July 27-29

What a great week so far! I am finally getting used to the schedule and am not as tired as the past two weeks. The show is really coming together. We have pretty much learned all of the dances and songs, so now we just have to put it all together on stage! We started trying on costumes this week, and tomorrow and Friday we are doing full run throughs so we know where to go on stage. It’s so exciting!
On Monday we did a very cool workshop on the topic of diversity. We did an activity called, “cross the line”. We all stood on one side of the room, and there was a line drawn down the middle of the room. One of our education leaders, JC, read statements, and if that statement applied to us we were asked to cross the line. For example he would say, “cross the line if you consider yourself religious”. The statements were personal, ranging from what ethnicity you associate with, to if you think you are attractive, to if you have ever been discriminated against, to if you are gay. The point of the activity was to emphasize how diverse a group we are, and that diversity goes much deeper than skin color. What I took from the activity is that we need to take our unique situation and learn as much from each other as possible. When will I ever get be with a group of people from 17 countries again? When will I be able to have lunch with five people from all different countries again? We have so much to learn from each other! Haruna and I watched Star Wars Episode V that night. So awesome.
On Tuesday, we had an alumni roundtable. We were able to talk in small groups with 8 or so alumni about their experiences, and what advice they had for us. All of them seemed to have been forever impacted by their Up with People experience. We also did a news activity, in which we brought in newspapers from all over the world and shared news. The staff realizes that it is easy to get in an “up with people bubble” while we are here staging, so they want us to remember that life around us is still going on! I definitely agree with that, because since we are practicing all day and working so hard, it is hard to find time to know what else is going on in the world. So send me news if you have any!
Today we went over a lot of the choreography we have learned, and learned a little bit more. A lady from our European sponsor was here, so we put on a little sample show for her to see. I hope she liked it! For those who don’t know, a huge energy company in Europe is sponsoring us to have shows for their employees for their 100th anniversary. So, most of our shows in Europe are for this company. Tonight we did a globalization workshop. I won’t bore you with all the details, but we got to discuss issues like war, poverty, water, fair trade coffee, child labor, etc. Sounds intense, but the whole point of it was to realize how interconnected all of those issues are to the whole world, not just where they happen. We will be having presentations throughout the semester on these topics and more. I think that’s pretty cool and I’m interested in learning so much more! And of course doing something about it!

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!!

July 19th

Sunday was our one free day! Wohoo! And you know I slept in. Fred took Haru and I up to Georgetown in the Rocky Mountains. What a cute little town! It looked just like a picture. We ate lunch at this old saloon, The Red Ram. I had a taco salad (?...). Then we just walked around and went in all the cute little shops. Haru and I got Native American good luck bracelets. :). Then we headed back down the mountain and stopped at Red Rocks. It's this big outdoor amphitheater made, literally, into big red rocks. It's awesome. After Haru and I ran down the stairs, did part of our Up With People dance on the stage, we headed home (and beat the rain). We had cookie and milk for dinner that night, and slept well :).
Today we did leadership activities in the morning. We went around silly stations, and were asked to define a leader, who has been an influential leader in your life, what it means to be a global leader, etc. it was interesting to see the varying definitions between countries. Then we did more staging stuff for the afternoon. Tomorrow will be more dancing so I'm excited!

Tour Schedule

Here is my tour schedule! Let me know if you can come to any of the shows! I can try to get you tickets

U.S.A. TOUR
Denver, CO

August 12th – 7:30pm

Pinnacle Events Center
Aspen/Snowmass, CO

August 13-17, 2009
Durango, CO

August 21-23, 2009
Chino Valley, AZ

August 22-25
Lake Havasu City, AZ

August 24-30

MEXICO TOUR
Leon

August 31-September 6
Queretaro

September 7- 13
Veracruz

September 14-20
Puebla

September 21-27
Mexico City

September 28- October 4

EUROPEAN TOUR*

Lulea, Sweden* October 6-8

Sundsvall, Sweden* October 9-13

Stockholm, Sweden* October 14-22

Vanersborg, Sweden* October 23-27

The Netherlands* October 28-31

Warsaw, Poland* November 1-3

Zabrze, Poland* November 4-6

Hamburg, Germany* November 4-12

Berlin, Germany* November 13-19

Cottbus, Germany* November 20-24

Odense, Denmark* November 25-27

Varberg, Sweden* November 28-December 2

Uppsala, Sweden* December 3-7

Tampere, Finland* December 8-11

Week 1 con't

Wow! I have to be honest, but this first week felt like a month or even more. But I mean that in a good way. Everyday has been so full of fun activities, education, rehearsals, and more. I’ll try to recap as best I can (shoot its only been a week and I’m already forgetting things!).

