Saturday, November 22, 2008
Manila
I’m now in Manila in the Philippines, and it is really different here. I’m hosted with Ilka from Germany in a small three-room apartment that has no flushing toilet and a bucket to shower with. We (Ilka and I) sleep in a small room, on the floor, and we share the room with the live-in maid. My host family is Muslim, and we are not allowed to show our shoulders while our host dad is home. Our host mom wears a jilbab when she leaves the house; even in 90+ degree weather she is swathed head to toe in fabric. Our apartment is in viewing distance of the Mall of Asia, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to go there sometime in the two and a half weeks that we’re here. I am really excited to be here, but I have to admit that I’m experiencing culture shock on a really high level. The family that we’re staying with is actually fairly wealthy compared to the people that I’m working with on my CI. I’m working in the slums with an organization that is trying to raise the quality of life, especially for future generations. They are especially focused on getting the students into school, by giving them scholarships for supplies, and on teaching family planning so that the families can support themselves.
Monday, November 17, 2008
North Platte... and Philippines
After my week in Sioux falls, where we had a sold out show with over 2000 people at it, we traveled to North Platte NE, Where I was roomed with Riikka from Finland at the Mckinzie's house. I had an amazing week, from all thier animals(three dogs and a bird), to the "Show Me" on Saturday.
My host family were real pet lovers this past week, with two little miniature Daschaunds, and a yellow lab as well as a Cockatail. The Cockatail was a stray that they brought in a year and a half ago, and he was never fully adjusted to being around humans again, so most nights this week I took him out and worked with him, and by the end of the week I could hold him without wearing gloves and have him switch fingers without biting me. My host family was surprised, and are going to take him out more now, so he'll have a better life. Also this week I had a chance to volunteer at the local animal shelter, where I cleaned out the dog pins, then was able to play with the dogs. I especially loved one dog named Sam, and was overjoyed to find out that she had been accepted by a dog rescue organization and was in no danger of euthanization.
This week we had two sold out shows, and the morning of the second show day we had a "Show Me", a chance to perform whatever you've been practicing in the show in front of the cast and show team. I performed the Moraccan song, "Heya Gat Aleya" and did really well. I'm waiting to see if I'll get the part in the next show, but I'm hopeful that I will. I'm now in the Denver Airport, where my flight to LAX leaves at 11:00. After an eight hour layover in LAX we have a thirteen hour flight to the Philippines, where we are thirteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. I'll update when I can find internet in the Philippines, and I cannot believe that in just four short weeks I'll be back at home.
My host family were real pet lovers this past week, with two little miniature Daschaunds, and a yellow lab as well as a Cockatail. The Cockatail was a stray that they brought in a year and a half ago, and he was never fully adjusted to being around humans again, so most nights this week I took him out and worked with him, and by the end of the week I could hold him without wearing gloves and have him switch fingers without biting me. My host family was surprised, and are going to take him out more now, so he'll have a better life. Also this week I had a chance to volunteer at the local animal shelter, where I cleaned out the dog pins, then was able to play with the dogs. I especially loved one dog named Sam, and was overjoyed to find out that she had been accepted by a dog rescue organization and was in no danger of euthanization.
This week we had two sold out shows, and the morning of the second show day we had a "Show Me", a chance to perform whatever you've been practicing in the show in front of the cast and show team. I performed the Moraccan song, "Heya Gat Aleya" and did really well. I'm waiting to see if I'll get the part in the next show, but I'm hopeful that I will. I'm now in the Denver Airport, where my flight to LAX leaves at 11:00. After an eight hour layover in LAX we have a thirteen hour flight to the Philippines, where we are thirteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. I'll update when I can find internet in the Philippines, and I cannot believe that in just four short weeks I'll be back at home.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Sioux Falls, SD
This week I am in Soiux Falls, being hosted with Maggie from Connecticut, and we're staying with Laura and Andrew Ellsworth, a young married couple that are really awesome. When we got to Sioux falls, we had Home Team Olympics. Our Home Teams are a smaller group that you are assigned to within the cast that meets every week or two weeks just to have a group to support you if you're having trouble with anything, but the home team olympics are a competition between all of the home teams to see who is the best. We had musical chairs, pictionary, an UWP trivia sheet and a few other events in the olympics, and even though my home team didn't win, it was a lot of fun, and we won some of the events.
Also this week was the Hunger and Poverty workshop, which really made me sad. There is so much hunger in the world, and in America we waste so much food, its just sickening. With the workshop we had a "Hunger Banquet", where the cast was split into the proportions of the world and fed what those people would eat. 14, who would all be American, were "High Class" got a three course meal.35 were in Middle class, and got rice and beans. 50 were in Poverty, which was where I was, and got a handful of rice and salty water. It was really an emotionally trying event, because we were on the floor, with almost nothing to eat, and right next to us was the high class, you could smell their food, and when they didn't eat all of a coarse, the leftover was thrown away right in front of us. Its a really harsh reality that I hadn't realized is such strong terms.
