hermosillo is hot. like on our show day it was about 50 degrees out. we needed a super set up crew that came in at 5am cause it would have been too hot to set up during the day.
i stayed with jessica rojas this week. and my host family didn't speak any english. i think that they were really confused by us. one girl who could speak spanish (therefore communicate with them), but couldn't see (ps. jess is blind) - and another who could see but couldn't communicate with them.
monday driving there was long. like a nine hour day. and then when we got there, we were invited to the city hall of hermosillio. cause that monday was the national independance day of mexico. and it was a huge deal to be invited . . . cause like the govenor of the state was there and we sang 'viva le gente' (up with people in spanish) for the first lady and everything. but it made for a really long day cause we were there til like 11pm. definitley a cool experience.
it was also intern city . . . so the interns run everything. pretty cool. laura ran her own workshop . . . taught a song that she had wrote. in dutch. pretty awesome. and . . . . i don't remember a whole lot else from this week. we had mcdonalds one day for lunch. like it was donated. THAT was a pretty big deal.
oh and hermosillo had an infestation of crickets. like they were everywhere. they hopped into everything you owned. and my host family this week . . . they would just step on them, and leave them on the floor. so there was squished crickets all over the floor. i won't lie, it was gross.
and that's all. peace out.
October 19, 2008
October 14, 2008
tepic =
- catherine from denmark as roommate! costume fashion show to meet host families! they provided us costumes from their homes and we had to wear them and then the host families would just find the students wearing their clothes.
- really cool host fam.
- night out on the town. we got free enterance to this club and it was crazy hardcore. like fancy. like a little more hardcore then the wave. or a lot more . . . and it was fun. the majority of the cast was there and we danced and drank beer (carona was only $2!!!! holy moly!). we went with my host sisters who were only 14 and 16 (i know! crazy mexico ;) and they wanted to stay later then catherine and i. we got home at like 2.30am. and the roosters we already crowing. gross.
- baby turtles!!! one day our ci was cleaning the beach for this group that helps save baby turtles. and they had a little kidy pool full of em. and they were adorable. they were like this big. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CUTE!
- jungleness. tepic was gorgeous! like mountains that were super green and lush. which was such a nice contrast from the dryness of the rest of our mexican tour.
- the most incredible clouds ever. like really. pillowing over the mountains. i've never seen anything like it.
- storm stayed at the ice cream shop. one night the host fam took us out to this homemade ice cream shop. and it started thunder and lightening like crazy. so bad that the streets were flooded and everything. and we were stuck in the shop for like an hour. not a bad spot to be stuck though. and we met our host sister celeste's boyfriend there. but shhhhh her dad doesn't know. ;)
- host fam day at the laguna. it is really a volcano. like water collected in the mouth of the volcano. and you swim in it. CRAZY!!! and it's bottomless. they can't find the bottom. it's nuts. look at the pictures. absolutely incredible.
- egg drop. see video on fb.
and that's all. peace out friends.
- really cool host fam.
- night out on the town. we got free enterance to this club and it was crazy hardcore. like fancy. like a little more hardcore then the wave. or a lot more . . . and it was fun. the majority of the cast was there and we danced and drank beer (carona was only $2!!!! holy moly!). we went with my host sisters who were only 14 and 16 (i know! crazy mexico ;) and they wanted to stay later then catherine and i. we got home at like 2.30am. and the roosters we already crowing. gross.
- baby turtles!!! one day our ci was cleaning the beach for this group that helps save baby turtles. and they had a little kidy pool full of em. and they were adorable. they were like this big. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CUTE!
- jungleness. tepic was gorgeous! like mountains that were super green and lush. which was such a nice contrast from the dryness of the rest of our mexican tour.
- the most incredible clouds ever. like really. pillowing over the mountains. i've never seen anything like it.
- storm stayed at the ice cream shop. one night the host fam took us out to this homemade ice cream shop. and it started thunder and lightening like crazy. so bad that the streets were flooded and everything. and we were stuck in the shop for like an hour. not a bad spot to be stuck though. and we met our host sister celeste's boyfriend there. but shhhhh her dad doesn't know. ;)
- host fam day at the laguna. it is really a volcano. like water collected in the mouth of the volcano. and you swim in it. CRAZY!!! and it's bottomless. they can't find the bottom. it's nuts. look at the pictures. absolutely incredible.
