Home at last!

I am finally home and on a break after 5 months of being on the road. Since my last post I helped set up the second to last city for Cast C, Bernardsville, NJ. It was an interesting set-up because Jessica (the other CRC) and I worked directly with a sponsor contact. It was interesting to work with someone that wanted so much direct say in what happened for the cast's stay. It was a good learning experience and I hope to take it with me for next semester.

Okay, on to the stuff I've been missing SO badly being on the road: MOVIES! I've seen two that are absolutely amazing.

ONCE

Why this movie is so good is hard to describe because it is so simple. The plot follows an Irish man in his 30's, living in Dublin and keeping his dreams of making it as a musician under the surface by keeping himself as a street act. He meets a young woman from the Czech Republic while he is performing one day and they develop a friendship through their shared love of music. Their relationship becomes somewhat ambiguous as he starts to take practical steps in pursuing his musical career. The plot is really nothing complicated, but what is so great about this movie is the connection between the two main characters have. The music throughout the movie serves as a reflection of the characters' transformation and discoveries. Just watch it already!


JUNO
Fantastic film. Ellen Page plays Juno, a 16-year old girl knocked up by her guy best friend and decides to give up her baby for adoption. The movie follows the journey through her pregnancy, her relationship with Bleeker (the father of the baby, played by the adorable Michael Cera), and her own realizations about life. The dialogue is extremely smart and witty, mostly because Juno hides behind it to cover up her true feelings about everything. What I like so much about this movies is its honestesy. There isn't a single line uttered by Juno that is necessarily grammatically or politically correct but she is so genuine that she makes more sense than the best orator around. One of the best I've seen in a loooooooooong time.

Cast C 2007 in Easton, MD

Cast C 2007 has come and gone through my city. This stay was a week-long and packed with many exciting things. Here is how the week played out:

Monday, October 29:
-The cast arrived at Easton High School and was welcomed by the mayor. All the students figured out who their host families were by saying the first part of a quote or song and then the host family who had the matching phrase would finish it (my student intern, Jonathan's idea). It was like a mini show and a fun way to start out the week.

Tuesday, October 30:
-This was an education/internal day. The Education Staff presented a workshop on wealth distribution in the world and the World Bank in Washington DC. This was a prelude to the our day on Friday. In the afternoon, we all did rehearsal for the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade. Yup, I am going to be appearing in the parade with the cast! It's going to be craziness. After rehearsal, we dropped off the cast at 5 different locations around town to promote the show. They visited 3 grocery store shopping centers, downtown Easton and a senior citizen home. It was a rather successful promotion time, which felt good because I really dislike making the cast promote their own show. They even started their own contest to see which group could get the most confirmations for coming to our show. It was a good day.

Wednesday, October 31:
-The fist Community Impact day. The cast worked at 4 different sites around Talbot and Dorchester County for Habitat for Humanity. The students worked mainly on painting, spackling and interior wall design. After their day of work, we had a Halloween party!
We held it in the Parish Hall of a church and we decorated it to the nines. There was a costume party, food, lots of dancing and limbo. It was fun for the cast to just let loose and have fun and not have to worry about being in the "fishbowl." This is a term that Up With People uses for the students to understand that they must be aware of their actions and the image they are portraying because who knows who may be judging the organization with how you are representing yourself. I mean, our cast manager dressed in drag!


Thursday, November 1
-The cast was split into three groups for their Community Impact projects on this day. A group went to Pickering Creek Audubon Center, a 400-acre nature preserve. They worked on trail maintenance, painting and construction work on a historic house.
Some of the cast worked with Special Olympics Maryland, where they helped introduce the game of bocce ball to students from Easton Middle School and High School and to clients from a center for adults with disabilities. Our students did things like show them how to play, cheer them on, keep score and guide them safely from location to location. Lastly, a small group of students spent the day at a rehabilitation center for adults dealing with mental illnesses and substance abuse. In the morning, there are about 15 clients that come in and do group work and our students sat in with them. During that time, they visited, sang for each other and shared stories with each other. In the afternoon they played games and worked with the staff. The feedback that the students gave about this community service project was very powerful. They felt that they were truly making an impact by visiting with these clients; they felt very inspired by the patience of the staff and the quality of the facility. Some of the students had personal connections to some of the maladies that affected these clients, so that also made this visit very meaningful.