This week I worked with Meals on Wheels, and was really excited to get to work with that organization. I was kind of homesick though, because it made me think of Mama K and my ABBS group. Yesterday I got to work at Volunteers of America, and painted a mural that had a native American theme. I had a lot of fun and am glad I've been added to the list of artistic painters in the cast now. Today we're going to visit my host mom's family in Minnesota, so I have to go! Update soon...
Also this week was the Hunger and Poverty workshop, which really made me sad. There is so much hunger in the world, and in America we waste so much food, its just sickening. With the workshop we had a "Hunger Banquet", where the cast was split into the proportions of the world and fed what those people would eat. 14, who would all be American, were "High Class" got a three course meal.35 were in Middle class, and got rice and beans. 50 were in Poverty, which was where I was, and got a handful of rice and salty water. It was really an emotionally trying event, because we were on the floor, with almost nothing to eat, and right next to us was the high class, you could smell their food, and when they didn't eat all of a coarse, the leftover was thrown away right in front of us. Its a really harsh reality that I hadn't realized is such strong terms.
This week I worked with Meals on Wheels, and was really excited to get to work with that organization. I was kind of homesick though, because it made me think of Mama K and my ABBS group. Yesterday I got to work at Volunteers of America, and painted a mural that had a native American theme. I had a lot of fun and am glad I've been added to the list of artistic painters in the cast now. Today we're going to visit my host mom's family in Minnesota, so I have to go! Update soon...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Aberdeen, SD Immigration week
Aberdeen was "immigration week", so we played the Up With People Land immigration game. In this game all of the members of the cast were given a passport with a random assigned level of citizenship. There were citizens, legal aliens, migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, and illegal immigrants. There were also "special roles" such as border patrol, mayor, Justice of the peace, and others. I was part of the Border Patrol, and my job was to make sure that no one was in the wrong place. All week citizens got too eat first, get on the bus first, and even go to the bathroom first, the priority of rights was the same order that I listed the levels above. It was interesting all week to see how people were treated differently by what level they were, and for those in the lower tiers to experience what it was like for these people in real life. I feel bad now for people who have the job of enforcing the law, because nobody respects what they are trying to do.
Other than UWPL, I was again with nuns as my host family, and this time, I was actually in a convent. I was staying with the Presentation Sisters, who are over 40 strong in Aberdeen, I only got to know about five of them, but it was a really good experience.
Also this week was Halloween, so the cast had a Halloween party. There were six other girls staying in the convent, so we went as a group as the seven deadly sins. It was lots of fun and I'm glad that we had the chance to have the cast party. In this picture from left to write is Luara Lynn as Greed, me as Envy, Shawna as Lust, Cheryssa as Pride, Riikka as Wrath, Sarah as Gluttony, and down front is Milou as Sloth with our ribbon for winning the group costume contest.
Other than UWPL, I was again with nuns as my host family, and this time, I was actually in a convent. I was staying with the Presentation Sisters, who are over 40 strong in Aberdeen, I only got to know about five of them, but it was a really good experience.
Also this week was Halloween, so the cast had a Halloween party. There were six other girls staying in the convent, so we went as a group as the seven deadly sins. It was lots of fun and I'm glad that we had the chance to have the cast party. In this picture from left to write is Luara Lynn as Greed, me as Envy, Shawna as Lust, Cheryssa as Pride, Riikka as Wrath, Sarah as Gluttony, and down front is Milou as Sloth with our ribbon for winning the group costume contest.
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming the smallest state populace of any other state. Known as the "Cowboy State" for the prevalence of rodeos here. When we got to Wyoming we had just driven through hours of farmland, and when I got my allocation sheet, I couldn't believe it. I was roomed with four other girls from the cast and our host moms were nuns. I'd never been around nuns before, and had no idea what to expect, so when Sister Ruth Ann showed up in her habit I thought of the Sound of Music. After going home, I found out that they almost never wear thier habits, and that she did so only to pick us up. The last picture here is a picture of me with Sisters Ruth Ann and Joan, of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. The theme for the week was gender rights, so all week we had to carry around an egg as our "child" and not have it break. Mine was named Sirus, and lasted the whole week long.
The week we spent in Cheyenne I had CI at the Boys and Girls club of America. There we painted some murals on the walls to brighten the place up, I worked on a Western mural, and there was another group in the kitchen working on a map of the world with food in the different continents. Chihiro from Japan hand drew the map of the world, and I think that she is an amazing artist, in the picture she is in the center.
For Regional Learning day we went to a rodeo practice at the local college, I got to try goat tying, cow roping, and bull riding (on a fake practice bull of course, the roping was on a dummy too).
Also in Cheyenne we had a sold out show, and Kelly's family, from Winston Salem, came to see the show. Next we're off to South Dakota to Aberdeen. But on the way we stopped at Mount Rushmore, you can see a picture of me and it as my new profile picture.
