End of America

I'm currently sitting in LAX airport in Los Angeles on a 12 hour layover waiting for my flight to Manila, Philippines. Our American tour ended last night leaving three of our cast members behind as they move on to other adventures, and leaving many of the remaining in tears. It was a very emotional few days as the American tour came to a close. We all have grown so close to each other that it's hard to think there is only one month left. So, I left off in Colorado Springs. After the Springs we headed to Salt Lake City, Utah. I spent the week living with Daniella from Mexico with a totally amazing Mormon family. We toured the Temple Square and I was overloaded with so much information about the Mormon religion that I couldn't wait to have discussions with fellow castmates. It's amazing how different their culture is compared to my own, but I never felt out of place. We spent most of our Community service working with the Boys and Girls club, but unfortunately I could only participate one day because I was sick on the second day. The show went really well. We've started to switch out parts so it's becoming new and exciting again. After Salt Lake City we headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

When we reached Cheyenne we were greeted with our first taste of cold. It was so cute to see the cast members who aren't used to it huddle together. I couldn't wait until they saw snow for the first time. We got off the bus and saw the advance team totally decked out in cowboy gear. It reminded me a bit of home so that was a nice surprise. I lucked out with a great host dad who had traveled the world and loved to cook. We had many great stories to share over delicious dinners. Our education for the week was based on gender roles and the presenting group did a great job. We spent one morning dressed like the opposite gender and it was so interesting to see the way we all changed our demeanors based on our appearance. The community service was our Stand for Peace program in the schools. Each time we do it I feel like the cast is getting better and better at it. We got to hang out with the students of the school of rodeo on our regional learning day and I ended up riding a hand powered mechanical bull. That was a fun experience being from Nebraska and totally not being able to do anything rodeo-ish. My family came up for the show and it was great to see them! I got to spend the whole host family day with both my host dad and my parents. After they left I had to prepare to head to Aberdeen, South Dakota. On our bus ride to Aberdeen we took a pit stop at Mt. Rushmore and were able to spend some time there. It was interesting, but a lot smaller than I thought it was. After seeing Mt. Rushmore we headed to a campground where we were to spend the night. It was awesome! We had a campfire and roasted marshmallows and froze our butts off in the cold. I sat by the campfire talking with Miguel until about three in the morning. It's moments like that that totally make my days here on tour. We then had to get up the next morning and head to Aberdeen.

Aberdeen is a place I will not soon forget. On our regional learning day we went to a place called Storybook Land and it was basically a lower scale amusement park filled with statues depicting fairy tales and stories. While we couldn't ride the rides we were able to spend time taking some awesome pictures. I spent the majority of the day taking fun admissions picures with my friends Miguel and Shawna. I was hosted with six other girls in a convent with a bunch of nuns and I couldn't have asked for a better allocation. The seven of us were living in college style dorms and able to walk two blocks every night to a townhouse full of seven of the boys in the cast. We had a great time talking and playing board games and preparing for Halloween. During the week we had an educational workshop called Up with People Land that was supposed to help us understand immigration. We were each given a passport that told us all of the basic information as to our immigration status, whether we were employed, and if we owned a house. I was a citizen with no job, but a house with two roooms to rent. Others were immigrants, migrant workers and refugees attempting to gain citizenship. It was a fun role play, but sometimes the fun got out of hand and I think it hazed over the real meaning of the workshop. We had another Stand for Peace city in Aberdeen and again the kids were receptive and seemed to really enjoy the workshops. We had a real treat because Halloween fell on the Thursday of this week. Our Field Managers set up a private party for us at the Zoo bar complete with food, dancing and a costume contest. The "convent girls" decided to dress up as the 7 Deadly Sins and we ended up winning the group contest. At 9:00 the underage people had to leave, but those of us who were 21 and over were able to stay and dance longer. I had a great time! Miguel, Javier, Elizabeth, Shawna and I danced and talked all night. The next night all of us who were hosted at the convent gathered with the nuns and played board games for hours. I couldn't believe the sense of humor some of the nuns had. It was a riot. I was so sad to have to leave to go to Souix Falls.

In Souix Falls we did Stand for Peace again, but also I was able to work in an adult day care center. It was so fun. We did exercises with them, fed them lunch and even participated in a worship service with them. It was nice to have a Community Impact day that was a bit different from Stand for Peace. We had a scavenger hunt in downtown Souix Falls for regional learning day and then finished our day at the falls themselves. They were so beautiful! It was another day filled with fun pictures! I was totally pumped on show day in Souix Falls because not only was a huge chunk of my family coming to see me, but I got my first opportunity to dance in the front line in the show. I rehearsed and got to dance the stomp moment. It was a total rush to do something different that I'd never done before. I also got chosen to sing the National Anthem in a small group at a hockey game. It was so cool to be in a group of many countries singing my own anthem. After that I was told that I was also selected to go to North Platte a day early to sing at a luncheon. I was so excited but it make the week a bit hard for me because I knew that I was so close to getting to spend a week in my hometown. But as with most weeks it ended up flying by and before I knew it I was leaving for North Platte.

This past week in North Platte was amazing. I was in my hometown surrounded by some of my favorite people and I was doing work in a city that means so much to me. I spent the first Community Impact day working with the homeless shelter and playing cherades with the people who were there. It was awesome to know that although we didn't do any physical labor we were able to brighten someone's day by acting like a "rabid teletubby". My second day was spent doing promotions and attending a Rotary luncheon. It was exciting because I haven't gotten to do promotions yet. I was constantly being stopped and interviewed and I felt like a real celebrity. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it was an expereience. We had two shows in North Platte so our week felt really rushed. I was so excited to be performing in front of my friends and family from home. I almost cried when they posted the show list and Gabe the show manager was having me dance Power With. It's a hip hop dance that I've been working on since staging and I was finally getting my chance to perform it. I think I almost passed out backstage I was so excited. It was so strange to mix my new Up with People family with my North Platte family, but I was so proud to share with the cast the culture of my hometown. The last show day was very emotional. We all knew it was our last show in the USA and also it was our last show with three of our castmates. We cried alot in green room, but made it through the show. Saying goodbye to my family again was really tough this morning. I know that I will see them again in four weeks, but only for a short while. I have very exciting news. I will be returning to Denver on January 4th as an employee of Up with People. I will be continuing on as a Field Manager for Up with People. I'm so excited to have a job! Especially because I will be working with Julie Jeffers one of my friends from this cast! But for now, I'm going to continue to wait for my flight and get even more excited for the next four weeks in the Philippines!!!! I can't promise internet, so this will probably be my last post for awhile. I will be sure to fill you all in with the details as soon as I return!