Hello everyone! Just a quick note...sorry this is not an update but just a note to quickly explain what is up with my blog. Things are going great here with everything...which means it is a big challenge to get on my computer after very long days to sit down, load hundreds of pictures (I took 476 this week), and then write a blog about everything that has happened. Right now it is 12:09am and I have to be back upo at 4:45am to get ready for our show day. I will try my hardest to have something posted by Monday morning. I appreciate everyone's patience and caring words. I read my mail and comments and appreciate it all so much. So for now I'm heading off to bed. I love you all.
Jessica
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE!!!
Scroll down to "MY FINAL WEEK IN COLORADO" to catch up before you read about New Mexico!!! Chao!!!
My week in Farmington, New Mexico!
So this week has been great! Monday was our travel day and we made it to Farmington at little late and a little tired and a little hungry, but ready to meet our new family and roommate!
We arrived in Farmington around 7pm-ish and first found our roommates. Yulin from China was my roommate this week and the Bedford Family was our host family. We found them from our "host code" we were assigned. This time the host code was food. We were given the name of a non parishable food item and our goal was to find the family that held the actual item. Afterwords, the food was donated to one of the non-profits that we worked with throughout the week. So we made it home and had some dinner, then chatted till about 11:30pm about everything and anything and nothing. It was really nice. Our host family is a family of four with two girls, Veronya (9yrs.) and Claire (5yrs.).
The next two days were spent doing community impact where we worked side by side with highschoolers from the area at local non profits. The two places I worked at was Desert View Sexual Assault Services and P.A.T.H (People Assisting the Homeless). We started our days with icebreakers to help get the students comfortable with working with us. At each of the places we did a lot of painting and at PATH we did some remodeling. At the end of the day we had accomplished a lot and it felt great to make a difference that we could see.
Thursday was our first official show. We rehearsed all day. And the night, in my opinion went very well.
Friday was our day of regional learning. We went to the Navajo Reservation and visted Shiprock and the highschool in the area. Shiprock is a giant vocanic rock in the middle of nowhere that the Navajo Nation believe was sent to them by the spirits and therefore it is considered very sacred. It was breathtaking. We finished our afternoon with a presentation in Navajo dance and culture. Two Navajo princesses spoke (they will also be traveling with us next semester) and the Vice President of the people also was there to speak. We got back to the center that UWP hung out at and had a long round of reflection about where we feel we are at now in our UWP experience. That evening we got home and had some dinner and then our host dad invited us out to a local country dance bar. Our host mom didn't go because she was feeling under the weather, so the three of us got ready and left to tear up the dance floor. We got home just after 1:30 from having a night of sooo much fun. I two stepped for the second time in my life, and got to see Yulin experience A LOT of fun firsts. It was a great night and sooo memorable.
Well, we had to be up early for Saturday morning but surprisingly I was wide awake and full of energy! Saturday also consisted of rehearsal as our second official show was Saturday night. Saturday's show didn't go as well as Thursday's and I was pretty disappointed in my performance. However, the vibe I got was that it wasn't just me so I think we all need to work more on how to stay more focused and keep our energy up weven when our butts have been kicked. I did m,y second interview yesterday too and interviewed a wonderful girl that I hope will have the opportunity to travel with us soon.
Today, Sunday, was a pretty chill hang out day. Our host mom made us blueberry pancakes- I had 4- and then we all just kinda sat and chatted. My host mom and I shared pictures and Yulin and our host dad shared in depth conversation. We hung out some more then decided to checkout Farmington and some shops. We ultimately ended up at the mall because all the shops in Framington are closed on Sundays. While I was disappointed that I might have missed out on souveneir shopping it was really great to see how a whole town still values the "day off." Regardless, the mall had what I wanted. After the mall, we raveled back up to Colorado to visit a town called Durango. This is where my host dad grew up. Wow. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy and eventually snowy, but still really beautiful netled in a valley in the mountains. We finished out our evening with dinner at a Southwest Mexican restuarant. I had a Pina Colada, Fajitas, and we all shared a really yummy desert. Oh, how I love food!!! I fell asleep on the way home bu not before we chatted and giggled a bit.
Tomorrow we leave Framington and our family and head on out to Arizona. And like Denver I know it will be hard to say goodbye. I had a lot of fun in New Mexico and loved my family for everything they shared with us. Thank you Bedford Family!!!
Again I'm in the process of uploading more photos so i will have them up when I can. Till then enjoy the one's I've posted!!!
Now I'm off to pack and get to bed. We leave tomorrow at 7:30am for Tucson, Arizona!
We arrived in Farmington around 7pm-ish and first found our roommates. Yulin from China was my roommate this week and the Bedford Family was our host family. We found them from our "host code" we were assigned. This time the host code was food. We were given the name of a non parishable food item and our goal was to find the family that held the actual item. Afterwords, the food was donated to one of the non-profits that we worked with throughout the week. So we made it home and had some dinner, then chatted till about 11:30pm about everything and anything and nothing. It was really nice. Our host family is a family of four with two girls, Veronya (9yrs.) and Claire (5yrs.).
The next two days were spent doing community impact where we worked side by side with highschoolers from the area at local non profits. The two places I worked at was Desert View Sexual Assault Services and P.A.T.H (People Assisting the Homeless). We started our days with icebreakers to help get the students comfortable with working with us. At each of the places we did a lot of painting and at PATH we did some remodeling. At the end of the day we had accomplished a lot and it felt great to make a difference that we could see.
Thursday was our first official show. We rehearsed all day. And the night, in my opinion went very well.
Friday was our day of regional learning. We went to the Navajo Reservation and visted Shiprock and the highschool in the area. Shiprock is a giant vocanic rock in the middle of nowhere that the Navajo Nation believe was sent to them by the spirits and therefore it is considered very sacred. It was breathtaking. We finished our afternoon with a presentation in Navajo dance and culture. Two Navajo princesses spoke (they will also be traveling with us next semester) and the Vice President of the people also was there to speak. We got back to the center that UWP hung out at and had a long round of reflection about where we feel we are at now in our UWP experience. That evening we got home and had some dinner and then our host dad invited us out to a local country dance bar. Our host mom didn't go because she was feeling under the weather, so the three of us got ready and left to tear up the dance floor. We got home just after 1:30 from having a night of sooo much fun. I two stepped for the second time in my life, and got to see Yulin experience A LOT of fun firsts. It was a great night and sooo memorable.
Well, we had to be up early for Saturday morning but surprisingly I was wide awake and full of energy! Saturday also consisted of rehearsal as our second official show was Saturday night. Saturday's show didn't go as well as Thursday's and I was pretty disappointed in my performance. However, the vibe I got was that it wasn't just me so I think we all need to work more on how to stay more focused and keep our energy up weven when our butts have been kicked. I did m,y second interview yesterday too and interviewed a wonderful girl that I hope will have the opportunity to travel with us soon.
Today, Sunday, was a pretty chill hang out day. Our host mom made us blueberry pancakes- I had 4- and then we all just kinda sat and chatted. My host mom and I shared pictures and Yulin and our host dad shared in depth conversation. We hung out some more then decided to checkout Farmington and some shops. We ultimately ended up at the mall because all the shops in Framington are closed on Sundays. While I was disappointed that I might have missed out on souveneir shopping it was really great to see how a whole town still values the "day off." Regardless, the mall had what I wanted. After the mall, we raveled back up to Colorado to visit a town called Durango. This is where my host dad grew up. Wow. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy and eventually snowy, but still really beautiful netled in a valley in the mountains. We finished out our evening with dinner at a Southwest Mexican restuarant. I had a Pina Colada, Fajitas, and we all shared a really yummy desert. Oh, how I love food!!! I fell asleep on the way home bu not before we chatted and giggled a bit.
Tomorrow we leave Framington and our family and head on out to Arizona. And like Denver I know it will be hard to say goodbye. I had a lot of fun in New Mexico and loved my family for everything they shared with us. Thank you Bedford Family!!!
Again I'm in the process of uploading more photos so i will have them up when I can. Till then enjoy the one's I've posted!!!
Now I'm off to pack and get to bed. We leave tomorrow at 7:30am for Tucson, Arizona!
My final week in Colorado.
Good Morning!!! Sorry it has been a while with my blog...I am learning some great things with Up With People about a very important subject- TIME MANAGEMENT! Anyways, I hope to gt better as the weeks and months progress, but till then be patient and I will try my best to stay in touch.
One of the main reasons that I didn't get around to writing last week was because of the hours we were putting in with rehearsal for our first show (dress rehearsal in front on 1000 people). Every day was incredibly long starting at 5:45am and going till 8 or 9 each night then getting even longer come the show nights.
So let me take you to Wednesday, as most of the week was the same. Oh but before I do that I want to mention one really cool event... The announcements of the internships and assistantships. I applied for the Education Internship as well as the Admissions and External Realtions Internships. Unfortunately, I wasn't chosen for an internship this time around, but I was asked to do two assistantships! One for the Education Team as a Community Impact Crew Leader and the other for Photography. I was a little bummed about not getting an internship this tie around, but am really excited for the people that were chosen as well as for the fact that I still have the opportunity to try out two other areas that interest me. I was encouraged to apply again for Europe and I wouldn't pass that up for the world!
So now...for Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007. Wenesday we not only rehearsed but had our first dress dress rehearsal. It went well but with A LOT of notes. We didn't get home till pretty late that night...about 10.
We had a very special visitor Wednesday and Thursday. Ben Shalom from the United Nations. He is part of a program intituted by the UN called Culture of Peace, a project that includes much of the same mission statement of Up With People. He spoke briefly to us about the program and even attended our show!
Thursday was our show day- dress rehearsal for the entire tour. We say dress rehearsal, but we performed in front of a real audience with host families, alumni, prospective students, and sponsors. That night there was a blizzard and our sold out audience of 1000 turned out to be about 450, but it was still great and it was so nice to have those there that were there...even after driving 2 hours...Thank you Mom (Ellen), Dad (Mike), and Rosie!!! Before the show, the cast goes into the Green Room to get ready and get motivated for the show. Just before Green Room we got ready to perform and got into our costumes and make-up. I'm letting you know that part because Green Room was great but they made us cry! And after all that time putting makeup on, most of the girls had to go back into the dressing room to fix our makeup!!! (The crying part was good, and was a nice way to reflect on all our hard work.) I have pictures of Green Room, but I'm going to save those for when I get home to share with others. Green Room is an awesome experience that I would love to share, but there are things I would like to keep closer and for myself.
The show went great. Of course there were messups and lots of things we need to work on, but for a first show I think we did awesome and it's really nice to see all the support everyone gives.
I was part of the infamous "Strike Crew" on show night which meant that I got to help take down the stage and load everything up into the trucks. I learned a bit about technical stuff and some of it was interesting but I definitley think my calling will not be in staging! That night I didn't get home until 1am. Friday moring started again at 5:45am.
Friday was a "on the road" prep day. We learned how to do interviews on the road. We learned about what we will be doing when we go into the schools to do Stand for Peace. Our day was an hour shorter, but our night wasn't over...Margeaux and Charlotte had a birthday party hosted by Margeaux's host family. We had spaghetti, and salad, and cake, and all sorts of stuff. Then we did some Karaoke we played around with some of our UWP songs for our host families. It was a lot of fun. We got home Friday around 11:20pm.
Saturday was great! Because we striked the set on Thursday we got the day off. Sandra and I got to sleep in a bit, and then our familiy took us to Estes Park up in the mountains. It was so gorgeous!!! We ate, shopped a bit, went siteseeing (I saw ELK!!!!) After our afternoon in Estes Park we had dinner in Loveland, CO at a place called Blackeyed Peas. It was really good and we had a lot of fun. That pretty much ended our night and Sandra and I were beat!
