blog 15

     The first “great time” that came to mind was when I went on my Emanon Retreat to Big Bear last March. It was probably the first time I had gone somewhere far without my mom driving. In the car were Earl, Ace, Anthony, Renee, Moira, and Edward driving. I remember sleeping through most of the drive and I was scared going up the turns of the mountain so I closed my eyes and eventually fell asleep again. The purposes of the Emanon Retreat were to bond with our team and initiate the new members. This was one significant because usually the new members begin initiation at our coach’s house, dancing our routine blinded folded outside the window of Denny’s, followed by running into the ocean and staying there for a few minutes. This year our coach wanted to try something new. He rented a cabin and a majority of the team went. We shared beds and some people even slept on the floor. We all had to take turns cooking or cleaning. On our first night there we got to relax since a lot of us arrived late. Most of us stayed up until around 5 a.m. I guess you can say that we kind of went crazy. None of our parents were there and we were having fun. For initiation we blind folded the new members and made them do silly things in the house, next we set them in the Jacuzzi for a few minutes and they each were covered with flower and the tradition silly string when removing their blindfolds. The next two days we hung out and played games around the house. On our last day, we decided to go to the snow but we all got kicked off because we didn’t have correct gear. It was actually kind of funny because the man watched us leave and stared at us in the parking lot. We thought he thought we were plotting something, but we were simply waiting to figure where we wanted to eat.