Friday, November 2
-Regional Learning Day in Washington DC. This was a rather stressful day for me because there were some logistical things that I didn't anticipate. It all worked out in the end like it always does, but man was it stressful until then! I won't go into those details but I thought I should mention it anyway. We started out the day with a visit to the IFC, a private sector of the World Bank, where we had several speakers that spoke on their roles. This included Lars Thunell (CEO of the World Bank), Corrie Shanahan (Chief of Marketing), Rachel Kyte (Director of Environment and Social Development Department), Janet Li (works with Grassroots Businesses). All our presenters work in the IFC in different positions, all with the purpose of fulfilling IFC’s mission. The mission is to reduce poverty in developing countries by providing necessary tools to communities and individuals, like a water supply, more accessible energy-saving products, etc. My student intern has a connection to the CEO and we were able to make a connection so that we could get these presentations. In the afternoon, the cast went through the Holocaust Museum. I wish I would have had less on my mind so that I could fully take in the powerful displays. The whole exhibit was very explicit, giving a very moving representation of the tragedy. I definitely want to go back to see it again to more fully grasp the magnitude of this part of history. Afterwards, we had dinner at a Law Firm that some alumni and I coordinated. This was a great chance for us to interact with some alumni and for our cast manager to express the urge for alumni to become more involved to possibly bring a future cast to the DC area as part of an official tour stop. The last part of the day brought us to all the war memorials where the cast was given time to look at the WWII, WWI, Korean and Vietnam memorials. It was a laaaaaaaaate night when we finally returned to Easton.

Saturday, November 3
-Show day! The cast did set-ups, workshops and rehearsal while I ran around and made sure meals were in, programs were ready to go, change was ready for at-door ticket sales, etc. We weren't really sure how many people would show up at the show. In the end, about 800 people came to the show, about 35 alumni came to our after-show alumni reception and we gave 7 admission's interviews for potential students.

And that was the end of the week (with the exception of the free day with host families the next day). It was a long week and in the end it all worked out just fine. Another city down!

What It's All About

Last night, some devastating news hit my hometown in Broomfield, CO. A close friend of my best friend's little brother was killed in a car accident. They were part of a close group of friends so, as you can imagine, it is horribly devastating. My best friend just held her little brother and one of his friends in her arms while they sobbed. The girl that just died was so very loved by her community. There is a facebook group that is dedicated in memory of her and it is heartbreaking and at the same time, heartwarming to read how much she means to everyone. Even though I didn't know her personally, I'm hit with some hard thoughts about life and relationships.

I am so fucking lucky. I have the most amazing support in the world...and I'm not just saying that. After hearing this news, I received a package tonight that was marked from my sister. I knew she was sending my replacement debit card, but this package was a filled shoebox so I was a little confused. Well, in this shoebox was not only my debit card but brownies, Orbit gum, a decorated coffee mug, a beaded bracelet, some footie slippers, a Starbucks card and 2 cards from my sister and my best friend. Needless to say, I've been crying myself since I've gotten this package. How I'm so undeserving to have the love of two amazing people is unexplainable.

Life is too short. In the end, it is just all about your relationships. Those are what matter. Period. There is no important enough excuse to make that can keep you from telling and showing the people in your life that you love them. Don't let it pass because you don't know when you might lose that chance forever. I hope I don't sound preachy or cheesy because it's just truly how I feel right now. Please tell someone that you love them and make sure they understand it. That's all I need to say about that because it can't be much simpler. Good night...

Do You Feel...

Even if it has not seemed that way in all my posts, these past two months have been an absolute roller-coaster for me. I've done more learning and growing than I could've imagined in such a short time. One of the most important things that've been reemphasized to me is how much I thrive off having a community.

When I first arrive in a city, I get an overwhelming sense of lostness because I am completely alone and expected to prepare a cast's stay in just a few weeks. This feeling of panic stays with me until I start to find a community. In Globe, AZ it was my host parents and their church. In Eureka, CA it was my host parents, two host sisters, host brother and all their family friends. Having those people while I was setting up was absolutely one of the keys to making the cities successful. Once the cast arrives, everything comes together when I see how they connect with the community I've made in the city. And then when it is time to leave, it is a little heart-wrenching because I have to leave this community I've discovered, and maybe forever. This past week, I also had to say good-bye to Cast B because I had to leave them to start working for Cast C now.