Sunday fulfilled childhood dreams...our Dad (Mike) is a Firefighter and invited us for brunch at the Firehouse. So Sunday morng we piled in the car and went to Denver for brunch and a tour of the Firehouse. The firshouse has 9 people staying there at a time. And one of those 9 is a woman...I give that girl LOTS of credit to hang out with men for 24 hours at a time!!! Seriously though, they were all really great and in Sandra's words, such "hot firefighters!" There was soooooo much food...Eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, green chili sauce for breakfast burritos!!! And soo good! Firefighters are excellent cooks! Afterwords, Sandra and I got a tour and got to try on the suits and gear. Then we got to spray a firehose and ride in the firetruck! It was sooo cool! Check out the pictures! So it came time to leave, but because our dad was in the middle of his shift we had to say goodbye because he would not be there Monday morning when we left for New Mexico. It was our first goodbye and I know now that 19 more are going to be really tough.
The rest of our day consisted of packing, laundry, uploading pictures- which took literally 12 hours! Monday morning we finished everything up, said a sad goodbye to Mom and Rosie, and headed out for Farmington, New Mexico.
One of the main reasons that I didn't get around to writing last week was because of the hours we were putting in with rehearsal for our first show (dress rehearsal in front on 1000 people). Every day was incredibly long starting at 5:45am and going till 8 or 9 each night then getting even longer come the show nights.
So let me take you to Wednesday, as most of the week was the same. Oh but before I do that I want to mention one really cool event... The announcements of the internships and assistantships. I applied for the Education Internship as well as the Admissions and External Realtions Internships. Unfortunately, I wasn't chosen for an internship this time around, but I was asked to do two assistantships! One for the Education Team as a Community Impact Crew Leader and the other for Photography. I was a little bummed about not getting an internship this tie around, but am really excited for the people that were chosen as well as for the fact that I still have the opportunity to try out two other areas that interest me. I was encouraged to apply again for Europe and I wouldn't pass that up for the world!
So now...for Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007. Wenesday we not only rehearsed but had our first dress dress rehearsal. It went well but with A LOT of notes. We didn't get home till pretty late that night...about 10.
We had a very special visitor Wednesday and Thursday. Ben Shalom from the United Nations. He is part of a program intituted by the UN called Culture of Peace, a project that includes much of the same mission statement of Up With People. He spoke briefly to us about the program and even attended our show!
Thursday was our show day- dress rehearsal for the entire tour. We say dress rehearsal, but we performed in front of a real audience with host families, alumni, prospective students, and sponsors. That night there was a blizzard and our sold out audience of 1000 turned out to be about 450, but it was still great and it was so nice to have those there that were there...even after driving 2 hours...Thank you Mom (Ellen), Dad (Mike), and Rosie!!! Before the show, the cast goes into the Green Room to get ready and get motivated for the show. Just before Green Room we got ready to perform and got into our costumes and make-up. I'm letting you know that part because Green Room was great but they made us cry! And after all that time putting makeup on, most of the girls had to go back into the dressing room to fix our makeup!!! (The crying part was good, and was a nice way to reflect on all our hard work.) I have pictures of Green Room, but I'm going to save those for when I get home to share with others. Green Room is an awesome experience that I would love to share, but there are things I would like to keep closer and for myself.
The show went great. Of course there were messups and lots of things we need to work on, but for a first show I think we did awesome and it's really nice to see all the support everyone gives.
I was part of the infamous "Strike Crew" on show night which meant that I got to help take down the stage and load everything up into the trucks. I learned a bit about technical stuff and some of it was interesting but I definitley think my calling will not be in staging! That night I didn't get home until 1am. Friday moring started again at 5:45am.
Friday was a "on the road" prep day. We learned how to do interviews on the road. We learned about what we will be doing when we go into the schools to do Stand for Peace. Our day was an hour shorter, but our night wasn't over...Margeaux and Charlotte had a birthday party hosted by Margeaux's host family. We had spaghetti, and salad, and cake, and all sorts of stuff. Then we did some Karaoke we played around with some of our UWP songs for our host families. It was a lot of fun. We got home Friday around 11:20pm.
Saturday was great! Because we striked the set on Thursday we got the day off. Sandra and I got to sleep in a bit, and then our familiy took us to Estes Park up in the mountains. It was so gorgeous!!! We ate, shopped a bit, went siteseeing (I saw ELK!!!!) After our afternoon in Estes Park we had dinner in Loveland, CO at a place called Blackeyed Peas. It was really good and we had a lot of fun. That pretty much ended our night and Sandra and I were beat!
Sunday fulfilled childhood dreams...our Dad (Mike) is a Firefighter and invited us for brunch at the Firehouse. So Sunday morng we piled in the car and went to Denver for brunch and a tour of the Firehouse. The firshouse has 9 people staying there at a time. And one of those 9 is a woman...I give that girl LOTS of credit to hang out with men for 24 hours at a time!!! Seriously though, they were all really great and in Sandra's words, such "hot firefighters!" There was soooooo much food...Eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, green chili sauce for breakfast burritos!!! And soo good! Firefighters are excellent cooks! Afterwords, Sandra and I got a tour and got to try on the suits and gear. Then we got to spray a firehose and ride in the firetruck! It was sooo cool! Check out the pictures! So it came time to leave, but because our dad was in the middle of his shift we had to say goodbye because he would not be there Monday morning when we left for New Mexico. It was our first goodbye and I know now that 19 more are going to be really tough.
The rest of our day consisted of packing, laundry, uploading pictures- which took literally 12 hours! Monday morning we finished everything up, said a sad goodbye to Mom and Rosie, and headed out for Farmington, New Mexico.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Off to Farmington, New Mexico!!!
Well, it's 6:31am and in just a few minutes we will be leaving for the buss that will take us to New Mexico. All my photos JUST finished uploading and I hope to have something written and post about this last week and my experience here by tomorrow night.
Colorado has been great and I am going to miss it very much.
Colorado has been great and I am going to miss it very much.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
One week left to go!
Sunday. Busy day. Woke up around 9:30am, had homemade biscuits and gravy...mmmm, got dance shoes and other dance stuff, got a haircut, got some stuff at the grocery store, and came home to Thanksgiving dinner! That's right, Thanksgiving dinner! Sandra my roommate is from China, thus has never had a Thanksgiving, so Dad cooked us a real dinner with all the fixin's (cranberry sauce, mash potatoes, corn, rolls, black olives, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie (with homemade whip cream)) I am still full, it was soooo incredibly good!
So that was my Sunday.
So this week was a rough one for me. I'm still sick but thankfully I only have a cough now and don't feel like an elephant was standing on me. Other than being sick the week from Wednesday was pretty good and very busy! Thursday, we had a basic day that started with a presentation on Culture Shock...yes even us Americans are gonna go through it. And then we finished the day with the "Inconceivable Truth" a documentary by former Vice President Al Gore about Global Warming. I highly suggest that if you have the opportunity to see it you do so. It was very informative and supported very well. However, as one of my staff members mentioned, if the subject is of interest to you seek out other sources to ensure non biased information.
Friday came and we started our day with a presentation by Bruce Early an UWP alumni that talked to us about the "Fishbowl" and how now that we are in UWP we are now in the fishbowl and everyone is watching us, every move we make! He was very humorous and made some great points about the fishbowl. Then the day proceeded with more rehearsal.
Saturday guess what...we had more rehearsal. We also had a presentation on global issues and how things in the world are all connected to eachother. For example- Tell me what you know about Madagascar, Bangladesh, China, Italy, Malasysia, Korea, or Palastine and then look at all the tags on your clothes. That's just one example of how we are connected. After that we were challenged to see in what other ways we are connected, like food, war, water, materials, deforestation, medication and healthcare, etc. Very interesting. After the Global Grab Bag we rehearsed more the good news is that we are starting to look and sound really great. I love the dancing and am having a lot of fun learning more and more and seeing everyone do more and more. It's pretty cool, especially the main dancers, they are incredible! Saturday evening was also pretty amazing. At first we didn't think that we were going to go anywhere but then a bunch of us from our shuttle area decided to join up and see "Blood Diamond" (This is the movie that stars Leonardo DeCaprio) The next part is pretty tough to take so if you are not sure that you can handle difficult subject matter please skip this part... and go to the part with the ***
Blood Diamond is about the wars, deaths, and slaveries caused by the greed over diamonds in Africa. If you are married and have a wedding ring, look at it. Did you ever buy or receive a diamond (earrings, rings, necklace, bracelet, watch)? Do you know where it came from? Some of those diamonds you have may have been the cause of thousands of brutal murders. Some of those diamonds in your possession may have been harvested by a slave in Africa mining at gunpoint by a 10 year old child kidnapped and forced to be a murderous soldier. Right now there are still over 200,000 child soldiers in Africa. I cried not during this movie, but as the credits were rolling. Please don't go see this movie because you heard is was a "good movie." Go see this true story movie to try to understand and be willing to not stand for such terrible things just so you can have a beautiful piece of jewelry. If you don't see this movie, please remember this and promise me this- if you buy a diamond insist to your jeweler that it be a "conflict free" diamond. If they don't know or won't say...don't buy it. Think about it and make a change.
***Tomorrow we switch colleges and go to the school that our actual performance will be at. We leave Colorado next Monday! I can't believe it! I'm really excited and can't wait to start our journey!
So that was my Sunday.
So this week was a rough one for me. I'm still sick but thankfully I only have a cough now and don't feel like an elephant was standing on me. Other than being sick the week from Wednesday was pretty good and very busy! Thursday, we had a basic day that started with a presentation on Culture Shock...yes even us Americans are gonna go through it. And then we finished the day with the "Inconceivable Truth" a documentary by former Vice President Al Gore about Global Warming. I highly suggest that if you have the opportunity to see it you do so. It was very informative and supported very well. However, as one of my staff members mentioned, if the subject is of interest to you seek out other sources to ensure non biased information.
Friday came and we started our day with a presentation by Bruce Early an UWP alumni that talked to us about the "Fishbowl" and how now that we are in UWP we are now in the fishbowl and everyone is watching us, every move we make! He was very humorous and made some great points about the fishbowl. Then the day proceeded with more rehearsal.
Saturday guess what...we had more rehearsal. We also had a presentation on global issues and how things in the world are all connected to eachother. For example- Tell me what you know about Madagascar, Bangladesh, China, Italy, Malasysia, Korea, or Palastine and then look at all the tags on your clothes. That's just one example of how we are connected. After that we were challenged to see in what other ways we are connected, like food, war, water, materials, deforestation, medication and healthcare, etc. Very interesting. After the Global Grab Bag we rehearsed more the good news is that we are starting to look and sound really great. I love the dancing and am having a lot of fun learning more and more and seeing everyone do more and more. It's pretty cool, especially the main dancers, they are incredible! Saturday evening was also pretty amazing. At first we didn't think that we were going to go anywhere but then a bunch of us from our shuttle area decided to join up and see "Blood Diamond" (This is the movie that stars Leonardo DeCaprio) The next part is pretty tough to take so if you are not sure that you can handle difficult subject matter please skip this part... and go to the part with the ***
Blood Diamond is about the wars, deaths, and slaveries caused by the greed over diamonds in Africa. If you are married and have a wedding ring, look at it. Did you ever buy or receive a diamond (earrings, rings, necklace, bracelet, watch)? Do you know where it came from? Some of those diamonds you have may have been the cause of thousands of brutal murders. Some of those diamonds in your possession may have been harvested by a slave in Africa mining at gunpoint by a 10 year old child kidnapped and forced to be a murderous soldier. Right now there are still over 200,000 child soldiers in Africa. I cried not during this movie, but as the credits were rolling. Please don't go see this movie because you heard is was a "good movie." Go see this true story movie to try to understand and be willing to not stand for such terrible things just so you can have a beautiful piece of jewelry. If you don't see this movie, please remember this and promise me this- if you buy a diamond insist to your jeweler that it be a "conflict free" diamond. If they don't know or won't say...don't buy it. Think about it and make a change.
