Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Puebla, Mexico City
Wow, it’s hard to wrap up the last 2 weeks; I feel like so much happened. Sorry if this is super long. Well, after Veracruz we went to Puebla. We arrived in the early afternoon, and had a welcoming at the municipal palace. We got a tour of the building (very pretty), and had a little reception. We got picked up by our host families that evening. I mentioned it before, but we get “host codes”, for being able to decipher who is our host family. The host family is given the host code, and they have to dress or bring a sign accordingly. I had the best one yet! My host code was limon (lime in Spanish), so my host family literally made little men out of the limes. They cut them so they had arms, leg, and a head, and each of 6 limes were holding a letter of the word “limon”. It was so cute! My family is adorable! They have an awesome house too. They have this amazing marble spiral stair case with a big stained glass window on the ceiling. I am sharing a room with my host sister, Karen who is 18. She loves elephants too! I also have a host brother, Axel, who is 21. We had a nice dinner of quesadillas with quesillo! That’s the Oaxacan cheese that I loved so much last summer.
Tuesday was a regional learning day. We took a tour of the chicklets factory. You know the little Mexican gum? It was pretty cool to see how gum is made and packaged! Then we went on a double decker bus tour of the city. Did you know there are enough churches in this state to go to a different church every day of the year?! Crazy. It’s a very pretty city-it reminds me a lot of Oaxaca. That afternoon we did an activity called Johari’s Window. Put simply, the principle of the activity is to learn how to give and receive constructive feedback, because that is the key to growing as a person. So we got into groups and gave each other positive and constructive notes. That night for dinner I had a sandwich popular in Puebla called a Cemita. It’s this huuuuge torta, stuffed with a layer of avocado, chicken, more avocado, quesillo, ham, grilled onions, oil and vinegar, and salt. Mmmm!!Right up your alley, Sean! That night the TV program we were on was aired! It was really such a cool thing to see myself on TV; even if I was just step-clapping .
Wednesday, a small group of us went to a “day care” for senior citizens. It was SO FUN! They were adorable and so happy that we were there. They expressed that most of them were never able to leave Puebla to visit other countries, so it meant a lot to them that we were there. We got to do exercises, play games, and sing songs with them. We sang “Viva La Gente” for them, then they sang “Cielito Lindo” for us. It ended with us all dancing together. So fun! It was an awesome day. That afternoon a small group of my cast mates did a presentation about the environment. I learned many new things about the current (and terrible) state of the world/environment, and I realized I have totally lost touch with my “earthological” side (That’s a word I made up when I was little, which means environmentally friendly ). We talked about things we can do as a cast to help; we are 90 people in each place we go, and we leave a huge trace by all the things we consume. So, we all made a pact to buy a plastic plate or Tupperware to bring for our meals. Usually when they serve us lunch or breakfast, we get either paper or Styrofoam plates and cups. What a waste!-especially with 90 people. So it’s things like that that I want to be more conscious of again. I encourage whoever reads this reduce, reuse, and recycle!!! Buy a reusable water bottle and reusable grocery bags, reuse clothing, have a compost pile, unplug things that are not in use, and recycle whatever you can!! There are so many simple things we can do!
On Thursday we had a BTS at a local school for 1,500 kids. It was awesome. It was out on their football field, and after we were done they all stormed the field! It was so crazy! It was mostly the crazy girls who were in LOVE with all our boys. Friday was our show day! That morning a few of us went to a TV station, Televisa, to do one of our pieces, “Keep the Beat” for the news. It was a tiny little stage and very slippery, but it was so fun! They interviewed us a little bit after we danced and I had to speak in Spanish! Eek! It went OK though. Remember the internship project I mentioned previously? Well, the group we taught, “Cell Block Tango” to got to perform it for the cast that afternoon. They did so so good! On Saturday we had a pretty easy-going day. We call time with just the cast, “internal time”. Marek from the Czech Republic presented on his country, we worked on the European medley, and we put fun little skits together about our experiences in Mexico. That night my host family took me to the mall to get a nice dress and walk around the town. I just LOVE them! That family has definitely been my favorite and most loving family so far. They took me to get my hair cut and paid for it without me knowing! (The guy cut it too short though and I’m so bummed because it was getting long ). They are just so sweet, and I got along really well with Kareen, my host sister. For dinner we had tacos arabes, which are a common type of taco in Puebla. Yummmy! The night ended on the couch like a big happy family watching Pirates of the Caribbean in Spanish!