- egg drop. see video on fb.
and that's all. peace out friends.
a stay in cabo?? okay!
okay cabo. first host fam!!! yeah! cause in denver i had the stonesmiths - who aren't really a host family cause i already knew them. and then in breckinridge we had a staff condo. and then la paz i was in the staff hotel. SO . . . cabo was the first real host fam of the semester. YAY! i had my host dad pedro, and host mom lupeta, and host sister rosario (who was 15). and i had host brother pedro and his girlfriend paulina, who didn't live with us but visited often cause pedro spoke english and paulina was trying to learn. and three little host weiner dogs. hahaaha AWESOME!
so cabo was awesome and not awesome at the same time. it was weird in that we were in two different cities - san jose del cabo and cabo san lucas - both combined make up cabo, however the cities are 45mins and we had people hosted in both cities! so on our community impact days we stayed in our respective cities and had seperate morning meetings and CI sites. crazy! and we had two shows this week. one in each of the cities! so on friday we set up the equiptment (in a baseball stadium - let me offically say i hate outdoor facilities), did rehearsal in the 45 degree heat (UGH!), did a show, and then took down the set. and then did it all again the next day! INSANE!!!! and it was so rediculously hot. like whoa. and just the whole two days in a row. usually after a show day you have a free day. not another show day. they usually run from 8am until 1.30am. and so two in a row was rediculous. and outdoor facilities are crazy. we've had so much trouble with overheating, and getting sufficent power, and rain (therefore having to cover everything) and all kinds of crazy. AGHHH!! hahahah definitley kept us on our toes.
regional learning day was also awesome and crazy. we started off by going to a really poor area of san jose del cabo. for a lot of the people in the cast it was the fisrt time they've ever seen poverty like that. i talked to a man there who had seven children, all under the age of eight or nine. they had this tiny little house and he was just so proud of it. he kept boasting to me about the beautiful view of the mountains they have. makes you realize how great you really have it, when people like that are just so greatful for what little they do have. we kinda stuck out here and so after awhile there was a lot of little kids following us around - so we started playing games with them. and it was really fun and cute. and then i found this little baby and she was just four months old and her mom let me hold her and she was just the cutest.
then after that we drove out to the middle of no where. like a two hour drive. and the guy in charge hadn't told us where we were going so there was a whole bunch of us staff in a 12 passenger van and we were all going nuts wondering where we were going. so we made it to our destination - a mango farm. with a waterfall. but we had to walk like a kilometer to get there. but it was awesome. and the students loved it.
so then we drove back to cabo san lucas and we got on a cruise! like a mini one - but it was still awesome. and we watched the sunset on the water and they had a live band playing, and i had my fish caviar ever (like this thing was swanky, it was sushi with caviar). and we all just got to hang out and it was great. took a lot of jumping shots on the deck!
one of the ci's was crazy. it was grandparnets day there and we were going to help out serving them food and such. and i was told that we were going to perform two songs accapella. so i was all ready for that. had my singers ready and such. and then when we got there the director guy asked where our costumes where! he was expecting a full BTS with costumes and the whole shebang! and we started yelling at mitch (education coordinator) and so we started getting on the phone and trying to figure everything out and it was really nuts. in the end we just did what we were told we would be doing. one to one and viva le gente (up with people in spanish). and then we helped make up the plates of food in the kitchen. it was SOOOOOOO hot. like rediculously. like sweat dripping down my face. i had to get someon to take over for me a couple times so that i could go wipe my face off so that the grandparents didn't get a side of sweat with their meal. gross.
on the host fam day we drove out to this secluded beach that was gorgeous! we couldn't go swimming cause the waves were too crazy but it was really nice. hahahahah and they had asked me at the first of the week if i drank tequila, and i said no but i like beer, so they totally bought some beer and we just sat on the beach and listened to music and i took a nap and it was awesome.
the travel day this week was a little nuts. so la paz and cabo are in the baja penninsula (i know, i know, i can't spell for crap), so we had to bus back to la paz (3 hrs) and then take a ferry to the mainland (6 hrs) and then bus to Tepic (11hrs). GOOD DAY! hahaha ugh. but the ferry was awesome. had some good best friend time with molly, just sitting out on the deck and talking, ended up getting sunburnt. once it got dark me, mols, dave and matt all went up to the top deck and looked at the stars. it was awesome! and we saw the best shooting star any of us have ever seen. like it was incredible.
