Holy cow! I can't believe I've been home in Nebraska for over a week now. It's hardly been enough time to even process the amazing experience that I had in the Philippines. We arrived in Manila after a very very long travel day out of my home town in North Platte, Nebraska. It was really hard to leave my family again, but I knew that I was going to love Manila. Anyway, I ended up being hosted at Ateneo de Manila University in the dorms. That was an experience! The girls whose room I shared had completely different hours than me so they were asleep when I woke up to leave and asleep when I came home after our full days. I felt horrible that I never really got to connect with them, but at the same time it was kind of nice having that freedom to roam around the city with the 6 other Up with People students who were hosted there. I had complete and utter culture shock my first morning when I arrived at the breakfast hall expecting cold cereal and milk but receiving fried rice and a whole fish (complete with head and eyes). The food was the biggest difference I noticed. I've never had rice for every meal, or served instead of fries at fast food restaurants. By the end of my time in the Philippines I just stopped asking what kind of meat I was eating because I really knew I didn't want to know. It all tasted fine, so why bother with formalities? I had an unique experience in Manila because I was on what we called the Flex Crew. I didn't have the same Community Impact site for the entire 10 days. I got to move around to different sites and then do several mini shows at the famous malls in Manila. It was awesome because the Flex Crew had to work so hard to make our impact because we only had a few hours with the students we worked with. We got to spend two days with some high school age students at ERDA Tech. They were some of the brightest kids I've worked with so far! They were totally willing to participate in everything, even discussions, and to top it off English wasn't even their first language. On our second day there, they did a show for us to let us know how much they appreciated our being there. That weekend we did 9 mini shows at three different malls in Manila. It was awesome! We probably performed for well over 100,000 people! Our show manager told us that on any given day over 2 million people go to the Mall of Asia where we performed and marched in a Festival of Lights Parade. It was such an honor to be selected to be part of that crew. We did two shows in Manila both of which had great audiences. The first show was a bit more special for me because it was a free show for the people we worked with all week. We had students from ERDA Tech there and families from the sites the rest of the cast worked with. It was inspiring because we knew that many of these families would probably never have the chance to see a show like this because of the cost. They were so excited and really sent us great energy.
After Manila we went to our last city of the tour, Subic Bay. I was so excited to be with an actual family this week. I totally lucked out as families went too, because I swear I had the best one. I stayed in Olongopo City with a woman and her three children. Her brother and his son also lived there. They were such an incredible family. Every day she took me to a new house to meet another member of her family and every night her kids came up with something fun for us to do. I loved staying with families with kids because it made me feel like I had brothers and sisters. My Community Impact in Subic was the best by far! I got to start the day with a 30 minute bus ride, then an hour long hike that, I kid you not, was uphill both ways through the jungle until we reached a mountain top village where our task was to paint their kindergarden and elementary schools. One group focused on the elementary school as it was three large buildings and five of us stayed at the kindergarden and focused on painting a mural on each wall. My friend Javier was the designer and he realized he'd only designed enough mural for three walls so he put me in charge of painting the fourth. This was a total challenge for me because I've never considered myself a very artistic person, but Javier put his faith in me so I decided to give it a shot. In the end I think we had an awesome building! This Community Impact left me feeling totally proud of what we'd accomplished. The children kept coming around while we were painting and telling us how beautiful their school was and how excited they were to go there once we were done. On the last day we ended early and decided that we'd do something kind of crazy to end our Community Impact program. We climbed down a different hill and found a nice bank by a river and all jumped in with our clothes on. It was a nice refreshing swim, but none of us brought other clothes so we had to spend the rest of the day sopping wet. It was totally worth it. Our final show was emotional for most people because it was a definite reminder that we would all be going home very soon. We took our time to cry before the show and made it through the whole show without shedding a tear. I have never been so proud of our cast. It really was a meaningful and awesome show. We all got together for our final banquet where we shed more tears and said goodbye to the Europeans. It was really hard to say goodbye to the people I'd been so close to for the past six months, but in the end I knew that it wasn't forever. The people who are meant to stay in my life, will. On January 4th I start my new job with Up with People as a Field Marketing and Operations Manager. I'm really excited to see where this adventure takes me. Thanks everyone who has been reading my blog. I hope it gave you an inside view into life with Up with People! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
About Me
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, October 13, 2008
New Blog!!!
