More Mexican Adventure

Culture Fair

Today we had a culture fair for around 1500 high school students. Our cast setup booths for each country represented – around 20 in all. It was a great success – except for the fact that I got sunburned (again!). The kids would go to each booth, hear a little spiel about that place and then get their UWP passports stamped. At the end, we performed yet another BTS for the kids. The afternoon was easy – internal time with the cast. We read our letters to ourselves from the very first week of staging. And then wrote another to ourselves for the end of the tour. I should do this more often – when I’m out of UWP! We all had “thank you” time with each other and hugs were the most common way of showing your gratitude.

Later that night our family took us out to a restaurant at a mall and we watched the Mexico vs. Columbia soccer game – and man let me tell you that was an intense game! Soccer (or futbol) outside of the US is way better! Our family also hooked Phil and me up with a Mexico t-shirt so we could show our team spirit. Unfortunately we lost 1-2 but it was fun anyway.

City Tour

Yeah! We got to sleep in a little. We drove down to Mexico City – Distrito Federal. There we toured around the downtown area and saw the theater, art museum, walked around the streets, El Zocalo (center square), and the big church that is sinking. Mexico City is unique because it was built on a lake (a long, long time ago). The Native Indians, the Aztecs, moved to the location after a vision from one of the leaders. There they settled in an area which had the classic Mexican symbol of the eagle with the snake in its beak sitting atop of a cactus. Well unfortunately for them, the cactus was in the middle of a lake. The Indians built their city over it anyways. And after the Aztecs were conquered, the Spanish built their city on top of the Indian structures. That means Mexico is sitting on top of a lake and shifting sand – which explains why the city has so many problems with its buildings and infrastructure.

Teotihuacan Pyramids

Lunch was AMAZING! We went to a place called Fisher’s. Yes it was a seafood joint and they prepared us shrimp, fish and chips and chips and guacamole. Yum. A bus-ride nap later, we arrived to the famous pyramids of Teotihuacán. This is the home of the Pyramide del Sol (the third largest in the world) and its sister Pyramide de La Luna. After our cliché cast phot with the pyramid in the background, we decided to conquer the beast! Arrrrg. Many photos were taken at the top – some candid, some serious, but mostly were goofy. Then we walked down to the base of Luna breifely before we toured the labrinth and visited the shops. Meawhile, every step you took, a peddler would ask if you wanted to buy an obsidian turtle or mask or a jaguar whistle or a necklace. The only place you weren’t haggled was at the top of the pyramid.

i feel loved

Today we had 2 BTS in one day. The first was very apathetic in my opinion. I had very little energy from the long travel day and early rise. Plus there was literally no audience there to perform for – so my motivation waned. Then we took off to a small school somewhere near the park and I was of course taking advantage of the bus time by sleeping. Once we arrived, the students put on a short presentation for us that included a small band, guitarist, pianist and opera singer. All were very nice to hear. Then we did our routine BTS – this time with way more energy and enthusiasm. I have found that energy is transferable – especially between humans. I was pumped to do the BTS with 500 smiling faces looking back at me. Then CHAOS after the show – fotos, fotos, fotos! No besos! Lunch was great – pollo hamburgers!

Later we had a Jai Ho photo shoot for the Mexican newspaper, Reforma. It is an equivalent to the NY Times. I have never done a photo shoot before but it was a lot of fun. We got dressed in our Indian show costumes and took pictures. We ran through the trees, jumped up, acted casual, posed, and goofed around. Then we made a Jai Hoe music video. Check out how funny this is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivb29IDgWig

My host family was amazing. They gave us maps and printed out some information for our regional learning day at the Teotihuacán Pyramids. At the end of the book they made us, there was a nice little note written in Spanish full of love. I love the love! But one thing I’ve found in my host family experiences is that its hard to receive all the love. It’s almost unnatural human love. I understand that we are guests of the house for a temporary time – but all my host families have shown so much love and generosity towards me and my roommates. That night we had an awesome dinner. I was able to savor many of the different flavors. I was such a rich taste and 100% authentic. Can't get any better!

the world's largest city

Yesterday we left from Puebla from the tearing eyes of our host mom. A two hour drive led us to the Los Pinos grounds, the Mexican White House. Los Pinos stands for the Pines. It was originally a place bought by a rich Panamanian who name it Rancho Ormiga (Ant Ranch) because it was one of his smallest properties. We didn’t get to enter the buildings but from the outside they were very beautiful. We toured the area and learned about the many previous presidents while making fun of the old, traditionally-posed statues. Mid-way through the tour we got some unfortunate news - the first lady was not going to be able to greet us.

An hour later the tour buses arrived to our meeting location – which also happened to be our sponsor – Xochitla – an ecological park in the middle of Mexico City. Just a note – the small state of Mexico has close to 22 million people – 15 of which live in the city itself. I had no packed lunch – so when I found a snack shop, I found sanctuary for my stomach. There I gorged myself in nachos with cold cheese and a bag of Doritos – which essentially are cold nachos, too. After our routine allocation meeting, we split the group into host-family drop off sites: some stayed at the Xochitla site; the other went to a place called Satelite – close to an hour away. Phil Woods was assigned my roommate and we got on the bus going to Satelite. We quickly learned that with our meeting facility being at Xochitla, we had to get up an hour earlier. Woot!

