Fin SEP

I'm so sad that SEP is over! It was a great 5 weeks and the girls were wonderful. This last day lacked a sense of finality so I feel as though I'm going to head back to work on Monday. However it will actually be a year before I see the girls again, and even then only half of them will be returning. How sad!!!

There was a carnival today to celebrate the completion of the program - my booth was icecream making, which was pretty interesting. (btw, here's the recipe: 1 cup milk, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla or other flavoring inside the little bag. Seal the little bag, fill the larger bag with 4 cups of ice and 1 cup of rock salt, and put the smaller bag in on top. Seal the larger bag, and then mush around the contents until the icecream's consistency thickens. Suggested alteration: OMIT SALT) Yeah. You can guess what happened. The smaller bag leaked, and so salt got in, preventing the icecream from solidifying, and giving it a wretched, salty flavor... Waaah! The girls were so nice about it, though. They all pretended to like it, and those who threw it out did so where I couldn't see. A few girls' icecream turned out well, though! That was the highlight of my day :)

I got a pretty new skirt!! It's so completely gorgeous! It's a perfect Italian skirt. Now I just need to get some new pairs of pants - SYA asks its students not to bring ratty clothes, and ALL of my pants are old blue jeans that are raggedy and torn. Yay, an excuse to go shopping!

Dissection

Well, it might have been partially my fault that I found out who the Half-Blood Prince is...

Anyway, this week has been... Dissection Week!! Officially I now am starting the Clams' RIghts Movement (CRIM) - for Clams that are put under the scalpel while still quite alive and healthy. No joke, about 90% of the clams we hacked open on Tuesday were ALIVE!!! They opened and closed, they blew bubbles at me - I even bonded with one very closely (we became very good friends during our few minutes together) - and then I had to take my scalpel and kill them. Now, in repentance for this cruelty, I call for followers to join me in my protest against the murder of live Clams, to join CRIM. Thank you.

Yeah. I'm not even going to start on the prawns and fish. The best thing that can be said of them is that they were all dead.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - AMAZING!! I don't know how many times I can say this, so I'll make that the last time. I've now been to see it three times, and I'm going again next week! And guess what - the Oompa Loompas are growing on me!

The Half-Blood Prince...revealed!

NOT FAIR!! It wasn't even the SEP kids!! They don't seem to care beans about the books - they hardly even realized that it had been released. I read like nuts to beat them, and they didn't spoil anything.

It was a friend, a dear, dear friend, who chose this moment to destroy me. It was... it was... no - I can't say her name. BUT YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! Beware... I will wait for the right moment, the perfect moment, and I will strike. You will regret telling me the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, oh evil one. Believe me, you will suffer, slowly and painfully, my friend.

A Perfectly Marvelous Weekend

First order of business: to Charlie!!!

Oh, I had hoped it would be wonderful, I had hoped and hoped and hoped, and every instant of hoping paid off! The movie was spectacular! A thousand times better than the first (forgive me, oh sexy Gene Wilder), absolutely brilliant! I loved it so much! Johnny Depp was too perfect, as was the boy who played Charlie - I hear Johnny Depp requested that the boy be in the movie, and I'm so glad he did. Freddie Highmore - that's the boy's name - is amazing. What I loved so much about this movie as opposed to the 1971 version is that you're much more drawn into the plot, into Willy Wonka's and Charlie's respective lives. Also their interactions are much better than they were in the first movie. And I loved all the visual effects! Now, the Oompa Loompas were as frightening as (if not more than) they were in the first movie, and that was what I liked least about this movie. However it was still amazing - I plan to see it a dozen more times this week at least (I just hope my paycheck can cover it).

To my surprise and embarrassment, before the movie had even progressed far enough to be very sad (yes, I did cry at the end. Don't laugh.), I started sniffling a bit - I think that I could tell at the very beginning that the movie would be good, that my waiting had been worth it, worth every painful second. Also, I was keenly aware that I won't be seeing many more movies this summer with my friends, before I leave. This was something that my friends and I all had been waiting for so much, and now it's over. Wonderful, but over. I've been feeling really sentimental this last week because it's hitting me so suddenly that we're all getting so much older. I literally feel my childhood falling away this summer. Sure, we'll still act like kids, but we're not anymore. It's exciting, but rather sad. However, this weekend hasn't allowed much time in which to be droopy...