First of all sorry it's taken so long to blog. I've been without internet for the past two weeks. Life on the road sure keeps me on my toes. I just finished my two week internship as a member of the advance team. Let me tell you after all of the work our team did I will never complain about meals, the schedule or lodging again! It was a tough job, but totally worth the experience just to see how a city is organized from the staff's point of view. A great part of being an advance team intern was that I finally got to see the show first hand. I was able to sit in the audience and enjoy the show without having to worry about the performing part. It was a fantastic show! We had so many special guests including the founder of Up with People, the brothers who wrote most of the music and even the crowned Prince of the Netherlands. I felt honored to be sitting in the same row as those distinguised gentlemen. The show was amazing that night. The cast had so much energy and spirit. I could tell that our time in Mexico really improved the show. I cried when Julie from Norway sang I Can Believe with Jessica from Tuscon. It was simply amazing!
After that hectic week we spent a week in Albuquerque New Mexico. We visited the Acoma Pueblo and saw life on an Indian Reservation. It was so beautiful and our tour guide Gary was awesome! I had two full days of Community Impact. The first day I went to another reservation and I spent time weeeding the yards of the elders of the tribe. It was hard work, but the elders were so appreciative. It was awesome to see the amount of respect the younger generation has for the elders. I feel as though that is something my cultures lacks. How many times do I offer to help my elders? It's definitely a personal goal of mine to improve on that. My other Community Impact day was spent at the Roadrunner Food Bank packing sugar for boxes to be given to the elderly during the winter. THere are some great pictures from that day as we were all in hair nets, gloves and long white jackets. While we may have looked silly we packed over 1500 bags of sugar! It was robotic work but we all sang and joked together which made the time fly by. Plus, who couldn't have fun in a room full of sugar? Friday was show day! It was my first show fully back in the cast. We performed at a zoo which made it an interesting evening. We had noisy animals, a lake between the audience and us, and a generator that just didn't want to give us lights. However as with all live theatre the show must go on. For me, the energy of the show was awesome! It was great to be back with this talented group of people singing and dancing and bringing our message of hope to the people of New Mexico! After striking the set the cast was told we were going to get about 2 hours of sleep and go to a city landfill to help pick up trash. The Advance Team surprised us and took us to the Hot Air Balloon Festival instead. It was an early morning but totally worth not sleeping! Ilka from Germany and I got to ride in the balloon we crewed. It was an amazing and beautiful experience. We spent the last week in Colorado Springs. I'm finally enjoying the fall weather! We got to visit the Olympic Training Center and the Garden of the Gods on Tuesday. Both places were really cool. I can now say I've seen wehre Michael Phelps trained. The rock formations at Garden of the Gods were beautiful! Our Community Impact Days were spent in the elementary schools on Fort Carsen Army Post. We spent 3 days in the classrooms doing our Stand for Peace program. We taught the kids about peace and how power with someone is stronger than power over them. I think both the kids and the cast really enjoyed themselves. This week's show was especially impactful. We gave a free show to honor the military who are serving to protect our country. THe energy was high and everyone felt what an impact we made. It was so cool to be performing a show with 107 people from 22 countries and spreading a message of peace and understanding to a group of people who deal with war and conflict on a daily basis. I know it gave everyone hope for future generations. I honestly think it was the best show yet! Until next time!