At home, having a community is so incredibly important to me. Nothing brings me more joy than to see people I love connecting with each. It makes me feel alive and I can't imagine life without those people that are willing to throw down all their pride because they aren't afraid to show that they need each other. In Eureka, once the cast arrived, we had Jeremiah from WI, Cassidy from CO, Jules from Uganda, Lucas from Belgium and Johan from Sweden be hosted with my and Whitney's host family. It made me so happy to see how well everyone got along. At home, it brings me huge joy to look around at a group of friends and see everyone enjoying a beer and laughing about something that happened that day.

Right now, I'm in the Baltimore/D.C. area and I have that initial feeling of lostness. The area is so big that I'm feeling I will never find that sense of community for my own personal well-being and for the cast to have a successful stay. Deep down, I know that this feeling will eventually change, but until then, it's kind of scary. It's times like this when I really long for someone to sit on the couch with and talk about the most important thing in their life or absolutely nothing at all, or even just a familiar face and hug from someone at home. It's very hard and I know I'm becoming "stronger" but man I can't wait until this part is over!

Eureka!

Two cities down. Wow. For the last two and a half weeks I've been setting up Cast B's stay in Eureka, CA from September 10-12. It was a very quick set-up and stay in the city. The show was at a beautiful facility called the Arkley Center. It was absolutely goregous and the show had a better turn out than I had thought (about 540 people) with the short amount of time we had to promote. The show was well-received by the audience and we made it on the front cover of the paper and on TV for a news story!
















The cast also split up and did their community service projects at 5 locations:
1) Highland Park, a local park that is used for baseball games. The cast painted the snack shack and the field dugouts.
























2) Redwood Fields, a community sports field complex, where they picked up trash and painted lines on the fields.















3) Timber Ridge Assisted Living: a senior citizen home where the cast played bingo, played games and sang for the residents.


















4) St. Josephs Hospital: cast interacted with rehab patients.

















5) And lastly, Glen Paul School, a school for mentally challenged students.




Overall, I feel good about how the city worked out. I didn't feel as connected to the whole community, simply because I had less time, but I think the cast still felt like they made a meaningful impact on the city, which makes me happy! It couldn't have happened without my wonderful intern, Whitney from Panama, Jen Moody from the office and our host family, the Strombecks. Our host mom is an alumni and she helped us get connected to the city so much. They made us feel like a part of the family and even took us out on their houseboat for Labor Day weekend! The whole family will really hold a special place in my heart and I know I have not seen the last of them!

After Eureka, I headed to Coos Bay, OR with them where Ryan, the CRC there had set up the city. Now we are in Portland, OR where they will be here for a week. I will be leaving in the next few days for the East Coast where I will be setting up cities for Cast C 2007. I am super sad to be leaving such a wonderful group of people who totally made me feel like a part of the cast when I was with them. Maybe some of our paths will cross again someday! I'll try to write a little bit more about them in the next blog.

Friends and Family: I MISS YOU! It is times when I am stuck trying to figure out how the cast will be fed, how to promote the show and how transportation will work for community service projects that I wish you were here to hold me! I love you all and truly can't wait to see all of you in December. Thank you for all of you that have thrown me emails, calls, facebook wall postings, etc. cause they really mean a lot. Keep them coming!

To end, here is the Question of the Blog: What is your favorite way(s) to show people that you care about them?

Time off and then to California!

After setting up Globe, I traveled out with the cast to their next city in Sierra Vista, AZ from August 16-20. During this time I had time off to just relax and spend time with the cast. It was very fun because I got to know a lot of the cast members, which I didn't have a chance to do when I was running around like a madwoman in Globe. I got to go on their Community Impact projects with them and everything! Everyone in the cast and staff is absolutely wonderful and I tried so hard not to get attached to them because I knew I'd have to leave again soon. It was also great to get to hang out with Emily, the Community Relations Coordinator there that been coordinating everything because I absolutely understood every ounce of emotion she was feeling.

I also traveled out with them to their next city in San Diego. I celebrated my 22nd birthday with some staff members. We hit the historic district of San Diego and had a good night out.






