It was bueno in Plano!

The last city on Cast A 2008's tour before heading off to Thailand was a northern suburb of Dallas called Plano during the week o May 12. I had the pleasure of working with my colleague, Armando Gonzalez from Mexico City to set up this great city. We fought to work together and we did it! I don't get along with anyone quite like I do with him. Our two interns, Jessica Kendra from Pennsylvania and Jessica Rojas from Tucson, AZ were wonderful. We all learned a lot from each other and had a lot of fun. Just like any other city set-up it was a roller-coaster. In the end, it was a great week for the cast and it was wonderful to see them off before heading out on the last leg of their tour.

Some highlights from the week:

Jessica Rojas herself is blind and the idea from the Education Team to have the students experience what it is like to be in her shoes. The cast arrived blind-folded and had to find their host families according to a special host code. Each student and their matching host family was assigned a code that dealt with the students smelling, hearing, tasting or feeling something. The host families and students split up into groups according to their code and the students had to go around tasting, hearing, feeling and smelling different things until they found their correct host code. Codes were everything from chocolate, to sound of drum, to feel of tree bark. It was a little crazy chaotic for a little bit but it was a really cool experience for us as staff to see how dependent the students had to be on us and also for the students to realize how we can take sight for granted at times.

One of our community partners is an organization called CITY House. An organization that has programs and emergency shelters for at-risk youth. The students did a variety of projects with them but one project in particular was painting and rearranging a computer room in their Teen Shelter so that it could convert into an ARt room. Some of our more artistic students did this project and the results were absolutely breath-taking.







The Education Team conducted a Wealth and Poverty workshop where they discussed the wealth distribution of the world. They also split the cast up into different groups and served them dinner according to their assigned class. 15 students were served a multiple course meal on a decked out table with real silverware, plates and napkins. 35 students ate beans and rice on paper plates and the rest of the students (about 50) ate rice and salt water in some paper cups. It was an interesting, informative workshop that brought up many discussions, feelings and thoughts from the cast.

There was one Community Impact day that the road staff didn't show up for the day so that the students would have to run the whole day on their own. Armando, the Jessicas and I were around for any emergencies but we didn't try to interfere at all. They set up for a mini-show at an elementary school and did their projects at CITY House completely on their own. We and the road staff were very proud of how well they handled everything!

Cast University: For an afternoon, different students led workshops that the rest of the students attended. There were workshops for crocheting, how to tie a tie properly, how to apply make-up, beginning Dutch, Tai-Chi, meditation and MUCH more.

Every semester an Expression Session is held. This is where if they choose to, certain students "express" themselves in front of the cast...sort of like a talent show. My favorite was a number where one of our Belgian students and our Nepalese student choreographed a peace-themed dance where each dancer represented a different continent. Our Namibian student read some of his poetry. Three of our Swedish students covered "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "I Will Survive" to parody all the fears people have of traveling internationally. It was so fun and great to see some of the students in their element.

Their flights for Thailand left early at 6am the following Monday. They stayed overnight at the Plano Chamber of Commerce until 3:30am, doing some activities together like reflecting on the last three cities of the tour, having a birthday party for all the cast members that didn't or wouldn't have a birthday during the tour and watching a short film that one of the Danes had made. It was good, quality time that they got to spend together before making a huge jump into a different continent. All of us Field Managers went with them to the airport and we gave a bunch of hugs and said our good-byes.

While it is always nice to think otherwise, I know that I will never see some of those people again. This cast was definitely exceptional in lots of ways; There were many students that were grateful for everything and always made me feel welcomed into the cast when they arrived to my cities. I will definitely miss them!