***Tomorrow we switch colleges and go to the school that our actual performance will be at. We leave Colorado next Monday! I can't believe it! I'm really excited and can't wait to start our journey!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
CI Day!
Exhaustion and altitude has finally taken its toll on me. Last night I was out at 8pm and officially in bed at 9pm. Needless to say I was a bit under the weather. By mid day yesterday I had no voice, so I stopped singing. I have a cough that won't let me be and I think it's from my asthma and the altitude and my need to use my inhaler A LOT more. And then I've had a bit of a headache for the last several days. So last night, my host mom gave me some meds and I was out really early. Unfortunately, I was up this morning at 4:30am to write my internship application- which I finished and hope I am accepted for one of my choices. The day yesterday overall was a blur because of the way I was feeling but it consisted of the cast photo and headshots, presentations and blocking for the show. Our presentation was about how to spark us into action for not only community impact days but outside of UWP. We had a local leader from Colorado speak yesterday about his actions during hurricane Katrina. His story about the Rocky Mountain Relief was amazing and it was nice to hear the process he went through t accomplish what he did. Anyways that was yesterday.
Today was our very first community impact day. I with about 25 other students went to volunteer at the World Vision warehouse. World Vision's mission is to provide support to those communities in need around the world. They have a three goal system that they work with while working with each community. These three things are Social, Physical, and Spiritual Transformation. World vision is a Christain based network, but strives to help anyone in need. We broke up into two different groups. One group worked with packaging up school and office supplies to send to needy communities while our group of about 12 worked with sorting and repackaging medical supplies. Our project today was very humbling overall and for me, once again put me in my place of how easily we take things for granted. I know that I strive to be a good person but I also know that I don't think about those less fortunate everyday but today was not one of those days. I got a lot of opportunity today to think about what we were doing will eventually help others survive when they have a medical emergency- all the way down to the bandaids we packaged up. After our CI (community impact)we went back to the college to talk about our days and how we can use this expereince in our own lives and communities.
That was about it for the day. Dad made an awesome dinner tonight and I tried a grilled PB and J sandwich for the first time ever. It was soo good! We also had tomato soup with sausage and gnocci pasta. Mmmm!
Tomorrow we are staying late to watch Al Gore's movie the Inconvenient Truth so it is likely I won't be posting anything tomorrow. I will talk to you all soon!
Have a great night and stay healthy!!!
Today was our very first community impact day. I with about 25 other students went to volunteer at the World Vision warehouse. World Vision's mission is to provide support to those communities in need around the world. They have a three goal system that they work with while working with each community. These three things are Social, Physical, and Spiritual Transformation. World vision is a Christain based network, but strives to help anyone in need. We broke up into two different groups. One group worked with packaging up school and office supplies to send to needy communities while our group of about 12 worked with sorting and repackaging medical supplies. Our project today was very humbling overall and for me, once again put me in my place of how easily we take things for granted. I know that I strive to be a good person but I also know that I don't think about those less fortunate everyday but today was not one of those days. I got a lot of opportunity today to think about what we were doing will eventually help others survive when they have a medical emergency- all the way down to the bandaids we packaged up. After our CI (community impact)we went back to the college to talk about our days and how we can use this expereince in our own lives and communities.
That was about it for the day. Dad made an awesome dinner tonight and I tried a grilled PB and J sandwich for the first time ever. It was soo good! We also had tomato soup with sausage and gnocci pasta. Mmmm!
Tomorrow we are staying late to watch Al Gore's movie the Inconvenient Truth so it is likely I won't be posting anything tomorrow. I will talk to you all soon!
Have a great night and stay healthy!!!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Week Three, Monday!
So I got about 4 hours of sleep last night. I was up late posting my blog and pictures, working on my "ME" page (a project that describes me), checking for internships, and working on the news for my home team. Surprisingly, I wasn't really tired today, which was good becuase we had a full day of physical workouts as well as emotional ones too.
The morning started out with a birthday song to Jorge from Mexico!!! Feliz cumpleanos, Jorge!!!
This morning my team the "Na Na's" presented the news on Africa. I presented on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa and how the Clinton Foundation has now set up a program so that all children ages 2-15yrs. suffering from HIV/AIDS in Uganda (a country in mideast Africa) can now receive FREE antiretroviral medications to help treat the disease. On average 40 to 42 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS all over the world. 65%-74% of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and about 1800 children die every day from this and about 1400 new children are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS everyday. This program in Uganda is another great break-through because many programs that provide treatment are not able or won't provide treatment to children due to cost and changes in prescription as the child grows.
After the news, we had dance movement where we polished steps and styling for certain routines. After dance we had vocals. Vocals went well for the most part and I know where I need more work.
Then off to lunch we went where we chatted away about lots of stuff. After lunch, UWP turned from physical exertion to mental. First we had Leadership Round Table discussions. I volunteered to facilitate the group as each speaker rotated to our table. Each one of these people were leaders who have or do work and have made an impact in theri communities. For instance, we had parents, doctors, civil rights leaders, advocates for health education and more. Each person provided great incite to what makes a good leader. Each agreed that listening was the top skill to be a good leader. This was important to hear as some also admitted that this skill was not always easy.
Then, we played a very heavy game called "Cross the Line." In this activity a question was asked and if you agreed, you crossed the line. Ex. If you like chocolate cross the line. But this wouldn't be an UWP activity if things didn't get a little tougher...They began to ask questions about family, discrimination, disabilities and more. This was a very personal activity so I won't go into details, but I will tell you there were a lot of tears and a lot of hugs and in the end a lot of support.
The morning started out with a birthday song to Jorge from Mexico!!! Feliz cumpleanos, Jorge!!!
This morning my team the "Na Na's" presented the news on Africa. I presented on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa and how the Clinton Foundation has now set up a program so that all children ages 2-15yrs. suffering from HIV/AIDS in Uganda (a country in mideast Africa) can now receive FREE antiretroviral medications to help treat the disease. On average 40 to 42 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS all over the world. 65%-74% of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and about 1800 children die every day from this and about 1400 new children are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS everyday. This program in Uganda is another great break-through because many programs that provide treatment are not able or won't provide treatment to children due to cost and changes in prescription as the child grows.
After the news, we had dance movement where we polished steps and styling for certain routines. After dance we had vocals. Vocals went well for the most part and I know where I need more work.
Then off to lunch we went where we chatted away about lots of stuff. After lunch, UWP turned from physical exertion to mental. First we had Leadership Round Table discussions. I volunteered to facilitate the group as each speaker rotated to our table. Each one of these people were leaders who have or do work and have made an impact in theri communities. For instance, we had parents, doctors, civil rights leaders, advocates for health education and more. Each person provided great incite to what makes a good leader. Each agreed that listening was the top skill to be a good leader. This was important to hear as some also admitted that this skill was not always easy.
Then, we played a very heavy game called "Cross the Line." In this activity a question was asked and if you agreed, you crossed the line. Ex. If you like chocolate cross the line. But this wouldn't be an UWP activity if things didn't get a little tougher...They began to ask questions about family, discrimination, disabilities and more. This was a very personal activity so I won't go into details, but I will tell you there were a lot of tears and a lot of hugs and in the end a lot of support.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Week Two!
So today was my first day off since last Saturday and it felt great! I got a chance, as you may see, to catch up on everything...like....pictures!!! Yes, indeed. Look over my old posts an you will discover visuals from the last week!
So, as you may also have noticed I am definitely finding it difficult to keep up with posts everyday. And I know that when I get to other places I won't always have computer access everyday, therefore, so as not to worry anyone when I fall off the face of the earth for a few days, I'm just fine just a bit behind.
Anyways, so the last few days have been a lot of work but have been really good.
Friday was good and we ended up doing some fun stuff at the end of the day. We learned one of our new routines and had one of our students teach something from his country. A chant from New Zealand.
Saturday, was a day full of "rough blocking" which means we learn how the UWP Show will run. We also got to wear our costumes today. We did this all day until about 2:30pm, then we broke up into home teams. However before doing that we played a game and split the whole cast into two groups. The staff put up a sheet between the two groups and one person from each group went on either side. When the sheet was dropped the two people had to come up with the name or country that the other person was from. Very fun and dangerous! I got up to the sheet and waited anxiously hoping I could be the quickest to name the other person. When the sheet dropping I went blank and Armando from Mexico shouted my name and pointed his finger at me right up my nose!!! Needless to say I lost that round and I was taken to the other side. Then we broke into our home teams. In the Na Na home team we all brought something that we felt we couldn't have left home during this trip. Things varied from pictures, to IPods, to cell phones, to a ring, to a journal, to a movie or book, to mine- my ripped up jeans and Flat Stanley. I had decided that I really could have left anything thing at home but when packing I couldn't part with my favorite jeans and of course Flat Stanley! Then we talked about the news and our presentation of Africa news for tomorrow. After that we learned the Na Na song and then did some team building activities. Then our day with UWP was done.
But that wasn't the end of the day...
A group of about 20 of us decided to go to downtown Denver and grab a bite to eat and see a movie. We had a lot of fun and definitely made some memories. We ate at Johnny Rockets and saw Stomp the Yard. We got home about 11:15ish. Check out the pictures to see how Denver went!
Tonight was Sunday and Sandra my roommate from China made us dinner! It was sooo good and soooo much food. We had two chicken dishes one asparagus dish and one eggplant dish. Check out the pictures of our Chinese dinner!
Tonight I am still playing catch up. I have a couple things that I still need to do by tomorrow. (news, reading, a project for UWP). So that's it for the night! Enjoy all the updates and tell me what you all think!
So, as you may also have noticed I am definitely finding it difficult to keep up with posts everyday. And I know that when I get to other places I won't always have computer access everyday, therefore, so as not to worry anyone when I fall off the face of the earth for a few days, I'm just fine just a bit behind.
Anyways, so the last few days have been a lot of work but have been really good.
Friday was good and we ended up doing some fun stuff at the end of the day. We learned one of our new routines and had one of our students teach something from his country. A chant from New Zealand.
Saturday, was a day full of "rough blocking" which means we learn how the UWP Show will run. We also got to wear our costumes today. We did this all day until about 2:30pm, then we broke up into home teams. However before doing that we played a game and split the whole cast into two groups. The staff put up a sheet between the two groups and one person from each group went on either side. When the sheet was dropped the two people had to come up with the name or country that the other person was from. Very fun and dangerous! I got up to the sheet and waited anxiously hoping I could be the quickest to name the other person. When the sheet dropping I went blank and Armando from Mexico shouted my name and pointed his finger at me right up my nose!!! Needless to say I lost that round and I was taken to the other side. Then we broke into our home teams. In the Na Na home team we all brought something that we felt we couldn't have left home during this trip. Things varied from pictures, to IPods, to cell phones, to a ring, to a journal, to a movie or book, to mine- my ripped up jeans and Flat Stanley. I had decided that I really could have left anything thing at home but when packing I couldn't part with my favorite jeans and of course Flat Stanley! Then we talked about the news and our presentation of Africa news for tomorrow. After that we learned the Na Na song and then did some team building activities. Then our day with UWP was done.