With Charlie over and relished, Elise and I marched on to Vromans (our wonderful local bookstore) to pick up...... HARRY POTTER 6!!! Fortunately we beat the crowds, and even ran into a few other Westridge students. Nice though it was to see them, we had more important things to do than socialize - sleep! We brought a pillow and blankets, and curled up in a corner on the cold cement ground where we attempted to sleep till we were forced to get up and stand in a line to wait. At last - at last! - the doors were opened. We poured in, swept up the stairs by the rushing crowd, to the desk. Elise and I were at the very head of the line, so we were among the first to step up to receive our books. We stood there biting our lips and wiggling our toes, drowsy and buzzing with excitement, as we turned in our receipt and were handed our books. It was brilliant!

But I haven't had even a second to begin reading! For...

Disneyland! Saroya's sixteenth birthday! It was a great day, though we did have to get up pretty early - a bit tough on Elise and me - to get to the park by 10:00. We went on every great ride - except for Splash Mountain :'( - starting with the newly reopened Space Mountain! Though the wait for that was a good 2 hours, it was the only really long wait of the day, and the ride was more than worth it. Seriously, now it's completely dark - it used to be just pretty dark, but now it's pitch black in there, excepting the "stars." I'd have to say that that was my second favorite ride, though - most amazing was Thunder Mountain, which we went on three times, twice at night during the fireworks. It was amazing at night - the fireworks above were spectacular, and the cool night air on our sunburned faces was refreshing and wonderful.

I have to say, I loved the Buzz Lightyear ride (don't mock me! it's fun!). I got 59,600 points!! I've never gotten squat on shooting games before! And guess what! We even met Buzz!

Now, at last, I will read Harry Potter so that not a single girl at SEP lacking impulse control will tell me what happens. I HATE when the ending is spoiled for me, so I'll beat the buggers to it!

Holly

Long Beach

Our first field trip, quite the awesome adventure. We went to the Aquarium in Long Beach, and then we split up into groups, each intern and teacher with her own little group of students. I had four wonderful girls: Erika, Kimani, Gabriela and Graciela (aka Jacky). I didn't really know Erika until today, and I think she's wonderful! She is the littlest and quietest girl I've seen, but she was so involved in the trip - she was so excited to see all the animals and to pet the sting rays and the sharks. All the girls were, of course, but it was especially thrilling to see Erika enthused because she's so quiet and deathly serious. Gabriela also is pretty silent, but she smiles more than Erika does. She, too, was really excited to touch a slimy ray. While Jacky did not show much enthusiasm for the exhibits where you look in at the animals through the glass, she was ecstatic when it came to petting the sting rays and sharks (her sopping wet shirt sleeves were self-evident). That was very gratifying.

Ah, and Kimani. Well, she was great too. A little too set on getting something at the gift shop (which she wasn't allowed to do) and on getting her little booklet stamped at the different spots (which I asked her not to do - if you spend all your time trying to get all the pages stamped, then you lose the experience of just wandering and enjoying and being amazed). Nevertheless, she was enthusiastic about the animals and the way she clung to my arm was endearing. Also, most wonderful - Jacky and Gabriela, who have both been pretty shy in these past three weeks of SEP, started talking to each other a bit, asking each other questions and getting to know each other a little more.

I myself had an amazing time. I'm tired as hell now, and not nearly ready for another field trip, but the day was still fantastic. At the risk of sounding pretty corny, it was absolutely heartwarming to have these four girls follow me so trustingly and willingly, no matter where I went. When they listened to me or when they looked at an animal I pointed out they did it wholeheartedly, and they made the day that much more wonderful. I felt like a mother hen with her brood, pointing this way and that. When they asked me questions I tried to answer as best I could and they listened earnestly. They were the best girls I possibly could have gotten!

A funny thing I noticed, though, was that I began to sound like every hic I've ever hated at aquariums and zoos. When my girls pointed out animals to me, instead of saying anything sounding vaguely intelligent, I'd say something along the lines of "Wow, look at that thing - that's amazing!" or "What are those things? Itty bitty sea jellies?" I used the word "thing" more times today than in my entire life up till this point, trying to show my enthusiasm for the girls' discoveries, and make myself not some know-it-all snot trying to impress them, but just a slightly older kid learning along with them.

