I wrote this while at a cafe this afternoon. I've left the pauses where I apparently felt they went at the time. This is a glimpse into my mind. There are no incredible revelations or life-changing pieces of advice. Just simple observation.
The air is crisp. The trees show their true colors, which are reflected in the still waters of the canal. In the canals I can also see the blue of the sky with wisps of cloud strewn about. I feel the stones under my feet and the slight drip of my nose lets me know that it is fall.
My thoughts are so loud I fear those around me can hear them. Perhaps their minds are feeding into them. As I sit, my gaze is fixed and I am entranced. Occasionally the clink of a glass or an unexpected laugh brings me back to the table. I watch the curly redhead across the street as she gets her hair cut. The stylist twists the locks as she prepares to cut. I am reminded of my poor posture when my back begins to ache from my current position. My eyes are drawn to the cafe decor. Black and white striped walls are interrupted by large, colorful paintings from a local artist. I wonder if they will ever sell. I take a sip of the tea the shop owner helped me pick out and smell the berries as its warmth reaches my tongue. It is followed by a bite of cannebullar - the best I've tried in the city so far. The dough is a bit crispy on the outside, but moist. The cinnamon flavor is fresh and the pearl sugar atop melts in your mouth.
The two girls who were sitting in the Victorian velvet brocade chairs put on their coats and both look at me again, trying to be discreet. My toes feel the burst of cold wind as they walk through the door and they take one more look in my direction before strolling off laughing. Only my imagination will know what is so amusing about my appearance. A young couple walks by - each of their two children carrying a mylar balloon with unnamed cartoon characters.
Another bite of canelbullar. The redhead reads a magazine and the stylist takes a bite of a chocolate bar while the hair is drying. I admire the construction of the cafe's stools- designed for comfort. My mind wanders to all the dogs I passed in the morning's Oktobermarket. Each had such a distinct look and personality that barking was almost unnecessary, because you could already tell what they were thinking.
A woman walks in whose green brocade jacket exactly matches the pattern of the chairs. I wonder if she ever noticed. The scent of the next table's cheese dip wafts over with the shutting of the door. Looking out the window, I catch in the reflection of the blue van parked outside a little girl rolling about on the sidewalk laughing. She rolls far enough that I can see her plainly and she continues to laugh as her blonde braids peek out from beneath her knit grey cap. Mom helps her up as she walks by and the family continues on their Saturday walk.
A girl walks by with a mylar pony balloon attached to a small suitcase. She looks back in admiration and concentration so as not to lose control of the suitcase. Mom smiles and leads on. She reminds me of myself as I rolled my large suitcase through these same streets just two days ago. There was no balloon, but perhaps there should have been.
I stir my tea and the sugar from the bottom swirls around with the remaining tea leaves and I take a sip of the tea which is now slightly cold and slightly too sweet. I think of the coffee I was invited to share with a bible study group this morning when I showed up unannounced at a local church. I tried to mask the flavor with cream and sugar, but was unsuccessful in my attempt. I still do not care for the taste of coffee. It was the first time in this country that tea was not also offered. The tea light on my table is no longer flickering in its black glass cup.
I notice the black wall behind me is covered with two huge canvases. One is the Mona Lisa. The other is a picture of cows. The blonde couple on the couch embraces and the young man gently kisses his girlfriend's forehead. The server arrives with their food and she yawns unceremoniously.
A family walks in and eyes my table upon realizing they are left with only high tables at which they can sit. The clouds shift deepening the contrast between light and shadow. I guess the time is 3:00, but a look at my phone shows me I am ahead half an hour. The mother of the family asks something in Swedish and I am forced to reveal I am a foreigner here. She asks again if she may use one of the chairs at my table to store her things. I nod emphatically. I sip the last of my tea and take the final bite of canelbullar, making sure to get every last bit of pearl sugar. I use my finger to pick up the remaining three pearls. As if on cue, my phone rings. My face flushes wondering how long the call will take and whether I should take it outside for not. I try to answer as inconspicuously as possible and am relieved to hang up a few minutes later. Work.
I let the last few drops of tea run into my mouth and use my finger to remove a rogue tea leaf from my front teeth. With that, there is no further excuse to stay. The cafe is becoming more crowded as people come in for a fika. I leave my seat and bundle up before walking out into the brisk air again.
Greetings from Sweden,
~Molly
Showing posts with label UWP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UWP. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Buenas noches
Today was one of those days that makes everything worthwhile - and then some. After dropping Celi off at the airport I met my host family for lunch at my host abuela's house. We talked a bit and then went to the church to pass out information about being a host family for any people interested. I have to say that having light hair has its advantages here... after about 10 minutes everyone on the block had seen me and smiled at me as I passed by. Another advantage is that they are a little taken aback when I start speaking Spanish. I have yet to encounter a person for the first time who hasn't commented on my Spanish - and it almost always follows "where are you from?"
After handing out fliers I headed home for some quality internet time. I listened to some music and sang a bit working on a project that, if it comes to fruition, I will share. I decided to go explore and try to find a good place to eat for dinner, so I headed off to the Centro Historico. Centro Historico never ceases to amaze me. Every time I visit my brain goes into camera mode to take mental pictures of everything I pass.
This evening was even more spectacular. There is a special exhibition of frogs going on right now where different artists have made artistic interpretations of frogs. It was an unexpected sight... I knew they were in town but did not realize they were out in the public squares. After walking about a bit I settled into a cozy creperie. There was a table right by the entrance facing out to the square with just one seat facing the outdoors. It had my name written on it. I went in and ordered a panini and a chai tea frappe. The panini was good, but the frappe was delicious. I sat and took in the happenings of the square as I let my mind drift off. (Don't worry, I will get a crepe the next time I go, but this time there just wasn't enough room - as I only finished half of my panini). I took the other half of my panini and headed back to the car.
This was my first time driving into the Centro, so I decided to stick with the more familiar roads until I knew where I was exactly. I stuck to the small stone roads and was noticing the traffic moving very slowly. The radio was playing and I decided it was time to mute it and open the windows to take in the bustle of Sunday night in the town squares. I looked to my left and there was a beautiful cathedral. To my right, there was a large fountain and families spread throughout the square enjoying the beautiful evening air. As if on cue, mariachi music came over the square. All of a sudden, the fountain changed. It was synchronized to the music! Different fountains shot into the air in time with the music. Luckily, the stoplight was generous and gave me a few minutes to watch in awe. It reminded me of that perfect night in Rome.
I took a guess as to which way to go once I got out to the big roads and found myself right where I wanted to be. As the car pulled into the development I followed the loop around to our house making sure to stop where we can see the whole city. Celi and I call it the "Victory lap." After a day of hard work, we come home and we can either take the short loop or the Victory lap. We usually choose the Victory lap because it's the perfect end to a bad day as well as a great day. The sun had set, but the sky was still filled with color. The mountains were silhouettes against the pink sky which faded to a blue grey around the edges of the city. The city lights twinkled magnificently as I rounded the corner to my host family's house.
With that, I leave you. Until next time,
~Molly
After handing out fliers I headed home for some quality internet time. I listened to some music and sang a bit working on a project that, if it comes to fruition, I will share. I decided to go explore and try to find a good place to eat for dinner, so I headed off to the Centro Historico. Centro Historico never ceases to amaze me. Every time I visit my brain goes into camera mode to take mental pictures of everything I pass.
This evening was even more spectacular. There is a special exhibition of frogs going on right now where different artists have made artistic interpretations of frogs. It was an unexpected sight... I knew they were in town but did not realize they were out in the public squares. After walking about a bit I settled into a cozy creperie. There was a table right by the entrance facing out to the square with just one seat facing the outdoors. It had my name written on it. I went in and ordered a panini and a chai tea frappe. The panini was good, but the frappe was delicious. I sat and took in the happenings of the square as I let my mind drift off. (Don't worry, I will get a crepe the next time I go, but this time there just wasn't enough room - as I only finished half of my panini). I took the other half of my panini and headed back to the car.
This was my first time driving into the Centro, so I decided to stick with the more familiar roads until I knew where I was exactly. I stuck to the small stone roads and was noticing the traffic moving very slowly. The radio was playing and I decided it was time to mute it and open the windows to take in the bustle of Sunday night in the town squares. I looked to my left and there was a beautiful cathedral. To my right, there was a large fountain and families spread throughout the square enjoying the beautiful evening air. As if on cue, mariachi music came over the square. All of a sudden, the fountain changed. It was synchronized to the music! Different fountains shot into the air in time with the music. Luckily, the stoplight was generous and gave me a few minutes to watch in awe. It reminded me of that perfect night in Rome.
I took a guess as to which way to go once I got out to the big roads and found myself right where I wanted to be. As the car pulled into the development I followed the loop around to our house making sure to stop where we can see the whole city. Celi and I call it the "Victory lap." After a day of hard work, we come home and we can either take the short loop or the Victory lap. We usually choose the Victory lap because it's the perfect end to a bad day as well as a great day. The sun had set, but the sky was still filled with color. The mountains were silhouettes against the pink sky which faded to a blue grey around the edges of the city. The city lights twinkled magnificently as I rounded the corner to my host family's house.
With that, I leave you. Until next time,
~Molly
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Te quiero Querétaro
Querétaro, Querétaro – the capital of the state. The middle of México, the middle of summer; without a beach nearby it would be easy to think I was going to die of heat exhaustion. Luckily, that is not the case! The weather here in Querétaro has been absolutely beautiful. In the mornings, the chill is enough to cause one to layer. In the afternoon the sun gets bright, but what is summer without some warmth? By the time the sun sets over the mountains, however, the cool breeze blows in again.
I’ve been here now for one week and so far I love this city. The historic downtown is straight out of a photographer’s dream and it makes me wish my own camera was better at capturing the city’s magic. Everything downtown is within walking distance. There is a mix of traditional food vendors and historical churches alongside modern cafés and clothing shops. Best of all, in all the public squares they have free wireless internet! It’s as if someone stole my dreams and made them into a city.