Well, my roommate, Haruna, and I take a 30 minute bus downtown every morning to the Sherman Center which is where we practice. We are there every day from 8:30 to 5:30. Everyday has been a little bit different so far. On Monday, we did a lot of get-to-know-you activities. There are about 70 people in my cast (not including 20-ish staff members), and we represent 17 different countries! How awesome is that?! We have Japan, China, France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Mexico, Brazil, Bermuda, Taiwan, Ethiopia, and of course the U.S.. It’s so amazing to be able to get to know people from all over the world!

On Tuesday we did “modules”. Basically, we were split into groups of 7-8 and rotated between 5 different stations: singing, dancing, speaking, technical (sound and lighting), and costume. The first three were kind of like auditions. I had to sing by myself and it was SO scary and very weird! If you’ve never sang in front of a group of people before, it’s the strangest feeling to hear yourself! They basically just wanted to see where everyone’s strengths were so we could be placed in the show.

We have started vocal and dance lessons everyday to learn the pieces in the show. For those who don’t know, Up With People puts on a show at every city we travel to. The show is comprised of songs that have a message of hope, peace, and love, as well as numbers that are just simply entertaining. For the most part, the proceeds of each show are donated to a selected organization to benefit the community in which we are in. For a little bit of background info that I have learned, Up With People began in 1965, by a group of young kids from all around the world who were sick of all the hatred and negativism (“down with…”) that was going on at the time (Hence the name, UP With People). Since then, the group has travelled around the world with a message of, well, their message is exemplified in one of their songs: “one to one, we change the world, by giving to another”.

Whoa anyway, we have four weeks to put this big show together, so each day is full of rehearsals. Learning the songs, learning the dances, putting them together, figuring out where to go on stage, etc, etc. It is a lot of work, but I am having such a great time so far. Just being around people who have the same interests as you is so fun. We don’t just rehearse all day either; we do some educational activities as well. For example, we explored “People’s Barcodes”-as in, what stereotypes do we have about other countries? what is true? And what is not? It was so interesting and enlightening to learn about the assumptions we make about other people/countries/cultures and to find out how those people actually feel about those assumptions. Sounds cheesy, but it was very impacting. We also learned about internships that are available throughout the semester. I am planning on applying for a dance internship.

Each day different people are called back for certain dances, songs, or acting parts. On Thursday, I got called for 2 dances. They were both partner dances, which I don’t have much experience doing, but I had a blast! One was a swing dance-so fun! I still can’t figure out why I didn’t get called back for the rapping part of the show…or the solo ballad for that matter….

Whew! That’s pretty much the first week. I didn’t mention though how loving my home-stay family is and my roomie Haru! Oh, and how much I’m obsessed with Denver! Love it. And love you all! Write me back!

First Week!

Hello! Welllll, I've made it to Denver; FINALLY! My Up With People adventure has begun!
I arrived in Denver Friday afternoon, after an ejoyable flight meeting 4 other Up With People cast members from Tucson. We were greeted at the airport by UWP staff members, waited for a few more people to arrive, then took a bus to a little ballroom type place. We arrived at about 3 PM, so from then until 8 we just met people as they arrived and got to know one another. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!!! It seems like there are really wonderful people, and I can't wait to spend more time with everyone.
At 8:30 our host families came to get each of us. Each student was given the name of something to do with the circus, and each family dressed up in some way like the theme so that the student would know it was their family. My theme was Strong Man..hmmm. What ended up happening was that my host father got an emergency call for work, so it was my host mom, Diane, and their cute as a button old neighbor Lillian. He had been working on a strong man costume all day i guess, but since they had to come they were just holding up a sign that said "strong man". Haha. Also, my roommate from Japan had missed her connecting flight so we had to wait another hour after everyone had left for her to arrive. Meanwhile, it starts POURING. I mean, a huge storm. Everyone said it was kind of strange for Denver. Anyway, poor Haruna (my Japanese roommate) finally made it, and we went to their house. They live in such a cute little neighborhood, and their house has a lot of history and personality. They have travelled a lot, and there is interesting stuff from all over the world everywhere. They are bee keepers, which I'll admit scared me a little at first, but I'm learning so much! There are literally thousands of bees a few yards from my room. I tried their homemade honey and it was SOO delicious! I'll never have regular honey again. They are a darling couple, and they looove to talk and share stories. They are very giving and loving, and already call us their daughters. They like to expose us to as much as they can. On Sunday night, they took us line dancing which was a blast. Tonight, we went to a locally owned native american restaurant. And the other night, they made sushi for Haruna, and matzo ball soup for me! How sweet!
Each day we practice downtown from 8:30 to 5:30. Haruna and I take a 30 minute bus ride there and back. It's very easy to do. The days are jam packed, but I am loving it! Every one is so great! Well, I actually need to share the computer, but I have so much more to tell! I will write again shortly.
Please write comments or write me!!

Lots of love,
Les