That night we met our host family. I had no idea what to expect, but was hoping for another great Mexican host family. I trailed into the building to find Phil wearing a big white shirt that said “Po” in black letters. I looked to the left of him to put the rest of the picture together. My host family had made t-shirts with their hostcode: Tostadas de Pollo. I received my shirt with “llo” and completed the code. What a great introduction! We crammed into their small Dodge car with our luggage and went home to their beautiful house in the northern part of Mexico City. My host parents are named Rocio and Pareko and their daughters are named Mariel (Bocho) and Marisel. They had 3 dogs as well.

Quieres tomar una foto?

The following morning we had another BTS (backing track show if you forgot). This one was a lot of fun. First, we were surprised by the Viva la Gente sign spelled out in the bleacher seats. Second our stage was in the middle of their stadium. And thirdly, our audience was full of excitement and over 3000 strong. I think the best part of the experience was after the show: all the kids came running towards with quick little strides and swarmed each of the performers. It was so CRAZY! The rest of the day was like any other, except every 5 steps you took, a Mexican student would catch you or tap you on the back and ask for an autograph or a picture. They would say "quieres tomar una foto?" Si, claro!

That evening we went to a place alled container city. It was really cool. The concept is just as it sounds. It was a mini city built from shipping/cargo containers. The stacked them wide, they stacked them high. They outfitted them with bars and shopping stores. I wonder if we have anything like this in the states. I would like to start something like this perhaps.

Our show went well and many of the fans from the CENCH school we visited came to the performance as well. It was great to see there smiling and screaming faces in the front row. Then time for strike. My favorite activity in UWP – NOT!

The following day was a host family day. It was a very chill Sunday. Matt unfortunately had a meeting that morning back at CENCH and on the other hand, I got to sleep in. I packed, I ironed my clothes, and I ate. Good day indeed. In the evening we went to a 60’s/Hippee party with our host family. Let me tell you that the Mexicans know how to do a themed party! Almost all the people there wer dressed up in 60’s clothes. They had a pork roaster for tacos, snacks, and of course plenty of alcohol. All of which was topped off with a big piñata for the birthday girl. Sorry to say I didn’t enjoy as much of that as I could because I was feeling really under the weather.

Brunch the following day was delicious. More Mexican food! We ventured to a cool site in town where local artists could play music while patrons could sit, watch and chill while eating. The two Mexicans on stage were talented. Then we encouraged Matt to get on stage and sing and play for us. He did so with little hesitation! (Matt is such a performer!)

Eventually it came time to say goodbye. Which was really tough. My host family was so nice and fun. They spoke English really well while still encouraging us to learn Spanish. We had some fun times together, especially around meals. Matt and I can get really goofy and its so great to be yourself around others you haven’t known for a while.

stuck out like a sore thumb

In Puebla our sponsor was the local government again. We were dropped off in the downtown square near and briefly met our sponsor. They also took us on a brief tour of their historic building. It was nice, and old. Ha. Then we went to our allocation meeting spot and facility. It was called CENCH. It was a major high school in the city that was known for its 200 person marching band. At CENCH, our group stuck out like, well, really like a group of 90 international kids in a Mexican school of 4000 kids.

The following day we were treated to a tour of the Cadbury Chicklets factory. It was awesome! The smell inside the facility was sooo pungent. OK it was so strong that some people loved it, some people hated it, and for some people it made them sick to their stomach. Covered in masks, hairnets, and lab coats, we had fun seeing and hearing about the processes of how to make gum and other sorts of candy.

The rest of our tour was kind of unspoken for, literally. I had no idea what we visited because there was no tour guide to explain the sites we passed. I think the best part of the tour was ducking all the Independence day paraphernalia hanging from the buildings over our open-top bus. LOOK OUT! MORE FLAGS!

The following day, I convinced the dance director that I should go on CI (community impact) work rather than be signed out for dance. We were working on our European medley dances – one for Poland and one for Denmark. I am extremely glad that I asked for this because 1) the CI work we had was awesome, and 2) (writing from a future perspective) they took the Danish dance out of the show. For our CI activity, a group of us students bussed in town to an old-person day center. Think of it as day care for gramps and grandmas. The center provides activities and meals for the people during the day, and then family members pick up their elders at night. We did some sewing activities, some tai-chi (for old people, of course), sang a couple songs and then danced with them. The dancing was the best part. I had the honor and privilege of dancing with an 85-year-old Mexican lady, Rosa. She was light on her feet and took my turns with grace. Ok not really, but it was a great slow dance. So what a blessing to be able to help others than waste time learning a dance that wouldn’t be used!