Sunday morning we had a big breakfast with my host moms parents. So cute! We had yummy tamales and juevos al la Mexicana (Mexican eggs: scrambled with green peppers, onion and tomato. Red, white, and green for the Mexican flag). I had a chocolate tamale which was SO good! Nothing like Larua’s though . Later we went to where Kareen works, which is called Africam. It is a huge African safari/zoo. We didn’t have time for the whole safari (sad I didn’t get to see the elephants), but we got to do the zip line! It was awesome! I had to leave early that day because we got another opportunity to be on TV in Mexico City. So a small group of us left on Sunday instead of Monday. I was genuinely sad to leave the family. It’s so crazy how close you can get to a family in just a short week. I will miss them.
We had to get up at 4 the next morning for the TV taping. We were supposed to do 3 numbers, but some miscommunication happened and we only ended up doing “Viva La Gente”. And we got a little interview too which was fun. We met up with the rest of the cast after that for a tour of the Presidents house! It’s called “Los Pinos”. We all dressed in our nicest outfits and took a tour of the beautiful lands. We felt so special and it was such a privilege to be able to do that! That night we had a quick meeting then met our host families. My host mom in Mexico City’s name was Guillerma, and she was such a sweet lady. She is divorced and lives alone with her Chihuahua Luka. She is a professor of architecture. Her godmother, Graciela, and he family live next door, so we did everything with them. My roommate was Nao from Japan (same roommate I had in Aspen), and Kyle from South Dakota was staying at Graciela’s house. We got settled into their house and had yummy quesadillas for dinner that night.
The whole week in Mexico City was so awesome but especially exhausting. We got up before 6 everyday, and wouldn’t get home until about 9. Then we’d have dinner with our families until about 10:30 because Mexican’s eat so late! It was a great week though. Everyday we were at Xochitla, an ecological park who was our sponsor. It is a GORGEOUS place. Huge grass areas, gardens, greenhouses, ponds…amazingness! It was beautiful weather all week too. Tuesday we had a BTS at an inner city school. It was really fun and they loved us. Wednesday we had a culture fair for 1,500 students from all over the city. We had booths set up from each country we represented, which gave information about each culture, and we also had fun games for them. It was a huge success, not only because the kids enjoyed it, but it promoted our show and becoming a student in Up With People. Thursday was a regional learning day. We took a walking tour of downtown Mexico City. I wish we had more time because there is so much to see and learn! The city has so much history, and it is very beautiful. In the afternoon we went to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. They are the 3rd largest pyramids in the world! UNBELIEVABLE! We hiked to the top of the pyramid of the sun and took some amazing photos.
Friday I got to practice some nursing skills! Vattenfall (our sponsor in Europe), required us all to get a health screening before coming to Europe (they were scared of the swine flu). One of our PR staff, Antonio, is a MD and he asked me to help him run the health checks. So allll morning we took blood pressures and temperatures of all 90 cast members. I loved being useful and it was great to practice some skills. Hopefully I won’t forget everything I learned in nursing school over these 6 months! That night we had another, and probably our final BTS. . We probably won’t have any in Europe.
Saturday was show day. We rehearsed all morning on our awesome outdoor stage. We were all soaking up the last bit of sun we could get before coooollllld Scandinavia. We sold around 2,500 for this show! It was our biggest yet and such an amazing way to end our Mexican tour. Even though the fans in Mexico were quite overwhelming with the photos and the autographs, I will miss the enthusiasm. It’s going to be verrrry different in Europe. I had my last Mexican quesadilla that night, packed, and headed off to Sweden the next morning!
Now, we just arrived to Stockholm!!