i had such a long bus ride cause there wasn't enough room on these buses for everyone. martin and anthony had flown to arizona to pick up one of the vans and were supposed to meet us down there, and me, gabe and dave had voulenteered to stay where the ferry dropped us overnight to meet them in the morning to drive to tepic, but they got stuck at the border. SO dave, gabe and i ended up on a 11 hour bus ride. like one that stops at every town, turns on the lights and lets people off. we got off the ferry at around 10. we go to bus stop and there was one leaving at 11.30pm. but we decided to compared prices with the bus station down the road. it was sketchy. but when we got back they had sold out of tickets for the 11.30 bus! UGH! so we had to wait until 12.30. GROSS. but we met this guy from BC who is just backpacking around. actually trying to make his way up to montreal, cause his girlfriend is going to school there. random eh? he was pretty cool. so we finally get on this bus. and it's FREEZING! like dave and i are shivering in our seats. and we're all curled up into balls, trying to make ourselves are comfortable as you can in a bus. and so at one of the stops the lady next to me gave me her polarfleece sweater. cause she had a blanket too and saw that i was obviously freezing. hahahaha cause who thinks to pack a sweater for an overnight in mexico??? anyways i loved her. a lot. so being a little bit warmer i got more sleep. oh and we made a stop at some random town in mexico and the bus driver told us to get out cause he had to get gas. so he dropped off everyone at this busstop, and it's 5.30am, and says that he'll be back in 20mins. totally took like like 40mins. and gabe and i were freaking out that he came back and we had somehow missed it and now we were stuck in Godknowswhere, mexico. but he finally showed up and we headed off again. i slept the majority of the bus ride. dave shared his music, listened to the Once soundtrack. good stuff.
so cabo was awesome and not awesome at the same time. it was weird in that we were in two different cities - san jose del cabo and cabo san lucas - both combined make up cabo, however the cities are 45mins and we had people hosted in both cities! so on our community impact days we stayed in our respective cities and had seperate morning meetings and CI sites. crazy! and we had two shows this week. one in each of the cities! so on friday we set up the equiptment (in a baseball stadium - let me offically say i hate outdoor facilities), did rehearsal in the 45 degree heat (UGH!), did a show, and then took down the set. and then did it all again the next day! INSANE!!!! and it was so rediculously hot. like whoa. and just the whole two days in a row. usually after a show day you have a free day. not another show day. they usually run from 8am until 1.30am. and so two in a row was rediculous. and outdoor facilities are crazy. we've had so much trouble with overheating, and getting sufficent power, and rain (therefore having to cover everything) and all kinds of crazy. AGHHH!! hahahah definitley kept us on our toes.
regional learning day was also awesome and crazy. we started off by going to a really poor area of san jose del cabo. for a lot of the people in the cast it was the fisrt time they've ever seen poverty like that. i talked to a man there who had seven children, all under the age of eight or nine. they had this tiny little house and he was just so proud of it. he kept boasting to me about the beautiful view of the mountains they have. makes you realize how great you really have it, when people like that are just so greatful for what little they do have. we kinda stuck out here and so after awhile there was a lot of little kids following us around - so we started playing games with them. and it was really fun and cute. and then i found this little baby and she was just four months old and her mom let me hold her and she was just the cutest.
then after that we drove out to the middle of no where. like a two hour drive. and the guy in charge hadn't told us where we were going so there was a whole bunch of us staff in a 12 passenger van and we were all going nuts wondering where we were going. so we made it to our destination - a mango farm. with a waterfall. but we had to walk like a kilometer to get there. but it was awesome. and the students loved it.
so then we drove back to cabo san lucas and we got on a cruise! like a mini one - but it was still awesome. and we watched the sunset on the water and they had a live band playing, and i had my fish caviar ever (like this thing was swanky, it was sushi with caviar). and we all just got to hang out and it was great. took a lot of jumping shots on the deck!
one of the ci's was crazy. it was grandparnets day there and we were going to help out serving them food and such. and i was told that we were going to perform two songs accapella. so i was all ready for that. had my singers ready and such. and then when we got there the director guy asked where our costumes where! he was expecting a full BTS with costumes and the whole shebang! and we started yelling at mitch (education coordinator) and so we started getting on the phone and trying to figure everything out and it was really nuts. in the end we just did what we were told we would be doing. one to one and viva le gente (up with people in spanish). and then we helped make up the plates of food in the kitchen. it was SOOOOOOO hot. like rediculously. like sweat dripping down my face. i had to get someon to take over for me a couple times so that i could go wipe my face off so that the grandparents didn't get a side of sweat with their meal. gross.
on the host fam day we drove out to this secluded beach that was gorgeous! we couldn't go swimming cause the waves were too crazy but it was really nice. hahahahah and they had asked me at the first of the week if i drank tequila, and i said no but i like beer, so they totally bought some beer and we just sat on the beach and listened to music and i took a nap and it was awesome.