After that hectic week we spent a week in Albuquerque New Mexico. We visited the Acoma Pueblo and saw life on an Indian Reservation. It was so beautiful and our tour guide Gary was awesome! I had two full days of Community Impact. The first day I went to another reservation and I spent time weeeding the yards of the elders of the tribe. It was hard work, but the elders were so appreciative. It was awesome to see the amount of respect the younger generation has for the elders. I feel as though that is something my cultures lacks. How many times do I offer to help my elders? It's definitely a personal goal of mine to improve on that. My other Community Impact day was spent at the Roadrunner Food Bank packing sugar for boxes to be given to the elderly during the winter. THere are some great pictures from that day as we were all in hair nets, gloves and long white jackets. While we may have looked silly we packed over 1500 bags of sugar! It was robotic work but we all sang and joked together which made the time fly by. Plus, who couldn't have fun in a room full of sugar? Friday was show day! It was my first show fully back in the cast. We performed at a zoo which made it an interesting evening. We had noisy animals, a lake between the audience and us, and a generator that just didn't want to give us lights. However as with all live theatre the show must go on. For me, the energy of the show was awesome! It was great to be back with this talented group of people singing and dancing and bringing our message of hope to the people of New Mexico! After striking the set the cast was told we were going to get about 2 hours of sleep and go to a city landfill to help pick up trash. The Advance Team surprised us and took us to the Hot Air Balloon Festival instead. It was an early morning but totally worth not sleeping! Ilka from Germany and I got to ride in the balloon we crewed. It was an amazing and beautiful experience. We spent the last week in Colorado Springs. I'm finally enjoying the fall weather! We got to visit the Olympic Training Center and the Garden of the Gods on Tuesday. Both places were really cool. I can now say I've seen wehre Michael Phelps trained. The rock formations at Garden of the Gods were beautiful! Our Community Impact Days were spent in the elementary schools on Fort Carsen Army Post. We spent 3 days in the classrooms doing our Stand for Peace program. We taught the kids about peace and how power with someone is stronger than power over them. I think both the kids and the cast really enjoyed themselves. This week's show was especially impactful. We gave a free show to honor the military who are serving to protect our country. THe energy was high and everyone felt what an impact we made. It was so cool to be performing a show with 107 people from 22 countries and spreading a message of peace and understanding to a group of people who deal with war and conflict on a daily basis. I know it gave everyone hope for future generations. I honestly think it was the best show yet! Until next time!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Best Morning Ever...sarcasm
So before I get to this amazing morning I just had let's recap how the past week has been.
Advance Work is awesome! We had a team swimming party and then spent the evening allocating students to host families. After we were finished we "celebrated our successes" by going to dinner at Olive Garden. Later that week we worked more trying to get meals donated and I ended up getting a dinner fully donated for our show day. So to celebrate that success I went out on Saturday and got my hair cut. It's shorter than it's been in awhile. The team and I went to a kickoff breakfast for the United Way's Days of Caring. While we were there we took a team photo with the Gieko Gecko.
Ok..time for the morning. I woke up this morning and after making my morning trip to the bathroom I headed back to my room. However as I opened the bathroom door I noticed a little something under the bench outside of the bathroom. At first I thought it was a plastic toy but then the little thing moved and stuck it's creepy forked tongue out at me. Yes my friends, it was a snake, in the house. I ran to my room, hyperventilated a bit and cried. I ended up calling everywhere to try and find my host family. My host dad ended up being outside so he came to my rescue and got rid of the snake. This is a story that would only happen to me. Worst morning ever! But I guess it makes for a good story. I'd better hop in the shower so I can get to the office.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
End of Mexico!
So surprise! I'm done with Mexico two weeks early, but I'll get in to that later.
Let's see, Cabo ended up being a pretty interesting city. I was the City Runner in that city, (meaning I ran the morning and closing meetings) with Eriko from Japan. However, the cast was split up between Cabo San Lucas and Cabo San Jose so we were split up too.