But that wasn't the end of the day...
A group of about 20 of us decided to go to downtown Denver and grab a bite to eat and see a movie. We had a lot of fun and definitely made some memories. We ate at Johnny Rockets and saw Stomp the Yard. We got home about 11:15ish. Check out the pictures to see how Denver went!
Tonight was Sunday and Sandra my roommate from China made us dinner! It was sooo good and soooo much food. We had two chicken dishes one asparagus dish and one eggplant dish. Check out the pictures of our Chinese dinner!
Tonight I am still playing catch up. I have a couple things that I still need to do by tomorrow. (news, reading, a project for UWP). So that's it for the night! Enjoy all the updates and tell me what you all think!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Catch Up!
Looong week! Grrrrreeaat week! Lots of stuff! So I guess Monday was the last time I posted something. Sorry about that, I'v been a bit tired. Okay, A LOT!
Here's a quick bit about the last couple days to give you all a catch up...
Tuesday: We danced. And danced. And danced! During this time the staff took students in and out to look over and try on costumes. I got mine and can't wait to wear it in the show! And at the end of the day we had a speaker, Dr. Stevens, from Hawaii University come in and do a cultural presentation with us. It was an interactive game *PAUSE* I just want to tell you all really quick before I go on with Tuesday's events what is going on right now as I'm typing... I am sitting here typing while Sandra is talking to her boyfriend over Skype (the computer phone) in Chinese and Donny (our Host family's old exchange student that is visiting from Hungary) talking to a friend on the phone in Hungarian. It is soooo interesting and I am incredibly confused right now trying to think in English! This is exactly what I signed up for! I love it! How funny! Anyways, at the end of the day we played this interactive game that taught a big lesson on culture. The name of the game was called Barnga. In short without giving the game away we learned that just because you think you are right about something doesn't mean that the other person is wrong.
Wednesday: We started the morning with a debriefing of Barnga from the night before. Then we had an Admissions Lecture and learned how and what the process was so that we can easily tell others about UWP including our experiences we have had so far in case we run into someone who is interested in learning about UWP. After lunch, the staff gave a little performance from one of the numbers from the show. I can't wait to look like them! Then we sang. And sang. And sang. For 3 hours! By the end we knew the show (for the most part) and at least had an idea of how every song should sound. After singing we finished up with some more dancing. The singing for me is getting better and I'm feeling a lot more confident about my parts. I still need A LOT of work but I get better everytime. Practice definitley makes PERFECT! The dancing is the same, but I think I'm picking that up a little faster than the singing. I'm having a lot of fun doing both and I love having the opportunity to learn something that I may not have had the opportunity to do back home. P.S. Forrest and Carol- I heard we might be exploring some communal dances sometime this semester...I brought my CD's from class and hope to maybe teach others one or two of the dances. During wrap up at the end of our day my hometeam, the "Na Na's," performed "Happy Birthday" for my roommate Sandra in a round (cannon) in Swedish, French, Belgian, Japanese, Spanish, and finally English. (Her birthday was really today (Thursday), but because we had a field trip today we needed to do the song a day early) We also celebrated her acceptance into Harvard! Cool, huh?!
That brings us to today! We (the Cast, Flat Stanley and I) went on a field trip today to Boulder, Colorado!!! We had our first bus dates today on our way to Boulder. My "date" today was David from Belgium. On this 45 minute ride we shared pictures of our loved ones, our likes in music, future career ideas- I learned that David would like to be a street performer, an acrobat in the circus, or a gym teacher- I learned a few words in French and the next thing we knew we were in Boulder! So. What did we do in Boulder you ask? Well, let me tell you... First we went on a scavenger hunt in Boulder with tasks and questions ranging from getting our picture taken with a local citizen and police officer to findig a good tie-dye recipe to finding out several history questions about the mining city. Our team of six got ALMOST all the questions (missing only one part to one question) and we find out tomorrow which team got the most right! After our hunt we toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. Wow! It was amazing! We first watched a video on how the tea is made and packaged (like Mr. Rogers) and then we went into the factory and saw it for real. We all had to wear a hair net (even Flat Stanley) for sanitation purposes. One of the very interesting things about the Celestial Seasonings Factory and the history and story of how and where they get thier tea leaves is that Celestial Seasonings is socially conscious, which means that people from Boulder, Colorado frequently visit the areas where the plants (teas) are grown to make sure that the working conditions are safe and healthy. They also make sure that the children of the workers have an education and are taken care of. This is incredibly important because many of the countries that the tea comes from are still developing regions and many workers harvesting other products are taken advantage of with poor working conditions. This made me feel really proud that there are businesses in the States that do thier best to stay conscious of the conditions in other areas of the world. We then went to the gift shop and I may have bought one or two things... On the bus ride home I had a "date" with My (pronounced ME) from Swenden, and then Aoife (pronounced E FA) from Ireland. Aoife and I mostly shared music on the way home as Mitch from Ohio DJed music through his IPod.
The day ended with a surprise party that my host family and I set up for Sandra for her 25th birthday. We invited a few of the cast members (Kaylee from Minnisota, Pepe from Mexico, Jeff from California, Yulin from China, and Charlotte from Belgium) that we ride with in the morning to the University and had a wonderful dinner cooked by Dad. Our night was entertained by a million and half giggles that filled the entire house over and over. Donny from Hungary baked Sandra a chocolate cake and we had ice cream to go with. So much food, so much fun! So tomorrow is Friday, but not the end of the week... we still have Saturday!
This is from Thursday morning:
Pictures from the bus ride to Boulder, Colorado:
Our Scavenger Hunt:
The Scavenger Hunt continues and so does the bus ride to Celestial Seasonings:
Celestial Seasonings:
Goin' home:
So there are the pictures for you all. I took about 100 today alone but one of the UWP staff had my memory card to copy my pictures to his computer that's why it took so long to pot 'em. Have a great night!!!
Here's a quick bit about the last couple days to give you all a catch up...
Tuesday: We danced. And danced. And danced! During this time the staff took students in and out to look over and try on costumes. I got mine and can't wait to wear it in the show! And at the end of the day we had a speaker, Dr. Stevens, from Hawaii University come in and do a cultural presentation with us. It was an interactive game *PAUSE* I just want to tell you all really quick before I go on with Tuesday's events what is going on right now as I'm typing... I am sitting here typing while Sandra is talking to her boyfriend over Skype (the computer phone) in Chinese and Donny (our Host family's old exchange student that is visiting from Hungary) talking to a friend on the phone in Hungarian. It is soooo interesting and I am incredibly confused right now trying to think in English! This is exactly what I signed up for! I love it! How funny! Anyways, at the end of the day we played this interactive game that taught a big lesson on culture. The name of the game was called Barnga. In short without giving the game away we learned that just because you think you are right about something doesn't mean that the other person is wrong.
Wednesday: We started the morning with a debriefing of Barnga from the night before. Then we had an Admissions Lecture and learned how and what the process was so that we can easily tell others about UWP including our experiences we have had so far in case we run into someone who is interested in learning about UWP. After lunch, the staff gave a little performance from one of the numbers from the show. I can't wait to look like them! Then we sang. And sang. And sang. For 3 hours! By the end we knew the show (for the most part) and at least had an idea of how every song should sound. After singing we finished up with some more dancing. The singing for me is getting better and I'm feeling a lot more confident about my parts. I still need A LOT of work but I get better everytime. Practice definitley makes PERFECT! The dancing is the same, but I think I'm picking that up a little faster than the singing. I'm having a lot of fun doing both and I love having the opportunity to learn something that I may not have had the opportunity to do back home. P.S. Forrest and Carol- I heard we might be exploring some communal dances sometime this semester...I brought my CD's from class and hope to maybe teach others one or two of the dances. During wrap up at the end of our day my hometeam, the "Na Na's," performed "Happy Birthday" for my roommate Sandra in a round (cannon) in Swedish, French, Belgian, Japanese, Spanish, and finally English. (Her birthday was really today (Thursday), but because we had a field trip today we needed to do the song a day early) We also celebrated her acceptance into Harvard! Cool, huh?!
That brings us to today! We (the Cast, Flat Stanley and I) went on a field trip today to Boulder, Colorado!!! We had our first bus dates today on our way to Boulder. My "date" today was David from Belgium. On this 45 minute ride we shared pictures of our loved ones, our likes in music, future career ideas- I learned that David would like to be a street performer, an acrobat in the circus, or a gym teacher- I learned a few words in French and the next thing we knew we were in Boulder! So. What did we do in Boulder you ask? Well, let me tell you... First we went on a scavenger hunt in Boulder with tasks and questions ranging from getting our picture taken with a local citizen and police officer to findig a good tie-dye recipe to finding out several history questions about the mining city. Our team of six got ALMOST all the questions (missing only one part to one question) and we find out tomorrow which team got the most right! After our hunt we toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. Wow! It was amazing! We first watched a video on how the tea is made and packaged (like Mr. Rogers) and then we went into the factory and saw it for real. We all had to wear a hair net (even Flat Stanley) for sanitation purposes. One of the very interesting things about the Celestial Seasonings Factory and the history and story of how and where they get thier tea leaves is that Celestial Seasonings is socially conscious, which means that people from Boulder, Colorado frequently visit the areas where the plants (teas) are grown to make sure that the working conditions are safe and healthy. They also make sure that the children of the workers have an education and are taken care of. This is incredibly important because many of the countries that the tea comes from are still developing regions and many workers harvesting other products are taken advantage of with poor working conditions. This made me feel really proud that there are businesses in the States that do thier best to stay conscious of the conditions in other areas of the world. We then went to the gift shop and I may have bought one or two things... On the bus ride home I had a "date" with My (pronounced ME) from Swenden, and then Aoife (pronounced E FA) from Ireland. Aoife and I mostly shared music on the way home as Mitch from Ohio DJed music through his IPod.
The day ended with a surprise party that my host family and I set up for Sandra for her 25th birthday. We invited a few of the cast members (Kaylee from Minnisota, Pepe from Mexico, Jeff from California, Yulin from China, and Charlotte from Belgium) that we ride with in the morning to the University and had a wonderful dinner cooked by Dad. Our night was entertained by a million and half giggles that filled the entire house over and over. Donny from Hungary baked Sandra a chocolate cake and we had ice cream to go with. So much food, so much fun! So tomorrow is Friday, but not the end of the week... we still have Saturday!
This is from Thursday morning:
Pictures from the bus ride to Boulder, Colorado:
Our Scavenger Hunt:
The Scavenger Hunt continues and so does the bus ride to Celestial Seasonings:
Celestial Seasonings:
Goin' home:
So there are the pictures for you all. I took about 100 today alone but one of the UWP staff had my memory card to copy my pictures to his computer that's why it took so long to pot 'em. Have a great night!!!
Monday, January 15, 2007
Monday, Monday!
PHOTOS ADDED HERE!!! ENJOY!!!
Low key day. We were supposed to have speaker Mark Gerzon author of Leading Beyond Borders come in and speak today, but he called in sick and we had to do a bit of improv. This morning started off when I got into the bedroom after taking a shower and my roommate started talking to me in Chinese! I said "yeeaaahhh, that was Chinese soooo I'm just gonna keep on walkin'!" I didn't know at the point if she was talking in her sleep or just accidently started talking to me in Chinese. Well, it was early and she meant to say to me that I took a quick shower. Very funny! I love her and I think we make good roommates. Both of us were a bit disorganized this morning and made it out in time...without her music, without my make up, without my gloves, and without my phone! The morning at UWP consisted of more UWP Expectations, including what kind of stuff we should wear for certain circumstances.