the travel day this week was a little nuts. so la paz and cabo are in the baja penninsula (i know, i know, i can't spell for crap), so we had to bus back to la paz (3 hrs) and then take a ferry to the mainland (6 hrs) and then bus to Tepic (11hrs). GOOD DAY! hahaha ugh. but the ferry was awesome. had some good best friend time with molly, just sitting out on the deck and talking, ended up getting sunburnt. once it got dark me, mols, dave and matt all went up to the top deck and looked at the stars. it was awesome! and we saw the best shooting star any of us have ever seen. like it was incredible.
i had such a long bus ride cause there wasn't enough room on these buses for everyone. martin and anthony had flown to arizona to pick up one of the vans and were supposed to meet us down there, and me, gabe and dave had voulenteered to stay where the ferry dropped us overnight to meet them in the morning to drive to tepic, but they got stuck at the border. SO dave, gabe and i ended up on a 11 hour bus ride. like one that stops at every town, turns on the lights and lets people off. we got off the ferry at around 10. we go to bus stop and there was one leaving at 11.30pm. but we decided to compared prices with the bus station down the road. it was sketchy. but when we got back they had sold out of tickets for the 11.30 bus! UGH! so we had to wait until 12.30. GROSS. but we met this guy from BC who is just backpacking around. actually trying to make his way up to montreal, cause his girlfriend is going to school there. random eh? he was pretty cool. so we finally get on this bus. and it's FREEZING! like dave and i are shivering in our seats. and we're all curled up into balls, trying to make ourselves are comfortable as you can in a bus. and so at one of the stops the lady next to me gave me her polarfleece sweater. cause she had a blanket too and saw that i was obviously freezing. hahahaha cause who thinks to pack a sweater for an overnight in mexico??? anyways i loved her. a lot. so being a little bit warmer i got more sleep. oh and we made a stop at some random town in mexico and the bus driver told us to get out cause he had to get gas. so he dropped off everyone at this busstop, and it's 5.30am, and says that he'll be back in 20mins. totally took like like 40mins. and gabe and i were freaking out that he came back and we had somehow missed it and now we were stuck in Godknowswhere, mexico. but he finally showed up and we headed off again. i slept the majority of the bus ride. dave shared his music, listened to the Once soundtrack. good stuff.
September 4, 2008
mucho hot.
la paz. oh la paz.
first of all mexico is hot. like whoa hot. like 28degress and 7.30am without the humidity.
who's idea was it to tour mexico in augest?!?!?
anyways after that crazy travel day we flew into cabo and bussed to la paz. we stopped along the way and got our first mexican meal - at this little food shop run by this family, we probably gave them the most business they'll get in months! aoife and i didn't want to wait in the line, so we checked out some pastry things that we assumed had meat in them. wrong! they were filled with caramel!!! SOOO GOOD!
so every week some staff members stay in a hotel - we have a vehicle and can go get anyone in an emergency. and back in staging we could request where we'd like to stay in the hotel - i said that i would like to stay in the hotel in mexico twice. so i was in la paz. and man did i luck out.
it was soooo nice!!! and we ended up getting the week with two free days! two sundays! YAY! the first day - the sunday - i woke up to molly walking around the room. so i asked her what time it was. and it was 12.45pm. holy crap! hahaah that travel day had taken a bit out of us! we basically lounged around the pool all day. God sometimes i hate my job . . . . . ;)
so it was me and molly, martin and kory riggs (mexican tour director or some title like that), ken and nathan, and michael and gaby. pretty sweet. and it was so nice to be able to go home at night to a sweet air conditioned hotel room. only downside was that there was no laundry. and there wasn't the week before either. is resulted in me washing stuff in the sink with shampoo and hanging around the room. and that doesn't quite cut it. i did laundry here in cabo for the first time in 2 and a half weeks. i don't think i've ever appreciated clean clothes more!!!!! they smelled soooo good! i was starting to feel like such a dirt!!!
so on monday i had a mic group workshop. mexican medley. basically a medley of popular songs from mexico. medleys are just so tough for mic groups. cause it's just all over the place with key changes and tempo changes. but they picked it up really fast! we also do three of our regular songs in spanish - sound of peace, we'll be there, and up with people. and well we added 'de que color' ('what color is god's skin' in english) and a mariachi moment. agh! learn it all in one week! man.
tuesday we had regional learning. did a bus tour. stopped at a church - was awesome! the cast left to get ice cream but i got to stay in the church and catch up with the big man for a bit. sweet. and then everyone headed out to the beach. i've never felt water so warm!! it was so great - although i'm sure the other beach goers didn't agress - invaded by 100 uppies. best thing was that we had a great game of football in the water!
the next two days were also dedicated to mexican show stuff. i had soloist and mic groups signed out both days. but they're rockstars and learned it so fast! yes!
