Birthday: I'm An Adult!

Today was my 18th birthday, and I spent the whole afternoon having fun. First, I went to the Charlemont-famous coffee shop, Mocha Maya's with Network Coordinator Mrs. BZ and Coach Wilder. The coffee there was glorious, rivaling even that of Newark-based T.M. Ward's.

After coming back to the house, the Comeaux family and I went to get pizza at this wonderful place in Ashfield called Country Pie. While there, we played Uno and Apples to Apples, and I got to drink the best root beer I have tasted and probably will taste in the forseeable future.

At the house, the family threw me a party with a chocolate cake and a banana crème pie.

After dessert, I began to open my cards. The first was a handdrawn card from Evan with a dragon on it and the second was a card from the family with a tongue in cheek reference to a previous conversation we had had about Facebook. 

At the end of the party, Evan gave me one of his jewels, one of his favorite nerf guns. It all goes back to nerf guns, doesn't it?

Finally, I took a nice selfie with the whole family. 

Walking and Windows

Today, the school bus dropped me off in the Conway Square, so I had to walk back to the Comeaux family home for about 2.5 miles. While it was a long walk, it was pretty fun and it was scenic. The road runs parallel to the South River and there's wildlife all around. Besides, it was a pretty day. After I came home, I finished upgrading Mr. Comeaux's computer to Windows 10, and during dinner I got to learn about the extended Comeaux family. I also got to see the annual family calendar, which I will be in for the 2017 edition.

Monday Mega Update

Sorry for not posting on Saturday and Sunday, I had difficulty accessing Blogspot, but without further ado, here's a recap of what's happened in the past few days.

On Saturday, I went to a picnic with the Comeaux family, Evan's friend Ben, and some close family friends. The picnic happened at a place the family affectionately calls "The River," which is co-owned by the Comeaux family and two other families, inherited from the patriarchs of each respective family through their co-ownership as friends.

After the picnic, we went to a 20th birthday party for a horse named Dudley. While there, my New York Yankees shirt inspired quite a few spirited conversations about sports.

On Sunday, we drove to Hadley to watch Captain America: Civil War. Mr. Comeaux didn't watch the movie with Evan and I; he's not a big an of fighting movies. When we arrived at the movie theater, we wound up parking next to one of Evan's friends, Arthur, who was on his way to watch the same movie with his mom.

Today, I got to get a Sharpie tattoo from a girl named Yilin. She's an amazing artist, but don't take my word for it; see for yourself:

Semi!

Today was the big day: Semi formal dance !
Packed into a car with Mrs. Parker, Emily, and her boyfriend, we headed down to the school for the dance. Along the way, we pulled over to get some great shots of the fog settling atop the hills.

At the dance, the DJ actually played good music to dance to, and I certainly did a lot of it. Toward the end of the party, every senior(including me) was given a white rose and led the school in the Macarena.

I rode back home with Emily's boyfriend's father and we had an interesting conversation about Lite FM's Delilah, and about Doctor Who, and about the difference in morality and ethics between the Cybermen and the Daleks  and about experimenting on humans, and about why the original Star Tell Trek is objectively better than Next Generation.

Early Birthday

Today, I took my two art classes: 3D Art and Abstract Expressionism. In 3D art, we built sculptures out of collected junk and debated about which type of music is best for people with a headache. In Art Expressionism, the class was outside, and I worked on abstract art using charcoal and carbon pencils and with Acrylic paint. I'm not that great of a painter, I'll admit, but they came out well. Pictures will follow next week once they're dry.

Also, my birthday came 7 days early for me! My mother sent my birthday/graduation present to me: a new HTC 10 phone! And, my host mother bought for me, after a long conversation about Rick Riordan at the dinner table on Tuesday, the latest book in his new series The Trials of Apollo! The whole family reads his book series, so we're excited for the newest addition.

My host siblings and I with our new books
From left: Evan, Emily, Me

I'm A Star!

Starry Night Sky at my host home in Conway

Today I gave a presentation about Saint Benedict's and the network to the entire school. I talked to them about how it was that I came to Charlemont and what the St. Benedict's experience is like. I also showed them the 60 Minutes segment and explained how student leadership works. They asked me questions ranging from the trail to what inner city life is like. A lot of the students came up to me afterwards asking me how to coordinate a trip to Saint Benedict's, so hopefully this presentation will bring more diversity to the already diverse Saint Benedict's.

The above photo was taken from my phone outside my host parents' house. I stood outside, phone out, mouth agape, staring at the sky and laughing like an idiot because there're just so many stars and everything is beautiful. There are stars to my left and right and in all directions. You just don't see stars in Newark. My host family looked at me a little strangely when I was just standing there, grinning and laughing to myself without a joke to laugh at.

-Jonathan Lewis, signing out

Day 2: Mischief Town

Before morning meeting today, I was approved by Mrs. Zale and asked to do a presentation tomorrow to the school about the network and about Saint Benedict's. That will be a particularly interesting assignment.

Today I experienced my first studio blocks. For Benedict's students, studio blocks are like electives, and there are four of them each week. Usually, they're music-related. My first studio block was Current Events / Debate, wherein we had a heated conversation about how to go about fixing the Welfare and Education Issue in Newark. I enjoyed this because I was able to talk to the other students about something about which I am very passionate, and I was able to answer questions and explain to them the situation in Newark. At the end, I was told that I should run for Mayor.

Afterwards, I went to my second studio block, Songwriting Lab, where I worked with the class to come up with a song titled "Mischief Town". Sitting on the floor brainstorming was probably the most unconventional class structure I've ever seen.

After school, I went to baseball practice, where the week ethic was so appalling that the coach is considering disbanding the team. I really hope he doesn't.