Tuesday was a regional learning day. We took a tour of the chicklets factory. You know the little Mexican gum? It was pretty cool to see how gum is made and packaged! Then we went on a double decker bus tour of the city. Did you know there are enough churches in this state to go to a different church every day of the year?! Crazy. It’s a very pretty city-it reminds me a lot of Oaxaca. That afternoon we did an activity called Johari’s Window. Put simply, the principle of the activity is to learn how to give and receive constructive feedback, because that is the key to growing as a person. So we got into groups and gave each other positive and constructive notes. That night for dinner I had a sandwich popular in Puebla called a Cemita. It’s this huuuuge torta, stuffed with a layer of avocado, chicken, more avocado, quesillo, ham, grilled onions, oil and vinegar, and salt. Mmmm!!Right up your alley, Sean! That night the TV program we were on was aired! It was really such a cool thing to see myself on TV; even if I was just step-clapping .
Wednesday, a small group of us went to a “day care” for senior citizens. It was SO FUN! They were adorable and so happy that we were there. They expressed that most of them were never able to leave Puebla to visit other countries, so it meant a lot to them that we were there. We got to do exercises, play games, and sing songs with them. We sang “Viva La Gente” for them, then they sang “Cielito Lindo” for us. It ended with us all dancing together. So fun! It was an awesome day. That afternoon a small group of my cast mates did a presentation about the environment. I learned many new things about the current (and terrible) state of the world/environment, and I realized I have totally lost touch with my “earthological” side (That’s a word I made up when I was little, which means environmentally friendly ). We talked about things we can do as a cast to help; we are 90 people in each place we go, and we leave a huge trace by all the things we consume. So, we all made a pact to buy a plastic plate or Tupperware to bring for our meals. Usually when they serve us lunch or breakfast, we get either paper or Styrofoam plates and cups. What a waste!-especially with 90 people. So it’s things like that that I want to be more conscious of again. I encourage whoever reads this reduce, reuse, and recycle!!! Buy a reusable water bottle and reusable grocery bags, reuse clothing, have a compost pile, unplug things that are not in use, and recycle whatever you can!! There are so many simple things we can do!
On Thursday we had a BTS at a local school for 1,500 kids. It was awesome. It was out on their football field, and after we were done they all stormed the field! It was so crazy! It was mostly the crazy girls who were in LOVE with all our boys. Friday was our show day! That morning a few of us went to a TV station, Televisa, to do one of our pieces, “Keep the Beat” for the news. It was a tiny little stage and very slippery, but it was so fun! They interviewed us a little bit after we danced and I had to speak in Spanish! Eek! It went OK though. Remember the internship project I mentioned previously? Well, the group we taught, “Cell Block Tango” to got to perform it for the cast that afternoon. They did so so good! On Saturday we had a pretty easy-going day. We call time with just the cast, “internal time”. Marek from the Czech Republic presented on his country, we worked on the European medley, and we put fun little skits together about our experiences in Mexico. That night my host family took me to the mall to get a nice dress and walk around the town. I just LOVE them! That family has definitely been my favorite and most loving family so far. They took me to get my hair cut and paid for it without me knowing! (The guy cut it too short though and I’m so bummed because it was getting long ). They are just so sweet, and I got along really well with Kareen, my host sister. For dinner we had tacos arabes, which are a common type of taco in Puebla. Yummmy! The night ended on the couch like a big happy family watching Pirates of the Caribbean in Spanish!
Sunday morning we had a big breakfast with my host moms parents. So cute! We had yummy tamales and juevos al la Mexicana (Mexican eggs: scrambled with green peppers, onion and tomato. Red, white, and green for the Mexican flag). I had a chocolate tamale which was SO good! Nothing like Larua’s though . Later we went to where Kareen works, which is called Africam. It is a huge African safari/zoo. We didn’t have time for the whole safari (sad I didn’t get to see the elephants), but we got to do the zip line! It was awesome! I had to leave early that day because we got another opportunity to be on TV in Mexico City. So a small group of us left on Sunday instead of Monday. I was genuinely sad to leave the family. It’s so crazy how close you can get to a family in just a short week. I will miss them.