one of the nights the hotel staff went to eat downtown - along the beach. so we're eating outside and there are these two guys playing a little live entertainment. guitar and bass. and the guitarist was singing. and he wasn't very good. so he's attempting to do hotel californina or something like that and doesn't know the words. so he asks our (me, molly, martin, kory, and nathan) table if any of us know the words. kory tells him i sing. but i tell him i don't know the words to that song. so he's all well what can you sing and i'll play it for you. and i told him that i'm pretty sure he wouldn't know anything that i know, but if he gives me his guitar i can play for myself. hahahah i think he was a little suprised at that! so i get up and sing umbrella. obviously. and i got an otra (encore!). so i did realize by colbie caillat. but i wish that matt was there for that. me and matt kill that song. like whoa harmony central! but it was still pretty awesome. hahahaha just a cool moment that afterwards made realize how much i love my life. just doing a little gig in la paz, mexico. oh and after i was done kory got up and in spanish was like 'if you want to hear her sing more come to the show . . .blahblah blah'! hahahaha sweet. there was quite a few people that had stopped along the melicon (boardwalk and i probably didn't spell it right) - but probably just cause they we thinking 'who the heck is this random white girl singing crazy music?'
anyways. hmmm something else cool. oh we were sponsored partically by coca cola! lots of free powerade! we did an awesome BTS on the melicon with the sun setting over tha water behind us! and the stage was way unstable and during 'keep the beat' i thought it was going to collapse! had a culture presentation from arnab - learned some about bangledesh! sweet!
so this time in mexico we have a lot of outdoor shows.
i offically hate outdoor shows.
yeah they sounds cool - but technically they are a pain in the arse. like getting the stages built. and getting power. so far they've all been in baseball stadiums - and in la paz, where it apparently just 'three times a year', it rained on our show day. so our set up that was already behind due to lack of stage and power, also got put on hold and we had tarps over all the equiptment and man it was just crazy. he had to put rehearsal on hold for awhile cause we didn't want the dancers to slip on the wet stage. and when it rains here - it doesn't cool it off. it just makes it more humid. and it wasn't pouring or anything - just a light rain - so we didn't know whether we were going to cancel or not.
but the show must go on. we did it. and it worked. kinda. there was a lot of mishaps. show wise and tech wise. sad day. but we got through the show. and the mexican medley - was way better then i expected! i was so proud of all my little non-spanish speakers up rocking the spanish songs!! oh and ps. we have jess.
yes. jessica rojas. the most incredible singers i've ever heard in my life. she travelled in cast B07 at the same time as me last summer, and then again this last time in A08. and she's travelling with us for our mexican tour as vocal support. cause this girl is incredible. like wow. you haven't heard someone sing until you've heard her. i get goosebumps every time i hear her. she does this mariachi moment in the show and she starts off with this note that she holds for forever. like she was timed once and it was 41seconds. i can't hold my breath that long - let alone belt a note! jeez louise!
so the show was alright. and michael - aka my boss - was there for the week and so he gave me all kinds of suggestions and advice and stuff to work on. sweet!
and that's about it. i was an extreme amount of lazy the whole next day. and it was good.
peace out.
first of all mexico is hot. like whoa hot. like 28degress and 7.30am without the humidity.
who's idea was it to tour mexico in augest?!?!?
anyways after that crazy travel day we flew into cabo and bussed to la paz. we stopped along the way and got our first mexican meal - at this little food shop run by this family, we probably gave them the most business they'll get in months! aoife and i didn't want to wait in the line, so we checked out some pastry things that we assumed had meat in them. wrong! they were filled with caramel!!! SOOO GOOD!
so every week some staff members stay in a hotel - we have a vehicle and can go get anyone in an emergency. and back in staging we could request where we'd like to stay in the hotel - i said that i would like to stay in the hotel in mexico twice. so i was in la paz. and man did i luck out.
it was soooo nice!!! and we ended up getting the week with two free days! two sundays! YAY! the first day - the sunday - i woke up to molly walking around the room. so i asked her what time it was. and it was 12.45pm. holy crap! hahaah that travel day had taken a bit out of us! we basically lounged around the pool all day. God sometimes i hate my job . . . . . ;)
so it was me and molly, martin and kory riggs (mexican tour director or some title like that), ken and nathan, and michael and gaby. pretty sweet. and it was so nice to be able to go home at night to a sweet air conditioned hotel room. only downside was that there was no laundry. and there wasn't the week before either. is resulted in me washing stuff in the sink with shampoo and hanging around the room. and that doesn't quite cut it. i did laundry here in cabo for the first time in 2 and a half weeks. i don't think i've ever appreciated clean clothes more!!!!! they smelled soooo good! i was starting to feel like such a dirt!!!