The morning finished off and the afternoon started all with vocals. After vocals and lunch, in which we learned a lot in discussion about Mexico from Armando, we discussed a new subject- Hot Topics. Our topics consisted of the following questions:
Do you think it is right for one country to fight for another country's freedom?
How do you feel about Affirmative Action and it as a freedom tool?
And the last was about the Danish Comic: Do you feel that everyone should have free speech?
Interesting topics and very interesting conversation from people from all over the world.
Our host dad made us a "phenominal" dinner tonight! A soup made with tomatoes, zucchini, squash, onion, and ground beef. Mmmm!
That's it for the evening. I have pictures but I'm not uploading them tonight. I broke out in hives from the Stock Show/ Rodeo and took some Benedryl to take down the swelling so I'm going to bed soon. I promise that I'll post pictures soon. Have a goodnight world!
Low key day. We were supposed to have speaker Mark Gerzon author of Leading Beyond Borders come in and speak today, but he called in sick and we had to do a bit of improv. This morning started off when I got into the bedroom after taking a shower and my roommate started talking to me in Chinese! I said "yeeaaahhh, that was Chinese soooo I'm just gonna keep on walkin'!" I didn't know at the point if she was talking in her sleep or just accidently started talking to me in Chinese. Well, it was early and she meant to say to me that I took a quick shower. Very funny! I love her and I think we make good roommates. Both of us were a bit disorganized this morning and made it out in time...without her music, without my make up, without my gloves, and without my phone! The morning at UWP consisted of more UWP Expectations, including what kind of stuff we should wear for certain circumstances.
The morning finished off and the afternoon started all with vocals. After vocals and lunch, in which we learned a lot in discussion about Mexico from Armando, we discussed a new subject- Hot Topics. Our topics consisted of the following questions:
Do you think it is right for one country to fight for another country's freedom?
How do you feel about Affirmative Action and it as a freedom tool?
And the last was about the Danish Comic: Do you feel that everyone should have free speech?
Interesting topics and very interesting conversation from people from all over the world.
Our host dad made us a "phenominal" dinner tonight! A soup made with tomatoes, zucchini, squash, onion, and ground beef. Mmmm!
That's it for the evening. I have pictures but I'm not uploading them tonight. I broke out in hives from the Stock Show/ Rodeo and took some Benedryl to take down the swelling so I'm going to bed soon. I promise that I'll post pictures soon. Have a goodnight world!
Sunday, January 14, 2007
The Weekend
PICTURES ARE HERE!!! ENJOY!!!
This weekend was fantastic, but hardly low key! Saturday morning I was hoping to sleep in a a bit and Sandra phone went off at 6:50am. The good news was that her ring tone was awesome and that the phone went off just AFTER I had finished a really nice dream. Unfortunately, I was wide awake afterwords! Oh well that was so bad and we had a great morning and afternoon. Our mom, Rosie, Sandra and I went to run errands. I got a new phone, two new pairs of shoes, a journal for thoughts I can't or don't want to type in here, a little notebook for stuff during the week with UWP, and ran to the bank and the post office. The day itself was fun and pretty productive.
Saturday evening we went to the potluck that one of the host families organized. I made a cheese, sausage, and cracker platter, Sandra made a Chinese dish made with tomatoes and eggs, and our host parents brought cookies for dessert. It was amazing to see so many people from the cast show up with their families. There was sooo much food and everyone pretty much did what they could to make platters native to their countries. It was nice. After dinner, Karaoke was set up. What a great time! The cast started out with some James Brown (I Feel Good) and we all progressed from there. I took only 78 pictures on Saturday!
Today was a blast as well. We got more snow today...very pretty. We left for the Rodeo, my first ever, at about 10:45am and left there about 5pm. We visited the petting area, the show animals, and then a 2pm we went to the actual Rodeo event. Very fun! The very first event was a little scary for me as we saw a cowboy get stuck to his bucking horse. He finally got loose and everything was okay, and the rest of the Rodeo went off without a hitch. After the Rodeo we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was very good and for the most part, Sandra approved the food to be similar to Shanghinese food. That was pretty much the whole of our weekend. This week we have to do UWP stuff 6 days!!!
Love,
Jessica
This weekend was fantastic, but hardly low key! Saturday morning I was hoping to sleep in a a bit and Sandra phone went off at 6:50am. The good news was that her ring tone was awesome and that the phone went off just AFTER I had finished a really nice dream. Unfortunately, I was wide awake afterwords! Oh well that was so bad and we had a great morning and afternoon. Our mom, Rosie, Sandra and I went to run errands. I got a new phone, two new pairs of shoes, a journal for thoughts I can't or don't want to type in here, a little notebook for stuff during the week with UWP, and ran to the bank and the post office. The day itself was fun and pretty productive.
Saturday evening we went to the potluck that one of the host families organized. I made a cheese, sausage, and cracker platter, Sandra made a Chinese dish made with tomatoes and eggs, and our host parents brought cookies for dessert. It was amazing to see so many people from the cast show up with their families. There was sooo much food and everyone pretty much did what they could to make platters native to their countries. It was nice. After dinner, Karaoke was set up. What a great time! The cast started out with some James Brown (I Feel Good) and we all progressed from there. I took only 78 pictures on Saturday!
Today was a blast as well. We got more snow today...very pretty. We left for the Rodeo, my first ever, at about 10:45am and left there about 5pm. We visited the petting area, the show animals, and then a 2pm we went to the actual Rodeo event. Very fun! The very first event was a little scary for me as we saw a cowboy get stuck to his bucking horse. He finally got loose and everything was okay, and the rest of the Rodeo went off without a hitch. After the Rodeo we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was very good and for the most part, Sandra approved the food to be similar to Shanghinese food. That was pretty much the whole of our weekend. This week we have to do UWP stuff 6 days!!!
Love,
Jessica
Friday, January 12, 2007
End of week one
Good evening, World!
So today marked the last day of our first week here in Denver! WooHoo!!! It was a great week and you may have read. I took about 200 pictures and hope to take at least 2000 more! So today was pretty low key in the idea of new stuff in the day. Our day started off with dance and ended in dance with a couple presentations in between about documenting our travels and talking about our internship opportunities. In regards to the interships I'm thinking I would like to try to be a part of the Advance Team. This means that I would go to a city before the rest of the cast to help prepare for the cast. It is a lot of work and an excellent opportunity to learn and show responsibility in many aspects. The other internships I'm interested in deal with the Education program, Admissions Team, and Dance ( I have no real background in dance but it fascinates me and I would be very interested in learning more about how the staff teaches the learning process. I got a chance to interact with some VERY interesting conversations as well today. And I have to say while the day was great with the dances and presentations the conversations I will remember for a lifetime. First off was our home team #7. A group that includes eight people and will stay the same for the whole semester. In this group it is our responsibility to keep the rest of the cast informed about different areas of the world. Our area is Africa which means we will be preparing and giving presentations that talk about everything that has to do with Africa from the people, the news, their economics and so on. We will also be in charge of other activities that require creativity and thought. Most importantly we act as a smaller family that we can go to if we need support or help with anything throughout the program. For instance if we are having trouble understanding something because English is not our first language one of the group memeber can then offer suppor t to the person that needs assistance. One of our first challenges was to come up with a name of our team. After much deliberation we came up with "Na Na" which means "7" in Japanese, however "na na" doesn't mean seven in every language-we soon learned...in French "na na" means beautiful "hot" woman. (this was described by David from Belgium with hand gestures!) Very funny! Then and there we became the "Na Na's!"
My culturally interesting day didn't end there. Home time came and we sat down at the dinner table when Sandra learned a little about American "culture" with a giant finger pen that made noises when pulled...see where I'm going? Sandra then learned about the meaning of the age old Pull my Finger joke...but didn't stop there she needed to know for personal references how to spell the noisy smelly act. We (mom, dad, and me) must have spelt the name about 4 to 5 times before Sandra had the spelling down! Interesting and funny but a great learning experience and no questions of curiousity are EVER wrong. Yesterday, one of the girls was amazed to see a crossing guard holding a stop sign. Her reaction was priceless and I can't wait to go to Europe where I will most definitely have the same type of curiosity and then the Europeans can giggle at my questions! This evening Sandra played the piano while I tried (keyword) to practice and sing a couple of our dances. I had a great week and can't wait for more!
I shared my pictures of my real family today with my host mom. It feels good to share my life with other people who are willing to learn about everything we have to say. I love it.
Tomorrow will be a busy day. My cell phone died today and I need to try to get a new one for a fair price. I need to get the.......POSTCARDS to send to everyone of my supporters!!!!! And then I need to go to the store and find a new pair of shows. I would also like to buy a journal that I can write in. There are some things that I don't want to share but do want to remember personally.
FYI- or for Alexis FBI- I apologize for spelling errors- I want to do a stream of thought and don't always get a chance to look things back over. I appreciate your patience.
So today marked the last day of our first week here in Denver! WooHoo!!! It was a great week and you may have read. I took about 200 pictures and hope to take at least 2000 more! So today was pretty low key in the idea of new stuff in the day. Our day started off with dance and ended in dance with a couple presentations in between about documenting our travels and talking about our internship opportunities. In regards to the interships I'm thinking I would like to try to be a part of the Advance Team. This means that I would go to a city before the rest of the cast to help prepare for the cast. It is a lot of work and an excellent opportunity to learn and show responsibility in many aspects. The other internships I'm interested in deal with the Education program, Admissions Team, and Dance ( I have no real background in dance but it fascinates me and I would be very interested in learning more about how the staff teaches the learning process. I got a chance to interact with some VERY interesting conversations as well today. And I have to say while the day was great with the dances and presentations the conversations I will remember for a lifetime. First off was our home team #7. A group that includes eight people and will stay the same for the whole semester. In this group it is our responsibility to keep the rest of the cast informed about different areas of the world. Our area is Africa which means we will be preparing and giving presentations that talk about everything that has to do with Africa from the people, the news, their economics and so on. We will also be in charge of other activities that require creativity and thought. Most importantly we act as a smaller family that we can go to if we need support or help with anything throughout the program. For instance if we are having trouble understanding something because English is not our first language one of the group memeber can then offer suppor t to the person that needs assistance. One of our first challenges was to come up with a name of our team. After much deliberation we came up with "Na Na" which means "7" in Japanese, however "na na" doesn't mean seven in every language-we soon learned...in French "na na" means beautiful "hot" woman. (this was described by David from Belgium with hand gestures!) Very funny! Then and there we became the "Na Na's!"
My culturally interesting day didn't end there. Home time came and we sat down at the dinner table when Sandra learned a little about American "culture" with a giant finger pen that made noises when pulled...see where I'm going? Sandra then learned about the meaning of the age old Pull my Finger joke...but didn't stop there she needed to know for personal references how to spell the noisy smelly act. We (mom, dad, and me) must have spelt the name about 4 to 5 times before Sandra had the spelling down! Interesting and funny but a great learning experience and no questions of curiousity are EVER wrong. Yesterday, one of the girls was amazed to see a crossing guard holding a stop sign. Her reaction was priceless and I can't wait to go to Europe where I will most definitely have the same type of curiosity and then the Europeans can giggle at my questions! This evening Sandra played the piano while I tried (keyword) to practice and sing a couple of our dances. I had a great week and can't wait for more!
I shared my pictures of my real family today with my host mom. It feels good to share my life with other people who are willing to learn about everything we have to say. I love it.
Tomorrow will be a busy day. My cell phone died today and I need to try to get a new one for a fair price. I need to get the.......POSTCARDS to send to everyone of my supporters!!!!! And then I need to go to the store and find a new pair of shows. I would also like to buy a journal that I can write in. There are some things that I don't want to share but do want to remember personally.
