Choir Competition!! and other stuff...

Hi, everyone!

So the choir competition is finally behind me...and I have to say that I'm extremely proud of my group's performance. We didn't place, but I've been told by many that we were by far the most sophisticated, professional, and respectful group out of the 17 that competed. And it's always a gamble, because each choir is scored separately, there's no vote for who wins at the end. Everything went so smoothly - our entrance and exit, our soloists and harmonists didn't sound nervous or off-pitch at all, you could hear the background clearly, and we received huge applause. (Unless I'm mistaken, it wasn't only our school cheering for us at the end.) Needless to say, the girls all took our lack of placing very well, and everyone's so proud of each other. We're having a celebratory party at the end of the week. For anyone who wants to see the video of our performance, you can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3rEbp3Wu7Q.

(Though that video has bad visuals...hopefully a better one will be posted soon.)

As for the event as a whole - I found it far too "high school color war"-like for my taste. People were pushing each other to get good seats, they wouldn't give the speakers silence, lest they stop cheering for their school for one second, and the whole thing was a bit of a balagan (hebrew for incredible mess). But HaRova was so amazing that that's what I remember the most. I felt like we were so respectful, and yet supportive of each other. We cheered when it was appropriate, but let it go when it was time to move on. So that's my kvelling for the night.

Other things happening are...

I've arranged piano lessons that I'm beginning next week, as well as a couple of times a week where I'll go to a public piano in the Rova and just play by myself. I think it will really help me feel like I'm doing more to get what I want out of the year.

I'm also switching around a bunch of classes in order to focus less on Jewish Law and more on anything else that helps me connect spiritually. It's difficult in an environment when some really connect through details that don't do anything for me. But I've been told that my outlook into spirituality - more based on a connection with G-d and being a good person - is obviously acceptable, and encouraged, and therefore I should make my classes fit my philosophy. So that's what I'm doing now, and I already feel better about my weekly schedule.

In the next week, we have a lot going on, as usual. The new Southern Hemisphere group will be joining us, we'll be planting trees with other Midrashot for Tu B'Shvat (the "new year" of the tree), spending a Shabbat with the other four members of drama club at our drama teacher's house, and visiting Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem). I'm looking forward to it all, and just hope that I can get some time to rest in between. Speaking of which, I'm going to now take advantage of my usual free Monday night and watch a movie on my bed. Until next time!

Gabriella