We had to get up at 4 the next morning for the TV taping. We were supposed to do 3 numbers, but some miscommunication happened and we only ended up doing “Viva La Gente”. And we got a little interview too which was fun. We met up with the rest of the cast after that for a tour of the Presidents house! It’s called “Los Pinos”. We all dressed in our nicest outfits and took a tour of the beautiful lands. We felt so special and it was such a privilege to be able to do that! That night we had a quick meeting then met our host families. My host mom in Mexico City’s name was Guillerma, and she was such a sweet lady. She is divorced and lives alone with her Chihuahua Luka. She is a professor of architecture. Her godmother, Graciela, and he family live next door, so we did everything with them. My roommate was Nao from Japan (same roommate I had in Aspen), and Kyle from South Dakota was staying at Graciela’s house. We got settled into their house and had yummy quesadillas for dinner that night.
The whole week in Mexico City was so awesome but especially exhausting. We got up before 6 everyday, and wouldn’t get home until about 9. Then we’d have dinner with our families until about 10:30 because Mexican’s eat so late! It was a great week though. Everyday we were at Xochitla, an ecological park who was our sponsor. It is a GORGEOUS place. Huge grass areas, gardens, greenhouses, ponds…amazingness! It was beautiful weather all week too. Tuesday we had a BTS at an inner city school. It was really fun and they loved us. Wednesday we had a culture fair for 1,500 students from all over the city. We had booths set up from each country we represented, which gave information about each culture, and we also had fun games for them. It was a huge success, not only because the kids enjoyed it, but it promoted our show and becoming a student in Up With People. Thursday was a regional learning day. We took a walking tour of downtown Mexico City. I wish we had more time because there is so much to see and learn! The city has so much history, and it is very beautiful. In the afternoon we went to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. They are the 3rd largest pyramids in the world! UNBELIEVABLE! We hiked to the top of the pyramid of the sun and took some amazing photos.
Friday I got to practice some nursing skills! Vattenfall (our sponsor in Europe), required us all to get a health screening before coming to Europe (they were scared of the swine flu). One of our PR staff, Antonio, is a MD and he asked me to help him run the health checks. So allll morning we took blood pressures and temperatures of all 90 cast members. I loved being useful and it was great to practice some skills. Hopefully I won’t forget everything I learned in nursing school over these 6 months! That night we had another, and probably our final BTS. . We probably won’t have any in Europe.
Saturday was show day. We rehearsed all morning on our awesome outdoor stage. We were all soaking up the last bit of sun we could get before coooollllld Scandinavia. We sold around 2,500 for this show! It was our biggest yet and such an amazing way to end our Mexican tour. Even though the fans in Mexico were quite overwhelming with the photos and the autographs, I will miss the enthusiasm. It’s going to be verrrry different in Europe. I had my last Mexican quesadilla that night, packed, and headed off to Sweden the next morning!
Now, we just arrived to Stockholm!!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
SWEDEN!
Well the past two weeks have been so awesome!! I am in Europe now whoohooo!! We are in a city called Lulea, Sweden. We are something like 100 kilometers from the Arctic Circle! It’s unbelievably beautiful! I live on a street with 2 other houses, surrounded by trees and water. It’s pretty pretty pretty chilly here though. It was about 35 degrees when we got here. It’s a shock to all us Arizonans. It’s so different, and so wonderful. Our trip here was, well, pretty long and terrible. Four hour flight from Mexico City to Newark, 2 hour layover, 7 hour flight to Stockholm, Sweden, then 12 HOUR BUS RIDE to Lulea. Crazy. But we are all so happy we are finally here!! I can’t believe it! We met our host families that night. I am staying with a young couple named Andres and Mia. They are darling and they have an adorable little house that looks like it’s straight from the Ikea catalogue. They have 2 little schnauzers, Pepsi and Pious. So cute. On Tuesday we had a pretty relaxing day because half of the group was still travelling to Sweden because they left a day later. So, I feel pretty rested and not too jet lagged. I’m so excited to start this new leg of the trip!
