July 21-27

What an amazing week! Another full week of uppie-ness. I was in dance workshops most of the time, learning the choreography for the dances. We only have a limited amount of time in each workshop to learn the entire piece, so they teach REALLY fast! I absolutely love it though.
On Tuesday afternoon, we had “Tournament” written on our schedule. No one knew what that meant. We all entered the cafeteria downstairs to music, a sign that said “Welcome to Las “B”egas”, and all of our staff dressed ridiculously as either Las Vegas show girls, Elvis, bouncers, etc (The Begas instead of Vegas is because we are Cast B 2009). There were 13 card tables set up, with cards and directions on how to play the game. It was a pretty simple game with only a few rules. The winner of each round would move up one table, and the loser would move down. The goal was to get to the winners table. Once the game started, there was no talking. The first round I won and moved up one table. When I thought I won at this table, another player reached for the winning token. I looked around the table in confusion. No one else seemed confused. I must have been wrong. After moving up and down tables a few different times, I realized I was not the only confused player. I caught on that at each table, the rules were different. But we couldn’t talk to explain the rules! Some people were getting very upset, including one guy who stood up and shouted, “You all are cheaters! I’m not playing!”. I learned to just be very observant as to how the others are playing, because I knew I couldn’t play by the rules I was originally taught anymore.
So, after a few more rounds of ridiculousness, we all sat down to discuss what happened. Basically, what I took from this activity was that in each place we go to, the rules (customs, rituals, beliefs, day-to-day life, etc) may be very different, and we may not be able to communicate how or why. Like in a home stay family for example. But, what I learned is that we may need to just sit back and observe how the game is played first to be able to participate, instead of thinking we are always right. We can’t come to a new game (home/family/city/country), and think that our way is the only right way. We need to have patients, be accepting of our differences, and learn from them. Yadda, yadda, life lessons, yadda, yadda…it was a cool activity.
Wednesday morning we had a leadership roundtable. Eight different leaders from the Denver area came to talk with us. Their backgrounds ranged from managing non-profits, to starting leadership development companies, to being actively involved in the LGBT movement. We had the chance to talk with them in small groups about how they came to be where they are, and their ideas on leadership. Rajul had great advice for a leader: “Don’t believe everything you think”. And Morris said, “Spend as much time with those that work against you as with those for you”. I liked those quotes. It was very motivating to meet these successful people.
Wednesday night was Culture Jam, which is a show we put on for our host families and friends. We were all invited to show something about our culture with everyone. The Japanese girls did a traditional dance, the French girls sang a French song, Helen from Ethiopia sang a song, Ronja and Berit read a German poem, the Mexicans sang and danced, the Chinese sang a song and did tai chi, the Canadians acted out a skit, the Scandinavians sang traditional and popular songs, some Americans did a tap dance and some others did a line dance, and Neils and Wilamen from The Netherlands did a power point presentation on the red light district. It was all so awesome!! Everyone is so talented. Oh ya, and me and a few other Americans opened the show with an American medley which ended with the audience singing “Born in the USA”. Ours was just plain silly and talentless, but the whole show was so fun!
In each city we travel to, we do “regional learning”, which is basically educational and fun things to learn about the place we are in. On Thursday, we took a tour of the Environmental Protection Agency office. Sounds boring, but it was really cool! The building is a gold standard green building, meaning its VERY environmentally friendly. Most materials are recycled and from within a 500 square mile radius of Denver. They get most of their energy from sunlight, everything is recyclable down to the carpet, the cooling comes from underneath to save energy, the concrete is made with recycled ash which keeps the building cooler, and so much more! It was so cool, and smart! We also did a scavenger hunt of the Denver area which involved trivia, taking pictures with police officers, and in front of the state capitol building. It was very fun!
That night I made latkes for my host family! They turned out really good! Haruna LOVED them! I think she had about 10! Dianne makes apple butter from scratch so we used that instead of apple sauce….amazing! That night Fred had caught a new hive, so he came home with thousands of new bees. He called me downstairs as I was just crawling into bed, but he insisted. So he led me to the kitchen where he had a big bag full of honey comb literally drenched in honey. He broke a piece off for him and myself. He just started sucking on it….so, I did too. OH MY GOODNESS I have never tasted anything so good! Hands down best honey I’ve ever tasted. I will never have store-bought honey again!
Friday I danced alllllll day! I think we have learned the majority of the choreography now. Hopefully I remember it all! They still have to pick who is in what dance, so I have to be on top of my game . Michelle from San Diego and Katrina from Denmark came home with us on Friday night to go white water rafting with us Saturday morning because they didn’t have a ride. When we all got home, Dianne and Fred had their full bee gear on and were working with the bees. Soooo, they convinced us to get in their extra bee outfits with them! It was the scariest but the coolest thing I’ve ever done. They have over 15,000 bees, which is 5 or 6 hives I think—right in their backyard! I’m learning so much about bees; it’s so interesting! They harvest all their honey once a year and sell it, just as their little side job. It’s kinda cool, and they just LOVE it. I was glad I got to experience being that close to that many bees, but I hopped out of that bee outfit and went inside pretty quickly when we were done.
Saturday morning we went white water rafting down the Arkansas River. It was a blast! It was a beautiful day, and there was a good group of Up With People students and their families that went with us. We did class 3 and 4 rapids—eek! I absolutely loved the thrill of it and getting in the cold water. About half way down the river one host dad in our raft said he had to pee. Well, we were just about to go down the “stairs”, a stretch of 7 rapids that look like steps, so the rafting guide asked him to hold it until we were through that rapid. Needless to say, he didn’t need to stop when we were done with the stairs….yes, he peed in our boat. Poor guy—and poor us. But we had a great day. On the way home we stopped at St. Elmo’s which a ghost town is now. We bought sunflower seeds and fed the chipmunks. They came right on your lap, it was so cool! We got back late that night and were exhausted so we just watched A Bee Movie (of course they have it….Next we will watch The Secret Life of Bees).
Today (Sunday), Haru and I walked down to Sloan Lake which is about a mile from our house to see the Dragon Boat Festival. It’s a huge fair they have annually with Chinese dragon boat racing, food, music, and performers from all over Asia. Haru and I had Thai boba tea and Chinese chicken taryaki skewers and just walked around for awhile. We saw Hawaiian dancers, martial arts performers, acrobats, and Japanese Taiko drum players. It was pretty cool. We walked home in the rain, me teaching her Spanish, and her teaching me Japanese. Great day. Time to rest up for another great week! Lots of love!!