Salt Lake City Show Day
So, show day in SLC was really interesting. Usually we go in, do a workshop, setup or exploration, and then have rehearsal. In SLC we got there, and Martin, our cast manager, seemed really upset over something, he told us that as soon as they opened the auditorium doors that we needed to go straight in and sit down with our bags asap. After standing there waiting anxiously for fifteen minutes, the doors opened and we all went in, really worried and scared about what they were going to tell us. There were hypothesis of death, accidents, and even possible cancelation of the rest of our tour, like happened in 2000.
However, when we got in there, expecting to see a blank stage and somber staff, the set was entirely up, lights focused, and decorations were all over the stage about how much Staff B '08 appreciated Cast B '08. As soon as we sat down they put on a show for us, singing and dancing some numbers that we do, twisting other numbers, and performing old UWP numbers. It was an amazing show, and at the end they passed the mic around and each said what they appreciated about Cast B '08.
This was our introduction to cast appreciation day. All morning we just chilled, there was a lounge that you could go to that had drinks, snacks, shoe shines and massages. You could also watch High School Musical in the Auditorium where it was filmed. During lunch the staff served us, and during rehearsal we got to make a "cast dance" as a warm-up and have a really relaxed practice.
That night the show went awesome, and we had our fastest strike (take down) time on our tour, finishing fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. This was also the night I got my absentee ballot, and could vote for the first time! I was really excited at the end of the night and felt really good about the day.
However, when we got in there, expecting to see a blank stage and somber staff, the set was entirely up, lights focused, and decorations were all over the stage about how much Staff B '08 appreciated Cast B '08. As soon as we sat down they put on a show for us, singing and dancing some numbers that we do, twisting other numbers, and performing old UWP numbers. It was an amazing show, and at the end they passed the mic around and each said what they appreciated about Cast B '08.
This was our introduction to cast appreciation day. All morning we just chilled, there was a lounge that you could go to that had drinks, snacks, shoe shines and massages. You could also watch High School Musical in the Auditorium where it was filmed. During lunch the staff served us, and during rehearsal we got to make a "cast dance" as a warm-up and have a really relaxed practice.
That night the show went awesome, and we had our fastest strike (take down) time on our tour, finishing fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. This was also the night I got my absentee ballot, and could vote for the first time! I was really excited at the end of the night and felt really good about the day.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City
Wow I'm way behind, so I'll start with Co Springs...
We were on post, Fort Carson, an Army post. We were there supporting the army families, and the CI was all Stand for Peace in the schools on post. The show went really well, and on Sunday I got to go to the New Life Church, which has an awesome praise and worship service. If you're ever in Co Springs I definitely recommend going to check it out.
We went from CS to Salt Lake City, Utah. When we got here it was really cold, it had snowed the day before! but as the week progressed it has gotten warmer. We got to visit Temple Square (the headquarters of the Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints or Mormons) on Tuesday. It was really interesting to learn more about their faith. On Wednesday I had school project, and did Stand for Peace in three classes in one day, which was really exhausting. Also Wednesday was the Religion workshop, which I helped lead, we focused on the similarities instead of the differences in religion, and brainstormed on how all religions could coexist. On Thursday I was on promotions, which isn't my favorite, but was ok. Thursday night I went to a "Unity Feast" with my host mom, who is Baha'i. Baha'i is a really new religion, only 150 years old and believes in the unity of all religions, its a really interesting religion, and if you don't know about it you should check it out, their beliefs are very unique. Today I was working at the YWCA, cleaning the walls of the apartments there and playing with the children of the women who were there to escape domestic violence. It was really fun and I'm extremely glad that we have programs like that, even as sad as it is that we need them. Tomorrow is show day, and we're performing at Murray HS, where HSM(High School Musical) was filmed and the school that David Archuleta(runner up American Idol) went to school. I'm loving the cold and can't wait to see what exciting things will happen next.
On a more somber note, two months from today I will be home and done with UWP. Can you believe that? I know I can't, only two more months left before I return to the real world(UWP doesn't exactly seem like the real world). So yeah, I'll update soon, and before we all know it I'll be home...
We were on post, Fort Carson, an Army post. We were there supporting the army families, and the CI was all Stand for Peace in the schools on post. The show went really well, and on Sunday I got to go to the New Life Church, which has an awesome praise and worship service. If you're ever in Co Springs I definitely recommend going to check it out.
We went from CS to Salt Lake City, Utah. When we got here it was really cold, it had snowed the day before! but as the week progressed it has gotten warmer. We got to visit Temple Square (the headquarters of the Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints or Mormons) on Tuesday. It was really interesting to learn more about their faith. On Wednesday I had school project, and did Stand for Peace in three classes in one day, which was really exhausting. Also Wednesday was the Religion workshop, which I helped lead, we focused on the similarities instead of the differences in religion, and brainstormed on how all religions could coexist. On Thursday I was on promotions, which isn't my favorite, but was ok. Thursday night I went to a "Unity Feast" with my host mom, who is Baha'i. Baha'i is a really new religion, only 150 years old and believes in the unity of all religions, its a really interesting religion, and if you don't know about it you should check it out, their beliefs are very unique. Today I was working at the YWCA, cleaning the walls of the apartments there and playing with the children of the women who were there to escape domestic violence. It was really fun and I'm extremely glad that we have programs like that, even as sad as it is that we need them. Tomorrow is show day, and we're performing at Murray HS, where HSM(High School Musical) was filmed and the school that David Archuleta(runner up American Idol) went to school. I'm loving the cold and can't wait to see what exciting things will happen next.