so on monday i had a mic group workshop. mexican medley. basically a medley of popular songs from mexico. medleys are just so tough for mic groups. cause it's just all over the place with key changes and tempo changes. but they picked it up really fast! we also do three of our regular songs in spanish - sound of peace, we'll be there, and up with people. and well we added 'de que color' ('what color is god's skin' in english) and a mariachi moment. agh! learn it all in one week! man.
tuesday we had regional learning. did a bus tour. stopped at a church - was awesome! the cast left to get ice cream but i got to stay in the church and catch up with the big man for a bit. sweet. and then everyone headed out to the beach. i've never felt water so warm!! it was so great - although i'm sure the other beach goers didn't agress - invaded by 100 uppies. best thing was that we had a great game of football in the water!
the next two days were also dedicated to mexican show stuff. i had soloist and mic groups signed out both days. but they're rockstars and learned it so fast! yes!
one of the nights the hotel staff went to eat downtown - along the beach. so we're eating outside and there are these two guys playing a little live entertainment. guitar and bass. and the guitarist was singing. and he wasn't very good. so he's attempting to do hotel californina or something like that and doesn't know the words. so he asks our (me, molly, martin, kory, and nathan) table if any of us know the words. kory tells him i sing. but i tell him i don't know the words to that song. so he's all well what can you sing and i'll play it for you. and i told him that i'm pretty sure he wouldn't know anything that i know, but if he gives me his guitar i can play for myself. hahahah i think he was a little suprised at that! so i get up and sing umbrella. obviously. and i got an otra (encore!). so i did realize by colbie caillat. but i wish that matt was there for that. me and matt kill that song. like whoa harmony central! but it was still pretty awesome. hahahaha just a cool moment that afterwards made realize how much i love my life. just doing a little gig in la paz, mexico. oh and after i was done kory got up and in spanish was like 'if you want to hear her sing more come to the show . . .blahblah blah'! hahahaha sweet. there was quite a few people that had stopped along the melicon (boardwalk and i probably didn't spell it right) - but probably just cause they we thinking 'who the heck is this random white girl singing crazy music?'
anyways. hmmm something else cool. oh we were sponsored partically by coca cola! lots of free powerade! we did an awesome BTS on the melicon with the sun setting over tha water behind us! and the stage was way unstable and during 'keep the beat' i thought it was going to collapse! had a culture presentation from arnab - learned some about bangledesh! sweet!
so this time in mexico we have a lot of outdoor shows.
i offically hate outdoor shows.
yeah they sounds cool - but technically they are a pain in the arse. like getting the stages built. and getting power. so far they've all been in baseball stadiums - and in la paz, where it apparently just 'three times a year', it rained on our show day. so our set up that was already behind due to lack of stage and power, also got put on hold and we had tarps over all the equiptment and man it was just crazy. he had to put rehearsal on hold for awhile cause we didn't want the dancers to slip on the wet stage. and when it rains here - it doesn't cool it off. it just makes it more humid. and it wasn't pouring or anything - just a light rain - so we didn't know whether we were going to cancel or not.
but the show must go on. we did it. and it worked. kinda. there was a lot of mishaps. show wise and tech wise. sad day. but we got through the show. and the mexican medley - was way better then i expected! i was so proud of all my little non-spanish speakers up rocking the spanish songs!! oh and ps. we have jess.
yes. jessica rojas. the most incredible singers i've ever heard in my life. she travelled in cast B07 at the same time as me last summer, and then again this last time in A08. and she's travelling with us for our mexican tour as vocal support. cause this girl is incredible. like wow. you haven't heard someone sing until you've heard her. i get goosebumps every time i hear her. she does this mariachi moment in the show and she starts off with this note that she holds for forever. like she was timed once and it was 41seconds. i can't hold my breath that long - let alone belt a note! jeez louise!
so the show was alright. and michael - aka my boss - was there for the week and so he gave me all kinds of suggestions and advice and stuff to work on. sweet!
and that's about it. i was an extreme amount of lazy the whole next day. and it was good.
peace out.
cut +paste = catch up
i'm not even going to apologize.
i have a crazy job.
so some good memories of the final weeks of denver.
- i went to see batman twice - once with gabe, phil, joris, cody, and cody's friend ryan. and then once with the stonesmiths. good movie.
- the dress rehearsal. it was rough to say the least. during the first song one of the students tripped over the power cord. cutting all sound halfway through the song. but i was really proud of them cause they kept running on stage smiling - singing loud and proud! yay!