Later on I was picked up by a stranger. Strange. But not really. My host mom was celebrating a friend’s b-day at a restaurant so she sent Antonio to come pick me up. It was a fun ride to dinner in his BMW Z4 zig-zagging through the Mexican streets. We ate dinner, a quite delicious one. It consisted of many rounds of skewers with varieties of meat. My host-mom knew that I had a big appetite so she took joy in waving down the waiter to bring the latest meat on the floor. I’ve actually had a dinner very similar to this (at a restaurant in Denver called Rodizio’s) so I knew to avoid the overly-rubbery, hard-to-chew chicken heart.

the week Cast B took a break

Veracruz was a blur. A beautiful blur. To date, this is the most modern/commercialized Mexican city we’ve visited. There were loads of advertisements of major companies – Coca Cola, HP, McDonald’s – lining the busy streets of sea-side city. There were huge malls, big name brands stores. But just outside of the city, and if you looked closely enough – inside the city – there was poverty. Again a stark contrast between rich and poor. My hostfamily was in the upper spectrum. They lived in the 12^th floor of an apartment within sight of the beach. My roomie Emil (Sweden) and I really enjoyed the family and their extended friends – like their driver, maid, and chef. The host family consisted of Carmen (the grandmother), Christina (the mother) and her tow sons, Luis (18) and Christian (15). The family was very much into golf.

One of our first activities was a tour of the city. Our sponsor, the Veracruz Local Government, took us to their aquarium. We saw fish, sharks and sea-cows aka Manatees. Three lucky individuals, Phil Woods included, were selected to feed the sharks via an submersed cage. SCARY BUT AWESOME! I’d totally do it. Then we had a tour of a very old part of the city that was held origins to conquest history. Here we saw one of the first churches ever built in the Americas near 1521 when Cortez arrived.

La Dia de Independencia

Happy birthday Mexico! One hundred and ninety-nine years old! Emil and I and our entire troop went to one of their family member’s houses in town and we celebrated the holiday. Like in Leon, my family had other family that was hosting other UWP students. It was great to get down to some classic Mexican tunes (and American ones, too!) while ringing in the birthday of our host country.

After all this partying, our cast had the tragedy of going to the beach. Tough life really. If I was to compare this week to anything, it would be as if UWP had a vacation week. After some group activities most of the cast rushed the shore and jumped into the warmest, saltiest sea I’ve ever swam in. Beyond the awful taste in my mouth, I had the best time floating around in warm sea water. I am such a sucker for warm or hot water. I don’t do cold water – rivers, lakes, the ocean – no thank you! But this one was totally warm!

About 5 hours later I felt the worse sunburn of my life. My whole frontside and the top of my shoulders were laden with hot-red burns. Thankfully I was smart about putting sunscreen on my face. After learning some new European dances – which naturally involved a lot of shoulder movements – I completely regretted not wearing any sunscreen on the rest of my body. Oh well. It turned into a nice tan a few days later.

For our host family day, Emil and I went to Christina’s ranch about 40 minutes away. When we woke up, we walked around the 40 acres and saw their goats, cows, pigs, donkeys, chickens, turkey and a horse. Emil and I also rode the donkey bareback and the horse with a saddle. More UWP kids showed up with their host family to celebrate a friends birthday of my host mom. Emil and I left to go back into town to watch a movie with our host brothers and then called it a night.

Show night went well but could have had a much better turnout I think. We performed in a basketball arena and we’re greeted by the Governor of the state.

Argh Matey!

CI day 2 – Work at the school

One of the other community impact days, a group of us traveled to a local school. But this was no ordinary school – it was a school that was recently built for underprivileged street kids. At the Centro de Dia Njhoya, kids from ages 3-18 would be grouped together primarily by age or by intelligence. When we arrived our group paired off and we entered different classrooms. Essentially we became the maestro and maestra of the classes.

Aude (Quebec City, Canada) and I were the teachers of a classroom filled with 5 year olds. We started off our two hour session with learning each others’ names and then basic colors in Spanish, English and French. To spice things up, we took the kids outside and played a great game we learned during staging and then adapted it to a 5 year old level and in Spanish. PIRATAS! Basically you act like pirates, I give a command, and the last person to execute that command is eliminated. After we played that game a few times, we wrapped the day up with some water color painting of fruits – Uvas, Platano, Manzana, and Sandia. Fun day! Glad we could impact these children and vice versa!

Later that day, our cast had a teamwork competition. Our goal: keep the egg alive! The premise: build a contraption with the given materials and drop it from a second story window. Long story short, with a paper bowl, two small balloons, straws, paper clips, masking tape, and some paper clips, WE WON!

Templo del Cruz

That night we went to a famous Queretaro church called El Templo del Cruz – The Temple of the Cross. Yet again, there is some major history involved with this church, but low and behold I did not write it down and therefore forgot it! Oops. Anyways, the coolest thing I got out of it besides a tasty dinner was some cool pics of a tree/bush that was in the courtyard. This bush grows thorns in the shape of a cross. It’s the only bush in the whole world that has this special aesthetic defense. The one thing I do remember is a local telling me that they have tried to cultivate seeds from it and grow it elsewhere but to no avail. Pretty cool!

One night on my way home I stopped by in a local park to relax and soak up the scenery. It was a nice little zocalo (square) bustling with many Mexicans getting ready for the much anticipated independence day. Further along my walk, I discovered another zocalo with a large church flanking it. Glad my curiosity got me because I stumbled upon an entertaining water fountain show. Think of the Bellagio fountains, just on a scale 100 times smaller. The music and water choreography was very pleasant. It was neatly framed by another beautiful church.