After lunch we had a chance to go back into the Aquarium one last time. My girls and I went into the sea jelly exhibit. It was pitch black (Yeah, really bad idea on my part to go in) so that we could see the glow of the jellies. My girls clung to me as though if they let go they would be swallowed in by the creatures. As we clumsily made our way through the darkness to look at the different jellies, we trod on virtually every toe in the room and tripped over every baby carriage (doh!), yet still we pressed on. The girls were torn between fright at the darkness, and fascinating with the undulating, glowing creatures so different from what we know. They pressed their noses into the glass, though I pulled them off it time and time again, staring fixedly at the jellies. At last we made it out back into the light, blinking blearily against the brightness. Erika and Gabriela still clung to me. "That was really scary," said Erika, just as Kimani grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward the entrance, saying "Let's go through again!"

But now I'm back at school (AAH I don't even go home during the summer!!!). Tonight: Dinner at Twoheys, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and... Harry Potter at midnight at Vromans! And then, up early tomorrow to Disneyland - Happy Sweet Sixteen, Saroya!

A Happy, Happy Birthday to Me

Each SYA mailing makes the amazing year ahead a little more real, and a little more scary. Still, though, I feel as if I'm walking in a dream, living someone else's life. I received the calendar for SYA at long last, having waited for it very impatiently. The layout of the year is everything I could hope for! My spring vacation overlaps the last half of Westridge's Interim Week, so if the Latin classes go to Rome, I could meet up with them. All the breaks offer ample time to explore Italy (and perhaps beyond, to visit Sarah in Switzerland?). But here's the icing atop the cake: my first full day in Italy, the day I move into my host family's home, September 1st, is my birthday, my sweet sixteen! Is that not THE birthday to have in Italy? How wonderful is the world!

Since it's so hard to imagine the experience awaiting me, I'm almost more excited about going to New York a few days early, since that reality is more, well, real. And just guess what we're going to do!! After a lot of cajoling and pestering of my mother, at last she agreed to take me.... to SPAMALOT!!! Wonderful, amazing, spectacular Spamalot! Afterward, my mom and I are going to drive to upstate New York to visit my grandparents. Since we're flying into JFK, it'll be a long, beautiful drive up through the countryside and then back. However I'll probably be terrified on the drive back, so it may not be quite so enjoyable as I imagine now, when Italy is two safe months away.

In the meantime I'm barely surviving each week. I'm interning at Westridge's summer Skills Enrichment Program (SEP). It's for girls going into 5th and 6th grade, and while it's a blast, it's far, far more work than I expected. Seriously, I should get a pedometer, or whatever those things are called. I want to see how many miles I go each day, running errands. Don't get me wrong, though - I'm really enjoying it. It's just that when I get home, I barely have the energy to eat dinner. I just crawl straight into bed. Of course, that could be because one of the little buggers got me sick. They cough all over the place, and it's only a matter of time before you pick something up.

There's one girl there who is positively adorable (They're all adorable and wonderful, of course, but this one is especially so). Long before I even knew her name, she would run up to me each morning and throw her arms around me (only me, no one else - I don't know what wonderful thing I did to earn this devotion) and say "Hi Holly!" Every morning I would just say "Hi!" because I didn't know her name. I was sure she'd realize eventually and hate me, but she never did give up on me, and at long last I learned her name, Andrea. And she still hugs me every morning! Now, two (of five) weeks into SEP, I know every damn name there is to know. I can recognize the kids in an instant, and I can finally call them by name, and believe my, that's a feat. I felt really bad at first - the kids all knew my name, right from the first, yet I simply could not remember theirs. But to be fair, there are only 6 interns and 4 teachers whose names they need to learn, but there are 54 students.

Hah, of the 6 interns, I am the ONLY one not in college. There are two who just graduated from high school, two sophomores, and a junior, all college students! And here I am, a weeny little high school junior. However, I'm still four years older than the oldest students - and hey, I'm almost 16! They seem to respect me as much as the older interns, though (by respect, I mean they're impressed by our ages, and we're nice human jungle gyms), so it's all good.

Well, I've babbled for quite long enough, so till later,

Holly

But wait! Before I go, I must say this - WHAT A GREAT WEEK IS AHEAD!!! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Friday, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at midnight!!! My life will be complete by the end of next week!