Our host family lives on a hill in the south of the city. From here we can see the entire city. It was not until this morning, however that we discovered there is a pyramid in the city. How we managed to miss it, I am not sure, but now that we know it’s there we’ll make sure to explore. We’re living in a family with five kids. Our host dad is Mexican and our host mom Hungarian. The kids range in age from two months to eleven years. They all speak Spanish and Hungarian and those over eight years also speak English. It’s quite impressive to see them switch languages based on who they are talking to. English is their weakest language, so host dad asks me to speak only English to them. I’m working on that, as sometimes it’s hard when you speak the language they prefer as well.
Tomorrow I’ll be returning to San Luis Potosí . This will be my second time there in just over a week. I will once again get to visit my delightful host family there. When I arrived last week – the first time in over a year – I was greeted with handmade signs welcoming me home and saying how much they missed me. It was really sweet.
I guess that’s all for now.
Loving Querétaro,
~Molly
I’ve been here now for one week and so far I love this city. The historic downtown is straight out of a photographer’s dream and it makes me wish my own camera was better at capturing the city’s magic. Everything downtown is within walking distance. There is a mix of traditional food vendors and historical churches alongside modern cafés and clothing shops. Best of all, in all the public squares they have free wireless internet! It’s as if someone stole my dreams and made them into a city.
Our host family lives on a hill in the south of the city. From here we can see the entire city. It was not until this morning, however that we discovered there is a pyramid in the city. How we managed to miss it, I am not sure, but now that we know it’s there we’ll make sure to explore. We’re living in a family with five kids. Our host dad is Mexican and our host mom Hungarian. The kids range in age from two months to eleven years. They all speak Spanish and Hungarian and those over eight years also speak English. It’s quite impressive to see them switch languages based on who they are talking to. English is their weakest language, so host dad asks me to speak only English to them. I’m working on that, as sometimes it’s hard when you speak the language they prefer as well.
Tomorrow I’ll be returning to San Luis Potosí . This will be my second time there in just over a week. I will once again get to visit my delightful host family there. When I arrived last week – the first time in over a year – I was greeted with handmade signs welcoming me home and saying how much they missed me. It was really sweet.
I guess that’s all for now.
Loving Querétaro,
~Molly
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Mastercard?
Well, I suppose it's time to write again. Let's start off with the good news (at least for me). In the last three months, we have managed to successfully obtain 23 visas! I say we because it takes more than just one person. I did much of the research and leg work, but it couldn't have been done without a whole group of people. If you've ever tried to obtain a visa, then you may understand what an undertaking this is. For those who haven't, here's a little insight.
Lesson #1- Communication - Depending on how nice you are to the individuals in the consulate, your communication with them may be great. Communication between embassies, however, is non-existent.
Example: The Taiwanese embassy in Miami says non-US Citizens must apply for Taiwanese visas at the consulate nearest their home (Nepal must apply in India, Venezuela must apply in Venezuela) and that Chinese students are unable to travel to Taiwan as tourists. They need a green card to enter the country. The Taiwanese embassy in Chicago says that everyone can apply in the US, but the process for the Chinese students will take longer, however, they cannot apply in the Chicago office due to the fact that we were at the time traveling in Colorado. That leads us to Kansas City - the embassy for the Colorado area. We were able to work out a system to get all of the visa information necessary there and obtain many of the visas.
Lesson #2 - Destination - The answer of one embassy may not be what you want, and therefore it is necessary to not take the word of the first embassy as a final answer. Much like buying a new car, it is important to shop around first.
Example: The Mexican consulate in Denver said it would need to have all of the visa applications approved through the Mexico City office, a process which could take up to a month. The Mexican consulate in Miami took our applications and the visas were obtained the next day except for one who needed to be cleared through Mexico City due to a name issue.
Lesson #3 - Preparation - There is nothing that can help you more than having all the necessary paperwork filled out and ready to go. Calling ahead is a great way to ensure all necessary documents have been prepared.
Example: When going to the consulate where they have told you that as long as you have the applications, the passports, and one other authenticated document your visas will be no problem- don't let said documents fall out of your bag in the van. If you choose to do so, be prepared with the number of people who can bring documents to you.
Lesson #4 - Determination - When the consulate who you have sent all the information to informs you that you will need to go through a separate avenue to obtain a visa for a certain country, it is important to follow through.
Example: When the Taiwanese consulate in Kansas City tells you that the Chinese students need to fill out additional paperwork, you do it. When they tell you they need to talk to your sponsors in Taiwan, you give them the number. When they tell you to fill out another set of papers, you do it. When they tell you that the applications need to be handled in Taiwan, not the United States, you contact your team in Taiwan who sends you forms to fill out. You do it. The sponsor submits information and you are given a new set of forms to fill out. You do it. The Chinese students may have to fill out 4-5 sets of forms before they are given the right ones. When the embassy tells you they are not sure of the process for certain nationalities - ask them to be more specific, as they are the authorities on the subject.
The process is long. The process is hard. The process is time-consuming. Then you get hugs from the students as you hand back their passports with newly-obtained visas and you see the smile on the face of the Chinese student who is so excited to be the first person she knows to be able to visit Taiwan... and it's all worth it.
~Molly
Lesson #1- Communication - Depending on how nice you are to the individuals in the consulate, your communication with them may be great. Communication between embassies, however, is non-existent.
Example: The Taiwanese embassy in Miami says non-US Citizens must apply for Taiwanese visas at the consulate nearest their home (Nepal must apply in India, Venezuela must apply in Venezuela) and that Chinese students are unable to travel to Taiwan as tourists. They need a green card to enter the country. The Taiwanese embassy in Chicago says that everyone can apply in the US, but the process for the Chinese students will take longer, however, they cannot apply in the Chicago office due to the fact that we were at the time traveling in Colorado. That leads us to Kansas City - the embassy for the Colorado area. We were able to work out a system to get all of the visa information necessary there and obtain many of the visas.
Lesson #2 - Destination - The answer of one embassy may not be what you want, and therefore it is necessary to not take the word of the first embassy as a final answer. Much like buying a new car, it is important to shop around first.
Example: The Mexican consulate in Denver said it would need to have all of the visa applications approved through the Mexico City office, a process which could take up to a month. The Mexican consulate in Miami took our applications and the visas were obtained the next day except for one who needed to be cleared through Mexico City due to a name issue.
Lesson #3 - Preparation - There is nothing that can help you more than having all the necessary paperwork filled out and ready to go. Calling ahead is a great way to ensure all necessary documents have been prepared.
Example: When going to the consulate where they have told you that as long as you have the applications, the passports, and one other authenticated document your visas will be no problem- don't let said documents fall out of your bag in the van. If you choose to do so, be prepared with the number of people who can bring documents to you.
Lesson #4 - Determination - When the consulate who you have sent all the information to informs you that you will need to go through a separate avenue to obtain a visa for a certain country, it is important to follow through.
Example: When the Taiwanese consulate in Kansas City tells you that the Chinese students need to fill out additional paperwork, you do it. When they tell you they need to talk to your sponsors in Taiwan, you give them the number. When they tell you to fill out another set of papers, you do it. When they tell you that the applications need to be handled in Taiwan, not the United States, you contact your team in Taiwan who sends you forms to fill out. You do it. The sponsor submits information and you are given a new set of forms to fill out. You do it. The Chinese students may have to fill out 4-5 sets of forms before they are given the right ones. When the embassy tells you they are not sure of the process for certain nationalities - ask them to be more specific, as they are the authorities on the subject.
The process is long. The process is hard. The process is time-consuming. Then you get hugs from the students as you hand back their passports with newly-obtained visas and you see the smile on the face of the Chinese student who is so excited to be the first person she knows to be able to visit Taiwan... and it's all worth it.
~Molly
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Bucket List item I never added
Well I suppose the first new post of the new year (as the last post was technically written before the year's end) should be memorable. It should be suspenseful. It should be filled with interesting information. It should have a real message.
Today's story is about the effects of peer pressure. The topic of a certain activity came up early in the week and was bandied about a bit. It was something that had been mentioned at the beginning of the semester in jest; a full-staff activity in which half the staff would never agree to participate. I laughed it off as they began rallying the troops. Some were excited, some nervous, and some just plain not interested. As the week went on, the group grew larger. It began to get so big that I thought about it myself. If everyone else did this and I did not, would I regret it? Looking back on my life, I realized that the things I have regretted have never been the things that I have done. They've always been the things I was too scared to do. With that in mind, I told those coordinating that if they got the WHOLE staff to agree to go, then I would go as well. By Saturday, they had rallied 14 of the 16 staff members. The 15th person was on the fence... she was going to go, but not sure if she would participate. With that level of commitment, I agreed to go.
On a crisp, yet warm Sunday morning, the bus pulled into the monastery where the staff was staying to pick our group up. We had grown from the 16 staff members with the addition of a field manager and 5 students. At 22 strong, we made our way from Dade City to Orlando and by mid-morning had arrived at our destination. After signing our lives away, we began to go. Each group had about five of us mixed in with a contingency of instructors and other people. By the time my shift was to go, there were only three of us from Up with People left. We got dressed appropriately and met our instructors. I use the term instructor loosely, as there was not much instruction at all.
When the vehicle arrived, we all got in and buckled up. I was a bit nervous at the very beginning as we began to move and I realized the back hatch was still partially open. I got less nervous the further we got from our starting point. I looked out the window to enjoy the scenery and made conversation with the man sitting in front of me. After about 20 minutes, we'd reached our destination and my instructor (Ray) told me it was time to get out. We'd practiced our exit a bit on the ride over, so I felt pretty confident. He said, "Now take one last deep breath," and I did. There was no time to think, for as soon as I finished that last breath we went. As I tumbled out of the plane, there was a fraction of a second where my mind screamed, "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" but that quickly subsided as we finished flipping and began our descent. I was not scared at all after that. My ears hurt as the wind went rushing by at 120 miles per hour, but I did not feel scared. The ground seemed so far away that it was as if I was swimming on the air rather than falling. We did some turning and after 60 seconds of free falling, Ray deployed our parachute.