Show and other fun

The remainder of the week consisted of our show, which was fairly successful and a host family day. The show went well but it seemed a bit off audience-wise. Instead of having one general admission price for tickets, they sold 3 different levels of tickets. I realize that’s how most concerts are set-up, but with UWP there is no way we will fill a 5000 seat venue in a small city of Queretaro. This ticket technique unfortunately separated the preferred seats from the general admission seats, leaving a massive gap between the two. It was difficult to perform to the group way up in the nose-bleed section. Pepe and Jorge enjoyed the show and rewarded me with some amazing tacos al pastor at 1 in the morning.

The host family day off consisted of more sleeping in and easy-going activities the rest of the day such as lunch and laundry. On our way to the Queretaro Aqueduct, we all stopped at the loudest parade I’ve ever heard. It was so loud I could hear the vibrations while we drove by on the opposite side of the street. What was it? No, not a Jurassic Park celebration. It was an native Indian cultural celebration. Hundreds of locals dressed in antique Indian garments danced through the street backed by pounding waves of drums. Their massive headdresses loaded with precious feathers twitched and turned to each step of the dancers. What a sight! There were so many of them

I AM A BAD BLOGGER

ok peeps. consider this my formal apology for being so delayed on my posts lately. Mexico has been a total blur. I'm having so much fun that I have zero time to blog. But don't you fret! I have a 30 hour travel day to catch up! Wooo.

To keep you up to speed on whats going on right this second: We have our final Viva La Gente show tonight. Over 2000 tickets have been presold. We want to fill our 5000 seat venue. Cross your fingers!

OK so peace and love to all!

small but important

Pepe - the host dude

On to another Mexican city – Queretaro. This city is famous for a lot of its Mexican history. I cant remember much of it, but I do remember that the city had something involving the independence of the country. Kind of a big deal. My host family, or should I say, Host Dude, is really cool. His name is Jose, but goes by Pepe. Pepe is an awesome and interesting individual. He speaks great English, is in his mid-forties with no kids or wife and has worked for 25 years at his outdoor advertising company. After I got picked up by Pepe, I learned that I was only a short 15 minute walk to our facility, so I walked almost every morning and evening when possible. It reminded me a lot of my time in Rome – walking around, adventuring the city streets, soaking up the sites and culture. Ahh those were those days. He lives in a very nice home, big for mexican standards, especially for one person. Pepe has all the modern amenities of America except for a dryer... but thats ok. I'm glad I caught one of the sunny days when it came to do my laundry.

Community Impact slash Drew Impact

Today was an interesting day. We had CI today and our site was called Alvida. It is a place that does food distribution in all of Queretaro. They package and distribute donated food for many families all throughout the state for poor and needy families. About 9 of us went to this site and we were split up into guys and girls. The girls stayed at the original site and sorted the dry food goods; us guys went to another site - some sort of massive food market - where we collected crates of donated, unwanted or discarded fruit or vegetables.

Anyways, much of the food we picked up from these market vendors was really, really gross. The food was beginning, if not already, rotting and had flies circling and landing on every inch of it. If we got lucky, a few vendors would give us some produce that looked fresh - perhaps because they had made their sales quota, i'm not sure. Breton and I carried the crates of this rotting, dripping, awful-smelling stuff to our dolly where we stacked them high and then rolled it to the Alvida truck. This truck was loaded to the brim with crates and other bags. The truck would then be unloaded at another site where the "edible" food was separated from the inedible and then sent out to families. We worked with a local who volunteered for the organization every tuesday and thursday. I can't remember his name but he was really nice and spoke some English - imagine a Mexican version of Mario (yes, from the video game - mustache, curly hair, hat, and all!)

This was quite the experience: we saw a full spectrum of wealth and poverty in a very small area (relatively). There were wealthy people who owned and operated their individual markets. There were the many workers unloading, sorting and selling the goods. There was those who bought them, too. But most shocking, there were those who picked up all the trashed or rotten produce directly from the street. It was an eye-opening experience.

Also - what was ironic about our CI site was that we never received a proper lunch. we each were handed a small bag with a muffin and a box of chocolate or strawberry milk. lunch was going to be provided later. well, "later" never came. so we starved at the food distribution site! hah. it's like you get locked in a grocery store and starve to death. but thank goodness, UWP bought our group some chinese food after we finished working.

when I grow up, I want to be a Luchador

then, our cast went to what we thought was going to be the theater. it turned out that this theater was the Arena Queretaro - one of the homes of LUCHO LIBRE! Think WWF wrestling - mexi-style. AWESOME SAUCE! The Luchadors, the wrestlers as they are called, fight in a boxing like ring and put on a show similar to that of WWF. It was really entertaining actually. UWP had a near private show of 3 different matches. (there's me in the bottom with the Denver shirt and mask!)

unbelievable energy

Wow. Where to start with the show day? I will just begin with how amazing the audience was. I could feel their energy and presence from over 100 feet away. It was truly amazing. I say this because our show stage was at least 50 feet from the first row. Many people sat further back to get an even better view of the distant stage. The beginning half of the show went really well, but the latter half went even better. Since we entered Mexico, we changed the show a bit: the first half is more or less the same and the second half contains a full version of "De Que Color es la Piel de Dios" and a full Mexican medley.