- the rest of staging is a blur. everyday was so busy with walk throughs and run throughs. i was leading vocals and working with the band. add in numerous staff meetings and workshops. then when we started putting the show together - dance, vocals, band - it equalled crazy. by the time i got home at night i was beat.
- i got to hear steve farber talk again. he's awesome. inspirational. i love him. stevefarber.com.
- some people came to visit and i got to see all kinds of friends at the dress rehearsal. jeremy farber (yeah steve's son) who was the video tech for my student cast came and visited for a week or something. it was aweasome seeing him. and then callie, abby, vanessa, and jordan were all at the dress rehearsal. good times.
- i have my first intern!!! my 'awesome' intern! cause her name is laura assums (yeah - pronounced awesomes!). hahahah it's awesome. she's from belgium and an absolute sweetheart! She was almost called my mucus intern though, cause on the description sheet Scotty spelled it ‘mucis intern’. Kinda hilarious.
so the next week we got out on the road. holy shit. i was really nervous and excited. we were in breckinridge colorado, this beautiful little mountain town. it was GORGEOUS!!! like driving to the school in the morning we'd drive my this lake with the mist coming off it, with a mountain on one side and on the other side a whole bunch more of them, some with snow on the top! it was cold up here too. like it hailed twice and snowed once. in augest!!! but i love it so much. definitely going back there someday!
the best thing about the week was that there was a staff allocation (which means living arrangment???). we had two condo's!!! i was in one with molly, dave, matt, rafa, anthony, and nathan. molly and i ran in the minute we got there and called the master bedroom - had our own bathroom! hell yeah! it was an awesome place. big screen tv and a hot tub! alright! i wish that we could've been there longer - it was awesome to be able to go home at night and just hang out with everyone. we watched A LOT of olympics! and one night we worked on picking the 'call song', which is the song that they play 15mins after the show to let all the students know that they have to go to their respective 'job's - either interviews or strike. and so you hear the call song, run up on stage and dance your butt off and then get to work. so this song is kinda a big deal. like you hear a lot of it. and it has to be something really fun and danceable. so the pressure was on. we spent about 2 hours in the living room, all with out laptops, sharing our ideas. it took forever. and so towards the end, when it looked like we weren't going to find one we'd all agree on, i jokingly suggested mambo #5.
and now that's our call song. true story. started off as a joke but we totally wen't for it. hahahaha i love it.
as a departing gift, the stonesmiths had crazy generously given me a starbucks gift card as i left - and i'm embarassed to admit i used in all in that 5 days in breckinridge. i needed a lot of caffeine.
our first show went AWESOME! sooooo much better the the dress rehearsal. like whoa better. like tommy spauding (our ceo and president) came up to the show team afterwards and congratulated us on how much we had accomplished in the 5 days since the dress rehearsal! YAY!
most of my week was focused on the mexican medley. so yeah. mexico was our second stop on the road and we had a 7 minute medley to teach the students. hahaha as if they hadn't just learned a two hour show eh??? so the last two weeks that had consumed a lot of my time. i was teaching the cast spanish vocals (umm ps i'm terrible at spanish), mic groups how to sing them in four part harmonies, and finding soloists that could learn spanish in two weeks and also had good voices for the parts. EEEEEKKKKK! but although i'm kinda jumping ahead of myself here, i'm proud to say we did it for the first time last night and it went awesomely! like there's still some cleaning up to do - but WAYYYYY better then i thought it would be!
so yeah. that friday (in breck), we got in at 9. after being at the show facility the night before until 1ish. i had to go back to the condo during the day cause we had a family donate it to us and so we wanted to leave it nice and clean, but as it was so late the night before we had to do it during the day. so dave, matt and i headed back and vaccuumed and mopped, did all the laundry and dishes and stuff like that. we were in for a real long day here. we - the whole group - were in a meeting room at a resort there. until 4 in the morning. eeeeewwwwww. cause our flight was early saturday. and that's just inconvient for host families so we did the first overnight. what an adventure. i was hoping to get some sleep but no such luck. but i did sleep a little on the bus from breck to denver. it was a long day though. to say the least.
and so although i'm still not caught up i'm going to leave here. i'm going to save and then go out and use the internet (which only works near the pool - yeah that's right! wait till you hear about this week's allocation!). i haven't checked facebook in days - i'm dying here!!! hahahaha.
love to all!!
i have a crazy job.
so some good memories of the final weeks of denver.
- i went to see batman twice - once with gabe, phil, joris, cody, and cody's friend ryan. and then once with the stonesmiths. good movie.