All of a sudden, everything stopped. The rushing air ceased and everything was quiet and still. Ray and I talked a bit as the parachute made a few turns. I looked out over the land and could see for miles. It made me think of the paragliders in our back yard. I had always been too afraid to go, but now I was seeing that the paragliding was tame in comparison to free falling. We neared the ground and I prepared to land. Even after I landed I felt like I was floating still. I walked toward my colleagues as one of the last to jump out of the plane, but still feeling the same sense of accomplishment.
If I had not gone would I have regretted that decision? Absolutely. Let this be a lesson to us all: If everyone else is going to do it, you might as well check it out too... No wait, that's not it. Oh, right. If it seems dangerous, research until you realize that it's actually pretty safe.
The facts: The incidence of death in skydiving is 1 in 100,000. This may seem like a lot, however the majority of those deaths are caused by a maneuver known as swooping, where an individual will approach the ground at high speeds and level out just above ground level as if running on air. This was DEFINITELY not a maneuver we were going to be doing. We all jumped tandem, which took the control out of our hands and into the hands of a professional. Most people's biggest fear in skydiving is the fear that their parachute will not open. Modern day skydiving equipment has built in altimeters which automatically deploy your chute at a certain altitude in case you or the person with you is unable to do so. If the first chute fails to open, there is a second parachute that is actually SAFER than the original parachute.
So with facts in hand, I felt comfortable in my decision. Aside from the moment the plane took off and the moment I left the plane, I was not scared at all. I'm actually more scared now looking back and seeing the pictures. I notice that there's NOTHING between me and the ground except for 13,000 feet of air. That's when I can't believe that I did it. What was I thinking?!
Well, I suppose that's it for this one.
~Molly
Today's story is about the effects of peer pressure. The topic of a certain activity came up early in the week and was bandied about a bit. It was something that had been mentioned at the beginning of the semester in jest; a full-staff activity in which half the staff would never agree to participate. I laughed it off as they began rallying the troops. Some were excited, some nervous, and some just plain not interested. As the week went on, the group grew larger. It began to get so big that I thought about it myself. If everyone else did this and I did not, would I regret it? Looking back on my life, I realized that the things I have regretted have never been the things that I have done. They've always been the things I was too scared to do. With that in mind, I told those coordinating that if they got the WHOLE staff to agree to go, then I would go as well. By Saturday, they had rallied 14 of the 16 staff members. The 15th person was on the fence... she was going to go, but not sure if she would participate. With that level of commitment, I agreed to go.
On a crisp, yet warm Sunday morning, the bus pulled into the monastery where the staff was staying to pick our group up. We had grown from the 16 staff members with the addition of a field manager and 5 students. At 22 strong, we made our way from Dade City to Orlando and by mid-morning had arrived at our destination. After signing our lives away, we began to go. Each group had about five of us mixed in with a contingency of instructors and other people. By the time my shift was to go, there were only three of us from Up with People left. We got dressed appropriately and met our instructors. I use the term instructor loosely, as there was not much instruction at all.
When the vehicle arrived, we all got in and buckled up. I was a bit nervous at the very beginning as we began to move and I realized the back hatch was still partially open. I got less nervous the further we got from our starting point. I looked out the window to enjoy the scenery and made conversation with the man sitting in front of me. After about 20 minutes, we'd reached our destination and my instructor (Ray) told me it was time to get out. We'd practiced our exit a bit on the ride over, so I felt pretty confident. He said, "Now take one last deep breath," and I did. There was no time to think, for as soon as I finished that last breath we went. As I tumbled out of the plane, there was a fraction of a second where my mind screamed, "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" but that quickly subsided as we finished flipping and began our descent. I was not scared at all after that. My ears hurt as the wind went rushing by at 120 miles per hour, but I did not feel scared. The ground seemed so far away that it was as if I was swimming on the air rather than falling. We did some turning and after 60 seconds of free falling, Ray deployed our parachute.
All of a sudden, everything stopped. The rushing air ceased and everything was quiet and still. Ray and I talked a bit as the parachute made a few turns. I looked out over the land and could see for miles. It made me think of the paragliders in our back yard. I had always been too afraid to go, but now I was seeing that the paragliding was tame in comparison to free falling. We neared the ground and I prepared to land. Even after I landed I felt like I was floating still. I walked toward my colleagues as one of the last to jump out of the plane, but still feeling the same sense of accomplishment.
If I had not gone would I have regretted that decision? Absolutely. Let this be a lesson to us all: If everyone else is going to do it, you might as well check it out too... No wait, that's not it. Oh, right. If it seems dangerous, research until you realize that it's actually pretty safe.
The facts: The incidence of death in skydiving is 1 in 100,000. This may seem like a lot, however the majority of those deaths are caused by a maneuver known as swooping, where an individual will approach the ground at high speeds and level out just above ground level as if running on air. This was DEFINITELY not a maneuver we were going to be doing. We all jumped tandem, which took the control out of our hands and into the hands of a professional. Most people's biggest fear in skydiving is the fear that their parachute will not open. Modern day skydiving equipment has built in altimeters which automatically deploy your chute at a certain altitude in case you or the person with you is unable to do so. If the first chute fails to open, there is a second parachute that is actually SAFER than the original parachute.
So with facts in hand, I felt comfortable in my decision. Aside from the moment the plane took off and the moment I left the plane, I was not scared at all. I'm actually more scared now looking back and seeing the pictures. I notice that there's NOTHING between me and the ground except for 13,000 feet of air. That's when I can't believe that I did it. What was I thinking?!
Well, I suppose that's it for this one.
~Molly
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A late seasonal greeting.
The following is my holiday letter, but it really expresses my thoughts over the past month or two.
While in the Philippines I witnessed many things, but the most beautiful was the power of hope. So often people are consumed by the news spread across the media about the problems of the world today. Violence, drugs, war, teen pregnancy, childhood obesity... This generation is slated to be the first in recorded history to have a shorter lifespan and be less successful than the generation before. That's a harsh start to a long life. We look for answers in medicine and technology, which is where we start to miss things. Is it easier to cure someone or to prevent them from becoming ill? The answer seems apparent to those of us who know the power of prevention. However, once a person is ill what keeps them holding on is a little thing called hope. We hope for a cure, for a miracle, for one more day, for something to live for, but we still hope. Well it's time our world had a little more hope.
I've seen first-hand the dramatic impact hope can have. In the Philippines I worked in two different impoverished areas. On the outside, the two areas looked about the same. The needs were the same and the people, at face value were also the same. After wondering what was missing in the second community, I realized it was hope. Following is the story of that first community.
While in Manila I was working with an organization called Gawad Kalinga. The organization has a goal to create a squatter-free Philippines. Their basic model is to tear down the slums and in their place build safe, adequate housing. Working with the beneficiaries, who are required to put in a certain amount of "sweat equity," and volunteers, they construct the housing. They are working to gain land rights in areas where people are living illegally. The basic ideal is to restore dignity to the Filipinos and eventually help to eradicate poverty throughout the world. GK works to build more than houses. They build communities. They teach livelihood skills and work with the beneficiaries to create business models to ensure their future success. In our particular project, the city was working with GK and had given them land rights so they were able to build without tearing down the peoples' houses.
I hardly know where to begin in recounting my experience. I was with a group of 12 people from 7 countries - Bangladesh, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, United States, Mexico, and Germany. On our first day, we were given a tour of the slum that we were building housing for. The neighborhood was within an area they called the "Values Section" with street names like Friendship and Charity. This community lived at the end of Prosperity St. We made our way through a maze of narrow pathways between cardboard enclosures topped with corrugated metal. The pathways were covered with wrappers and trash as well as puddles of water which were likely disease-ridden. In some cases the metal on top was not sufficient, so shirts or tires were thrown on top to help keep out the elements. There was no electricity. The children were walking around barefoot and, in some cases, naked. The mothers were working on recycling or other livelihood projects in which GK had trained them. The heat was unbearable for us, yet it seemed to not affect them. The biggest thing we noticed in every person we passed was their smile. They were all smiling. They knew that we were there to help build their future homes and were filled with the promise that they would soon be able to move out of this slum - which was actually a park until it filled with squatters - and into real houses.
When we returned to the site where we were building, we all had a new appreciation for the people there. These people working side-by-side with us were helping to build their community, their future, and a future for the children. Did I not mention the children? There were hundreds of children. On our first day, we were joined by a dozen or so children with whom we played after finishing our lunches. We taught them games and songs and had some of those who spoke English help to translate. They called us "Barbies" and would feel our skin commenting on how beautiful it was and how beautiful we were. It was almost as if they were checking to see if we were real. As we returned a second and third day they began to look forward to our arrival. We would see them playing games with each other that we had taught them and we rarely would go 15 minutes without hearing a part of one of the songs we'd taught. Each day was filled with excitement at the prospect of going to this amazing place and not only helping to build houses (I did a lot of plastering) but having fun with the kids. There was a buzz around, a jolt of energy to the place that had once been so unfamiliar. We were able to work there for 8 days. At the beginning people would avert their eyes as we walked through the village that was on the way to our site or would occasionally venture to look at us. By the end of the week we were greeted every day with choruses of "hello" and "Goodbye! See you tomorrow!" by adults and children alike. It was easy to see that these people all had hope. They had something to look forward to and knew the lives of their children were going to be improved dramatically due to the efforts of GK.
On our final day, we had a day of just playing and celebrating. We played with the kids to start off the day and later they performed for us. The kids from the neighboring school did little dances and songs for us. Some of the beneficiaries did a Filipino folk dance. Then the beneficiary kids came up to perform. These were "our" kids - the ones we saw every day and had come to love. They got up and performed... one of the songs we'd taught them! When they finished one of their mothers explained "this was the first thing you taught our children and they wanted to let you know that they'll never forget you." Some of the mothers came up to us to tell us how much they'd miss us and that they'd never forget us, that we'd made such an impact on their children in just the short time we were there. They explained that they have hope that with other people like us in the world that we can make it a better place.