And of course the Mexicans go wild for those pieces. I was assigned to one of the mariachi charro parts and a Noa Noa dancer. The charro part involves putting on a full traditional suit complete with red bow-tie and giant black sombrero. The Noa Noa dance includes white jeans topped by a shiny gold shirt. Sexy-kinda. Not. These pieces are very simple to dance. Thank you God! I would not want to mess it up. Again, it’s like the show flashes before your eyes and its over. Even though we did not fill the entire 3000 seat venue, the 1300 or so people there proved to be the best and biggest audience to date. I loved it.

On our host family day off, I got to sleep in (again!), ate a nice little breakfast and my family and we jet down the street to church. The church was beautiful – it was built on a very steep hill, it was very clean, and upon entrance I traced the pure white floor tiles that split the many rows of pews to a silhouetted altar. Behind the altar was a large panoramic glass wall with an extensive view of Leon. Before we headed off to our main event, Mario and I went shopping. Leon is famous for shoes; it is considered the show capital of Mexico.

And the main event: the ‘summer’ house. We met up with my host fam’s friends who have a place outside the city. We played volleyball, swam in their little pool, barbqued-mexi-style, and then danced the night away. What made it more enjoyable was that all these friends had host other students too. The uppies included: Leslie (AZ), Emil (Sweden), Nina (Finland), and Nilo (Sweden). I think the highlight of the night was dancing with my host mom, Martha.

El Studio

Friday, Sept – 4^th

Today we went to the site of our show and began our set up on the Foro del Lago stage. This stage is really unique because it is positioned on a lake. Pretty cool. The dressing rooms are actually below the stage as well, which makes for a deceptive exit from the stage. Set up was hot, hot, hot. Lots of SOL. I worked primarily with Michael W (sound intern) today helping him place speakers, wire them, and power them. I learned a lot.

After lunch, we briefly rehearsed our show on the new stage and then were dismissed. The attention of the cast had shifted to that of our Friday night plans. Earlier in the week, a Tec student had announced that he was going to take his host brothers out to a local club in Leon. There was great disparity in the acceptance of this message between the staff and students. If only you could freeze-frame every face in the audience to see it. All my cast mates had been looking forward to this night all week. And finally, it came.

We went to a club called Studio. This place blew away what little expectations I had. From the outside, the place looked a bit drab with its metal gate fence and dirt parking lot, but once we entered, the scene changed to Hollywood glamour and European elegance. There was a multi-tiered set of private tables and bars which surrounded a raised glass dance floor that changed colors. Above that was the greatest disco ball I have ever seen in my life. It was the size of Jupiter, probably. Beyond the vibrant atmosphere, Viva la Gente was in full force that night, which made it even more fun. I’m so glad that so many of the host families were so willing to drive/pick-up or even attend the outing. !Que divertida!

Here, hold my baby while I take a photo

Tour of Leon –

The second day in Leon, our sponsor arranged a nice scenic tour of the city and some of its popular sites. We adventured around the town

using chop-top or convertible buses – buses made specifically for sight-seeing. Normally tourists weren't allowed toget off the bus and see the individual sights, but for Viva La Gente, they made an exception. There were some nice churches, parks and a very impressive convention center, The Poliforum, which is central to Leon’s local economy. The bus ride to and from the tour drop-off provided for some much needed venting and deep conversations with my friend, Leslie Kleiman (Tucson, Arizona).

Sidenote: I have a special BIG thanks to Eduardo for helping me solve the missing computer mystery (long story – but without his help, my computer may have gone ‘missing’ forever!). Muchas gracias amigo por su ayuda!

After the day finished, we went out to dinner with some other host families who hosted other students and enjoyed a stroll around more Mexican plazas. A clown act in the plaza made a public announcement that we were strangers. This gave us an opportunity to introduce ourselves and our origins, as well as promote our upcoming show.

Dance – Dance – Dance

BTS – Backing Track Show. At 7pm in the Plaza Mayor (a major Leon mall) Viva La Gente was scheduled to have a BTS on a small stage with a selected bunch of the cast. I made the bunch!

Hooray. Maybe, not… That day we had a full day of dancing. As I remember it, it was really not much fun at all, to be honest. We were run ragged from rehearsing so much. But come time for the BTS show, my lethargies were lightened when we were cheered on by 100’s ofMexican spectators with sparkling eyes. This had been the first performance in Mexico. The rumors were true: Mexicans LOVE Viva La Gente! I’m not sure where the transformation occurs, but I (and everyone else) became a rockstar. Maybe at the border there is an invisible force field that changes your appearance or abilities. Nah.

I felt like a king on stage. There were so many people watching this quick, 30 minute snipet of our show and people blew up with applause after each song. I performed in a few songs including Jai Ho – the crowd pleaser. When I finished in the crowd with theme song – Viva La Gente – people came to me to say good job, sign autographs, and take pictures. One lady even handed me her baby for a quick shot on her camera phone. Ridiculous!

Best night of sleep – EVER! Not.

On Sunday we traveled to the phoenix airport. The airline we flew was AeroMexico. It was a nice service. We landed in Hermosillo and then re-boarded for Mexico City. VIVA MEXICO! I have been waiting for this part of the tour for a long time. I am so excited. After I recovered my passport from the back seat pocket on the plane (very last second!), we made our way to the street and we’re greeted by cameras and videographers. We’re famous!