- the dress rehearsal. it was rough to say the least. during the first song one of the students tripped over the power cord. cutting all sound halfway through the song. but i was really proud of them cause they kept running on stage smiling - singing loud and proud! yay!
- the rest of staging is a blur. everyday was so busy with walk throughs and run throughs. i was leading vocals and working with the band. add in numerous staff meetings and workshops. then when we started putting the show together - dance, vocals, band - it equalled crazy. by the time i got home at night i was beat.
- i got to hear steve farber talk again. he's awesome. inspirational. i love him. stevefarber.com.
- some people came to visit and i got to see all kinds of friends at the dress rehearsal. jeremy farber (yeah steve's son) who was the video tech for my student cast came and visited for a week or something. it was aweasome seeing him. and then callie, abby, vanessa, and jordan were all at the dress rehearsal. good times.
- i have my first intern!!! my 'awesome' intern! cause her name is laura assums (yeah - pronounced awesomes!). hahahah it's awesome. she's from belgium and an absolute sweetheart! She was almost called my mucus intern though, cause on the description sheet Scotty spelled it ‘mucis intern’. Kinda hilarious.
so the next week we got out on the road. holy shit. i was really nervous and excited. we were in breckinridge colorado, this beautiful little mountain town. it was GORGEOUS!!! like driving to the school in the morning we'd drive my this lake with the mist coming off it, with a mountain on one side and on the other side a whole bunch more of them, some with snow on the top! it was cold up here too. like it hailed twice and snowed once. in augest!!! but i love it so much. definitely going back there someday!
the best thing about the week was that there was a staff allocation (which means living arrangment???). we had two condo's!!! i was in one with molly, dave, matt, rafa, anthony, and nathan. molly and i ran in the minute we got there and called the master bedroom - had our own bathroom! hell yeah! it was an awesome place. big screen tv and a hot tub! alright! i wish that we could've been there longer - it was awesome to be able to go home at night and just hang out with everyone. we watched A LOT of olympics! and one night we worked on picking the 'call song', which is the song that they play 15mins after the show to let all the students know that they have to go to their respective 'job's - either interviews or strike. and so you hear the call song, run up on stage and dance your butt off and then get to work. so this song is kinda a big deal. like you hear a lot of it. and it has to be something really fun and danceable. so the pressure was on. we spent about 2 hours in the living room, all with out laptops, sharing our ideas. it took forever. and so towards the end, when it looked like we weren't going to find one we'd all agree on, i jokingly suggested mambo #5.
and now that's our call song. true story. started off as a joke but we totally wen't for it. hahahaha i love it.
as a departing gift, the stonesmiths had crazy generously given me a starbucks gift card as i left - and i'm embarassed to admit i used in all in that 5 days in breckinridge. i needed a lot of caffeine.
our first show went AWESOME! sooooo much better the the dress rehearsal. like whoa better. like tommy spauding (our ceo and president) came up to the show team afterwards and congratulated us on how much we had accomplished in the 5 days since the dress rehearsal! YAY!
most of my week was focused on the mexican medley. so yeah. mexico was our second stop on the road and we had a 7 minute medley to teach the students. hahaha as if they hadn't just learned a two hour show eh??? so the last two weeks that had consumed a lot of my time. i was teaching the cast spanish vocals (umm ps i'm terrible at spanish), mic groups how to sing them in four part harmonies, and finding soloists that could learn spanish in two weeks and also had good voices for the parts. EEEEEKKKKK! but although i'm kinda jumping ahead of myself here, i'm proud to say we did it for the first time last night and it went awesomely! like there's still some cleaning up to do - but WAYYYYY better then i thought it would be!
so yeah. that friday (in breck), we got in at 9. after being at the show facility the night before until 1ish. i had to go back to the condo during the day cause we had a family donate it to us and so we wanted to leave it nice and clean, but as it was so late the night before we had to do it during the day. so dave, matt and i headed back and vaccuumed and mopped, did all the laundry and dishes and stuff like that. we were in for a real long day here. we - the whole group - were in a meeting room at a resort there. until 4 in the morning. eeeeewwwwww. cause our flight was early saturday. and that's just inconvient for host families so we did the first overnight. what an adventure. i was hoping to get some sleep but no such luck. but i did sleep a little on the bus from breck to denver. it was a long day though. to say the least.
and so although i'm still not caught up i'm going to leave here. i'm going to save and then go out and use the internet (which only works near the pool - yeah that's right! wait till you hear about this week's allocation!). i haven't checked facebook in days - i'm dying here!!! hahahaha.
love to all!!
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