Life in Denver

For the past couple months I've been living in beautiful Denver. My absolute best friend in the world, Beth and I live in a little ghetto two-bedroom apartment and we LOVE it! We don't have a TV that is hooked up to watch stations and we use Internet that we steal from a neighbor. Our neighborhood is about a 15 minute walk from downtown and we are next to many coffee shops, independent restaurants and a big outdoor ice cream shop that is shaped like a milk tin. Life is grand.

Two weeks after returning from Costa Rica I was offered a job with Colorado Ballet for the Auxiliary and Special Events Manager, meaning that I mainly manage their special events (opening receptions, board dinners, etc). I accepted and the rest is history! I gotta say that it's alarming to say that I have a real job...when did I become a grown-up?? The last two months have been a period of adjustment with having to learn to work in a different environment with very different responsibilities. So far it has been fun and very different from working with Up with People. To be associated with a dance company that is as acclaimed as CB is not a bad gig though! Learning to live in one place again has also been an adjustment but it is treating me well so far. I'm excited to see what's ahead in this new chapter!

Sex and the City

I was called a fucking bitch over seats to the new "Sex and the City" movie last night. It was hysterical. Oh the mature things people do over obsessions. I will give the full story soon.

I am in Costa Rica until June 21 for vacation, woohoo! Be well and I will see you all when I get back!

New York, anyone?

About two and a half years ago, I randomly attended a concert at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. My sister had told me to come because she said that this 17-year old musician from Canada named Kyle Riabko was absolutely amazing and I just NEEDED to see him. Well, am I glad I did because I was blown away. His style of music is blues/pop/soul and he is just one of the most infectious performers I've ever seen. I've seen him two more times since then but he has not toured on his own for about two years.

I was checking his website a couple days ago and he is going to be on BROADWAY! The musical is called Spring Awakening and it won eight Tonys last year. The music is written by Duncan Sheik and is incredible. It has caused quite a bit of controversy because the plot involves teenagers and their discovery about sex, masturbation, etc.

So pretty much I need to go to New York to see him. Who wants to come? Here is a clip from a show in Argentina, as well as Kyle in his own element.




Kyle performing "Miss Behavin'"






Spring Awakening- "I Believe"


If you want to see the less censored version, click here!

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!

Non-Americans say the darndest things

One of the awesome things I get to experience while working for Up with People is hearing some of the funny things some of the non-American cast members say. Not to mention they say everything in their amazing accents. Here are a few quotes that I've heard this semester and last:

"They were really religious. They really liked George Bush."
-Britta, from Sweden when talking about one of her host families in Colorado

"Well, this is really bad but when I got to the US, I thought that everyone would be really fat. But I don't think this anymore!"
-Marlien, from the Netherlands when asked what surprised her the most during their tour of the United States.

"I can be ghetto...I can say bitch and ho!"
-Francois from Namibia when getting teased for wearing his do-rag that he got during the Chicago stop of their tour.

"Do they really get on the bus and go back to their school...you mean, just like in the movies?!

-Lucas from Belgium after attending out host sister's volleyball game.

"I want to go to go eat at a diner where there are stools and a waitress that chews her gum and says "Honey, what can I get you?"

-Armando from Mexico City, my beloved colleague, when asked what he wants to do in the States before going back home.

St. Joe, MO

Exactly one month after Cast A came through Lincoln, they arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri. This is a town about an hour north of Kansas City, with a population of about 75,000. It was a pretty last-minute decision to make this a tour stop, so it was a little bit of a scramble.

However, in classic Up with People style, it all worked out in the end just fine. My student intern was the lovely Britta from Sweden. The process of setting up a city is always a roller-coaster but working with Britta was wonderful. She is so thoughtful and reflective for someone her age and I so enjoyed getting to know her during the whole process! I can't wait to visit her in Sweden someday!

It was a short city stay so there was a day of community service and the show day. One of the communi ty service projects we set up was getting the students to work on a project called "Tiny Tot Town." This is a yearly event that some early education organizations put on. A mini-town is set-up for children to go through with their parents to learn how different businesses function. For example, in a mini-bank the children learn about what the need for a bank is, etc, etc. In past years the structures that represented the businesses in this mini-town were very unsturdy and made of simple materials. We had the students construct more durable structures with that would be used for many years to come by painting pieces of plywood into the type of businesses or organiztions they wanted to. They were extremely creative painting everything from a firehouse, pet store, a basilica (a big church, essentially), a cafe, flower shop, and everything in between. I was beyond impressed with their skill and creativity.

