July 29-August 16

Wow, I’m sucking really bad at blogging already! That’s not good! It is so hard to find time to write all that I want to write! So, I’ll wrap up the past few weeks…
Done with staging! We finally learned all the choreography and songs, put on the costumes, learned where to go on stage, and put it all together! I think it’s a really fun show. The last 2 weeks of staging consisted mostly of run throughs of the show. Very exhausting but necessary. We had a dress rehearsal which our host families were invited to on August 11, then our first REAL show for the public On the 12th. It was SOOOO awesome to be on stage and perform my heart out. I LOVE it! My host family came, including Lilian, and their friend Arnie. Jan, my mom’s best friend from college also came, which was SO sweet!
I got to see Jenny Katzenberg one weekend. We had a very nice dinner with some much needed wine and catching up; too bad we have a curfew and I had to be home at midnight :). Coincidentally, my cousin Rachel Wool works literally 2 blocks from where I was staying so I got to say hi to her too!. So good to see her! A group of us from UWP went to 6 flags one Sunday which was a BLAST! One of the best days so far for sure. And I got to spend an afternoon and night with Debbie my old babysitter and her kids. We saw an IMAX movie, went to dinner, and played in the park. Love you Debbie!
We had our first community impact day on August 8th. They call the community service we do “community impact” or “CI”. We went to a women’s shelter and fixed it up. We painted inside and out, totally cleaned and rearranged the play room, cleaned windows, floors, and bathrooms, etc. It was GREAT! The CI days are so fun because we not only get to help out, but we get to know the community and get to know eachother while we are working. I had a little buddy, Tay Tay, a 7 year old who helped me out the entire day cleaning windows. She was sooo cute! It was a wonderful experience, and the women really seemed to appreciate our help. Now the kids actually have a playroom.
Haruna and I got through Episodes 5, 6, 1 and 2 of Star Wars throughout our stay with the Powells. So classic. We had a lot of fun with them and they gave us so many firsts! We went to a barn dance, haruna had her first roasted marshmallows in their fireplace, and Fred has cooked everything from Gumbo to German dishes I can’t even spell. They are very very sweet people and I will miss them, and Lilian too of course.
Oh good news! I am the new dance intern for the next 6 weeks. They pick several interns every 6 weeks for different positions like dance, vocals, PR, lighting, manager, etc. So I will get to lead warm ups, critique rehearsals, and maybe even teach a class. I’m very excited about it! I hope it will be a good learning experience.
On August 13th we left on 2 buses for Aspen! It was a sad goodbye and Fred was balling as we left. Aspen is GORGEOUS! We had a meeting when we got there, then were picked up by our host families. My roommate is Nao from Japan and she is the cutest thing ever!!! My host mom is Tracey, my host dad is Lee, and I have two host brothers Kidd Duhe (14) and Taggart (12). They are a wonderful family and so sweet. Kidd Duhe is definitely a future Uppie! Unique names I know. They live in the cutest neighborhood in an adorable cabin like house. Nao and I had the whole basement to ourselves. We felt like we were in a hotel! Lee is a former chef so needless to say we had great food! On Friday, a group of us were assigned to clean up a trail in Aspen. It was a really fun day even though it was raining and we were just clipping bushes for 5 hours. Beautiful view. Later that day we did a public speaking workshop. We had dinner at home then went to the neighbors for smores in their fire! Mmmm! Saturday was show day! We are starting to learn new numbers for what we are adding for the Mexico tour. It’s called the Mexican Medley. So we danced in the morning, then did a rehearsal in the afternoon. The show went really well at night, considering we were worried all day it was going to rain, and because it dropped to about 40 degrees by intermission (it was an outdoor stage). Eek! Good second show though! Sunday was a free day so we slept in a little bit then went into Aspen. I guess I forgot to mention that I ‘m actually staying in a little town outside of Aspen called Basalt. Anyway, Tracey my host mom works at a ski club at the top of the mountain so we went up there and had a great lunch listening to bluegrass music. Then we walked around downtown Aspen for the afternoon. Didn’t buy anything of course ($$$!). Later we went to the Glennwood hotsprings! Sooooo nice and relaxing! It was perfect because I wasn’t feeling that well. When we got home, Nao broke out here calligraphy brushes and wrote all our names in Japanese for us. I had a great time in Aspen!! Although it’s probably the most pampered we will be in the next 5 months, I’m excited for what’s to come!