FYI- or for Alexis FBI- I apologize for spelling errors- I want to do a stream of thought and don't always get a chance to look things back over. I appreciate your patience.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
A really phenomenal day!
So I know that for the first week of anything new is always the cliche "amazing" great phenomenal and every other awe inspiring word that can be thought up but it's true. Today was another one of those days and if the program is even half as great as today was then this program will be everything and more that I hoped to get from it.
Today we started our day with the daily morning meeting. Then we had our "experiential learning" activity. One of our first activities was to break into groups and try to make an origami crane. The catch was that each of these groups had a different amount of information they were given on how to make the crane. One group had Madoka from Japan give a demonstration (obviously easy) the next group was just given picture instructions but with no words and no prior information, the next was given just written instructions with no pictures or prior information and my group was not given anything...AT ALL and we were all told to make the crane. Obviously our group had the most difficulty (check out my pictures to see how our "crane" turned out) The object of the activity was to teach the importance of visual learning and how it is so much more helpful to convey a message when not everyone has the same way of learning. Ex. something said in English to a Spanish speaking person. Afterwords we did an activity that dealt with how to use tools that we learn through life to overcome obstacles or things that we want to change in our life. We were told to write about something that we have had trouble getting our of the habit (An example used was constantly getting into bad relationships and never learning how to change that) I wrote about my experience with Applebee's and how I have worked at three over the last 5 years. I wrote that even though I have moved quite a bit in the last 5 years I never seem to leave the Applebee's atmosphere. I concluded that it wasn't because it was a GREAT place (although it's not terrible) but because I was comfortable and not willing to make a change outside my comfort zone even though for years I had hoped to broaden my horizons and do something else more directed towards what I really wanted to do career-wise. We then were challenged to see if there was something that we did that broke the chain of monotony. I think Up With People is that break for me. I also realized that choosing to participate in UWP will help (I hope) to break the cycle of other things not so positive in my life in Wisconsin.
After that activity we listened to a presentation on the basics of performance. We covered everything from Greek performance to 20th century interpretive theatre. We then went to lunch. Afterwords, we had a presentation on what our tour in the States and Thailand will be like. The States sound very busy and very impactful and I'm very excited to see what Thailand holds for us and can't wait to get there in May.
After the presentation we had vocal practice. We learned a new song today and reveiwed two others. I did better today with the singing. After singing we had our movement practice which was great! We warmed up with a bit of Mambo and Cha Cha. Very fun and relly got the blood going! Then we grabbed partners to practice "Boom Boom Boom" again. Gabe, from Tucson, Arizona and I partnered up again and had a blast. We work together really well and Gabe is a very encouraging and helpful teacher. (He has danced before). That pretty much wrapped up our day.
It's getting cold here now and Colorado is expecting another snow storm. It's supposed to be about -3 F (-20 C) on Saturday!
We went out to dinner tonight at the Cracker Barrel and had some yummy food (I had chicken and dumplings).
I'm having a really great time with my first host family. They are wonderful and really sociable. We have had some great conversations with Sandra (my roommate) about Chinese culture vs the culture in Colorado (where our family lives) and the culture in Wisconsin (where I grew up). Rosie is adopted from China and it was really interesting to hear our family's story on how they got Rosie and their tradition they creaed when they got Rosie to give her a gift from China every year for her birthday so she can embrace her culture. It has also been fun then to hear Sandra's response to it as well. We have covered light subjects as well from our host mom getting stuck in one of the snow storms for 7 hours to Rosie's day at school.
Snadra my roommate is also great. We also have shared some nice conversations and some funny moments. The first night Sandra was dealing with jetlag and my snoring certainly didn't help (even though she swears it wasn't a problem). The next night my snoring stopped and Sandra adjusted and got some sleep...And instead of the snoring by me Sandra filled the silence by talking in her sleep (very funny as it was about a subject we talked about during the day!- Recording Rosie's party) we have both adjusted now and it's fun to live with a stranger and have to adjust.
Tomorrow will mark the end of our first week here. Saturday we might be going to a party put on by one of the host families and Sunday our family is taking us to the Rodeo!
Questions answered: Hey Tigan! There are 55 students from 19 different countries representing Up With People. There are 13 students from the USA and then it varies from there- like 4 Mexicans, 5 Belgians, a couple from Sweden, a bunch from Canada, some from China and Japan, some from other parts of Scandenavia, a guy from New Zealand, Brazil, Curacao, Venezuela, Denmark, a girl from Ireland, Panama, Singapore, and I think I'm missing some but for the most part that's our cast.
Cindy, thank you for your interest and compliments on my blog! Here's the truth...I know almost nothing about computers! I use a site called Photobucket to upload my pictures, and then follow the prompts to create a slideshow. Then I cut and paste the HTML code that the site gives me into my blog and whala! I have pictures! It's really super simple!
Thanks, Ange for the acomplishment card! I acomplished something great today!
Thank you to everyone interested in reading my blog it means a lot that you are willing to read my random comments and then make comments back!
Love you all! Good night!
Today we started our day with the daily morning meeting. Then we had our "experiential learning" activity. One of our first activities was to break into groups and try to make an origami crane. The catch was that each of these groups had a different amount of information they were given on how to make the crane. One group had Madoka from Japan give a demonstration (obviously easy) the next group was just given picture instructions but with no words and no prior information, the next was given just written instructions with no pictures or prior information and my group was not given anything...AT ALL and we were all told to make the crane. Obviously our group had the most difficulty (check out my pictures to see how our "crane" turned out) The object of the activity was to teach the importance of visual learning and how it is so much more helpful to convey a message when not everyone has the same way of learning. Ex. something said in English to a Spanish speaking person. Afterwords we did an activity that dealt with how to use tools that we learn through life to overcome obstacles or things that we want to change in our life. We were told to write about something that we have had trouble getting our of the habit (An example used was constantly getting into bad relationships and never learning how to change that) I wrote about my experience with Applebee's and how I have worked at three over the last 5 years. I wrote that even though I have moved quite a bit in the last 5 years I never seem to leave the Applebee's atmosphere. I concluded that it wasn't because it was a GREAT place (although it's not terrible) but because I was comfortable and not willing to make a change outside my comfort zone even though for years I had hoped to broaden my horizons and do something else more directed towards what I really wanted to do career-wise. We then were challenged to see if there was something that we did that broke the chain of monotony. I think Up With People is that break for me. I also realized that choosing to participate in UWP will help (I hope) to break the cycle of other things not so positive in my life in Wisconsin.
After that activity we listened to a presentation on the basics of performance. We covered everything from Greek performance to 20th century interpretive theatre. We then went to lunch. Afterwords, we had a presentation on what our tour in the States and Thailand will be like. The States sound very busy and very impactful and I'm very excited to see what Thailand holds for us and can't wait to get there in May.
After the presentation we had vocal practice. We learned a new song today and reveiwed two others. I did better today with the singing. After singing we had our movement practice which was great! We warmed up with a bit of Mambo and Cha Cha. Very fun and relly got the blood going! Then we grabbed partners to practice "Boom Boom Boom" again. Gabe, from Tucson, Arizona and I partnered up again and had a blast. We work together really well and Gabe is a very encouraging and helpful teacher. (He has danced before). That pretty much wrapped up our day.
It's getting cold here now and Colorado is expecting another snow storm. It's supposed to be about -3 F (-20 C) on Saturday!
We went out to dinner tonight at the Cracker Barrel and had some yummy food (I had chicken and dumplings).
I'm having a really great time with my first host family. They are wonderful and really sociable. We have had some great conversations with Sandra (my roommate) about Chinese culture vs the culture in Colorado (where our family lives) and the culture in Wisconsin (where I grew up). Rosie is adopted from China and it was really interesting to hear our family's story on how they got Rosie and their tradition they creaed when they got Rosie to give her a gift from China every year for her birthday so she can embrace her culture. It has also been fun then to hear Sandra's response to it as well. We have covered light subjects as well from our host mom getting stuck in one of the snow storms for 7 hours to Rosie's day at school.
Snadra my roommate is also great. We also have shared some nice conversations and some funny moments. The first night Sandra was dealing with jetlag and my snoring certainly didn't help (even though she swears it wasn't a problem). The next night my snoring stopped and Sandra adjusted and got some sleep...And instead of the snoring by me Sandra filled the silence by talking in her sleep (very funny as it was about a subject we talked about during the day!- Recording Rosie's party) we have both adjusted now and it's fun to live with a stranger and have to adjust.
Tomorrow will mark the end of our first week here. Saturday we might be going to a party put on by one of the host families and Sunday our family is taking us to the Rodeo!
Questions answered: Hey Tigan! There are 55 students from 19 different countries representing Up With People. There are 13 students from the USA and then it varies from there- like 4 Mexicans, 5 Belgians, a couple from Sweden, a bunch from Canada, some from China and Japan, some from other parts of Scandenavia, a guy from New Zealand, Brazil, Curacao, Venezuela, Denmark, a girl from Ireland, Panama, Singapore, and I think I'm missing some but for the most part that's our cast.
Cindy, thank you for your interest and compliments on my blog! Here's the truth...I know almost nothing about computers! I use a site called Photobucket to upload my pictures, and then follow the prompts to create a slideshow. Then I cut and paste the HTML code that the site gives me into my blog and whala! I have pictures! It's really super simple!
Thanks, Ange for the acomplishment card! I acomplished something great today!
Thank you to everyone interested in reading my blog it means a lot that you are willing to read my random comments and then make comments back!
Love you all! Good night!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Wow! What a Day!!!
Hello again! So today was a huge day! We did our very first vocal and dance practice, we had two presentations, lunch and dinner at the University, and then our Culture Jam!
So, lets see. We started out with morning announcements. We talk about the things going on in the news like the issues in Somalia. We talked about Sadaam and what info we knew that wasn't exactly a headline (the details). Janet from Singapore is doing an indepentdent study through her university where we all answer series of questions that will be asked throughout the semester to see how we develop. We turned this project in today. After morning meeting, we did our first vocal practice. I was put as a Soprano. I don't know if it's really where I belong (maybe I should be an Alto (but I know NOTHING about singing to I am going to trust the experts!)) Anyways, we learned a couple songs for the show...and we didn't sound too bad. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun to hear how we sounded altogether. Next we did a presentation on host family expectations and how to make our experience the best ever. We heard from Colleen Eastman who works for Up With People, but more importantly today she told her story of being a host mom. It was an incredibly touching story about how all 100+ students she has hosted have all become family and that she has gone to weddings, been there through hardships and now even has 27 "grandchildren." As I sat there with happy teary eyes, I hoped that I can give that type expereince to my families along the way, so I may be able to keep in touch with them for years.
We ate lunch and proceeded to our fist dance practice. We did a bit of hip hop, a bit of salsa, and a little more fun. It was hard work, but I can tell already it will be a great cast and show. And again a lot of fun. Afterwords, we had another presentation about the history and story of Up With People. We then broke into groups of about 7 around tables and spoke with Alumni of UWP. We got a chance to speak with four people. Two women and two men. Some that traveled 10 years ago some that traveled 20. Their stories were funny and moving and helped me realize why I'm here. We had dinner at the same tables we had chatted, finished quickly and then went to rehearse for our culture jam de Mexico. The culture jam came then the gentlemen from Mexico, Armando, Jorge, Pepe, and Ivens joined the girls, Lauren from USA, Charlotte from Belgium (I think, sorry if I'm wrong), Whitney from Panama, and myself from USA danced and sang to La Bamba. I messed up a bit, but it couldn't have been a better time and we were LAST!!! Everyone before us was phenominal so I am posting everyone except Patrick from Chicago because I was singing to his song instead of taking pictures, and Leonardo from Brazil because I was dancing with the rest of the cast on stage to help Leo with his Carnaval performance. Anyways, for the Culture Jam our host families were invited to come too and they did! That was nice to have our families there to support us with our activities. After that we came home and here I am and that's it for the evening! Enjoy the pictures!
