Sahuarita, AZ!! Part II

So I got to do possibly the coolest thing I've done on tour yet, I met a Prince of the Netherlands! He was at our show in Sahuarita, and we had a conversation, he was so down to earth and just completely excited about my UWP experience, and wanted to know about what I was doing after UWP. That same night, I met the Colwell brothers and Herb Allen, the founding fathers of UWP, they wrote the music for UWP for the first twenty years of its existence, and they wrote the song, "Up With People". It was so cool to be able to meet and perform for these amazing people. The show in Sahuarita was the first time since the 80's that the Colwells, Herb Allen, Blanton Belk (the founder of UWP inc.), and a few other early UWP VIPs have gotten together, and they were so impressed with cast B, with the work we were doing, the show, the energy, the welcoming nature, and all of the students. It was a really cool thing and a really great honor to have them at our show.
After Show Day was Host Family day, and Judy, John, Linda from Finland, Cheryssa from NJ, and I had a great day. In the morning we slept in (too tired for church) then we all went to lunch at Olive Garden, where we stuffed ourselves silly. As if that wasn't enough, we then went to Coldstone Creamery and we all had ice cream. Afterwards we went to the pool and swam for a while to get the fat off us. That night we played Mexican Train (Dominos) and had Fondu for dinner, it was so much fun!!!
I was so sad to leave John and Judy on Monday, I really love them and will miss them so much!

This is me with John and Judy the morning that I left for Albuquerque.

Now I'm in Albuquerque, and am hosted with two other girls in the cast, Isabelle from Germany, and Shawna from Pennsylvania, staying with Nancy Brady. I'll update more later...

Hermosillo and Sahuarita

Sorry I haven't updated in so long, time is such a limited commodity! To bring y'all up to date I'll start with Hermosillo...

Hermosillo, last city in Mexico, and the hottest! Temps were over 100 almost every day. Once again I was alone in a host family that spoke no English, but I had hot water for the first time in Mexico!!! YAY! My family was awesome though, I had two host sisters, 22, and 29ish I think... and the older one had a three year old daughter that was a princess, baby of the family and absolutely adorable. In Hermosillo our CIs were refurbishing some 20 basketball courts around the city.. This entailed repainting the lines, sweeping, and cleaning up the parks that were around the court. Our last show in Mexico was interesting, really good, but there were thousands of crickets that were all over our stage and dressing rooms. (we were performing in an outside venue) Also, during the show a nest of baby spiders hatched in the girls' dressing room, so at intermission when we went back there there were spiders over all of our stuff! EEEEEEKK!!!!! I freaked out when I saw that and was fairly disturbed the rest of the show. A funny thing about all the bugs is that some of the crickets were on people during the show, one girl even had one go down her shirt while she was onstage and had to stand still the rest of the song with a cricket down her shirt! And what's more impressive is that she actually did it! So our last city in Mexico was lots of fun and I really enjoyed being there

On Monday we came back to the USA. HOORAY!!! Its so good to be back in the states. As much as I loved Mexico it was really a challenge to be there. My host family here in Sahuarita rocks and I'm roomed with Linda from Finland and Cheryssa from New Jersey. Judy and John are our host mom and dad and they are so much fun. They are a Methodist family and last night we all went to youth group and made a presentation about UWP and played some games with the youth. It made me miss Fusion so much! I love all our youth workers and youth members and wanted to send a special bit of love to y'all since I've been thinking about you so much. This Sunday we're going to church (for the first time since I've left home), and then going to Olive Garden for lunch, YAY PASTA!!

This week's CIs have been amazing I've helped paint a new part of a fitness center at La Posada, and hauled logs out of a creek bed in Maderra Canyon to make way for a new bridge being put in there.

Today was a really cool day, we went to an elementary/middle school and did our Stand for Peace presentations for all the classes in the school. I did a third grade class this morning and a seventh grade class this afternoon. Stand for Peace is a presentation that UWP does to promote peace, diversity, and community action. We play games, do educational activities, and just have fun with the kids. We also teach them the "stomp" or rhythm portion of our show. My morning class gave me thank you notes after we performed a mini show for the school telling me how much they enjoyed the lesson and wanted us to come back. Its the most amazing feeling in the world to know that you may have changed these kids' lives and that you certainly made their day.

Tonight we went to La Posada, a local retirement community and served the residents dinner, we got to sit and talk with them throughout dinner and to perform a little for them as well. I served eight residents from all over the country (Maine, NY, Virginia, South Dakota, and more) who have moved here to AZ to retire. The residents were amazing and I got a wonderful dinner to boot!

Tomorrow we have regional learning on an organic farm out here, and I'll update you on that later...

Culiacan YAY!

So this week I finally have a roommate!!! I'm so happy :)
I'm rooming with Witchitra from Thailand in a family that freakin rocks. I love my host family this week, they have two kids, Carlos, 11, and Gabriela, 7. Both are really sweet and so much fun to be around!

Culiacan is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOT, but its ok cause I've been having so much fun. My CI this week was with Casa Valentina, a kind of Ronald McDonald house down here. Started by a woman who lost a child (Valentina) to cancer, the house provides a place to stay for families with children getting cancer treatment. For two days I went and played with the kids, the first day at a beach resort, where we swam in the pool and just had a good time with the kids, and today, when we went to a ranch that had farm animals (and huge iguanas!!). While we were there we made cheese (yes, actually made the cheese) and then we made bread and ate it, it was so good! The kids with cancer had a great time and so did we!

tomorrow is te first of two show days here in Culiacan, so wish us luck!

Tepic, part 2

So today is our last day in Tepic, the week has been a lot of fun. Casa De Los Ninos was really cool, and I got in the paper here from helping out!
This is Daniela, a girl from the orphanage who helped us paint both days, she was the newest to Casa DE Los Ninos and was really excited that all of us were there to help out.

I don't know how the show went on Saturday because all Saturday I was sick, I think that it was something I ate, but I really don't know what was wrong. All day I had really bad stomach pains, so I called in sick and missed the Tepic show :(

Today is our host family day, and I'm still not at 100 percent again, so we're kinda taking it easy. Tomorrow morning we leave for Culiacan, and I'll let you know more when I'm there!

Tepic, part 1

YAY!!! I have internet in my host family's home this week, so you all get more updates!

Today was an amazing first day in Tepic. I did a CI today doing something that I never thought I'd have the honor of doing. We were working with a local turtle conservation organization, and I got to dig baby turtles out of their nests, this helps more of the turtles survive the hatching process, and is an amazing experience. I think I have an idea of what doctors feel like now. I chose a nest that had over 50 baby turtles in it, so I got to bring them into their first sun, to touch them first, and to save some of them. I am so glad that I was able to do this, what a unique experience! How many people can say they helped to birth 50 sea turtles?

After that amazing CI experience we all went to a resort for an afternoon chilling at the pool, playing games, and having fun with students from a local technical college. I forgot my swimsuit today :( but I still had a great time playing the games and watching the antics in the pool.

Tonight I read my 4 yr old host sister her first Dr Seuss book, Fox In Socks. Its so much fun to trade words and watch as she listened to me reading in english, loving the illustrations of the book.

That's my day today, tomorrow I have CI at another orphanage, painting and cleaning. I'll update you soon!