That night we bussed straight to our first city, Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. It was a proximately 7 hour drive. Talk about the best night of sleep. NOT! Too kill some time on the bus, Jason (Bermuda) and I watched “I Love You, Man.” Pretty funny. Then we stopped in the middle of the night at a bus/gas/food station. I had some food for dinner and hoped to fall into a deep food-coma on the bus. It worked.

Hey wake up everyone – We’re in LEON! And the crowd goes wild. Not really. We all sauntered of the bus like zombies looking for a place to rest.

we found a dark building, grabbed some random white things that were laying on the ground, laid in or on them, and we all passed out. We soon came to discover that the white things were seat covers! Haha the things you do when you are so sleepy! Perhaps that’s is why UWP has such a busy schedule and run us overtime….? Hmmm… the things you do… just kidding.

We woke to a bitter cold and then ventured outside to find where we really were. We had made it to the Tecnological de Monterrey Campus Leon. We ate a rather American breakfast with donuts and coffee. After we dressed in our number 2 outfits (aka business casual), we were greeted by the Leon Campus students and staff. they prepared a dance performance for us too.

Lunch started at 2pm. Why so late? I’m hungry now and its only 11am! I better bring snacks and get used to this change in meal time. While we’re enjoying our first authentic Mexican food, we were pleasantly surprised by a 7-8 man mariachi band. We sang and danced to the music with other local university students.

HOST CODE: El Mundo (The World)

I saw a lady with a map of the globe and decided to ask if she was my new host mom – it was! I met Mario y Martha Luna. Mario speaks English well but his wife, not so much. They have 2 sons, both of which are in college. The younger one, Oscar, is staying down the hall from me. He is cool and speaks great English. I am practicing my Spanish with them, and vice versa. Que fantastico! Ellos viven in una casa bonita y limpia. Tengo un quarto con una cama grande. Esta bien!

i met a seven-legged tarantula named Rosie

on arrival to Lake Havisu City, our bus drove over the original London Bridge. this bridge was brought over from London piece by piece and was rebuilt in the Havisu channel back in the 1970's. pretty interesting tourist site, but once you cross it, that's really it. it's worth the bragging rights, i guess.

my new host-family is amazing. once again. allow me to introduce the Bertrand family. there is Curt, Joslin, and their two (extremely) shy daughters, Summer and Starlie. in addition to the 4 person family are

my roomies: Kyle (South Dakota), Ronja (Germany) and Yui (Japan - show manager). Kyle and I are sharing a room at the end of the house and the Ronja and Yui are next door in the girls' playroom.

what's unique about this family is that they are used to hosting people from all over the world - BUT not from UWP. we are the first UWP students they have hosted. the Bertrands host people from the internet site, couchsurfing.com. this is a pretty interesting site because it connects travelers from around the world with home/apartment owners willing to host them. say, if i wanted to travel to san francisco, CA, i could contact people in that city and request to stay at their home for a designated period of time. there is a map in my room that has a little tag over the home town of each visitor they have hosted, most of which are from other countries!

furthermore, the Bertrands operate what many would consider a zoo, but i prefer, Creature Sanctuary. they have your standard house pets ranging from a cat, to a rabbit, to fish and turtrles. but they also love insects. there is a seven-legged tarantula named Rosie (which i held), two black widow spiders, and a newly added collection of mexican jumping beans. they are REAL! laugh you may, but this is legit! as i write this entry, there are 30 plus little brown bean-shaped pods hopping-, rolling-, skipping-, rocking-, sitting-and-waiting-to-move-, jumping- around in multiple clear petri dish containers. the sound is so weird: the noise reminds me of random bouts of hail landing on a metal roof. i can't even describe it. it is so strange. if you could see my face right now, you might understand.

henyways - the first night we arrived, we had a great dinner and went to the local store. and then my jaw dropped. we walked out of the store and saw a beautiful arizonan sunset. one that i hadn't seen since i moved from arizona. gorgeous. Curt drove us to the lake for a better view. even more jaw-dropping. and with all my luck i happened not to have my camera. great. well the next night, i managed to convince Curt to take me back to the same location to get some shots. here's what came out...

B-E-A-utiful!

Well the rest of the week was a blur. I certainly wont forget my birthday however. on the 27^th, our cast hosted a culture fair. this is essentially a massive presentation (displaying country-specific props or pictures) of all the countries in our cast to others that attended – which was about 400 elementary school kids. Come 4 oclock, the lake havisu rec center gym exploded with tiny people running and screaming around. don’t you remember those fun days when it was ok to scream at the top of your lungs and not get in trouble? now I understand why adults hate it…

In addition to the culture aspect of the culture fair, was the festival part. On the other side of the gym, we set up numerous interactive games and activities. Matt Erley, Mike Wooster, and Breton Shepherd and I erected a massive cardboard fort (named the Legacy fort for obvious reasons). There was also an inflatable obstacle course, face painting, bracelet and coloring stations, and my all-time favorite: balloon art!

i am a balloon artist. kinda. I make masterpieces of balloons. my portfolio includes swords, giraffes, dogs, and a funny-looking hat. very extensive and difficult to imitate, huh? Well, it turned out to be a huge success. There were so many kids in line, I had to recruit 3 more people plus 2 balloon blower-uppers. The kids loved it! The scene was similar to that of the one in Wedding Crashers. One cute little girl requested a designer hat. what the heck is a designer balloon hat look like anyways…?