I’ll write later about the past 2 weeks in Puebla and Mexico City, but for now enjoy my pictures! I’ll try to write soon!
I’ll write later about the past 2 weeks in Puebla and Mexico City, but for now enjoy my pictures! I’ll try to write soon!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Veracruz!
September 14-21
Veracruz is so wonderful and SO HUMID! Oh man, like you can’t breathe humid! But it has been a great week! So last Monday, the 14th, a group of 9 of us left the cast and took a bus to Mexico City to be on Televisa, a big Mexican TV station. We had no idea what we were getting into. We stayed at the place where we will have our show in Mexico City, and it’s sort of like an ecological resort of sorts. They do tours, they host families and groups, and have big gardens and greenhouses, and different ecological activities. Their purpose is to educate about the environment. So we stayed at their dormitories. We ate lunch there, then went to the TV station. We got to get our hair and make-up done! It was so fun. But, at the last minute they decided they just wanted Spanish songs for the show, so we didn’t end up doing the dance I was in. We sang 3 songs, and I came on for the last one, just kind of in the back. It was so fun! We got to watch a little of the show before us, and if anyone has seen any Mexican TV, you know how ridiculous it is! Stupid plots, bad jokes, guys in tight pants, and girls wearing barely anything. It was an adventure. We left the next day to take a flight back to Veracruz to meet up with the cast. It was fun just being with a small group for a little bit and having some time to relax.
I met my host family in Veracruz that night. My roommate was Aude from Quebec. I adore her! She is a really great dancer and we have a lot in common. She’s a pilates instructor Stevie! My host mom’s name was Annis and she was super sweet. Their house was very nice, and Aude and I shared a room. They have 3 kids, and 2 of them live in the house. That day was Mexican Independence Day, which is a HUGE deal. By the way if anyone thought Cinco de Mayo was Mexican Independence day, it is not. It was just the day the Mexicans beat the French in Puebla. Anyway, we went out with our host parents to a Rotary Club dinner. It was a nice catered dinner, with lots of tequila of course. Everyone gets really decked out in green, red, and white and crazy decorations. It was so fun and cool to be a part of their celebration. Then we went out to a club with some other UWP girls and their host sister. We danced all night!
The next day was a beach day! We went to a place called Coco Adventura, which was basically an adventure park on the beach. We played silly games on the grass in the morning, then we had the whole afternoon to beach it and swim in their pool. It was so fun! We finally had time to just chill, get a tan, and have fun with each other. It was great. The water was very warm and salty, and the sun was shining. At about 3 PM we left and went back into the city for a harbor cruise. Veracruz is a very old and colonial looking city, especially the downtown area, but the harbor…not so pretty. A lot of big ugly boats and machines and stuff. It was still a nice boat ride though! It was a great day.
Wednesday and Thursday were mostly rehearsing. We are starting to learn the dances and songs of the European medley. Our main choreographer, Ken, is with us for the next two weeks to teach us. By the way, it is my last week as a dance intern and I’m so sad! I have loved the experience. I know it sounds like I have been doing more dancing and playing than community service, and that is party true. Because I am in a lot of the dances, I have to rehearse on most week days. It is something I have been struggling with, because although I love to dance, I have not had that many community impact (CI) experiences. However, they try to remind us that the show itself is community service. So when we are rehearsing it is purposeful and meaningful. It is bringing a message to the community, and inspiring people of all ages. I do hope though that I will have more CI days soon! I want to get my hands dirty! Something I’ve also been disappointed with is the fact that we really aren’t seeing Mexico. We are living in the city, with middle to upper class families for the most part. We are taken care of. Even the community impact activities aren’t getting to the real problems in Mexico. Of course I believe all the service we do is meaningful, but maybe it is not what is most needed here in Mexico. My experience in Oaxaca really opened my eyes to how much poverty there is here. I know it’s partly a logisitics thing, and I wasn’t really expecting to be live and work in a poor poor area or anything with UWP. But, I guess I just know how much we could do and it’s frustrating how much there is to do!