I already mentioned our Regional Learning day and how I felt about that, so I'll move on to our Community Impact Days. I did 3 CI days in Cabo. The first two were painting the baseball stadium for our concert with a group of youth from Cabo San Jose. The first day though the paint was so late that we ended up not really painting at all. The second day we painted all day with little interaction with the youth because we were so behind from the day before, so that was a bit frustrating but it's all part of the differences in culture and learning to be flexible. My last CI day was spent working with the founders of Mobilize Mankind, a group that provides wheelchairs to those that need them free of cost. We spent the afternoon unloading crates of wheelchair parts, putting the chairs together and touring the facility. It was especially fun because Stewart, a student with Cerebral Palsy, was there helping out too. During lunch a bunch of us challenged Stewart to power chair races and that was a blast.
The next city we went to was Tepic, Mexico. My roommate Fenna from Germany and I didn't get picked up by our host father, so we got to go home and stay the week with the host family of Angela from the US and Neele from Germany. It was amazing! They were a wonderful family with a beautiful home. Fenna's friends from Germany came to visit so we ended up with 6 of us staying there. We did a really interesting Community Impact/Regional Learning at a Sea Turtle habitat. We got to play with the baby turtles while cleaning up the beach to allow the baby turtles to reach the sea easily. I didn't get to do alot of Community Impact in Tepic because...here's the surprise...I got chosen to go on Advance Work! I spent this week in training because I got sent to Sahuarita, Arizona to help the Field Managers prepare the city. The rest of Tepic was all kind of a blur because I was gone so much for training. The concert was amazing! We finally got the encore we were hoping for. On host family day my host family took us to some old ruins and unfortunately a ditch was not marked properly so of course I fell into it and landed on my camera. So my camera is caput. But no worries, I bought a new one today so there will no lack of pictures from my time on Advance Work.
I arrived in Sahuarita two days ago with my partner Cindi from Singapore. We spent yesterday going out to lunch with one of the sponsors and an alumni and then met at one of the Field Manager Renee's house to be debriefed. Today we attended two faculty meetings to talk to the teachers and I worked with Renee on the Host Family database. So far it's alot of meetings and office work, but tomorrow Sarah, the other FM, and I are visiting one of the Community Impact sites. Everything is going so well and I'm really excited to continue with the rest of the two weeks.
Let's see, Cabo ended up being a pretty interesting city. I was the City Runner in that city, (meaning I ran the morning and closing meetings) with Eriko from Japan. However, the cast was split up between Cabo San Lucas and Cabo San Jose so we were split up too.
I already mentioned our Regional Learning day and how I felt about that, so I'll move on to our Community Impact Days. I did 3 CI days in Cabo. The first two were painting the baseball stadium for our concert with a group of youth from Cabo San Jose. The first day though the paint was so late that we ended up not really painting at all. The second day we painted all day with little interaction with the youth because we were so behind from the day before, so that was a bit frustrating but it's all part of the differences in culture and learning to be flexible. My last CI day was spent working with the founders of Mobilize Mankind, a group that provides wheelchairs to those that need them free of cost. We spent the afternoon unloading crates of wheelchair parts, putting the chairs together and touring the facility. It was especially fun because Stewart, a student with Cerebral Palsy, was there helping out too. During lunch a bunch of us challenged Stewart to power chair races and that was a blast.
The next city we went to was Tepic, Mexico. My roommate Fenna from Germany and I didn't get picked up by our host father, so we got to go home and stay the week with the host family of Angela from the US and Neele from Germany. It was amazing! They were a wonderful family with a beautiful home. Fenna's friends from Germany came to visit so we ended up with 6 of us staying there. We did a really interesting Community Impact/Regional Learning at a Sea Turtle habitat. We got to play with the baby turtles while cleaning up the beach to allow the baby turtles to reach the sea easily. I didn't get to do alot of Community Impact in Tepic because...here's the surprise...I got chosen to go on Advance Work! I spent this week in training because I got sent to Sahuarita, Arizona to help the Field Managers prepare the city. The rest of Tepic was all kind of a blur because I was gone so much for training. The concert was amazing! We finally got the encore we were hoping for. On host family day my host family took us to some old ruins and unfortunately a ditch was not marked properly so of course I fell into it and landed on my camera. So my camera is caput. But no worries, I bought a new one today so there will no lack of pictures from my time on Advance Work.