On a more somber note, two months from today I will be home and done with UWP. Can you believe that? I know I can't, only two more months left before I return to the real world(UWP doesn't exactly seem like the real world). So yeah, I'll update soon, and before we all know it I'll be home...
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Balloon Fiesta
This week we had a really weird schedule for show day... we had the usual long show day, but we didn't get picked up by our host family afterwards, what our schedule said we were doing was volunteering at the local landfill for some kind of trash awareness day. What we were actually doing was volunteering at the Abq Balloon Fiesta!
This meant that we ended show day (at 1 AM) went to the Event Palace (our temporary home for UWP in Abq) for a "sleep over" then left the event palace at 3:30 AM to go to the Balloon Fiesta. When we arrived the Fiesta was just getting cranked up, I was on the "Clutch Crew" or the balloon chase crew with my host mom Nancy. We Were to be chasing Hssss too, Jim's balloon. Instead I actually got to ride in Hsss too! I had an amazing time, here are just some of the pictures I took...
This is after we landed. Since it was my first time in a balloon, they have a traditional "initiation" into ballooning. There were two other guys who it was their first time in a balloon as well. After listening to the history of ballooning, we had to drink a glass of white grape juice without using our hands, unbeknownst to us, while we were drinking the juice without our hands, a bottle of ice cold water was poured on us from behind. None of us dropped our cups, but my teeth started chattering, which made drinking the juice exponentially harder. Afterwards we all went to breakfast at Golden Corral, then we went home. I had so much fun yesterday at the Balloon Fiesta, and we were supposed to go again today, but the weather is not cooperating. Hopefully by tonight it will have cleared up so that the "Balloon Glow" can still happen.
Acoma, Sky City
This week our regional learning day was a trip out to a local indian Pueblo, we went to Acoma, Sky City. While we were there we had a tour of the city, which was built on top of a mesa, and got to tour the church, when the tour was done some of us opted to climb down from the mesa, so here are some pictures of that...
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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...
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...
Friday, September 26, 2008
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...
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...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Cabo San Lucas!
YAY! I found internet! I don't have internet at home this week, again, but we came to the mall and I'm pirating internet. This is my new haircut, I really love it! These past two weeks have been unbelievably hot, temps upwards of 100 every day, and working out in the sun a lot. Its so beautiful here in Cabo, with picturesque beaches, beautiful sunsets, and lots of shopping!(Though i haven't bought anything, yet)
We had two shows here in Los Cabos, so I had two nights in a row of reeeeeaaalllly late host pick ups, aka not much sleep. Both shows went really awesome, and between them I think that we had around 3000 people see the show. We perform in baseball stadiums in most of our Mexican venues, so "backstage" is really in full view of the audience. The shows in Mexico are about 30 minutes longer than in the US, but are really fun. The audiences here love the show and get so excited when we perform.
Its been a while since I updated so I'll give you a quick breakdown of La Paz and Cabo....
La Paz...
My host dad was Julio, a hairdresser that did a wonderful job with my hair. He and his mom live together in a little house and neither spoke any english. This was really difficult because I speak no spanish, but we communicated just fine throughout the week. It was a wonderful experience. The La Paz show went a little shaky, but in the end everyone really enjoyed the show. On show day it rained throughout all of rehearsal, so the technical side of the show was hard because they can't run sound or light checks in the rain. I had a lot of fun and loved the beaches there.
Cabo...
This week was interesting, the first day was a RL(regional learning) day, and was really hard for me. We started in the morning in a shantytown in San Jose del Cabo, a place where people are struggling to live because they are so poor. After spending about two hours with the families there we went to a mango ranch about an hour and a half out of Cabo. This place had some of the best mango I've ever had!! After the ranch we drove back to Cabo San Lucas for a dinner ferry ride, an extravagant affair with an open bar and lots of tourists. I really would have loved the boat if I hadn't been so preoccupied with the idea of those families we had met that morning. Here we were, on this fabulous boat, with more food than we could ever eat, and across town there are people who won't even get dinner. The worst part of this was that we saw the awful living conditions of these people, and weren't given a chance to help them at all, only a few hours to talk with them, and I couldn't even do that because I don't speak Spanish. This was one of the hardest days that I’ve had in UWP, because I felt so helpless to do anything. The entire day had been planned for us, and I had no way to change any part of it. Looking back, this day gave me an important new perspective that I didn’t have before, an awareness of those so much less fortunate than myself that I think will help me as I continue this journey.