Friday, the interns had a chance to do something fun with the cast by running our own workshop. We got a soul train line going, we played charades, and we did a nice relaxation activity. It was cool. We had a BTS that afternoon in downtown. I have literally never sweat so much in my life. Man was it humid and hot! I can seriously appreciate Tucson’s dry heat now! That night, our host brother, Don Pablo, who is 27 took Aude and I out. We went to an amazing Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed the view of the city from the top deck, had a bottle of wine, and ate delicious food. It was great company, and we had great conversation about how great it is to get to know people from other cultures. After dinner we went to a really authentic salsa club. Full live band, dos XX, and lots of ridiculously good salsa dancers. It was so fun! I am so motivated now to learn how to salsa!
Saturday we got up early and drove to Tajin which is a place with ancient ruins. If you ever saw my pictures from Monte Alban in Oaxaca, it was very similar. But this place was a lot bigger. They were magnificent pyramids constructed thousands of years ago by the indigenous people of Mexico. They had courts where they used to play a ball game in which the winner was beheaded as a sacrifice. Yes, the winner. It was viewed as honorable to give your life. Then they would spill the blood all over the rocks. Mmmmm….
Sunday was our show day and my last day as an intern! The dance, show, and music interns always get the opportunity to hold their own workshop at the end of their internship, so Pieter the music intern, Sarah the show manager intern, and I had been planning on putting on a little piece from the musical Chicago for the cast. We had been working on it for awhile, and we had the whole morning to work with a few people that we chose. We decided to do the song “Cell Block Tango”. We chose some girls for it that love to dance and move, but aren’t able to be in a lot of parts in the show. They were all really into it and it was so fun to be teaching! I was also watched by the show staff so I was a little nervous. The group will get to perform what we taught them in Puebla, the next city. We also introduced the new interns, which was exciting but like I said I am very sad to be done . The show went really well that night. It was at a big venue with almost 4,000 seats, but it wasn’t sold out. I still can’t get over how much the Mexican fans love us! They sing along to “Viva La Gente”, want our autographs and pictures, and some girls go CRAZY over some of the guys in our cast. It’s so funny. The next day, we left for Puebla!
Veracruz is so wonderful and SO HUMID! Oh man, like you can’t breathe humid! But it has been a great week! So last Monday, the 14th, a group of 9 of us left the cast and took a bus to Mexico City to be on Televisa, a big Mexican TV station. We had no idea what we were getting into. We stayed at the place where we will have our show in Mexico City, and it’s sort of like an ecological resort of sorts. They do tours, they host families and groups, and have big gardens and greenhouses, and different ecological activities. Their purpose is to educate about the environment. So we stayed at their dormitories. We ate lunch there, then went to the TV station. We got to get our hair and make-up done! It was so fun. But, at the last minute they decided they just wanted Spanish songs for the show, so we didn’t end up doing the dance I was in. We sang 3 songs, and I came on for the last one, just kind of in the back. It was so fun! We got to watch a little of the show before us, and if anyone has seen any Mexican TV, you know how ridiculous it is! Stupid plots, bad jokes, guys in tight pants, and girls wearing barely anything. It was an adventure. We left the next day to take a flight back to Veracruz to meet up with the cast. It was fun just being with a small group for a little bit and having some time to relax.
I met my host family in Veracruz that night. My roommate was Aude from Quebec. I adore her! She is a really great dancer and we have a lot in common. She’s a pilates instructor Stevie! My host mom’s name was Annis and she was super sweet. Their house was very nice, and Aude and I shared a room. They have 3 kids, and 2 of them live in the house. That day was Mexican Independence Day, which is a HUGE deal. By the way if anyone thought Cinco de Mayo was Mexican Independence day, it is not. It was just the day the Mexicans beat the French in Puebla. Anyway, we went out with our host parents to a Rotary Club dinner. It was a nice catered dinner, with lots of tequila of course. Everyone gets really decked out in green, red, and white and crazy decorations. It was so fun and cool to be a part of their celebration. Then we went out to a club with some other UWP girls and their host sister. We danced all night!