I arrived in Sahuarita two days ago with my partner Cindi from Singapore. We spent yesterday going out to lunch with one of the sponsors and an alumni and then met at one of the Field Manager Renee's house to be debriefed. Today we attended two faculty meetings to talk to the teachers and I worked with Renee on the Host Family database. So far it's alot of meetings and office work, but tomorrow Sarah, the other FM, and I are visiting one of the Community Impact sites. Everything is going so well and I'm really excited to continue with the rest of the two weeks.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
La Paz/Cabo pictures
This is my BFF Kirk. The cast was so lucky to get to go on a evening boat cruise in Cabo. There was a band and open bar so we spent the evening dancing, socializing and enjoying the beauty of the ocean.
My friend Gis from the Netherlands and I.
My other good friend Javier from Texas.
Seungbom from South Korea.
The famous Cabo Arch.
These are from La Paz. This is Grace from China and her host sister Carolina.
One of our staff made a mistake in his Spanish and ended up saying "La Papa" instead of "El Papa" inadvertently calling the Pope a potato, so Paulina made a potato Pope and Cheryssa and I joined Paulina in reverence. Haha.
This is Annaka, Candace, Julie Holmes (hereafter referred to as Sherlock) and Anika at the elderly home in La Paz.
Jimena, Kelly and I working with power wheelchairs on CI day in La Paz.
I thought this mural was so cool. It was really inspiring to see the hope of a truly connected world where disabilities really didn't matter.This is a video of the elderly woman I sang for at the home in La Paz. Isn't she beautiful?!
Tepic
We just arrived in Tepic, Mexico after a eventful Cabo. I was informed at the Cabo concert that I will be leaving the cast for two weeks on September 8th to do Advance Work in Sauorita, Arizona. I'm so excited! I'm sad to be leaving the cast and to be missing Cuilican and Hermosillo, but I'm ver excited to have the opportunity to set up a city for the cast and to work with the Field Managers Renee and Sarah.
My roommate Fenna from Germany and I were not picked up by our host father on the first day in Tepic so we have been placed with Angela from the US and Neele from Germany. Our new host family is awesome, so warm and welcoming and we might be staying in the biggest house I have ever seen. It's truly huge. Today we went to the beach and prepared a safe harbor for sea turtles. They were releasing some baby turtles into the wild tonight and they needed the area to be clear and safe for them. My friend Miguel and I adopted a turtle. We named it Miguelynn. Then we were given the rest of the day to swim and enjoy the resort. It was a very nice relaxing day. Tomorrow the cast starts the CI projects and I begin my first day of Advance Work training. This should be a pretty intense city. I can't wait to write more about it. For now enjoy some more pictures from Cabo!!!
My roommate Fenna from Germany and I were not picked up by our host father on the first day in Tepic so we have been placed with Angela from the US and Neele from Germany. Our new host family is awesome, so warm and welcoming and we might be staying in the biggest house I have ever seen. It's truly huge. Today we went to the beach and prepared a safe harbor for sea turtles. They were releasing some baby turtles into the wild tonight and they needed the area to be clear and safe for them. My friend Miguel and I adopted a turtle. We named it Miguelynn. Then we were given the rest of the day to swim and enjoy the resort. It was a very nice relaxing day. Tomorrow the cast starts the CI projects and I begin my first day of Advance Work training. This should be a pretty intense city. I can't wait to write more about it. For now enjoy some more pictures from Cabo!!!
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