Jessica from Wisconsin!
For the slideshows... I'm still trying to learn everyone's names so some slide don't have the name or a country written down. Sorry!!!
So, lets see. We started out with morning announcements. We talk about the things going on in the news like the issues in Somalia. We talked about Sadaam and what info we knew that wasn't exactly a headline (the details). Janet from Singapore is doing an indepentdent study through her university where we all answer series of questions that will be asked throughout the semester to see how we develop. We turned this project in today. After morning meeting, we did our first vocal practice. I was put as a Soprano. I don't know if it's really where I belong (maybe I should be an Alto (but I know NOTHING about singing to I am going to trust the experts!)) Anyways, we learned a couple songs for the show...and we didn't sound too bad. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun to hear how we sounded altogether. Next we did a presentation on host family expectations and how to make our experience the best ever. We heard from Colleen Eastman who works for Up With People, but more importantly today she told her story of being a host mom. It was an incredibly touching story about how all 100+ students she has hosted have all become family and that she has gone to weddings, been there through hardships and now even has 27 "grandchildren." As I sat there with happy teary eyes, I hoped that I can give that type expereince to my families along the way, so I may be able to keep in touch with them for years.
We ate lunch and proceeded to our fist dance practice. We did a bit of hip hop, a bit of salsa, and a little more fun. It was hard work, but I can tell already it will be a great cast and show. And again a lot of fun. Afterwords, we had another presentation about the history and story of Up With People. We then broke into groups of about 7 around tables and spoke with Alumni of UWP. We got a chance to speak with four people. Two women and two men. Some that traveled 10 years ago some that traveled 20. Their stories were funny and moving and helped me realize why I'm here. We had dinner at the same tables we had chatted, finished quickly and then went to rehearse for our culture jam de Mexico. The culture jam came then the gentlemen from Mexico, Armando, Jorge, Pepe, and Ivens joined the girls, Lauren from USA, Charlotte from Belgium (I think, sorry if I'm wrong), Whitney from Panama, and myself from USA danced and sang to La Bamba. I messed up a bit, but it couldn't have been a better time and we were LAST!!! Everyone before us was phenominal so I am posting everyone except Patrick from Chicago because I was singing to his song instead of taking pictures, and Leonardo from Brazil because I was dancing with the rest of the cast on stage to help Leo with his Carnaval performance. Anyways, for the Culture Jam our host families were invited to come too and they did! That was nice to have our families there to support us with our activities. After that we came home and here I am and that's it for the evening! Enjoy the pictures!
Jessica from Wisconsin!
For the slideshows... I'm still trying to learn everyone's names so some slide don't have the name or a country written down. Sorry!!!
Audition Day (Yesterday, sorry a bit late)
Hi everyone, sorry I didn't write last night but I got my photos uploaded, did my laundry and fell alseep...next thing I knew it was morning. So here's what I did yesterday...
Yesterday we started our day with morning meeting. This will become an everyday activity where we talk about what the day is going to consist of, what stuff is going on in the world and in the news, weather, announcements of guests if there are any, and anything else pertinent to the cast.
Later on we did a presentation of the USA and then a stereotype activity with all the countries. In this activity big posters with all 19 countries that the cast represents were posted around the room. We then had to go around the room and write down our first impression about each country. Afterwords we talked about what was written and identified what things were true and what things were simply stereotypes that were false. For example, Margaeux from France read on her poster that the French hate Americans... she explained that this is not true but that the French tend to be quieter and cold to EVERY nationality and person until they are more comfortable around them. Unfortunately, but no surprising, there were a lot of negative views about Americans, from war to a loud and unhealthy nation. Many of the things written were very true and while I was aware of these things before the activity it was very humbling to see it all written on one piece of paper. This was an impactful activity because of the after affects and discussion that it caused. It was great conversation that worked to wipe out untrue beliefs.
The rest of the day was reserved for modules (mini auditions for vocal and dance). My time was very late so I worked on rehearsing for the Culture Jam with Team Mexico! First I had the dance module. We learned basic steps then told to try to repeat them as best as possible. Later I finished with my vocal module for singing and speaking. I think I did nicely for the speaking portion but for those of you who are familiar with my voice the singing part was definitely otherwise! But it was still so much fun and it was great to hear everyone else try too. I was in a very encouraging group and it felt great to have support even though we were not all perfect.
My day ended with a phenominal dinner that our host Dad, Mike prepared for us. BBQ Pork Roast with stuffing and corn and rolls!!! Soooo yummy and I can never get enough stuffing!!! At the dinner table we got to talk about our day and listen to Rosie talk about her day too. She is so sweet and always has soo much to say! Like I mentioned at the beginning I did a bit of laundry but the day was so long that I fell alseeo between loads and my host Mom, Ellen had to wake me up so that I had clothes to wear in the morning! (Everything I was planning on wearing were in the wash!) After changing the load I crawled back into bed and 5:45am came very fast!
So that's it for Tuesday!
Yesterday we started our day with morning meeting. This will become an everyday activity where we talk about what the day is going to consist of, what stuff is going on in the world and in the news, weather, announcements of guests if there are any, and anything else pertinent to the cast.
Later on we did a presentation of the USA and then a stereotype activity with all the countries. In this activity big posters with all 19 countries that the cast represents were posted around the room. We then had to go around the room and write down our first impression about each country. Afterwords we talked about what was written and identified what things were true and what things were simply stereotypes that were false. For example, Margaeux from France read on her poster that the French hate Americans... she explained that this is not true but that the French tend to be quieter and cold to EVERY nationality and person until they are more comfortable around them. Unfortunately, but no surprising, there were a lot of negative views about Americans, from war to a loud and unhealthy nation. Many of the things written were very true and while I was aware of these things before the activity it was very humbling to see it all written on one piece of paper. This was an impactful activity because of the after affects and discussion that it caused. It was great conversation that worked to wipe out untrue beliefs.
The rest of the day was reserved for modules (mini auditions for vocal and dance). My time was very late so I worked on rehearsing for the Culture Jam with Team Mexico! First I had the dance module. We learned basic steps then told to try to repeat them as best as possible. Later I finished with my vocal module for singing and speaking. I think I did nicely for the speaking portion but for those of you who are familiar with my voice the singing part was definitely otherwise! But it was still so much fun and it was great to hear everyone else try too. I was in a very encouraging group and it felt great to have support even though we were not all perfect.
My day ended with a phenominal dinner that our host Dad, Mike prepared for us. BBQ Pork Roast with stuffing and corn and rolls!!! Soooo yummy and I can never get enough stuffing!!! At the dinner table we got to talk about our day and listen to Rosie talk about her day too. She is so sweet and always has soo much to say! Like I mentioned at the beginning I did a bit of laundry but the day was so long that I fell alseeo between loads and my host Mom, Ellen had to wake me up so that I had clothes to wear in the morning! (Everything I was planning on wearing were in the wash!) After changing the load I crawled back into bed and 5:45am came very fast!
So that's it for Tuesday!
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Monday, January 8, 2007
Orientation
Today was actually the real day one with up With People. This weekend of course we traveled and met our families and roommates. Today we got to interact with the rest of the cast, get to know eachother, meet the staff, all by playing icebreaking games (like Rock, Paper, Scissors with a Bunny Hop twist!) and watching presentations about the program. We did cultrue activities about the USA and got to hear what others think of when they think of the USA. It was interesting and a lot very true. We also did an activity that described and Iceberg and how the tip of the iceberg is not the whole thing and infact what is underneah the the biggest part of all (what we see about people and cultures and what really is) We did another activity where we wrote letter to ourselves that described things like what are our goals, what we want to learn, who we want to be in the cast, what we want others to see us as, and then how we felt at the time we were writing. We talked a bit about what the next 5 weeks were going to consist of and so on and so forth and then that was pretty much it for the day. It was a great day, very long, but really nice. We started our day at 6 am and got home tonight at about 8pm. After our day was done with the cast we went to watch Rosie at gymnastics from 6:30 to 7:30pm. She is a very good little gymnast!
Tomorrow we participate in modules (mini auditions) to see what each of our strengths are in vocal, dancing and verbal skills. I'm really excited and can't wait to see how I do. I know I'm not fantastic at any of these things, even though, when taught I can learn okay. This is why I can't wait to try it all out. See what are my strengths in a performing role. Most of all I'm ready to go out and have fun. i will have a bit of free time tomorrow and plan on trying to get some snail mail letters written.
Have a great night!
Jessica
Tomorrow we participate in modules (mini auditions) to see what each of our strengths are in vocal, dancing and verbal skills. I'm really excited and can't wait to see how I do. I know I'm not fantastic at any of these things, even though, when taught I can learn okay. This is why I can't wait to try it all out. See what are my strengths in a performing role. Most of all I'm ready to go out and have fun. i will have a bit of free time tomorrow and plan on trying to get some snail mail letters written.
Have a great night!
Jessica
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Day two!
Good evening! This is my continuation from my blog earlier today. But before I say anything else I just want to say that day two with my new host family was incredible busy fun! So who is it that I am staying with for the next 5 weeks? Mike, Ellen, their daughter Rosie, and two dogs, Bruno and Bunkers (big sweethearts!). I also have a wonderful roommate from our cast from China. Her name is Lijing or Sandra for short. Sandra is almost 25 and the last two days we have chatted up a storm about each other and what our likes and dislikes are and what our similarities and differences are as well. Sandra currently works for a consulting firm in Shanghai, China and hopes to one day work with a non-profit organization. She has a very positive personality and I'm so glad to have her as my first roommate of the semester! So a little about our new family... For Mike and Ellen, Sandra and I are the 23 and 24 students to ever stay with their family. They have been hosting since 1999 (I think...I need to double check on that) and have had people from all over the world stay with them. They have a daughter, Rosie, who just turned 7 today! And like I said in the beginning...wow! What a day!
Sandra and I got to help out with the party, themed like a movie premiere. Each child-there were about 10- came dressed up as a movie star and were greeted on the "red carpet" by the reporters (Sandra and I). The children were then escorted to the basement which was decorated like a movie theater with a big screen and even a concession stand! Upstairs the kids got their faces painted and ate lots and lots of candy! All in all is was a fantastic party. As the kids left, the adults arrived from about 4-7:30pm. This group of people were all of the family including; aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa. We had a very yummy dinner (and very homey too) brats, hot dogs, burgers, chips and beans! I was so full after that I could hardly eat my really yummy birthday cupcake! After dinner and after all the guests left for the evening, Sandra, Mom, Rosie, and I played a game of Slap Jack. Sandra won the first round (beginners luck!) and I won the second! It was a lot of fun and I haven't had such a great laugh like we did last night and tonight in a very long time. It was truly a wonderful day. We live in the suburbs of Denver and I feel very at home. It's quiet here but not too quiet and the weather is very similar-except that they (Denver) have all of the snow that should be in Wisconsin! The surrounding also seem very much like Wisconsin right now except for one major thing...Wisconsin doesn't have mountains!!! And wow are they beautiful with all the snow around them!!! Ok well I'm going to head off to bed for now. Have a great night!