The next day was a beach day! We went to a place called Coco Adventura, which was basically an adventure park on the beach. We played silly games on the grass in the morning, then we had the whole afternoon to beach it and swim in their pool. It was so fun! We finally had time to just chill, get a tan, and have fun with each other. It was great. The water was very warm and salty, and the sun was shining. At about 3 PM we left and went back into the city for a harbor cruise. Veracruz is a very old and colonial looking city, especially the downtown area, but the harbor…not so pretty. A lot of big ugly boats and machines and stuff. It was still a nice boat ride though! It was a great day.
Wednesday and Thursday were mostly rehearsing. We are starting to learn the dances and songs of the European medley. Our main choreographer, Ken, is with us for the next two weeks to teach us. By the way, it is my last week as a dance intern and I’m so sad! I have loved the experience. I know it sounds like I have been doing more dancing and playing than community service, and that is party true. Because I am in a lot of the dances, I have to rehearse on most week days. It is something I have been struggling with, because although I love to dance, I have not had that many community impact (CI) experiences. However, they try to remind us that the show itself is community service. So when we are rehearsing it is purposeful and meaningful. It is bringing a message to the community, and inspiring people of all ages. I do hope though that I will have more CI days soon! I want to get my hands dirty! Something I’ve also been disappointed with is the fact that we really aren’t seeing Mexico. We are living in the city, with middle to upper class families for the most part. We are taken care of. Even the community impact activities aren’t getting to the real problems in Mexico. Of course I believe all the service we do is meaningful, but maybe it is not what is most needed here in Mexico. My experience in Oaxaca really opened my eyes to how much poverty there is here. I know it’s partly a logisitics thing, and I wasn’t really expecting to be live and work in a poor poor area or anything with UWP. But, I guess I just know how much we could do and it’s frustrating how much there is to do!
Friday, the interns had a chance to do something fun with the cast by running our own workshop. We got a soul train line going, we played charades, and we did a nice relaxation activity. It was cool. We had a BTS that afternoon in downtown. I have literally never sweat so much in my life. Man was it humid and hot! I can seriously appreciate Tucson’s dry heat now! That night, our host brother, Don Pablo, who is 27 took Aude and I out. We went to an amazing Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed the view of the city from the top deck, had a bottle of wine, and ate delicious food. It was great company, and we had great conversation about how great it is to get to know people from other cultures. After dinner we went to a really authentic salsa club. Full live band, dos XX, and lots of ridiculously good salsa dancers. It was so fun! I am so motivated now to learn how to salsa!
Saturday we got up early and drove to Tajin which is a place with ancient ruins. If you ever saw my pictures from Monte Alban in Oaxaca, it was very similar. But this place was a lot bigger. They were magnificent pyramids constructed thousands of years ago by the indigenous people of Mexico. They had courts where they used to play a ball game in which the winner was beheaded as a sacrifice. Yes, the winner. It was viewed as honorable to give your life. Then they would spill the blood all over the rocks. Mmmmm….
Sunday was our show day and my last day as an intern! The dance, show, and music interns always get the opportunity to hold their own workshop at the end of their internship, so Pieter the music intern, Sarah the show manager intern, and I had been planning on putting on a little piece from the musical Chicago for the cast. We had been working on it for awhile, and we had the whole morning to work with a few people that we chose. We decided to do the song “Cell Block Tango”. We chose some girls for it that love to dance and move, but aren’t able to be in a lot of parts in the show. They were all really into it and it was so fun to be teaching! I was also watched by the show staff so I was a little nervous. The group will get to perform what we taught them in Puebla, the next city. We also introduced the new interns, which was exciting but like I said I am very sad to be done . The show went really well that night. It was at a big venue with almost 4,000 seats, but it wasn’t sold out. I still can’t get over how much the Mexican fans love us! They sing along to “Viva La Gente”, want our autographs and pictures, and some girls go CRAZY over some of the guys in our cast. It’s so funny. The next day, we left for Puebla!
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