Nampong oh ah ah!

On Monday we packed our bags and left the beautiful, sunny Phuket for Nampong, Thailand! It was hard leaving my host family in Phuket because I felt like I really got the opportunity to connect with them and I promised myself that some day I will travel back to Phuket to see them again!! From Phuket we had about a 15 hour trip to Nampong. During our travels, our flight to Bangkok was delayed and so we ended up arriving at Nampong around 11:30pm... Because we were so late our host family couldn't pick us up and so we ended up staying the night in a meditation room at a Monastary. We slept on bamboo mats on a tile floor. It was quite the experience.
Tuesday we started our CI and I was assigned to one of the hospitals in Nampong. This was absolutely INCREDIBLE because we were given a tour of the hospital and also got to speak with the head physician and I learned so many things about the main illnesses that affect the people in the Nampong area and it was also great to see how general hospital care here differed from hospital care in the U.S.A. Also, while I was there we got to color and play games with some of the children and gave them bed baths as well!! The entire experience was really great and it showed me how much passion I do have for health care. Also, during lunch Wiebke and I had a radio interview about UWP and I can now officially say that I was on the radio in Thailand!! It was also a good prep for my advance work in Sweden coming up and I hope it got all of the first time jitters out of the way.
Today was our 2nd CI day and I spent it painting a building at a boarding school for under privileged young boys. We painted an entire building inside and out and it felt great to accomplish so much for the school in just one day. I feel like every CI I do I find some sort of lesson that I wasn't expecting and I really appreciate the "ah ha!" moments that I have when I realize the lesson in front of me. After CI today we got together as a cast and discussed the issue of human rights. This was a very interesting topic for our cast and we had many different opinions which was great. I think that this was one of our harder education periods for our cast, but it was so good to have because it just affirmed the fact that UWP is hard and that you learn new things in very different ways and nothing is ever really spelled out for you because it is all about building your own opinion and having proper information to be able to defend your position. I still am unsure about some things concerning human rights, so I don't know if I have a definite opinion yet, but it is something I will continue to work on over the next couple days. So that is all for now! More next time!!

From Thailand to home

So itis crazy that in the past couple days so much has happened, not only for me here in Thailand, but for many family and friends back home. Here we continued to work with Habitat for Humanity and by the last CI day we had the entire foundation and the beginnings of the walls completed. It was such an incredible feeling to work so hard on something and it made me realize that I would have never worked this hard if I was building something for myself. The days spent at the site were absolutely PHENOMINAL and I would get done every day feeling completely physically drained but oh what a great feeling that was. Another great thing about the site were the men that were working with us... They spoke very little English, but yet throughout the days we would laugh together, and we learned to really work together. I think it was cool because they would stepped back and let us do as much as we could and then would step in and help us when we needed it. It was a great feeling when we got to the end of the last day and I realized that I was going to miss all of the men working with us. It was in this moment that I really understood the fact that actions speak louder than words! WOW!! Then today was the first day I heard about the flooding that has been happening back home and I haven't quite processed all of my feelings about it, but I think there is something to be said about how I am working so hard to build a home for people here and so many houses back home have been destroyed but that it will be ok because people and groups like UWP will come and support the communities and the families in them and they will work together to rebuild what has been lost. Through this, opportunities like the one I have had will be created and lessons will be learned. I can tell I am still processing everything, but I continue to count my blessings that my family is safe and I pray for the continued support of the people in the communities that have suffered.
Now on a lighter note, we performed our first show in Thailand today and it was absolutely wonderful!! It was crazy because all of the young Thai girls were going crazy over some of the guys in our cast. It was like they were famous rock stars or something!! It was so cool, they signed autographs, took pictures, it was a real celebrity event!! The show went well, and it seems like everytime I perform I think to myself, "oh I wish my family could be here to see this!" Anyways, Phuket has continued to be great and I continue to be pushed to my limits and am learning to really appreciate some things about home that I wish I had here... like cold weather!! :)

More from the other side of the world!