Wednesday I had CI, I went to Casa Hogar, an orphanage here in Cabo San Lucas that has about twenty boys living there. At the orphanage we cleaned the walls, scrubbing years of dirt from the white paint. Our team finished early, so we had a chance to play with the boys when they got home from school. I played soccer for the first time in years, and had a blast. Even though we couldn’t speak the same language, a game helped to bring us together, to create a bond that lets them know that others do care for them, and want them to be happy. I had a amazing experience there, and hope that what I did will make things a little better for those boys.
Thursday I had promotions, blech, I hate doing this because it consists of handing out flyers to people for five hours straight. I know how much I hate getting flyers outside of stores, so I hate having to give them out. I am really glad I got to do this in Mexico though, because the people here are actually interested in what you’re giving out, unlike Americans who generally ignore you...
Friday was our first show day and I had explorations in the morning. This means that I was dropped off with a group in a little marketplace, and set loose to explore, or shop, or eat, or whatever. I shopped, and bought a new dress that is in the Mexican style, its green and has some flowers embroidered by hand around the waist. Its really pretty, and I was very happy to find it.
This was my week here in Cabo, I'll try to be better about updating this, but its hard to do that without any internet...
Love you all!!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
La Paz, Mexico
Hi,
This is Kathy, Mandy's mom. She called tonight and said that she doesn't have access to the internet this week so she asked me to update her blog. They are in La Paz and she's having a blast. She's enjoying the local cuisine and has had several trips to the beach. Her host Dad this week is Julio, a single man who has his mom living with him. Mandy is the only UWP castmate staying there. Julio and his mom speak no English and Mandy speaks no Spanish...but she says they are communicating just fine! Julio is a hairdresser and owns his own shop. He took Mandy to the shop yesterday and cut her hair shorter and in layers and she loves it. I've asked her to post a picture when she has access again. Tomorrow is a CI day...she will be helping to clean up graffiti in a local park. She's had extra vocal practice this week because she is singing in one of the small ensembles for the show this week. She'll be in La Paz until next Monday when they head to Cabo. That's all the news we got!! Thanks for keeping up with her.
This is Kathy, Mandy's mom. She called tonight and said that she doesn't have access to the internet this week so she asked me to update her blog. They are in La Paz and she's having a blast. She's enjoying the local cuisine and has had several trips to the beach. Her host Dad this week is Julio, a single man who has his mom living with him. Mandy is the only UWP castmate staying there. Julio and his mom speak no English and Mandy speaks no Spanish...but she says they are communicating just fine! Julio is a hairdresser and owns his own shop. He took Mandy to the shop yesterday and cut her hair shorter and in layers and she loves it. I've asked her to post a picture when she has access again. Tomorrow is a CI day...she will be helping to clean up graffiti in a local park. She's had extra vocal practice this week because she is singing in one of the small ensembles for the show this week. She'll be in La Paz until next Monday when they head to Cabo. That's all the news we got!! Thanks for keeping up with her.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
On The Road
I’m finally in our first city on the road! We’re in Breckenridge, CO and have started the touring part of the UWP experience. Before we left Denver we had our first show, and it was awesome. The show was really good except for a few technical errors. But the coolest part of the show was when a butterfly started flying around the stage, the butterfly was onstage during “We’ll be There”, which had a lot of meaning to me. I felt like Ryan was there with me.
Today we had our Breckenridge CI day, and I helped to paint the entire outside of the local school administration building. I know for a fact that my arm will be sore tomorrow. I had a lot of fun with the painting, though, so it was worth it.
Tomorrow I have set-up for the show, and Thursday we perform our first public show, with the proceeds going to Colorado Mountain College, helping them to build a new campus that will allow them to help more people.
I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to bed now, but I thank you all for the love and support you have given me.
Today we had our Breckenridge CI day, and I helped to paint the entire outside of the local school administration building. I know for a fact that my arm will be sore tomorrow. I had a lot of fun with the painting, though, so it was worth it.
Tomorrow I have set-up for the show, and Thursday we perform our first public show, with the proceeds going to Colorado Mountain College, helping them to build a new campus that will allow them to help more people.
I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to bed now, but I thank you all for the love and support you have given me.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
First CI Day!
Yesterday was my first CI Day (community impact day) with UWP. We were working with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte(CUSP) to help restore the forest after the biggest fire in CO's history. The Hayman fire of 2002 burned 138,000 acres of land, and CUSP is trying to restore the forest to its original state. There were three worksites, one spreading seeds of wildflowers and indigenous grasses, one planting baby pine trees, and one pulling weeds.
I was in the group pulling weeds, and this was no normal weed, it is the Russian knapweed,
Centaurea repens
grows to 3 ft tall
flowers are pink to lavender, solitary and turn straw colored in the fall
stems are covered in a soft gray knap
deep creeping roots are hard to control
stands can live 75 years
very poisonous to horses and kills other plants
This weed is poisonous to all other plants, and once it has been in an area the soil becomes sterile because of the poison it leeches into the soil. It is also very irritating, if it touches your skin you get a rash, and if you touch your eyes after having touched the knapweed your eyes will swell shut. It is on Colorado's list of noxious weeds, and is a native of Russia, coming into the US in the late 1800's. Only the Southeastern US is free of this weed.