I am now in Eureka, CA a small town in northern California, setting up everything for the cast to arrive on September 10...not a lot of time, but we are somehow going to make it work! I'm here with Jen, one of the administrative assistants at the Denver office, who is from Eureka to help me get things started. She is a blast and I love getting to work with her! Things are going to be tough here and I'm pretty nervous about having to set up another city, but it'll work out! It's gorgeous here and we even hit the beach one evening!
















So that's the update. I miss everyone in Colorado a ton, especially when things get tough here on the road. I hope those of you that are about to start school again are excited and geared up. Everyone else that has started new jobs, congrats and I want to hear about how they are! Do not ever hesitate to contact me, because I absolutely want to hear about how things are for you. Talk to you all soon.

Question of the blog: What are you most nervous about for this upcoming semester?

I Survived!

I can hardly believe that my first city set-up has come and gone. On August 13-16, Cast B 2007 arrived and stayed in Globe. It was 3 of the most stressful but rewarding days of my life-how to explain that is almost as big of a challenge. I won't bore you with the details, but here's the basic things of what I coordinated and how it played out:

August 13
The cast arrived in their big charter bus (all to the Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park, where they watched a video and gave themselves a self-guided tour around the park.






After that, we headed out to the San Carlos Apache Cultural Center, where we received a presentation from the director, as well as a shaman, basket-weaver, the Tribal Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Even though, I coordinated the presentation, it was still very different than what I thought, so if you want to ask me about it, please do! I would love to chat about it. We then drove back into Globe where everyone met their host families. That was really fun for me because I had been getting to know these families for 3 weeks and to see the students and them coming together was very satisfying.

Tuesday, August 14

This was the big community impact day. We had cast members strewn all over the area and it looked like this-
Morning:
-2o cast members went to San Carlos and worked with tribal members to clean up the business district. They worked on picking up trash, cleaning up graffiti, painting and other tasks.





-18 cast members worked with the Gila Employment and Special Training program, a vocational training program for adults with disabilities. They sang songs with them and worked on an art project






-I went on an radio interview with two cast members from China and Sweden. They were wonderful and so excited to have their first radio interview.
-Some other students went to Globe High School and did a presentation for Student Council members.

Afternoon:
-Most of the cast members went to San Carlos High School and performed a back-tracking show for the entire student body (about 360 students). This was very interesting for the cast because the performing arts are not emphasized in the Apache community, making for a very non-responsive and low-energy crowd. The cast members definitely found it frustrating to be performing with all their hearts to only have an expressionless audience.
-The rest of the cast went to City Park in downtown Globe to paint an old historic train. This train is one of seven of a certain steam engine that the city is very proud to have. They did a great job!






-After their projects and their debrief, they all came to the City Park, where I had arranged a Teen Get-Together where the cast could hang out with local youth, eat some food and listen to some musicians from the community.


Wednesday. August 15.
SHOW DAY! The cast spent the whole day at the Apache Gold Casino Resort, where our show was being held at their Pavilion. During the day, they did workshops, set up the stage, rehearsed and got ready for the show.





It was a very challenging space to perform because it is an outdoor Pavilion with a dirt floor. We had a rather responsive crowd of about 400, but the sheer amount of space in the Pavilion made it feel like they were performing to a much smaller audience. Nevertheless, no one fell off the stage and broke their leg, so I was happy =).

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, that is the breakdown of the three days. There were definitely unexpected glitches that happened in all that, as you can imagine, but somehow they got worked out. Overall, I was really happy with my first city set-up. It was one of the biggest learning experiences I have EVER had. I learned so much about myself, working with other people, staying organized, and so much more. I definitely couldn't have done any of this without the help of my lovely intern, Laurel and the community in Globe and San Carlos. What a ride this job has been already!

Globe Culture

My intern, Laurel and I have been hitting Globe to do promotion and get an idea of what the town of Globe is like. Recently, we visited two very different places and they gave us a fabulous idea of what Globe culture is like.

The first place was a Rock 'N Roll Sock Hop that the Entertainment Committee of Globe put on. Laurel and I got to judge the "Twist" dance contest. It was SO much fun and very entertaining to say the least. Our winner is the woman in the beginning of the video in the white shorts. She got 2 free tickets to our show!