The show drew a small but enthusiastic crowd at the Missouri Theater. It was a smooth running city and it was great to see the cast again!

Cast A 2008 in Lincoln

Cast A 2008 came through Lincoln last Monday to Thursday. It was a short stay and their very first city on the road. This cast consists of 112 people from 26 countries. The students conducted the Stand For Peace project in 4th, 5th and 6th grade classrooms in some of the Lincoln Public Schools and performed a show at the O'Donnell Auditorium at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Instead of giving you a play-by-play of their time here, I am going to post an entry of a blog of a student in the cast. I don't feel like typing everything and it's more interesting to see the perspective of a students anyway! Enjoy!

Lincoln, NE by Daniel Rohmiller (from South Dakota)
It’s been a busy past few days. We’ve been traveling around so much that its seems like we’re trying to make up for the LACK of traveling we’ve been doing the past four weeks! We left Denver on Monday morning, bright and early, leaving our teary-eyed host families behind for the promise of a great adventure ahead on the road. We drove for about eight hours on the road to Lincoln, Nebraska, where we arrived at a local church and parish center for our city arrival meeting and orientation. Along the way, we made two stops, the last of which was in Kearney, Nebraska. I have to admit it was nice being in a town whose name I knew. The stops were about fifteen minutes – and not a minute later! If we were late to get back onto the buses, we might as well wave at the bus as it drives by because it will not stop. Some of this learn this the hard way on the trip to Maquoketa, but that’s a story for later. After some going back and forth in the Lincoln arrival building, I finally figured out that I was to be roomed with Ren-Horng Wang for Taiwan/USA, one of the guys I had been riding the bus with during our Denver orientation. Together we met our new host family, Les and Paula Schultz. We grabbed our luggage and made the short drive back to their home. There we had a great Midwestern meal of roast beef and potatoes with carrots. It. Was. Great. Ah! :)

We spent the few days in Lincoln – sadly only two full days. The first full day we spent doing the "Stand for Peace" program in some local elementary and middle schools. I spent the morning and afternoon with two different 6th grade classes. In the morning I was with a class from Lux Middle School, and in the afternoon I was with a class from Scott Middle School. It was an exciting time, though a bit challenging to do. It was the first time for me to actually do this program, so a bit of trial and error was in order. But, overall, I think it went well. I was with Eilis from Georgia/Maryland/Ireland, and Carolina from Sweden. We each took different sections of the presentation, which made it easier to do.

My note: That afternoon, after Stand For Peace, everyone went to the office of our supporting sponsor, Talent Plus They are an international executive consulting firm that helps clients find the best people for their company. The mission of their company is to find out the values of their clients and to, in turn, find the people with the right talents for their clients. Their recruitment department did an activity with them called "Focus on You" which split them up in groups and gave them a chance to know each other. This was a great activity, as it was their first city on the road, there were many of them that still needed to get to know each other. After the activity, they did a presentation about the company and what it is like to work for an international company. The students were very interested in learning more and had great questions.

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day prepping the stage for the show, doing dance workshops, and also vocal prep. The first thing that I noticed about the theatre we were set to perform in was that it was significantly smaller than the Buell. Don’t get me wrong – I knew that we were being spoiled by the Buell, but it still surprised me by its size. Definitely small. In fact, for most of the numbers, we had to split the cast in half for the show, having only half the numbers come on the stage on any given song. Only on a few songs did we have the ENTIRE cast on the stage at the same time, as opposed to the Buell performance where EVERYONE was on the stage for nearly every number. We spent the afternoon rehearsing these changes and the show in general. After that run-through, we had some dinner (Runza), and did our own preparation for the show before Green Room. After Green Room, we made our way into the crowd of people swarming into the O’Donnell Auditorium, and I happened to catch a glance of my grandparents and a couple of my aunts in the lobby. I was able to talk with them throughout the pre-show, intermission, and post-show, and it was GREAT to see them. It really gave me a boost of energy for the show, especially when I could look out on the stage and see them staring back. Overall, I thought the show went well, though I do know that it wasn’t up to my performance at the Buell. I just think not having practiced those dances for so long and then picking them back up a couple hours before the show really dulled the once sharp edge I had on them. But, I’ll take that experience and learn from it.

After the show, I spent the entire evening (about two and a half hours) striking the set and restoring the auditorium to the way we found it, which included replacing the front row of seats that had been removed so the front stage lights could be set up. That was a fun task. Or not. :) We finished at about midnight, and then I spent the next couple hours packing my stuff up again for the morning’s trip to Maquoketa, Iowa.