For obvious reasons we needed to pull all of this weed from the land, which was already devastated by the fire, so we spent all morning pulling the weed, and stuffing it into bags to be burned (apparently if you don't burn it, it will just come back stronger, and it will only burn after 1200 degrees F). We pulled all of the weeds from the property and still had time left, so I went to help the tree planters. In four hours we (cast B 08) seeded 1 acre of land with native plants, planted over 100 trees, and rid the area of the Russian Knapweed. This was an awesome first CI day, and I can't wait for the next one!
I was in the group pulling weeds, and this was no normal weed, it is the Russian knapweed,
Centaurea repens
grows to 3 ft tall
flowers are pink to lavender, solitary and turn straw colored in the fall
stems are covered in a soft gray knap
deep creeping roots are hard to control
stands can live 75 years
very poisonous to horses and kills other plants
This weed is poisonous to all other plants, and once it has been in an area the soil becomes sterile because of the poison it leeches into the soil. It is also very irritating, if it touches your skin you get a rash, and if you touch your eyes after having touched the knapweed your eyes will swell shut. It is on Colorado's list of noxious weeds, and is a native of Russia, coming into the US in the late 1800's. Only the Southeastern US is free of this weed.
For obvious reasons we needed to pull all of this weed from the land, which was already devastated by the fire, so we spent all morning pulling the weed, and stuffing it into bags to be burned (apparently if you don't burn it, it will just come back stronger, and it will only burn after 1200 degrees F). We pulled all of the weeds from the property and still had time left, so I went to help the tree planters. In four hours we (cast B 08) seeded 1 acre of land with native plants, planted over 100 trees, and rid the area of the Russian Knapweed. This was an awesome first CI day, and I can't wait for the next one!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Scavenger Hunt and Host Family Weekend
So the end of this week was a Friday afternoon "Regional Learning" time. This included a trip to the Colorado Capitol Building and a scavenger hunt around downtown Denver. The Capitol Building is beautiful, with lots of cool history and unique stone. here are some pictures...
After we left the Capitol Building we realized that we had lost our scavenger hunt sheet, so we just spent the afternoon hanging around Denver, went to the library, got ice cream, and walked around the 16th street mall. After Wrap-up, I went outside to catch the bus to go home, but Daniela didn't get out there 'till 5:31. Now, on a normal day this wouldn't be a problem (the bus comes at 5:32) however, the bus was early on Friday, coming at 5:30, and I wasn't going to ride without her, so I let it go by. When Daniela came out we could still see the bus stopped at a red light, and ran to catch up, but whenever we got close, the light would turn green, this continued for about 5 blocks before we went to another stop and had to wait for the 6:32 bus home, so we got home late that night. The positive to this is that I finished New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series :)
Saturday was our only Saturday off in the four weeks of staging, so we all packed up and went to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day of "hiking" which consisted of 100 yard walks to scenic overviews and lots of riding up curvy mountain roads in the SUV.
There was beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife,
from the fighting chipmunks,
and the rock-licking marmot,
to the lounging elk, this was an amazing place.
When we got to the lodge at the top of a ridge I hiked to the top to see the view. Nobody would go with me, so I went alone to the top and had a friendly tourist take my picture to prove that I was there.
In the second picture I am over the top of the ridge that is in the first picture. The sign reads, 12,005 ft 2.3 miles above sea level. I also got a picture from the top of the path.
After leaving RMNP we drove to Winter Park and went to a jazz festival and to an art festival that they were having there. We stayed overnight in a hotel and then this morning went up the ski lift to the lodge at sunspot, in Winter Park. The view was amazing and there were lots of mountain bikers going up the lift then riding down the mountain. After going back down the lift Daniela and I rode on the alpine slide, a half-pipe concrete slide that you ride down on wheeled sleds. It was so much fun!
We then left Winter Park, and on the way back home stopped in Empire to get ice cream, I got an amazing banana split. When we were leaving there was a sheltie that was just walking up with his owner, and I had to stop to love on him. That little sheltie may be half as big as Shep, but it made me really miss my Puppy puppy.
Tomorrow we start week three here in Denver staging and we have the cast photo. I hope that this week isn't as hard as the past few, but I doubt that it will be, I think that I've finally acclimated to the altitude, humidity, activity, and time here, so I'll keep on keeping on. I'll update soon, so check back.
~Mandy
After we left the Capitol Building we realized that we had lost our scavenger hunt sheet, so we just spent the afternoon hanging around Denver, went to the library, got ice cream, and walked around the 16th street mall. After Wrap-up, I went outside to catch the bus to go home, but Daniela didn't get out there 'till 5:31. Now, on a normal day this wouldn't be a problem (the bus comes at 5:32) however, the bus was early on Friday, coming at 5:30, and I wasn't going to ride without her, so I let it go by. When Daniela came out we could still see the bus stopped at a red light, and ran to catch up, but whenever we got close, the light would turn green, this continued for about 5 blocks before we went to another stop and had to wait for the 6:32 bus home, so we got home late that night. The positive to this is that I finished New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series :)
Saturday was our only Saturday off in the four weeks of staging, so we all packed up and went to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day of "hiking" which consisted of 100 yard walks to scenic overviews and lots of riding up curvy mountain roads in the SUV.