Beyond the epic cardboard fort and being with amazing people for my bday, I celebrated with my host family and their neighbors (who had 2 other castmates.) we enjoyed good old hamburgers and hotdogs and took a dip in the pool. But to top it off, I was able to cheers to my bday at the Martini Bay (a place where the staff was staying ironically). About 10 people met up there and we enjoyed some drinks and non-UWP dancing.

We had our show two nights in a row – which went well, I guess. i say 'i guess' because the two night shows are somehow much different than one night shows. for some people, they do really well the first night, and not the second. and vice versa. i happen to enjoy the one night only shows. it forces you to give it your all. but the one great thing about the two shows is you dont have to setup and strike between the two nights!

not much later, we packed up and headed to the Phoenix airport.

like a wannabe photographer's dream come true

what's shorter and faster than my trip to Chino Valley, AZ? Anybody?

Time's up! Trick question. The answer is NOTHING.

Our cast arrived around dinner time and were greeted by our host family with a massive Colorado Broncos flag. This was nice to see some home state spirit. We figured this to be the HORSES host code, but we were really hoping that our family would show up on actual horses to take us home. Hah. A few hours later, we made a great dinner - spaghetti dish with pepper and chicken - and we finished dinner at close to 10:30 pm (which felt like 11:30pm because of the time change). phew!

Day 1: host-family day

finally, a day off! on sunday we had a host-family day. my roommates, Rafa (Brazil - tech manager) and Lise (France), were delighted to sleep-in for once, something i had almost forgotten how to do.

at about 1pm that day, after we had a great night's rest, we traveled down to downtown Prescott, AZ. We saw the plaza and walked down the infamous Whiskey Row. We had a drink in the Palace which is famous for a lot of old Western activity both historical and theatrical. Then we traveled up the street to the Hassyama Hotel, which is known for its ghost that haunts the upper room in the tower. We found an awesome pizza place for lunch and cruised went back home.
i chilled out for a while that evening. and later, Rafa and I had an awesome night of shooting. shooting our cameras, that is. later that night, we had the luck of capturing some lightning in mid-strike. i never knew how to do that...until Rafa shared his deep photographic wisdom and knowledge. he compared this activity to fishing. i wont forget it. here's one that i got...

then to my surprise, a small scorpion crawled to the patio. Dan grabbed a handy UV (aka blacklight) flashlight and shined it on the scorpion. boom. it turned neon yellow. it glowed in the dark! check it out. by the time i got the photo i wanted, this poor insect probably felt like a Paris Hilton walking down the red carpet.

Day 2: Show day (already?)

back to work. we set up shop in the gym of chino valley high school. this was totally different than any other experience we had facility-wise. our stage was floor-level with the audience. they were right up front, up-close and personal. you could even see the wrinkles on their faces. also the venue only held close to 500 people. we did well to fill most of it, but the best part was the energy we received from the smaller crowd. they loved it! there was a lot of hooting and hollering. and the claps were loud and sincere.

then: goodbye. it was that time already. on to lake havisu.

just grand

boy, time flies when you are having fun...and when you perform in uwp. when i'm on stage, it is as if time moves 1000 miles per hour. the full 2 hour show is only a blink. by the time i'm in my love medley clothes, i know its almost the end of the 1st act; and then, not much longer after that, i'm putting away my Jai Ho costume, one of our show's very last songs. the thing is i am having fun. that's really why time goes so fast. hence the statement: time flies when you're having fun.

i am now beginning to get more and more confident with every dance. specifically, i can take each step and add some (just some) style. i no longer look like a descendant of R2D2 or C-3P0.

durango is a great little city. i still haven't explored all of it, but it certainly is little; much smaller than i thought. i really enjoyed staying with my host family. i am going to miss my little cat friends: Nala and Ed. I named them myself. and the best part is Connie and Dick adopted those names! haha before the cats were called lion-cat and grey-cat. really original guys. the Imig's are so nice and thoughtful. my roommates and i were very blessed getting host-parents that shared the amount of enthusiasm that we did about UWP. i guess i surprised them a bit when they saw i danced in a few numbers. i still surprise myself sometimes.

i am now sitting on the bus traveling from durango to chino valley. we are driving through some very barren lands with sparse desert vegetation. the road we travel is flanked by numerous eroded mountains. it makes me think this land was once covered by a lot of water. i can't imagine what that would be like: a sea in the middle of the states. i look out right now and see just a few single standing rocks with jagged peaks. they aren't just rocks though; they are massive stone formations. its so cool. ps - i have no idea what state we are in right now. there are short metal fences that line the desert for miles, but they do no more than catch tumble weeds.

man, i really should be writing my thank you cards right now. i have been so busy and this is my only down time between cities. (upon posting of this entry - i have finished most of them! woo.) below is a picture of an EPIC game of Catch-Phrase. The expressions are priceless, especially of those who don't speak english as a first language!