When we left there were lots of tears. There were tears of joy for the work that had been done and tears of sadness for the friends we won't see for a long time. They may not forget us, but we will never forget them. Whenever I think of the Philippines, I'll see the faces of Louie and Len Len and Winsy and Camille. I'll know what poverty looks like, yet how hope can shape the lives of those in poverty.
~Molly
If you're interested in Gawad Kalinga, you can find out more at gawadkalinga.org So far their model has been successfully replicated in parts of India and Africa in an effort to eradicate poverty and homelessness.
While in the Philippines I witnessed many things, but the most beautiful was the power of hope. So often people are consumed by the news spread across the media about the problems of the world today. Violence, drugs, war, teen pregnancy, childhood obesity... This generation is slated to be the first in recorded history to have a shorter lifespan and be less successful than the generation before. That's a harsh start to a long life. We look for answers in medicine and technology, which is where we start to miss things. Is it easier to cure someone or to prevent them from becoming ill? The answer seems apparent to those of us who know the power of prevention. However, once a person is ill what keeps them holding on is a little thing called hope. We hope for a cure, for a miracle, for one more day, for something to live for, but we still hope. Well it's time our world had a little more hope.
I've seen first-hand the dramatic impact hope can have. In the Philippines I worked in two different impoverished areas. On the outside, the two areas looked about the same. The needs were the same and the people, at face value were also the same. After wondering what was missing in the second community, I realized it was hope. Following is the story of that first community.
While in Manila I was working with an organization called Gawad Kalinga. The organization has a goal to create a squatter-free Philippines. Their basic model is to tear down the slums and in their place build safe, adequate housing. Working with the beneficiaries, who are required to put in a certain amount of "sweat equity," and volunteers, they construct the housing. They are working to gain land rights in areas where people are living illegally. The basic ideal is to restore dignity to the Filipinos and eventually help to eradicate poverty throughout the world. GK works to build more than houses. They build communities. They teach livelihood skills and work with the beneficiaries to create business models to ensure their future success. In our particular project, the city was working with GK and had given them land rights so they were able to build without tearing down the peoples' houses.
I hardly know where to begin in recounting my experience. I was with a group of 12 people from 7 countries - Bangladesh, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, United States, Mexico, and Germany. On our first day, we were given a tour of the slum that we were building housing for. The neighborhood was within an area they called the "Values Section" with street names like Friendship and Charity. This community lived at the end of Prosperity St. We made our way through a maze of narrow pathways between cardboard enclosures topped with corrugated metal. The pathways were covered with wrappers and trash as well as puddles of water which were likely disease-ridden. In some cases the metal on top was not sufficient, so shirts or tires were thrown on top to help keep out the elements. There was no electricity. The children were walking around barefoot and, in some cases, naked. The mothers were working on recycling or other livelihood projects in which GK had trained them. The heat was unbearable for us, yet it seemed to not affect them. The biggest thing we noticed in every person we passed was their smile. They were all smiling. They knew that we were there to help build their future homes and were filled with the promise that they would soon be able to move out of this slum - which was actually a park until it filled with squatters - and into real houses.
When we returned to the site where we were building, we all had a new appreciation for the people there. These people working side-by-side with us were helping to build their community, their future, and a future for the children. Did I not mention the children? There were hundreds of children. On our first day, we were joined by a dozen or so children with whom we played after finishing our lunches. We taught them games and songs and had some of those who spoke English help to translate. They called us "Barbies" and would feel our skin commenting on how beautiful it was and how beautiful we were. It was almost as if they were checking to see if we were real. As we returned a second and third day they began to look forward to our arrival. We would see them playing games with each other that we had taught them and we rarely would go 15 minutes without hearing a part of one of the songs we'd taught. Each day was filled with excitement at the prospect of going to this amazing place and not only helping to build houses (I did a lot of plastering) but having fun with the kids. There was a buzz around, a jolt of energy to the place that had once been so unfamiliar. We were able to work there for 8 days. At the beginning people would avert their eyes as we walked through the village that was on the way to our site or would occasionally venture to look at us. By the end of the week we were greeted every day with choruses of "hello" and "Goodbye! See you tomorrow!" by adults and children alike. It was easy to see that these people all had hope. They had something to look forward to and knew the lives of their children were going to be improved dramatically due to the efforts of GK.
On our final day, we had a day of just playing and celebrating. We played with the kids to start off the day and later they performed for us. The kids from the neighboring school did little dances and songs for us. Some of the beneficiaries did a Filipino folk dance. Then the beneficiary kids came up to perform. These were "our" kids - the ones we saw every day and had come to love. They got up and performed... one of the songs we'd taught them! When they finished one of their mothers explained "this was the first thing you taught our children and they wanted to let you know that they'll never forget you." Some of the mothers came up to us to tell us how much they'd miss us and that they'd never forget us, that we'd made such an impact on their children in just the short time we were there. They explained that they have hope that with other people like us in the world that we can make it a better place.
When we left there were lots of tears. There were tears of joy for the work that had been done and tears of sadness for the friends we won't see for a long time. They may not forget us, but we will never forget them. Whenever I think of the Philippines, I'll see the faces of Louie and Len Len and Winsy and Camille. I'll know what poverty looks like, yet how hope can shape the lives of those in poverty.
~Molly
If you're interested in Gawad Kalinga, you can find out more at gawadkalinga.org So far their model has been successfully replicated in parts of India and Africa in an effort to eradicate poverty and homelessness.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Su Fu and So Forth...
Right now we are in Sioux Falls, SD. Our lovely fall weather has passed and we have officially hit winter. Today started off at 45 degrees and by the end had fallen to 23 degrees. Needless to say, I'm glad I had my mom bring my winter coat when she came.
Tonight I went with my host mom and roommate (Nathalie from Sweden) to the Ahn Trio concert. The Ahn Trio consists of three sisters - one cellist, one pianist, and one violinist. All are Juilliard trained and they play chamber music by contemporary composers. That was probably the most interesting part, the fact that the oldest composer represented by their pieces was Richard Rogers. Their performance was dynamic and passionate and they were all very talented. The theatre we were in, the Washington Pavilion, had some of the most amazing acoustics I've ever heard. Every pluck of the strings could be heard from the top of the balcony (or so I assume... We were in the 8th row Orchestra). Each note resonated and you could feel it in your chest. It was almost like the music became the air and you were just breathing in the harmonies. I enjoyed it immensely.
One of the basic concepts of improv theatre is pattern recognition. What is funny in a scene is when a specific action or theme returns and is played out in a parallel fashion. This is a skill improvisors must work to develop with the understanding that the more they are able to perceive what is unusual or funny about a scene, the better they are able to portray it to the audience. Those improvisors who are seen has being very perceptive, sharp, and funny are the ones who see the patterns easily and are able to play them. Why, you may ask, do I bring this up? I was thinking about it this evening when I got to the concert. This is my second tour with UWP. In my first tour, I only went to one concert... The 5 Browns. Five brothers and sisters, all Juilliard trained, who traveled together and performed. I'm just wondering what the third beat of this pattern is going to be, because I'm sure we're all aware of the comic rule of three.
We have our show in Sioux Falls tomorrow afternoon. We've already sold out the floor (2,000 seats) so it will be a nice big audience. We leave Monday for North Platte, NE and then the following Monday head to the Philippines. It's a wild ride and I'm hanging on tight.
~Molly
Tonight I went with my host mom and roommate (Nathalie from Sweden) to the Ahn Trio concert. The Ahn Trio consists of three sisters - one cellist, one pianist, and one violinist. All are Juilliard trained and they play chamber music by contemporary composers. That was probably the most interesting part, the fact that the oldest composer represented by their pieces was Richard Rogers. Their performance was dynamic and passionate and they were all very talented. The theatre we were in, the Washington Pavilion, had some of the most amazing acoustics I've ever heard. Every pluck of the strings could be heard from the top of the balcony (or so I assume... We were in the 8th row Orchestra). Each note resonated and you could feel it in your chest. It was almost like the music became the air and you were just breathing in the harmonies. I enjoyed it immensely.
One of the basic concepts of improv theatre is pattern recognition. What is funny in a scene is when a specific action or theme returns and is played out in a parallel fashion. This is a skill improvisors must work to develop with the understanding that the more they are able to perceive what is unusual or funny about a scene, the better they are able to portray it to the audience. Those improvisors who are seen has being very perceptive, sharp, and funny are the ones who see the patterns easily and are able to play them. Why, you may ask, do I bring this up? I was thinking about it this evening when I got to the concert. This is my second tour with UWP. In my first tour, I only went to one concert... The 5 Browns. Five brothers and sisters, all Juilliard trained, who traveled together and performed. I'm just wondering what the third beat of this pattern is going to be, because I'm sure we're all aware of the comic rule of three.
We have our show in Sioux Falls tomorrow afternoon. We've already sold out the floor (2,000 seats) so it will be a nice big audience. We leave Monday for North Platte, NE and then the following Monday head to the Philippines. It's a wild ride and I'm hanging on tight.
~Molly
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I've been pinched, but I'm still waiting to wake up.
Upon our arrival in Bangkok, we were greeted with flower bracelets by a volunteer who helped set up the Thailand portion of our tour. The flowers smelled lovely and made for an excellent make-shift crown. We grabbed our bags and got on the bus for a 15 hour bus ride. What better way to see the country than on a bus, right? We passed rice fields and temples and amazing cloudscapes before stopping for dinner.