There was beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife,
from the fighting chipmunks,
and the rock-licking marmot,
to the lounging elk, this was an amazing place.
When we got to the lodge at the top of a ridge I hiked to the top to see the view. Nobody would go with me, so I went alone to the top and had a friendly tourist take my picture to prove that I was there.
In the second picture I am over the top of the ridge that is in the first picture. The sign reads, 12,005 ft 2.3 miles above sea level. I also got a picture from the top of the path.
After leaving RMNP we drove to Winter Park and went to a jazz festival and to an art festival that they were having there. We stayed overnight in a hotel and then this morning went up the ski lift to the lodge at sunspot, in Winter Park. The view was amazing and there were lots of mountain bikers going up the lift then riding down the mountain. After going back down the lift Daniela and I rode on the alpine slide, a half-pipe concrete slide that you ride down on wheeled sleds. It was so much fun!
We then left Winter Park, and on the way back home stopped in Empire to get ice cream, I got an amazing banana split. When we were leaving there was a sheltie that was just walking up with his owner, and I had to stop to love on him. That little sheltie may be half as big as Shep, but it made me really miss my Puppy puppy.
Tomorrow we start week three here in Denver staging and we have the cast photo. I hope that this week isn't as hard as the past few, but I doubt that it will be, I think that I've finally acclimated to the altitude, humidity, activity, and time here, so I'll keep on keeping on. I'll update soon, so check back.
~Mandy
Monday, July 21, 2008
NEW!
YAY!!! I finally got the Alevy's wireless network set up, so now I'll be able to add pics to the blog and blog more frequently!
here are just a few pics that I wanted to add when I wrote that first post...
This is a pic of Faith, Ken, Daniela, and I on our outing to lookout mountain.
This is me at Red Rocks amphitheatre.
This is only my second week here, but I've learned soooo much in such a short amount of time that it seems longer. My typical day is waking around 6:40, eating cereal for breakfast, catching a 7:32 bus from our house to the Sherman center (a 45 minute ride)getting to the Sherman center and starting the UWP day.
8:30 Morning meeting- opens the day, gives announcements and reminders as well as informs you of the rest of the day's activities.
9:00 Workshop- blocking, vocals, dancing or a lecture/activity on various subjects (today we had blocking from 9:00-12:00 AAAHHHH!!!!)
12:00 lunch- I don't really think I need to explain this... but the food here is very iffy
1:00 More Workshop- same as morning workshops, today was vocals
3:00 Break- a little time to change, eat, or socialize
3:15 Cast Movement- the exercise time from hell, jk, but it really is pretty exhausting, two hours of constant dancing, with one two minute break for water (sometimes...)
5:15 Wrap up- more announcements, a time to , wow, wrap up the day
5:30 Host Pick Up- some people's family's come to pick them up, we ride a 5:32 bus home, another 45 minute ride,
Once we get home, Faith generally has dinner prepared and ready to eat (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!), at this point, you are hungry enough to eat a whole Buffalo, well, not quite, but close! I then take a shower go to bed around 9-9:30 and get up the next day to do it all again.
This crazy schedule would be responsible for my lack of updates here, so I'll try to do better, but we have really full days.
A Few More Cool Notes:
I now have a language buddy! this means that I help someone who doesn't speak English as their first language, making sure that they understand all instructions, announcements, and anything else that confuses them. My buddy is Victor from Brazil, who is barely fluent, but I'm so happy to help him get better! This presents a challenge however, like this morning, trying to explain what a cinnamon bun is when I don't speak Portuguese and don't have one handy to show him, I never could describe it in a way he would understand... I'll have to take him one tomorrow...
I finally read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer! (45 minutes on the bus each way, each day makes for lots of reading time..) the book was awesome and I definitely recommend it.
Well, I love you all and hope you enjoy reading my updates!
~Mandy
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Denver!
So I'm finally here in Denver! When I first arrived here in Denver and got off the plane the UWP representatives weren't at the airport yet, but I saw some of my cast mates that I recognized from Facebook all standing around. I went over and got to know everyone before going to pick up my luggage. By the time I got back from getting my luggage the UWP representatives were there and checking everyone in. After everyone was checked in we were all sent out to a charter bus that took us to a recreational center(like a YMCA) were we had registration. Registration included getting my official UWP nametag, finishing paying for the trip, learning about my host family, and filling out emergency contact info.
Once everyone had finished registering we were all sent to another room that had some tables with games on them to hang out until everyone arrived. I was on the first bus taken to the recreation center, so I was one of the first people there. As everyone was arriving I was trying to learn names, but there are almost 100 people in my cast so its really difficult!