This is Saturday, January 6th, 2007
This is Sunday, January 7th, 2007
Sandra and I got to help out with the party, themed like a movie premiere. Each child-there were about 10- came dressed up as a movie star and were greeted on the "red carpet" by the reporters (Sandra and I). The children were then escorted to the basement which was decorated like a movie theater with a big screen and even a concession stand! Upstairs the kids got their faces painted and ate lots and lots of candy! All in all is was a fantastic party. As the kids left, the adults arrived from about 4-7:30pm. This group of people were all of the family including; aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa. We had a very yummy dinner (and very homey too) brats, hot dogs, burgers, chips and beans! I was so full after that I could hardly eat my really yummy birthday cupcake! After dinner and after all the guests left for the evening, Sandra, Mom, Rosie, and I played a game of Slap Jack. Sandra won the first round (beginners luck!) and I won the second! It was a lot of fun and I haven't had such a great laugh like we did last night and tonight in a very long time. It was truly a wonderful day. We live in the suburbs of Denver and I feel very at home. It's quiet here but not too quiet and the weather is very similar-except that they (Denver) have all of the snow that should be in Wisconsin! The surrounding also seem very much like Wisconsin right now except for one major thing...Wisconsin doesn't have mountains!!! And wow are they beautiful with all the snow around them!!! Ok well I'm going to head off to bed for now. Have a great night!
This is Saturday, January 6th, 2007
This is Sunday, January 7th, 2007
I made it!!!
So here I am in Denver, Colorado! My very first leg of my 5 month long trip around the world. I just want to say first off thank you to everyone who helped me get to where I am right now. It means a lot to me and I won't let you down!
Next off, let me tell you a little bit about the last couple of days...
Well, I made it out of my apartment and to my mom's house with Angel my cat Wednesday night about 1:30am! The next day I went out with my girlfriend, Angela for breakfast and last minute shopping. Hmmm...no success on finding new shoes, but oh well, the ones I have will do just fine. Thursday night I went and had my computer put together for the trip. Woohoo for powerpoint and a faster computer!!! Thank you!
Friday was my last day for everything. I started my day with breakfast and a walk with my friend Adam. We talked about everything and nothing, but more importantly he helped calm my nerves. We hugged a goodbye and me with a lot of tears, drove back to my mom's to do some long awaited packing. All of Friday I packed and packed and oh wait...no. My cat got outside! I spent 3 hours Friday afternoon on my belly trying to get my sassy cat, Angel out from under my mom's deck. First we tried to call her. She didn't come out. Next I tried to poke her with a broom. She didn't budge. So we brought out the hose. I found out this wasn't the first time Angel had an encounter with the hose (my mom used the hose on her back in June when she babysat while I was in Mexico). I didn't want to spray her but I didn't think we had a choice. So we sprayed her. And guess what? She didn't come out. I finally got her out tempting her with a hairbrush! Of course when we got her out, she was full of mud from getting sprayed in the dirt. And just like when you give a mouse a cookie he's going to want a glass of milk....when you spray Angel with a hose she's going to need a BATH and when you give a cat a bath...well, I'll let you finish the rest. Long story short, instead of packing all day I chased my cat all day. After all that my friend Angela stopped by to give me a going away gift and to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss you Ange! Anyways, the rest of the day went fairly bust and hectic, but I got it all done about 1am, went to bed with my kitty in my arms and woke up Saturday morning 5am to get ready to head to the airport.
Saturday:
I got up at 5 took my shower, got ready to go, said a tearful goodby to my kitty and headed for the O'Hare international. Now while my flight left at 10:55am, they say you need to get to the airport for security 2 hours ahead of time, and it takes sometimes 1 1/2- 2 hours to get to O'hare so we (My mom, my sister, and my niece, Alexis) left the house at 6:30am. Well, we got to the airport super early, I said yet another tearful goodbye this time to my mom, sister and niece and headed in to check my bags and get through security. I got through security super fast, and had A LOT of time to kill. So with all anxieties gone I sat down at Chili's in the airport and had some breakfast. From there I hung out for a bit, and headed toward my gate.
My flight got into Denver about 12:30pm. First impression of Denver? SNOW all over!!! For those of you reading in Wisconsin...wow. They have soooooooooo much SNOW!!! And it's cold but not too bad for me cuz I'm used to the Wisconsin air. Right now as I'm sitting here typing it's about 30 degrees or so. I got to meet everybody (for the most part) yesterday. I got off my plane, and took a train to the baggage claim area where the Up With People people were standing there waiting for me! I got my luggage and started the waiting process. Before leaving the airport we needed to wait for more people to arrive so we could go as a group. We eventually left (after other students we taking longer than expected to arrive) and mde it to our shuttle bus that took us to the rec center where we would stay until about 8:15pm that night. It started out with just a few of us but by the end of the night the room was packed!
When I arrived at the rec center I was great by a bunch of Up With People people. I got myself registered, paid the rest of my tuition, got my host family info, and got my name tag! I got settled into the rec area, had some lunch, and proceeded to meet some of my fellow cast members. A little bit later a bunch of us went outside to play in the snow and play American Football. After the first person made a touchdown we called "game" it was cold and the snow was so deep that one point was a long enough game! We got inside, chatted a bit, then learned a new card game! The Great Swahili and the Rocksucker- Kevin taught this to us and I don't think that this is the real name...but we'll got with it for a bit. There were about 12 of us playing. It was a great time to learn a new game with new friends. We laughed a lot and had a lot of fun. I was on a team with Aoife (Efa) from Ireland. We ate some pizza, talked and played some more and 8:15 came very fast. I met my host family and my roommate and we left for what would be our home for the next month.
I need to go for a while as my host sister turns 7 today and is having a huge birthday bash. I will be back later tonight to tell you about my family, my roommate and my roommate!
Till then from Denver, Colorado,
Jessica!!!
Next off, let me tell you a little bit about the last couple of days...
Well, I made it out of my apartment and to my mom's house with Angel my cat Wednesday night about 1:30am! The next day I went out with my girlfriend, Angela for breakfast and last minute shopping. Hmmm...no success on finding new shoes, but oh well, the ones I have will do just fine. Thursday night I went and had my computer put together for the trip. Woohoo for powerpoint and a faster computer!!! Thank you!
Friday was my last day for everything. I started my day with breakfast and a walk with my friend Adam. We talked about everything and nothing, but more importantly he helped calm my nerves. We hugged a goodbye and me with a lot of tears, drove back to my mom's to do some long awaited packing. All of Friday I packed and packed and oh wait...no. My cat got outside! I spent 3 hours Friday afternoon on my belly trying to get my sassy cat, Angel out from under my mom's deck. First we tried to call her. She didn't come out. Next I tried to poke her with a broom. She didn't budge. So we brought out the hose. I found out this wasn't the first time Angel had an encounter with the hose (my mom used the hose on her back in June when she babysat while I was in Mexico). I didn't want to spray her but I didn't think we had a choice. So we sprayed her. And guess what? She didn't come out. I finally got her out tempting her with a hairbrush! Of course when we got her out, she was full of mud from getting sprayed in the dirt. And just like when you give a mouse a cookie he's going to want a glass of milk....when you spray Angel with a hose she's going to need a BATH and when you give a cat a bath...well, I'll let you finish the rest. Long story short, instead of packing all day I chased my cat all day. After all that my friend Angela stopped by to give me a going away gift and to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss you Ange! Anyways, the rest of the day went fairly bust and hectic, but I got it all done about 1am, went to bed with my kitty in my arms and woke up Saturday morning 5am to get ready to head to the airport.
Saturday:
I got up at 5 took my shower, got ready to go, said a tearful goodby to my kitty and headed for the O'Hare international. Now while my flight left at 10:55am, they say you need to get to the airport for security 2 hours ahead of time, and it takes sometimes 1 1/2- 2 hours to get to O'hare so we (My mom, my sister, and my niece, Alexis) left the house at 6:30am. Well, we got to the airport super early, I said yet another tearful goodbye this time to my mom, sister and niece and headed in to check my bags and get through security. I got through security super fast, and had A LOT of time to kill. So with all anxieties gone I sat down at Chili's in the airport and had some breakfast. From there I hung out for a bit, and headed toward my gate.
My flight got into Denver about 12:30pm. First impression of Denver? SNOW all over!!! For those of you reading in Wisconsin...wow. They have soooooooooo much SNOW!!! And it's cold but not too bad for me cuz I'm used to the Wisconsin air. Right now as I'm sitting here typing it's about 30 degrees or so. I got to meet everybody (for the most part) yesterday. I got off my plane, and took a train to the baggage claim area where the Up With People people were standing there waiting for me! I got my luggage and started the waiting process. Before leaving the airport we needed to wait for more people to arrive so we could go as a group. We eventually left (after other students we taking longer than expected to arrive) and mde it to our shuttle bus that took us to the rec center where we would stay until about 8:15pm that night. It started out with just a few of us but by the end of the night the room was packed!
When I arrived at the rec center I was great by a bunch of Up With People people. I got myself registered, paid the rest of my tuition, got my host family info, and got my name tag! I got settled into the rec area, had some lunch, and proceeded to meet some of my fellow cast members. A little bit later a bunch of us went outside to play in the snow and play American Football. After the first person made a touchdown we called "game" it was cold and the snow was so deep that one point was a long enough game! We got inside, chatted a bit, then learned a new card game! The Great Swahili and the Rocksucker- Kevin taught this to us and I don't think that this is the real name...but we'll got with it for a bit. There were about 12 of us playing. It was a great time to learn a new game with new friends. We laughed a lot and had a lot of fun. I was on a team with Aoife (Efa) from Ireland. We ate some pizza, talked and played some more and 8:15 came very fast. I met my host family and my roommate and we left for what would be our home for the next month.
I need to go for a while as my host sister turns 7 today and is having a huge birthday bash. I will be back later tonight to tell you about my family, my roommate and my roommate!
Till then from Denver, Colorado,
Jessica!!!
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
I'm a travelin' Woman
I'm currently sitting on a little piece of my bed that is not covered with all sorts of stuff. It's weird. In just a couple of hours I will be out of my apartment...again. I was only here a year but it became home for me and Angel. This place was something new too at the beginning of this last year. It marked my first ever experience with a roommate. It was an overall really good experience and I'm thinking about getting another roommate when I get home. Anyways, I realized sitting here that I've moved A LOT since July of 2002. My last place as a live in nanny I was there for 5 months, and before that I had my own place for 2 1/2 years, and a year before that I was in 3 different places. For the next few days it'll be my mom's place, but that's only till Saturday. From there, as the scholars say, I'm about to embark on a fabulous journey... A journey that will include 19 more homes in a 6 month period. Wow.
Just today, I remembered how to breath again. For the last week my mind and emotions have been all over the place. Today was the first day that I felt somewhat normal. I think it's because I'm almost actually there...and it's a great feeling when there isn't so much to worry about. Well, anyways, was just taking a short break. My next post will be written from my next leg of the trip- my mom's house.
Jessica
Just today, I remembered how to breath again. For the last week my mind and emotions have been all over the place. Today was the first day that I felt somewhat normal. I think it's because I'm almost actually there...and it's a great feeling when there isn't so much to worry about. Well, anyways, was just taking a short break. My next post will be written from my next leg of the trip- my mom's house.
Jessica
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Just Breath
Good morning, World! Only a few more days left! I'm still working on packing and getting ready, but I move out tomorrow so I guess I have to get going on that packing!!! I just thought I'd add some music to my site. This is Katie Melua a British artist doing an Impossible Duet with Eva Cassidy. Both their voices are beautiful as they sing Over the Rainbow...A song that I think is really quite fitting right now. Enjoy.
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