Dinner was our first experience with Thai food. By that, I mean it was the first time someone mistook hot chili sauce for sweet and sour sauce. There were more than a few burned mouths. Mine took to it well, as I was pretty sure whatever sauce it was was going to end up hot, so I took only a small amount. After that it was back on the bus until 1:00 AM which is when we arrived to the temple. Did I just say temple? Oh right, a temple. We spent our first night in Thailand at a Buddhist temple. We woke up to the mind-numbingly loud chirp of the crickets and Erika and I went for a walk to check out the local area before breakfast. Breakfast began the chain of similarity when it comes to food. So far, 3/4 of the meals here consist of fried rice with egg, vegetables, and some kind of meat I don't eat (so I get it without). It's delicious, though monotonous.
Where was I? Right - the temple. We were greeted on our first real day in Thailand by the head of the monastery as well as some local radio personalities. Monks are very happy people. I want to take them home. The pictures don't do the temple (or the happy monks) justice, but suffice it to say the entire experience was beautiful. We also experienced luke-warm bucket showers and "squatty potties" at the temple. We were told to expect them in our host families, as well. I'm happy to say I lucked out on that front. My family lives in a nice house near the airport with a western toilet that flushes as well as a shower with warm water! They also speak English! These are all luxuries in the Up With People Thai tour. I'm living the big life.
Our first night, my 17 year-old host sister took me to a show. I had no idea what kind of show to expect, but it turned out to be a multicultural show put on by a local university. My host sister is friends with another family that's hosting, so Johan from the Netherlands was also with us. When Johan (as blonde-haired and blue-eyed as they come) and I walked in we were approached by the staff and told to "Wait here for VIP." We told them we weren't VIP and went to sit down with our host sisters. When we got to the row we were sitting in, another staff member came up and said "You can sit up front." It was then that we realized that we were the only non-Thai people in a crowd of about 1000. Needless to say, we stuck out. There were spotlights that would go around the whole room from time to time. Every time they came near Johan and me we were just waiting for them to stop and for everyone to look at us. Thankfully, that didn't happen until halfway through the show. We heard the emcees coming down the aisle saying "farang, farang," which I recalled from my Thai phrasebook to mean "foreigner." The spotlight came to a halt on our blonde heads in the sea of dark hair and we meekly waved to the crowd. I let Johan do the talking and just sat back and laughed. I'm finally exotic!
On Friday the group I'm with went to one of the local high schools to do some activities, teach some English, and perform a show for the students. It was well-received, though the students were very shy.
That brings us to Saturday. Saturday was our regional learning day. We started the day with an hour and a half boat ride down the river to our first site. One of the boats ahead of us hit a rock and got a hole in it, so we had to stop and wait for another boat to get there, as our boat had the only Thai/English speaker. As we neared our destination we saw them. They were big, gray, wrinkley, and beautiful. They were our rides. Each elephant had a seat on its back which held two people. We went on a tour of the area on our elephants (ours was a female who happened to be pregnant) which ended in the river to get back to the stand. My elephant date and I each got a chance to ride on the head of the elephant. It was quite bumpy, though the overall feeling was much like that of riding a pony. The elephant's skin felt really cool with all the bristly hairs on its head. Its ears kept wrapping around my legs like it was trying to protect them. It. Was. Awesome.
From there we got on another boat and headed to our next departure point. We were told to bring comfortable walking shoes, which usually means a fair amount of walking. We hadn't really anticipated what was about to come. After a grueling 45 minute hike in the 90+ degree weather we reached a hill tribe. "Great!" we all thought as we reached the village. Our guide then informed us that we were just stopping to let people catch up, that we still had another 45 minutes to the hill tribe that we were going to stop at for real.
We hiked another half hour and stopped again to wait for people to catch up. Two hours and buckets of sweat after we left our starting point, we arrived at one of the Akha tribe villages. We stopped to get drinks and then hiked the last ten minutes to our actual destination. We could hear the rushing water before we could see it, but as we climbed further and further in the jungle, we finally reached the WATERFALL! Hans, Mitch, and I were the first around the bend to behold the amazing sight. After some shouting and running about in feverish delight (90+ degrees, remember?) we hopped into the waterfall. It was glorious. I went to sit on the rocks right at the bottom of the waterfall and realized it created a natural massage. I stayed there while the others trickled in. It was very surreal, seeing my friends from all over the world climbing around on a Thai waterfall like water nymphs.
How do you follow that? With dinner, of course. We took the local trucks (pictures to come eventually) to an open air restaurant that was just for us. We had some time to relax and chat with each other as we heard the vocal stylings of a local artist. He sang everything from Aretha Franklin to Maroon 5 - all in English. There was even some John Denver thrown in. After that, we were treated to a local group of hill tribe performers. The group comes together as part of an effort for awareness and to keep tribal girls out of human trafficking. They were from a number of different hill tribes and each had their own ceremonial dress. Their songs and dances were very reminiscent of native American traditions, with a lot of natural influence.
I think I'll stop there for now. Happy reading.
~Molly
Dinner was our first experience with Thai food. By that, I mean it was the first time someone mistook hot chili sauce for sweet and sour sauce. There were more than a few burned mouths. Mine took to it well, as I was pretty sure whatever sauce it was was going to end up hot, so I took only a small amount. After that it was back on the bus until 1:00 AM which is when we arrived to the temple. Did I just say temple? Oh right, a temple. We spent our first night in Thailand at a Buddhist temple. We woke up to the mind-numbingly loud chirp of the crickets and Erika and I went for a walk to check out the local area before breakfast. Breakfast began the chain of similarity when it comes to food. So far, 3/4 of the meals here consist of fried rice with egg, vegetables, and some kind of meat I don't eat (so I get it without). It's delicious, though monotonous.
Where was I? Right - the temple. We were greeted on our first real day in Thailand by the head of the monastery as well as some local radio personalities. Monks are very happy people. I want to take them home. The pictures don't do the temple (or the happy monks) justice, but suffice it to say the entire experience was beautiful. We also experienced luke-warm bucket showers and "squatty potties" at the temple. We were told to expect them in our host families, as well. I'm happy to say I lucked out on that front. My family lives in a nice house near the airport with a western toilet that flushes as well as a shower with warm water! They also speak English! These are all luxuries in the Up With People Thai tour. I'm living the big life.
Our first night, my 17 year-old host sister took me to a show. I had no idea what kind of show to expect, but it turned out to be a multicultural show put on by a local university. My host sister is friends with another family that's hosting, so Johan from the Netherlands was also with us. When Johan (as blonde-haired and blue-eyed as they come) and I walked in we were approached by the staff and told to "Wait here for VIP." We told them we weren't VIP and went to sit down with our host sisters. When we got to the row we were sitting in, another staff member came up and said "You can sit up front." It was then that we realized that we were the only non-Thai people in a crowd of about 1000. Needless to say, we stuck out. There were spotlights that would go around the whole room from time to time. Every time they came near Johan and me we were just waiting for them to stop and for everyone to look at us. Thankfully, that didn't happen until halfway through the show. We heard the emcees coming down the aisle saying "farang, farang," which I recalled from my Thai phrasebook to mean "foreigner." The spotlight came to a halt on our blonde heads in the sea of dark hair and we meekly waved to the crowd. I let Johan do the talking and just sat back and laughed. I'm finally exotic!
On Friday the group I'm with went to one of the local high schools to do some activities, teach some English, and perform a show for the students. It was well-received, though the students were very shy.
That brings us to Saturday. Saturday was our regional learning day. We started the day with an hour and a half boat ride down the river to our first site. One of the boats ahead of us hit a rock and got a hole in it, so we had to stop and wait for another boat to get there, as our boat had the only Thai/English speaker. As we neared our destination we saw them. They were big, gray, wrinkley, and beautiful. They were our rides. Each elephant had a seat on its back which held two people. We went on a tour of the area on our elephants (ours was a female who happened to be pregnant) which ended in the river to get back to the stand. My elephant date and I each got a chance to ride on the head of the elephant. It was quite bumpy, though the overall feeling was much like that of riding a pony. The elephant's skin felt really cool with all the bristly hairs on its head. Its ears kept wrapping around my legs like it was trying to protect them. It. Was. Awesome.
From there we got on another boat and headed to our next departure point. We were told to bring comfortable walking shoes, which usually means a fair amount of walking. We hadn't really anticipated what was about to come. After a grueling 45 minute hike in the 90+ degree weather we reached a hill tribe. "Great!" we all thought as we reached the village. Our guide then informed us that we were just stopping to let people catch up, that we still had another 45 minutes to the hill tribe that we were going to stop at for real.
We hiked another half hour and stopped again to wait for people to catch up. Two hours and buckets of sweat after we left our starting point, we arrived at one of the Akha tribe villages. We stopped to get drinks and then hiked the last ten minutes to our actual destination. We could hear the rushing water before we could see it, but as we climbed further and further in the jungle, we finally reached the WATERFALL! Hans, Mitch, and I were the first around the bend to behold the amazing sight. After some shouting and running about in feverish delight (90+ degrees, remember?) we hopped into the waterfall. It was glorious. I went to sit on the rocks right at the bottom of the waterfall and realized it created a natural massage. I stayed there while the others trickled in. It was very surreal, seeing my friends from all over the world climbing around on a Thai waterfall like water nymphs.
How do you follow that? With dinner, of course. We took the local trucks (pictures to come eventually) to an open air restaurant that was just for us. We had some time to relax and chat with each other as we heard the vocal stylings of a local artist. He sang everything from Aretha Franklin to Maroon 5 - all in English. There was even some John Denver thrown in. After that, we were treated to a local group of hill tribe performers. The group comes together as part of an effort for awareness and to keep tribal girls out of human trafficking. They were from a number of different hill tribes and each had their own ceremonial dress. Their songs and dances were very reminiscent of native American traditions, with a lot of natural influence.
I think I'll stop there for now. Happy reading.