As we waited we played Jenga, Mad Gab, Frisbee, and some card games. By dinner almost everyone had arrived, so the little room was very crowded. We had a dinner of pizza and salad, then had more socializing after dinner. After dinner I was at a table with two girls from Japan, two girls from Ethiopia, and two other boys from the US. We had a deck of cards and started teaching each other games from our different countries. When we had played a few Japanese card games, we from the US taught the other girls how to plat BS. It was so funny trying to convey the point of the game, because both the Japanese girls and the girls from Ethiopia are only barely fluent in English, so you can't use harder vocabulary words. One of the girls from Ethiopia in particular couldn't understand that even if you didn't have the right number card to put down that you were supposed to put another number down and try not to get caught. When she didn't have the right number she would just go ahead and take the whole stack of cards. After about an hour all of the host families were ready to pick us up.
This was at 8:30 Denver time, so I was really tired (also putting into consideration that I had been up since 4:30 Eastern time). Once we found our host family, we went home and got a short tour of the house before going to bed. I am staying with Faith and Ken Alevy, who live just west of Denver, and are grandparents. There is also another UWP member staying with the Alevys, Daniela from Monterrey, Mexico.
On Saturday we had a free day, so I slept in. When I got up we all got ready and the girls went to the grocery store to buy foods that Daniela and I like. After a long time at the store we all came home before going for a drive. We drove to Lookout Mountain, where Buffalo Bill is buried, as well as visiting Red Rocks amphitheater. Red Rocks is an amazing place, with a natural beauty that is unrivaled by anything I've seen. After driving home we had pizza (again) for dinner before I crashed in bed around 7:30 Mountain time.
Today we got to meet Faith and Ken's younger daughter, Joanna and her two kids Sabrina and AJ. After having waffles for breakfast we all sat outside and talked. Today from 3-5 we have opening session for UWP, so I'll fill you in when we finish.
Once everyone had finished registering we were all sent to another room that had some tables with games on them to hang out until everyone arrived. I was on the first bus taken to the recreation center, so I was one of the first people there. As everyone was arriving I was trying to learn names, but there are almost 100 people in my cast so its really difficult!
As we waited we played Jenga, Mad Gab, Frisbee, and some card games. By dinner almost everyone had arrived, so the little room was very crowded. We had a dinner of pizza and salad, then had more socializing after dinner. After dinner I was at a table with two girls from Japan, two girls from Ethiopia, and two other boys from the US. We had a deck of cards and started teaching each other games from our different countries. When we had played a few Japanese card games, we from the US taught the other girls how to plat BS. It was so funny trying to convey the point of the game, because both the Japanese girls and the girls from Ethiopia are only barely fluent in English, so you can't use harder vocabulary words. One of the girls from Ethiopia in particular couldn't understand that even if you didn't have the right number card to put down that you were supposed to put another number down and try not to get caught. When she didn't have the right number she would just go ahead and take the whole stack of cards. After about an hour all of the host families were ready to pick us up.
This was at 8:30 Denver time, so I was really tired (also putting into consideration that I had been up since 4:30 Eastern time). Once we found our host family, we went home and got a short tour of the house before going to bed. I am staying with Faith and Ken Alevy, who live just west of Denver, and are grandparents. There is also another UWP member staying with the Alevys, Daniela from Monterrey, Mexico.
On Saturday we had a free day, so I slept in. When I got up we all got ready and the girls went to the grocery store to buy foods that Daniela and I like. After a long time at the store we all came home before going for a drive. We drove to Lookout Mountain, where Buffalo Bill is buried, as well as visiting Red Rocks amphitheater. Red Rocks is an amazing place, with a natural beauty that is unrivaled by anything I've seen. After driving home we had pizza (again) for dinner before I crashed in bed around 7:30 Mountain time.
Today we got to meet Faith and Ken's younger daughter, Joanna and her two kids Sabrina and AJ. After having waffles for breakfast we all sat outside and talked. Today from 3-5 we have opening session for UWP, so I'll fill you in when we finish.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Getting There
So, the day has finally come! I'm sitting in the CLT airport waiting for my (delayed) flight to Denver. Two hours delayed... I want to get out there so I can finally meet my UWP friends!! Thank you so much to anyone who has helped me make this trip possible, I'll be updating soon, so check back!
~Mandy
~Mandy
Monday, June 16, 2008
Doctors
So, I'm sitting here in the dentist's office for, like, the tenth doctor's appointment I've had in the past two weeks. I love being healthy and all, but seriously? this is WAY to many appointments to close together. I need to see all of my doctors before I leave though, so its necessary to be constantly bombarded by the Doctor's office smell. *sigh*
On a different note, I'm really excited about all of my castmates, they seem so nice! I think I'm gonna make a lot of really good friends. :D YAY!
On a different note, I'm really excited about all of my castmates, they seem so nice! I think I'm gonna make a lot of really good friends. :D YAY!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Not Long!
I now have less than one month left before starting my Up With People adventure! On July 11 I leave to begin the trip of a lifetime, and I can't wait. On this website I will keep you up to date on all of my adventures, so check it often!
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