It's been interesting trying to interact with the youth in the town because in a town of 8,000 people, you expect everyone, including the youth to be very sheltered. Actually, all the young people that I've met is very in tune with out culture; they're all stylish, love music and present themselves just like anyone from a major city. After the Sock Hop, we headed to the local coffee shop, where a lot of youth hang out. They were having an open mike and we did an announcement about the show. Here's a video of two guys, Eli and Aaron performing a song that night. As you can see, they definitely don't seem like sheltered little small-towners.





Other than that, we've been busy busy getting ready for the cast to arrive on Monday! I'm excited, but anxious. We also saw their show last night in Tucson. It was so fun and I'll be posting videos from that soon.

Blog question: What is the most amusing/intriguing YouTube video that YOU'VE seen recently? Send them my way! Hope you're all well and happy.

Rattlesnake, Ratatouille, Radio!

Some fun things to report. Last night, I encountered my first rattlesnake. I was just sitting in my room, reading when my host mom Shirley yells, "Louise, do you wanna see a rattlesnake!?" I hurry to the backyard where the whole family is surrounding a little rattlesnake on the back of the house. There is a sound going through the air that sounds like a sprinkler system, when in reality it is the angry rattle of this snake. I try to remain calm but am freaking out because I've never seen a rattlesnake before.







I ask, "What do we do now?"
Shirley says, "Well, that's what we're trying to figure out."
I ask, "What are the our options?"
She says, "One is to cut off its head."
I go, "WHAT?"
And with that, her brother-in-law takes a metal shovel and jams it over the snake's head. I scream and run away and when I come back around he is carrying the snake to lay down on the lawn.






































And with that, it was all over. Since it was my first rattlesnake, they cut the rattle off for me. We need to let it dry out and maybe I'll make it into a necklace or something...And Helen, don't tell mom and dad cause they'll freak out and get all worried again.





In other random news, I went a drive-in movie this past weekend! How often do you get to do that? Really, only in small towns, like Globe. They played Ratatouille. Here are some pictures.



























I was sneaky and took a short video of the movie too...the reason you can hear it so well is because it is played through a radio station!













And lastly to report in this random blog...I am going to be on the radio! I recorded two ads with a local radio station. It's going to be played at some other random places too. P.S. Why does the sound of your own voice always sound so weird???





Ok, that is all. Except for my blog question: Since I am in a town of 8,000 people, I do not have the biggest exposure to culture here. The question is, what is the best song or artist that you've heard lately? I am thirsting for some new music, so TELL ME!! Ok, take care everyone.

It's Starting...

It's finally happening! My adventure as a Community Relations Coordinator with Up With People is starting in Globe, Arizona. For those of you that have no stinkin' idea what I'm talking about here is the 411:

Up With People (www.upwithpeople.org) is a global education program for international participants 18-29 years old. For a semester, the participants experience world travel, community service and performance in a musical/dance show for the communities they visit.

My job is to travel to a city in advance of the cast's (that's what we call them) arrival. This particular cast consists of 55 people, representing 18 countries. I will be setting up host families, meals, community service projects and details regarding their show, presentations, etc. I will be working to make sure the community, our sponsor,the cast and road staff's experience will be absolutely wonderful.

So far everything is going great. I have LOTS to do, but there are a lot of people willing to help. I am missing my friends, family, and all the cast members and road staff back in Colorado, but I am also excited for this adventure. Here are only some of the beautiful people that I am missing already (thanks to some of the friends who I stole these from!).

Here are my fellow CRC's who will be busily working around the country with me. How we managed to not kill each other after training together 8 hours everyday for 3 weeks straight is quite a miracle. Haha, you guys are great.



So that's it for now. Since I'd rather make this blog about you or whoever is reading this, I am hoping to keep you connected by posing a question everytime. If you are worried that I won't be interested, please don't because I absolutely will be. So here is the question:

Tell me something that has happened that made your summer extraordinary/unique/interesting, or tell me something that is still to come that could result in your summer being kick-butt.

Email, facebook, calling or replying to this blog are all welcome forms of communication. I hope to hear from many of you.

Next blog: What is living in Globe, AZ really like and what is it like living with the County Supervisor as your host mom??