~Molly
Saturday, April 5, 2008
La Cultura
Ahh yes, Thursday. Thursday we went to a college campus in the southern part of Mexico City (I'm hosted in the north). We had another mini-show there. Again, we used costumes. This time, rather than having to change on both sides of the stage, we had to change in the big truck we carry all our equipment in. That means we had to run all the way off stage and over to the side, climb up into the truck, change, jump down, then run to whichever side we entered from next. Did I mention this city is approximately 2 miles high? Needless to say, we were all out of breath pretty quickly. After our show was a reception with regional Mexican food. It was really good.
We were treated to a special performance of Romeo and Juliet by some of the college students. Our schedule said Romeo y Julieta, denoting Spanish. The poster on campus said Romeo et Juliette, denoting French. Let the confusion begin! When the announcer introduced the show he welcomed us all to the musical, Romeo y Julieta. Well the show began with a big song and dance number - in French. All right, we thought to ourselves, it's in French. The song ended and the next scene began... in Spanish. Wait, what? Oh right. The costumes were really cool, kind of a gothic style with the Montagues in black and the Capulets in red. The show was really good, but I can now say that I saw Romeo and Juliet in Spanish with French songs in Mexico. They had a really cool addition to the show which I guess would best be described as fate. There was a dancer all dressed in white who was shown directing all the moments where the plot turned - whether it was passing the knife used to stab someone or stealing a letter from the messenger. It was very effective, especially with the dark costumes the rest of the cast had.
At the end of the day, our host sister took us out for tacos, so we got home around 12:30. That made it quite difficult as the next day we had to leave the house before 6:00 a.m. Why? You might ask. There was a group of 15 of us who went to a television studio to perform for some show that I don't know the name of. After we finished there we walked to our meeting place where the rest of the cast was. We rehearsed some and then went to Los Pinos, a.k.a. Mexico's White House. We received a tour of the grounds and were officially received by the President's wife. We sang "Viva la Gente" for her and she sang right along with us mouthing every single word. It was neat to see all of us dressed up in our fancy attire as opposed to our day-to-day rehearsal clothes.
When we left Los Pinos we went back to our meeting place where we did another mini-show (yes, that makes 3 days in a row) for the press. Apparently we were on the 10:00 news here, but I didn't watch. I got interviewed for the first time in English. We had a little bit of time to hang out before our bus came, which was nice to have some down time. I sat next to Jared, one of my hometeam leaders, on the bus ride and we came to the realization that we are both equally nerdy. I never would have guessed.
I came home and took a quick nap before eating and heading out again. Our host sister took us to a salsa club where we danced all night. By all night, I mean that we got home around 4:00 this morning. I danced with 5 or 6 different people, which was cool to see the different styles with which people lead. Most were decent partners, but one was great. He led with confidence so you knew which way you were turning and how far and all those details that make a girl look good. I even got a few compliments on my salsa skills :-) Today is our free day, which means sleep! My roommate and I both slept really late and so far we've just lazed about. We're probably going to go into the city to hang out with some people and get coffee later. With that, I think I'm up to date! Huzzah! Now I just have a ton of pictures to upload. The connection is a bit slow so it takes a long time to upload. Be patient and there will be more up soon.
Adios,
~Molly
We were treated to a special performance of Romeo and Juliet by some of the college students. Our schedule said Romeo y Julieta, denoting Spanish. The poster on campus said Romeo et Juliette, denoting French. Let the confusion begin! When the announcer introduced the show he welcomed us all to the musical, Romeo y Julieta. Well the show began with a big song and dance number - in French. All right, we thought to ourselves, it's in French. The song ended and the next scene began... in Spanish. Wait, what? Oh right. The costumes were really cool, kind of a gothic style with the Montagues in black and the Capulets in red. The show was really good, but I can now say that I saw Romeo and Juliet in Spanish with French songs in Mexico. They had a really cool addition to the show which I guess would best be described as fate. There was a dancer all dressed in white who was shown directing all the moments where the plot turned - whether it was passing the knife used to stab someone or stealing a letter from the messenger. It was very effective, especially with the dark costumes the rest of the cast had.
At the end of the day, our host sister took us out for tacos, so we got home around 12:30. That made it quite difficult as the next day we had to leave the house before 6:00 a.m. Why? You might ask. There was a group of 15 of us who went to a television studio to perform for some show that I don't know the name of. After we finished there we walked to our meeting place where the rest of the cast was. We rehearsed some and then went to Los Pinos, a.k.a. Mexico's White House. We received a tour of the grounds and were officially received by the President's wife. We sang "Viva la Gente" for her and she sang right along with us mouthing every single word. It was neat to see all of us dressed up in our fancy attire as opposed to our day-to-day rehearsal clothes.
When we left Los Pinos we went back to our meeting place where we did another mini-show (yes, that makes 3 days in a row) for the press. Apparently we were on the 10:00 news here, but I didn't watch. I got interviewed for the first time in English. We had a little bit of time to hang out before our bus came, which was nice to have some down time. I sat next to Jared, one of my hometeam leaders, on the bus ride and we came to the realization that we are both equally nerdy. I never would have guessed.
I came home and took a quick nap before eating and heading out again. Our host sister took us to a salsa club where we danced all night. By all night, I mean that we got home around 4:00 this morning. I danced with 5 or 6 different people, which was cool to see the different styles with which people lead. Most were decent partners, but one was great. He led with confidence so you knew which way you were turning and how far and all those details that make a girl look good. I even got a few compliments on my salsa skills :-) Today is our free day, which means sleep! My roommate and I both slept really late and so far we've just lazed about. We're probably going to go into the city to hang out with some people and get coffee later. With that, I think I'm up to date! Huzzah! Now I just have a ton of pictures to upload. The connection is a bit slow so it takes a long time to upload. Be patient and there will be more up soon.
Adios,
~Molly
Monterrey? More like Monte-yay
Show day in Monterrey brought up a lot of new experiences - my first double show day, my first alumni reception, and my first on-camera interview in Spanish. Having two shows in one day is such a unique experience, because we're all so used to having our show and then going immediately into breaking down the set and interviewing prospective students. It was weird to stay in my show costume all day.
Our first show went pretty well. We were still trying to gain confidence as it was our first time performing our Mexican medley. The audience was much quieter than I imagined - they were very polite, but seemed to be enjoying it.
Our second show was awesome. The crowd was a bit bigger and a bit more raucous. During one of our songs ("I Can Believe") I looked out to see a few cell phones waving back and forth, lighter style. After a while a few more joined in, and then a few more. Eventually there were cell phones waving through 3/4 of the audience. In the dark they looked like stars twinkling in the distance. I first noticed when I looked over at the singer who had this smile of surprise on her face. I looked at the person sharing the microphone with me and we both got huge grins on our faces as we continued the song. It's amazing how something so small can make such a difference. I only wish more of the cast was on stage at that point so they didn't have to experience it second-hand.
Monday morning we left Monterrey and traveled to Mexico City, where I am currently. Mexico City is... HUGE. Our days are usually pretty long, but they're even longer when you add in Mexico City travel time and traffic. I spend between an hour and a half and 4 hours traveling each day, which makes our normal 10-12 hour days much longer. Needless to say, sleep is far from abundant. That being said, our days have been packed with activities.
Our first full day here we traveled to Teotihuacan, the ancient pyramids. The pictures really speak for themselves (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/sets/72157604366099067/). All I can say is that it was the perfect day to be there. When I reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, there was a yellow butterfly that just kept flying around like crazy. Eventually another joined it, but the original was up there the whole time I was. After Teotihuacan we visited MUNAL, one of the most famous art galleries in the city.
On Wednesday we worked in the classrooms of a school here. The school itself has the oddest architecture I've encountered. The classrooms all look like pods, with one stacked on top of the next. It's very futuristic. We worked with 3 classes and had a mini-show for all 1000+ students in the school. It was our first time using specialty dance costumes for a mini-show, which led to a few problems when I realized during our rehearsal that half my costumes were on one side and half on the other. Due to different entrances, my shoes ended up on one side when I had to change on the other. Fortunately, one of my castmates had an extra pair of shoes that I borrowed for half the show. It went over pretty well with all of us being asked for pictures and autographs afterward.
As for the classes themselves, there's an interesting contrast. The school we were at was a bilingual school, so the students are more or less familiar with English (the older they are, the more exposure they've had). The three of us who worked together began in a sixth grade class. They understood some of what we said, but I ended up translating a good portion of it into Spanish so we could make sure they got as much out of it as possible. They were a good class, very attentive, and very interested in what we were doing. They also had some great ideas about ways to make their community better.
Our second class was an 8th grade class and man were they difficult. They were so loud we couldn't hear ourselves, and it was quite frustrating to go an hour and a half without having a single moment of silence. We ended up getting through about half of what we had planned, but there's only so much you can do with an unwilling audience. Some of them were very receptive and we ended up taking the opportunity of them talking all the time to talk about respect. For the last 10 minutes, they suddenly got quiet - we're not sure why. We're just hoping that perhaps our lesson of respecting others when talking will translate into helping their regular teacher.
Our last class was... amazing. They had said that there was a portion of the student body that was different than the normal students. They were less privileged, but were given the opportunity to go to this private school at a very discounted rate as long as they maintained a certain grade point average. I knew that these would be good students, as they actually wanted to be at school rather than being forced to. I was right. Every one of them was engaged. Since many of them were indigenous people, many didn't have the opportunity to learn as much English as the other classes. Again, I translated most of what was said to make sure they understood the meaning. Our lesson plan got rearranged because some of the things we were talking about flowed right into another activity and the transitions were effortless. At the end, we taught them a few songs that we sing to get ourselves energized. They went crazy for them. One was in Spanish and one in English, and they were so enthusiastic - even the teacher got into it. After that they taught us two similar songs in Spanish. The kids who had all been reserved and shy were no longer. They were shouting and laughing and having a great time. As we left the classroom, we were accompanied by the singing and energy along with shouts of "Thank you!" and chants of "Viva la Gente!" It was the best class I've been in.
This is where I'll stop this one so that you can split your reading into two parts, because this is really long already.
