Monday morning came far to quickly for the Mandala Fellows, seeing as all of us were just a few minutes late for devotions. Our voices sounded a bit more rusty when we opened, but by the end of our discussion of the Psalms our vocal cords had warmed up quite nicely. The morning flew by in a flurry of math equations and SAT practice questions. Many of us weren't fully awake during the first half of the class but we all managed to understand the math lessons. After lunch, we jumped right into practicing Coldplay's The Scientist with our music groups. All of the groups could play the song very well after nearly a week of practice, and so we were all confident about the approaching performance. Classes ended a little early that day, giving Fellows a little down time before work.
Back at the villas it was about time for dinner, and a big group of Fellows went into town to find a Mexican restaurant. My house didn't join the group, because Laura made us a delicious meal of chicken with dressing and some sweet potatoes. Michael, a well-built fellow with short brown hair and a dashing smile, had also opted-out of Mexican, so we invited him to eat with us. I personally think that we had the better dinner experience; the food was absolutely delicious and the company couldn't be beat. The rest of the night was rather uneventful, and so we all turned into bed a bit early to make sure we wouldn't be late again.
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Tuesday classes were dedicated completely to music. There were some extravagant debates during our discussions of philosophy, and we all learned a good bit of the uses of music in ancient times. We were all grateful for our lesson on music theory, which helped a lot of us further understand our own music. After lunch, instead of splitting back into our groups, we gathered in the classroom and practiced The Scientist all together. After a few times through, the piece sounded really great. Caleb gave us a quick reminder that groups would preform our song the following afternoon, and then we were all dismissed to work.
The night was very productive as fellows gathered in various villas to practice in their groups. Even with five villas full of musicians, there are only two pianos that the five groups had to share. Still, it was very interesting to watch the groups all work together so that all of the pianists could get enough practice. By the time we all retired to our beds, we all were confident in ourselves and our groups for the next day.
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My alarm clock went off long before I was ready to hear it, but the upcoming performance gave me the motivation I needed to fall out of bed in the morning. Unsurprisingly, all of the fellows arrived a bit early at the Mandala House. Anticipation began as we did our daily devotions, and it grew throughout the math and even the music classes. Finally, it was lunch time again. Finally, it was almost time to preform, almost time to prove ourselves to ourselves and our groups. We made a little theater in the lobby, each of us finding a seat on one of the red couches, in a kitchen chair, or even on the floor; all of us facing the imaginary stage surrounding the grand piano. Jake, the youngest fellow as well as the most muscular, kept time on a bongo beside the preforming fellows. Guitar players would sit either in the wooden chair or on the stairs, the pianist of each group would sit at the piano behind everyone else, and front-most would be the unique instruments such as the violins, clarinet, or trumpet. Thus, group by group we preformed. Everyone played their parts above and beyond our own expectations, leaving us all feeling elated by the end of our turns. Chris Blackburn managed to get videos of all of the groups; he even made a compilation for the Mandala YouTube account.
Work flew by that day, mostly because of the lingering excitement from our successful performances, but also because we were all working hard to prepare for the upcoming Forth of July holiday. Mrs. Bortins throws a big party every year at her house, and this year there was going to be more than a hundred people coming to celebrate with us. We were all assigned small jobs to help during the festivities so that Mrs. Bortins could enjoy her party and we could all still relax. My job was to make sure we didn't run out of soda or ice, Zack was asked to make sure that none of the lake floaties floated away, Jake, being a fire fighter, was asked to make sure that the grills were in proper condition so that no fires would start, and Barnabas was given the title 'Trash Boy'-- which I will never let him live down-- and so on and so forth.
Astronomy class was held inside once again as the sky was covered in a thin blanket of cloud. A quick review of the five great circles map and then we were watching some amazing videos about the stars and string theory. The time passed quickly, and soon we were all gathering our notebooks and getting ready to head out. On my way out of the classroom, I happened to hear Blonde Anna calling out to someone, asking something that pricked my interest at once. I approached her, and asked her to explain what she had said. Happily, she told me that Jake had offered to take everyone out to a haunted stretch of woods in town. I immediately agreed to join them and helped spread the word about it. When we got back to the villas, nearly all of the Fellows ran to get changed into outdoor clothes. I excitedly grabbed my long, emerald and black cloak that my mom had brought for me during her visit, and hurried off to join the others.
Squeezing more than a dozen teenagers into two large cars was an adventure in itself, but it wasn't even close to the excitement and thrills we had that night. One of the biggest shocks of the night was pointed out before we even got to our destination-- while we were all making plans, Alec made a great exclamation and brought all of our attention to Barnabas, who was wearing jeans for the first time since we had met him. It took a long while for us to get over this achievement, and by then we were all ready to explore. The night was as black and dark as we could hope for as we went on our adventures. From the old woods, we all went to Cook Out, and from there some of us went home and some of us went to hang out near the fire station. Even the drive home had it's own twist, because I managed to get some of Jake's fishing lures caught in my cloak-- squished between two other fellows on the bumpy road, I felt like I was disarming a bomb as I worked the five tri-hooks out. Pretty soon though, we were all back safe and sound in our beds. I at least will always remember the great excitements and experiences we all shared.
The night came to a restful end as the Fellows climbed wearily into their beds. I can't say for sure if the buzz of excitement which hung over us was from our adventures in town or from anticipation of the upcoming holiday, but I there was a certain satisfaction with it all as we turned to sleep. What the next morning would bring, we couldn't know; but we could hardly wait to find out!
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