SURPRISE!
on our way to Chino Valley, our staff members informed us that we would be traveling to the Grand Canyon. awesome sauce! this was my first time to the Grand Canyon. i didnt know much about it except that it was a massive trench in the ground. in fact, it's so big that you can see it from space! when we arrived, the sky already looked a bit ominous. and go figure: someone's rain dance made it pour on us after a few moments of picture taking. even better: my camera battery ran out too! but i guess it could have been worse: i slip and fall in the canyon. but i did manage to get a really cool picture (click to enlarge - ps - tell your friends i can do prints!)

down by the stream where the wildflowers grow

where to start?

how about our journey here to durango, colorado...

it was my first travel day with the whole cast. it was fun and went by quick (like UWP in general). we had a bunch of rest stops and a long lunch break in Ouray, Colorado. soon thereafter we arrived to our next city: Durango.

host code: SHOPPING
so when we were allocated to our new host families here, i found out that sarah (denver) and yunjie (china) were assigned as my roommates. in addition to that, my hostcode (something used to identify our host families at the pick up time) was SHOPPING. my first thought was: ahhhh man! i have two girl roommates and my host family code is SHOPPING? really? something must have gotten mixed up!but i was warmly met by my host mom, Connie Imig. she is a very nice lady who is extremely artistic. she has a passion for photography and now for decorative tiles. she creates, fires, paints, and lays all her tile work. again - very impressive. when we arrived home, we met the mister of the house: Dick. Dick is a CPA and is not your typical accountant - he is very entertaining and extraverted - something that is direly necessary when you are hosting 3 UWP kids! the house is located near main street in durango and is a quaint 2 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms. sarah and yunjie got the guest bedroom, which left me no choice but to sleep in the 'shack' in the backyard. the shack is a complete understatement actually. this converted shed is Connie's art tile studio with a small loft that over looks a small stream with tons of flowers surrounding it. it is beautiful. i almost feel like Ralph Waldo Emerson, just not as poetic. it's as if i'm living in an art gallery or museum. i need to be careful of my suitcase sprawl - which is usually a crazy happening as i already discovered in snowmass.

community impact: trail building

for our community impact (CI) today, nearly the whole cast was sent towards the mesa mountain near the fort lewis college side of town to do trail building. we were dropped off in a small neighborhood and we were told that we would hike to the top of the mesa. oh boy. time to enjoy the outdoors. hiking. this could be fun. at the bottom we all gathered and met our leaders. we were working with a non-profit organization called Trails 2000. each cast member received a tool (giant branch trimmers, an axe with a hoe end, or a metal rake-like end with a broad bottom). we started up the mountain. about a solid hour of huffing and puffing, we made it to the top (well, most of the cast did). after we enjoyed the views, we got to work. wait, what? we just hiked to the top of the mountain and now gotta do trail work? yep. ah man. it was something i never had done before and was strangely gratifying. maybe its because i (and most people who hike) take trail maintenance for granted. really, it doesn't stay perfect all the time. that's where we came in as a cast and "lopped," "mcClouded," and "polaskyed" the trail down the mountain.

after a super long day, my roommates and i were picked up by Dick in his NEV - Neighborhood Electric Vehicle. think: golf cart with seatbelts, license plates and is insured. we cruised around the city a bit and went to the city cemetery with a stunning over-the-city view. we also saw bambi the dear, too. and then came home to another great dinner and wrapped the evening up with a fire pit session. the Imig's had some guests over too; one of which worked with Dick and was going back to university of denver for another master's degree. (ugggh! more school makes me shudder.) later in the night i learned that the host code was arbitrarily assigned to each family. so really, if we had a free day, we wouldn't necessarily go SHOPPING like i thought we might, but i think i have enough confidence to say i would go shopping with my roommates and host family if it came down to that because they are all such interesting people.

what a crazy past 48 hours

so in the past 48 hours i have experienced two major events in my life: my very first UWP show and my masters graduation ceremony. in addition to those major things, i am now experiencing my first stay at my new host family. this is not a foreign concept to me because my parents are so hospitable and we always have guests coming and going in the house. but now that i am on the other side of the equation, things are a bit different. its very interesting being the guest, not the host.

my new family is the Gerdins. They live up in snowmass, colorado (way up) in the mountains. they have a beautiful home that my host family helped design and construct. D.D., my host mom, said they built and moved up here in 1991 and took the risk of never receiving basic utilities such as running water and electricity. (but yes they obviously have electricity and water and internet!)

this is a really great family. my host brother, Martin, is 16 and is a very active guy. he loves outdoor sports and has many interesting stories. he attends a local boarding school where he can do glass-blowing and blacksmithing and gardening and all sorts of stuff. he showed me some swords and glass cups that he made himself. impressive to say the least. oh, and he loves video games. i should have been writing this entry a while ago, but really, he, myself, and Manuel (our sound tech manager and my roommate here) were playing Halo 3 on his giant HD flat screen. NERDS! call me what you will, i'm ok with that title. ha.

beyond that, this family loves to ski. the father of the house just left yesterday to Chile where he will be skiing for the next 2 weeks. apparently he was on the US demonstration team for 12 years, too. the "d-team" is basically the best ski instructors of the nation. you get elected for a 4 year term and teach the ski patrol and instructors everything they need to know. thats amazing.

oh, well i guess i should comment on my graduation: I'M DONE! Yes, it feels so good to finally finish. five straight years of schooling and i now have something to show for it! woo.

well i am going to get to bed now. we have a show day tomorrow and my schedule starts at 7:00am for drop off and ends at 1:00am for pick up. arg.