~Molly
Our first show went pretty well. We were still trying to gain confidence as it was our first time performing our Mexican medley. The audience was much quieter than I imagined - they were very polite, but seemed to be enjoying it.
Our second show was awesome. The crowd was a bit bigger and a bit more raucous. During one of our songs ("I Can Believe") I looked out to see a few cell phones waving back and forth, lighter style. After a while a few more joined in, and then a few more. Eventually there were cell phones waving through 3/4 of the audience. In the dark they looked like stars twinkling in the distance. I first noticed when I looked over at the singer who had this smile of surprise on her face. I looked at the person sharing the microphone with me and we both got huge grins on our faces as we continued the song. It's amazing how something so small can make such a difference. I only wish more of the cast was on stage at that point so they didn't have to experience it second-hand.
Monday morning we left Monterrey and traveled to Mexico City, where I am currently. Mexico City is... HUGE. Our days are usually pretty long, but they're even longer when you add in Mexico City travel time and traffic. I spend between an hour and a half and 4 hours traveling each day, which makes our normal 10-12 hour days much longer. Needless to say, sleep is far from abundant. That being said, our days have been packed with activities.
Our first full day here we traveled to Teotihuacan, the ancient pyramids. The pictures really speak for themselves (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/sets/72157604366099067/). All I can say is that it was the perfect day to be there. When I reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, there was a yellow butterfly that just kept flying around like crazy. Eventually another joined it, but the original was up there the whole time I was. After Teotihuacan we visited MUNAL, one of the most famous art galleries in the city.
On Wednesday we worked in the classrooms of a school here. The school itself has the oddest architecture I've encountered. The classrooms all look like pods, with one stacked on top of the next. It's very futuristic. We worked with 3 classes and had a mini-show for all 1000+ students in the school. It was our first time using specialty dance costumes for a mini-show, which led to a few problems when I realized during our rehearsal that half my costumes were on one side and half on the other. Due to different entrances, my shoes ended up on one side when I had to change on the other. Fortunately, one of my castmates had an extra pair of shoes that I borrowed for half the show. It went over pretty well with all of us being asked for pictures and autographs afterward.
As for the classes themselves, there's an interesting contrast. The school we were at was a bilingual school, so the students are more or less familiar with English (the older they are, the more exposure they've had). The three of us who worked together began in a sixth grade class. They understood some of what we said, but I ended up translating a good portion of it into Spanish so we could make sure they got as much out of it as possible. They were a good class, very attentive, and very interested in what we were doing. They also had some great ideas about ways to make their community better.
Our second class was an 8th grade class and man were they difficult. They were so loud we couldn't hear ourselves, and it was quite frustrating to go an hour and a half without having a single moment of silence. We ended up getting through about half of what we had planned, but there's only so much you can do with an unwilling audience. Some of them were very receptive and we ended up taking the opportunity of them talking all the time to talk about respect. For the last 10 minutes, they suddenly got quiet - we're not sure why. We're just hoping that perhaps our lesson of respecting others when talking will translate into helping their regular teacher.
Our last class was... amazing. They had said that there was a portion of the student body that was different than the normal students. They were less privileged, but were given the opportunity to go to this private school at a very discounted rate as long as they maintained a certain grade point average. I knew that these would be good students, as they actually wanted to be at school rather than being forced to. I was right. Every one of them was engaged. Since many of them were indigenous people, many didn't have the opportunity to learn as much English as the other classes. Again, I translated most of what was said to make sure they understood the meaning. Our lesson plan got rearranged because some of the things we were talking about flowed right into another activity and the transitions were effortless. At the end, we taught them a few songs that we sing to get ourselves energized. They went crazy for them. One was in Spanish and one in English, and they were so enthusiastic - even the teacher got into it. After that they taught us two similar songs in Spanish. The kids who had all been reserved and shy were no longer. They were shouting and laughing and having a great time. As we left the classroom, we were accompanied by the singing and energy along with shouts of "Thank you!" and chants of "Viva la Gente!" It was the best class I've been in.
This is where I'll stop this one so that you can split your reading into two parts, because this is really long already.
~Molly
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
St. Joseph, Enid, Brenham
So Chicago ended with a slow burn, that burn being in my throat. The day after the show I stayed home and pretty much did nothing for the next two days. My host family got my roommate and I tickets to Blue Man Group one night (they had an event to go to) and that was great. They did a lot of things for the sake of being awesome, or so it seemed. I approve.
St. Joseph, Missouri was the next stop on our tour. The architecture was amazing, but I managed to escape the city without taking a single picture. That's sacrilege, I know, but we were only there for 3 days. On our community impact day, we worked in local elementary schools in the morning working with a curriculum based on diversity and peace-building. Afterward, we got to do a mini-show for the school - actually, we got to do two mini-shows. The first school we were at, there were about 15 cast members and we did a show with just us. It was so much fun.
There was one highlight, or lowlight depending on how you look at it, but either way that first show will be memorable. When we do the real show, we have different costumes for different dances. When we do the mini-shows, we just use the costume we wear for the whole show. For me, this consists of a skirt, leotard, and two shirts. This was the first time I'd danced in my show costume for a specialty dance. Well when I did the first lift of our swing dance, my skirt flew up and an entire K-8 grade school saw my leotard. This wouldn't be a huge deal except our show manager started laughing when it happened, so the audience was a little shocked. Our vocal director gave me a pair of leggings to wear under my costume for the next show. So yeah, I flashed a K-8.
Next we went to Enid, Oklahoma. We were told upon arriving that we needed a state-issued ID to get home... we were living on a military base. It was pretty cool. There were six of us girls all hosted together in a host family with two young daughters. That's right, 9 girls and 1 boy in the house. Our show had a very low attendance, due primarily to the fact that our community impact day was the day AFTER the show so we really didn't get too much of a chance to promote. The show itself was good, however. The day after the show I was in a dance workshop all day (well for 6 hours of the day) learning our dances for the Mexican medley. Things are kicking into high gear for Mexico as we travel there in less than a week.
The day after our show, another family came over with their students - all girls. In total, there were 17 girls and just our host dad. We had soup and then made s'mores out in the driveway on a portable fireplace. We also played some ping pong and laughed a lot. The next day we (along with another group of Uppies) got a tour of the base from another host dad, who happened to be one of the highest ranked officers on the base. It was really cool seeing all the different types of planes. After that we went bowling! They have a bowling alley on base and it was so incredibly cheap I fear that if I lived there I would do nothing but bowl. We had a great time and even ran into another group of cast members in the bowling alley.
On Monday we left Enid for Brenham. That's right, I'm officially in Texas. There are 9 of us (4 boys, 5 girls) being hosted together with a couple. We've had great food so far, the most familiar to home with stir-fry and pasta with fresh vegetables. When we got here, it was cloudy and 81 degrees. It's cooled down a little bit and it rained a lot of the day today. We've got a tornado watch for tonight, but it's supposed to get back up to 90 by the end of this week. Time for me to break out the shorts. We skipped spring completely and jumped straight to summer.
Okay, that's enough of an update for now. If you want to know anything else, please let me know.
~Molly
St. Joseph, Missouri was the next stop on our tour. The architecture was amazing, but I managed to escape the city without taking a single picture. That's sacrilege, I know, but we were only there for 3 days. On our community impact day, we worked in local elementary schools in the morning working with a curriculum based on diversity and peace-building. Afterward, we got to do a mini-show for the school - actually, we got to do two mini-shows. The first school we were at, there were about 15 cast members and we did a show with just us. It was so much fun.
There was one highlight, or lowlight depending on how you look at it, but either way that first show will be memorable. When we do the real show, we have different costumes for different dances. When we do the mini-shows, we just use the costume we wear for the whole show. For me, this consists of a skirt, leotard, and two shirts. This was the first time I'd danced in my show costume for a specialty dance. Well when I did the first lift of our swing dance, my skirt flew up and an entire K-8 grade school saw my leotard. This wouldn't be a huge deal except our show manager started laughing when it happened, so the audience was a little shocked. Our vocal director gave me a pair of leggings to wear under my costume for the next show. So yeah, I flashed a K-8.
Next we went to Enid, Oklahoma. We were told upon arriving that we needed a state-issued ID to get home... we were living on a military base. It was pretty cool. There were six of us girls all hosted together in a host family with two young daughters. That's right, 9 girls and 1 boy in the house. Our show had a very low attendance, due primarily to the fact that our community impact day was the day AFTER the show so we really didn't get too much of a chance to promote. The show itself was good, however. The day after the show I was in a dance workshop all day (well for 6 hours of the day) learning our dances for the Mexican medley. Things are kicking into high gear for Mexico as we travel there in less than a week.
The day after our show, another family came over with their students - all girls. In total, there were 17 girls and just our host dad. We had soup and then made s'mores out in the driveway on a portable fireplace. We also played some ping pong and laughed a lot. The next day we (along with another group of Uppies) got a tour of the base from another host dad, who happened to be one of the highest ranked officers on the base. It was really cool seeing all the different types of planes. After that we went bowling! They have a bowling alley on base and it was so incredibly cheap I fear that if I lived there I would do nothing but bowl. We had a great time and even ran into another group of cast members in the bowling alley.
On Monday we left Enid for Brenham. That's right, I'm officially in Texas. There are 9 of us (4 boys, 5 girls) being hosted together with a couple. We've had great food so far, the most familiar to home with stir-fry and pasta with fresh vegetables. When we got here, it was cloudy and 81 degrees. It's cooled down a little bit and it rained a lot of the day today. We've got a tornado watch for tonight, but it's supposed to get back up to 90 by the end of this week. Time for me to break out the shorts. We skipped spring completely and jumped straight to summer.
Okay, that's enough of an update for now. If you want to know anything else, please let me know.
~Molly
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Des Muscatington
The end of Des Moines... was delightful. On our host family day, my host family (well, the half that was not on the father/son ski trip) took Britta and I on a photo scavenger hunt. We had a list of places to see, to which I added a bunch of things to find. You can see our findings here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/sets/72157603974894211/ as well as a few extra things thrown in for good measure. My Des Moines family was amazing - having host brothers and sisters is so much fun. We really got to know each other and our host mom was interested in just about everything we had to say. The food was fantastic as was the family.
