the rest of the way down. Arrived at the trail head at 11:15, so far ahead of our midnight pickup time, so we napped and chilled in the parking area, trying not to get run over when the vans finally arrived.
Bike Ride
After a good night's rest, we switched gears in a flurry to get ready for the Hazon Ride weekend. The ride was fantastic as always, with a new route on the first day. I saw enormous pumpkins on Sweet Corn Lane, narrowly avoided a Rusted Bark salamander that was moseying across the road, and nearly ran over a snake was squiggling the other way a while later. I rode the century again and was the last rider to roll in at the end of the day. However, I made better time than last year, arriving about 45 minutes sooner.
I offered moral support to one flat tire repair on the first day, got frustrated that Surprise Lake Camp staff considered "regular plates" to be those made out of 100% virgin paper compared to my Frisbee, and supplied my pump to two flat tire fixes on the second day where two riders hit nails in the same place along the Manhattan Greenway. There was rain during the Shabbaton weekend but after only a bit of drizzle Sunday morning, the rest of the ride was greeted with gorgeous weather.
Thanks to all who supported me through my training and sponsored my ride. If you'd still like to donate, I'd really appreciate your help getting my total sponsorship up to my $1800 goal (I'm at $1200 so far). You can do so for another couple weeks.
Work
I've developed quite a routine working for Teva and Freedman this season. I've got scheduled hours for each and I'm spending most of my time uploading photos of kids to Teva's Web site and assisting Freedman's maintenance staff with various projects. There's been painting, pine needle blowing, and lawn mowing, along with dishwashing, food prep, pot washing, sukkah construction and deconstruction, and much more. Plus, there's my tech support for both offices, including Elat Chayyim, which moved in early last month. And, I'm Energy Man again, monitoring thermostats, turning off lights, checking for air and water leaks, and trying to save Freedman some money on its bills.
I've made myself available for almost anything and many more people than last year are noticing and asking me, "Is there anything you can't do around here?!" In truth, the one thing that could stand out is that I don't drive, but I'm validating the nickname, Super Ben, they gave me last year and proving that it's the best title I could have.
People
Other than that, life is great! Would be nice if the weeks didn't seem to fly by as fast, but at least there's no shortage of stuff to do … which obviously has kept me from writing for so long. And the people are so wonderful to living. Back from last year: Casey, Eli, Jonathan, Risa, and Sara; new faces: Pesach, Mati, Chelly, Miriam, Yona, Shira, Annie. And Simcha, who was an educator some seasons ago and is back as Program Director.
Casey was my roommate last year. He, Eli, Jonathan, and I decided to switch up our rooming arrangements to keep life fresh, so Eli and I are rooming in his old room, a wide room with a wall of windows facing the lake. The other two are upstairs in the largest bedroom of the house, which has become known as the B&B, because it has an extra bed space and then some. The main hall of Brown House is full of all the girls while the back and upstairs plus one room in Cedar contain the guys.
More
Recent highlight before I publish for the night: I spent this past weekend, Simchat Torah, the last of the autumnal chaggim, in New York City. Like last year, a bunch of us went to B'nei Jeshurun, an unaffiliated congregation somewhere between Reform and Conservative in the Upper West Side, for an evening of dancing and singing with their 14 Torahs. It was as crazy a night as last year, though I wasn't as much in the mood for the dancing, but the experience peaked when Shir Ya'akov, Elat Chayyim's techie, started beat-boxing during the last round of dancing and the rest of the jam session that followed the service. He and songs he'd taught the Freedman community earlier this season, along with Tamuz' always-amazing voice, were the best of the night, one-upping last year's Teva-led jam.
Other features of the weekend included Friday evening's Shabbat pot-luck party at Chana and Kevin's apartment in Park Slope (Brooklyn). Chana is the sister of JR, who was a Teva educator last fall. JR visited Teva for Sukkot (all last week) and joined those of us who headed to the City for the weekend; he's headed home to Toronto later this week. I stayed at Noam's place in Brooklyn again and also connected with one of his housemates, Jon Lev, who was one of Mike Tidwell's first interns when Mike was getting Chesapeake Climate Action Network started five years ago.
Saturday morning, I decided not to wake up uber-early to head uptown to Romemu, a new Renewal congregation formed by Rabbi David Ingber, as was my original desire. Instead, Noam and I headed back to Chana and Kevin's for an afternoon of brunch, singing in the sukkah, a walk to Prospect Park, some Frisbee and disc golf in the park, and a while just chilling and singing in the sun and wind. Eventually, we left to head toward BJ for the night and after that we went to Jay Michaelson's new apartment, above which there was a rooftop party. And who just happened to show up? Ilan Glazer!
Sunday was filled to the brim with a noon lunch at the Veggie Dim Sum House in Chinatown, the first half of Noam's street hockey game, a walk down East Broadway where a street festival was taking place, and one more party to close the night … a pot-luck-turned-pizza party at Yoni's apartment back up town with great company, great falafel (which we'd picked up at the street festival), and lots of smiles. We wished we didn't have to leave.
So, perhaps this year I'll make the time to regularly log my sights and sounds. A weekly post couldn't hurt, I suppose.
posted by Ben @ 6:51 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Ben, it was great to see you up at Freedman last week.
And it sounds like you had a great NYC weekend! We missed you at Romemu, the energy was incredible, the davennen was meaningful and the singing was ecstatic.
See you next time? Romemu meets again Nov 3 & 4.
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