Our trip to Muscatine... was less eventful than our trip to Des Moines, thankfully. We arrived at the appointed time and met with our new host family. Our host mom is a vegetarian, so she requested vegetarians as well (2 of us don't eat red meat and the other doesn't eat meat at all). It was definitely a learning experience. When eating in the midwest, one expects lots of hot dishes and familiar (to Ohioans at least) foods. I never expected vegetarian versions of these, though. Living in San Francisco has given me a wide view of what a vegetarian eats, so I never even considered that midwestern food really fit in aside from a large amount of vegetables. Boy, was I wrong. Our first night, we had veggie hot dogs... from a can. I honestly had no idea such a thing existed. Sure, I knew there were veggie hot dogs, but not from a can. We also had a macaroni and cheese with corn dish. To go along with this, we had Ruffles potato chips and grape Kool-aid. They told us we'd have cultural experiences, I just never expected them in Iowa.
On our second night I was introduced to a dish called "Special K loaf." After some questioning, I found out that it was egg, cottage cheese, and Special K mixed together into patties that were then baked in cream of mushroom soup. It wasn't bad, but it was again surprising.
So far, just about every host family I've had has had at least one Longaberger basket. Being an Ohioan, I notice these things. Well, my Muscatine family had more than one... WAY more than one. I'm guessing they had at least 300 baskets. I'm not exaggerating. Every room was decorated with baskets, from the basket tree in the living room to the baskets above the t.v. to the baskets around the fireplace to the baskets on the hallway shelf to the baskets in the bathroom... They were everywhere! The house was beautifully decorated with them, though. I noticed them immediately, but it wasn't until the next day that my roommate Andre noticed. Very tastefully done, but I kept thinking of our Ohio neighbors and my mom's cousin who used to do basket shows.
Our show in Muscatine went fairly well. We had a sold-out show at a high school, and most people in the cast thought it went amazingly well. I got caught up on a few big mistakes I made (like forgetting to stay on stage for the microphone groups for a song) but other than that I did a fine job. Since one of our main male vocalists was sick (and another of our male vocalists had to go home for a few weeks for health reasons) we were in need of a little extra assistance. That being said, Mitch (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/2284831783/in/set-72157603919410083/) got to sing "We'll Be There" with me. (For those of you who don't know, Mitch is the only person on the road that I knew before Up With People, as our parents are good friends). We didn't get to sing together in rehearsal, so we went over it a bit at dinner. As we finished, he remarked that we were singing together and we both looked at each other and at the same time said, "Our mothers would be so proud." So if both of our mothers are reading this, I'm sure Mitch has already told his mom, who has told my mom- but yeah, we got to sing together.
When it came time for the show he was quite nervous, having never done that particular song in a show. Even rehearsing nerves kept getting to him, so I was a bit concerned. When he came on, all of the sudden it clicked. He hit everything perfectly and we rocked it out. The whole song got an extra push of awesome from one of our education coordinators, Aoife. After rehearsal, she said we needed more energy, much in the same way we all sang to her on her birthday (which happened to be the karaoke party night). On karaoke night, there was a mullet wig floating around, and it was put on her as we serenaded her with a rousing rendition of "My Heart Will Go On." Well, she stood in the back of the auditorium that night during "We'll Be There" wearing a wig we found backstage and I nearly laughed out loud every time I looked up at her. Ah, the things we'll do to have a good show.
Muscatine was short and sweet, and today we traveled to Burlington, WI. Burlington just happens to have the nickname "Chocolate City" so I'm looking forward to testing the fruits of the town. My new host family has three sons- 25, 21, and 15, and their house is gorgeous. The layout is very unique, but really inviting. I'm told there's a lake right outside all the windows, but it was too dark to see by the time we got home. I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.
There's always tons more to say, but I can't go on writing forever, so this is it for now.
Take care,
~Molly
Our trip to Muscatine... was less eventful than our trip to Des Moines, thankfully. We arrived at the appointed time and met with our new host family. Our host mom is a vegetarian, so she requested vegetarians as well (2 of us don't eat red meat and the other doesn't eat meat at all). It was definitely a learning experience. When eating in the midwest, one expects lots of hot dishes and familiar (to Ohioans at least) foods. I never expected vegetarian versions of these, though. Living in San Francisco has given me a wide view of what a vegetarian eats, so I never even considered that midwestern food really fit in aside from a large amount of vegetables. Boy, was I wrong. Our first night, we had veggie hot dogs... from a can. I honestly had no idea such a thing existed. Sure, I knew there were veggie hot dogs, but not from a can. We also had a macaroni and cheese with corn dish. To go along with this, we had Ruffles potato chips and grape Kool-aid. They told us we'd have cultural experiences, I just never expected them in Iowa.
On our second night I was introduced to a dish called "Special K loaf." After some questioning, I found out that it was egg, cottage cheese, and Special K mixed together into patties that were then baked in cream of mushroom soup. It wasn't bad, but it was again surprising.
So far, just about every host family I've had has had at least one Longaberger basket. Being an Ohioan, I notice these things. Well, my Muscatine family had more than one... WAY more than one. I'm guessing they had at least 300 baskets. I'm not exaggerating. Every room was decorated with baskets, from the basket tree in the living room to the baskets above the t.v. to the baskets around the fireplace to the baskets on the hallway shelf to the baskets in the bathroom... They were everywhere! The house was beautifully decorated with them, though. I noticed them immediately, but it wasn't until the next day that my roommate Andre noticed. Very tastefully done, but I kept thinking of our Ohio neighbors and my mom's cousin who used to do basket shows.
Our show in Muscatine went fairly well. We had a sold-out show at a high school, and most people in the cast thought it went amazingly well. I got caught up on a few big mistakes I made (like forgetting to stay on stage for the microphone groups for a song) but other than that I did a fine job. Since one of our main male vocalists was sick (and another of our male vocalists had to go home for a few weeks for health reasons) we were in need of a little extra assistance. That being said, Mitch (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyskye218/2284831783/in/set-72157603919410083/) got to sing "We'll Be There" with me. (For those of you who don't know, Mitch is the only person on the road that I knew before Up With People, as our parents are good friends). We didn't get to sing together in rehearsal, so we went over it a bit at dinner. As we finished, he remarked that we were singing together and we both looked at each other and at the same time said, "Our mothers would be so proud." So if both of our mothers are reading this, I'm sure Mitch has already told his mom, who has told my mom- but yeah, we got to sing together.
When it came time for the show he was quite nervous, having never done that particular song in a show. Even rehearsing nerves kept getting to him, so I was a bit concerned. When he came on, all of the sudden it clicked. He hit everything perfectly and we rocked it out. The whole song got an extra push of awesome from one of our education coordinators, Aoife. After rehearsal, she said we needed more energy, much in the same way we all sang to her on her birthday (which happened to be the karaoke party night). On karaoke night, there was a mullet wig floating around, and it was put on her as we serenaded her with a rousing rendition of "My Heart Will Go On." Well, she stood in the back of the auditorium that night during "We'll Be There" wearing a wig we found backstage and I nearly laughed out loud every time I looked up at her. Ah, the things we'll do to have a good show.
Muscatine was short and sweet, and today we traveled to Burlington, WI. Burlington just happens to have the nickname "Chocolate City" so I'm looking forward to testing the fruits of the town. My new host family has three sons- 25, 21, and 15, and their house is gorgeous. The layout is very unique, but really inviting. I'm told there's a lake right outside all the windows, but it was too dark to see by the time we got home. I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.
There's always tons more to say, but I can't go on writing forever, so this is it for now.
Take care,
~Molly
Friday, January 11, 2008
Day 1
Today I arrived in Denver for the official beginning of the semester. Okay, the "official" official beginning is actually Sunday, but today was the arrival day. After two amazing flights this morning, I made it to Denver a bit earlier than scheduled and had plenty of time to get to know a few people before even getting to our meeting spot for the day. I got to meet a ton of people, which is making me grateful that we all have name tags so it'll be easier to remember names.
We played some games - Mad Gab, Phase 10, Egyptian rat screw, and a Swiss card game called Pants Down. There are a lot of people who like to play games, which I'm sure will prove to be entertaining (and educational!) Apparently, in Switzerland the decks only have the numbers 6-10, Unter (Jack), Ober (Queen), Konig (King), and Ace. The suits in this particular deck were Roses, Bells, Shields, and Acorns.
Most of the day was spent introducing ourselves and eating food while comparing notes on cultural differences. Camilla (from Denmark) and I had a discussion about alcohol legislation in the U.S. vs. Denmark. Carolina (from Sweden/Chile), AJ (from Wisconsin) and I discussed global politics as well as the legislative system and voting regulations in our countries. I'm really looking forward to learning a lot about my fellow castmates and their home countries. There should be plenty to talk about since we have people from 26 countries in our cast.
On that note, I'm off to sleep.
~Molly
We played some games - Mad Gab, Phase 10, Egyptian rat screw, and a Swiss card game called Pants Down. There are a lot of people who like to play games, which I'm sure will prove to be entertaining (and educational!) Apparently, in Switzerland the decks only have the numbers 6-10, Unter (Jack), Ober (Queen), Konig (King), and Ace. The suits in this particular deck were Roses, Bells, Shields, and Acorns.
Most of the day was spent introducing ourselves and eating food while comparing notes on cultural differences. Camilla (from Denmark) and I had a discussion about alcohol legislation in the U.S. vs. Denmark. Carolina (from Sweden/Chile), AJ (from Wisconsin) and I discussed global politics as well as the legislative system and voting regulations in our countries. I'm really looking forward to learning a lot about my fellow castmates and their home countries. There should be plenty to talk about since we have people from 26 countries in our cast.
On that note, I'm off to sleep.
~Molly
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