So the past couple days have been great! Sunday we had a regional learning day in which we went to a place called Gypsie Village which is a poorer area of Phuket. There we got the opportunity to talk with one of the leaders of the village and learned a lot about their way of life. After that we got to play with the children there and we had a blast teaching them one of the songs from the show!! I think the thing that amazed me the most about this was that the people in the village seemed relatively content with what they had and the children were so excited to spend time playing with us! I think it is amazing how much some people who have many many things are not satisfied and are constantly wanting more compared to the people we met who have very little and yet they seem so happy. I think it really proves that life is not about how many things you can afford.
After the Gypsie Village, we took a ferrie to Coral Island where we got the chance to relax on the beach and do some snorkeling. The Indian Ocean is so completely beautiful and so green and the snorkeling is fantastic because the fish will eat banana right from your hand!! After this we went to dinner that was provided for us by the Rotary club here in Phuket and gave us the chance to get to know some of the Rotary members in the community here and we got to learn about the kind of things they work on here in Phuket. Lastly, we went to a show, compliments of the Rotary club, called FantaSea which is like a circus that told a story. There were elephants, tigers, and roosters (oh my!). It was great to see and the costumes were BEAUTIFUL!!
Monday was our first CI (community impact) day in Phuket and I was put in the Habitat for Humanity group and we started building a house. So far it has been extremely strenuous and completely tiring work but so worth it when you think that you are providing a place to live for someone who doesn't have one! We also worked on the house today and will continue to work on it until Thursday!! Also, building a house here is nothing like building a house at home. It is completely made out of cement, and there is not big equipment to help out with the labor. For instance, there are no wheel barrels to transfer rocks, cement or anything like that, instead we use small gallon buckets. Also, we had to dig trenches the past couple days, and instead of useing a trench digger or even a shovel, we use these things that look like big hoes. so it is very interesting but fun all at the same time!! But more later... Peace out!

Thailand

So I am currently in Thailand!!!! Today was our first full day here and it was great!! The trip from Los Angeles to here took a total of 42 hours from the time we got up to leave for the airport until the time we arrive in Phuket Thailand!! We flew from LA to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Bangkok and then took a bus to Phuket!! It was a long trip and I was exausted by the time I arrived!!! We arrived at a school where we were greeted by beautiful leis and many smiling children. We then met our host families and were fed a meal while we watched beautiful Thai dancers! It was so amazing!! Afterwards we went home with our host families; I am staying with 2 girls from the school and their parents. They own a small hotel on the outskirts of Phuket and so we are staying there because during the slow tourist season this is where they live. Both the parents and the girls speak good English and so it has been fun communicating with them and learning about their culture!! Today we went to a mall and did some shopping. It was interesting to see how modern the mall actually was because I wasn't expecting it. (it had a McDonalds inside of it) Also today we listened to a speaker on the South Thailand culture and prepared for our Community Impact that we will be doing Monday - Thursday of this week. I am working on building a home with habitat for Humanity. The tsunami hit here in 2004 and many people still don't have homes and so we are helping with that. It is the rainy season here currently and so we it isn't that hot yet. To me it feels like a Minnesota summer becasue it is so humid. Like this morning I walked outside with my glasses on and they completely fogged over!! It cools off nicely here though in the evening during this time of year! This evening my host mom cooked us a FANTASTIC Thai meal and I am hoping that later in the week she will show me how to cook one so that I can cook it for my family when I get home! :) That is all for now!!

Alumni Mania

So these past couple days have gone by in a whirlwind!!! On Friday we got the opportunity to perform for a full house (approximately 2,700 people) which included 1,200 alumni of UWP!!! It was so incredible and thier enthusiasm for us and our show was probably one of the best experiences I have had so far on the trip!! The show went very well and we were all very proud to call ourselves the future alumni of up with people!! After the show we ended up getting home and in to bed around 1:30 AM and then had to be back up and at 'em at 6 AM so we had a very short night of sleep! I figure it is going to be like that the entire trip though so I might as well get use to it now and that I am just going to have to sleep once the trip is over!
On Saturday we got the chance to hear from many great speakers, including the founder of UWP and his wife! It was so great to hear his continued passion for UWP and what it does and the great history of UWP!! One thing that I thought was the most incredible was the story he told us about how UWP was in Russia when the Olympic games masacre happened in Munic (sorry if that isn't spelled right) and that after the masacre, UWP was the very first people that were allowed into the olympic village and they performed for the athletes! It was an absolutely AMAZING story! After all of the guest speakers we got a chance to hang out with Cast B because yesterday was the last day we were going to see them and so we all had a pool party and a grill out and just got the chance to relax and chill one final time before we wend our separate ways!! Later in the evening we again met up with the alumni but this time we got to watch them perform their ERA SHOW!!! In this show, each cast that wants to gets together, refreshes their memory on the dances and songs they performed and puts on a mini show of a couple of songs from thier travel days!!! It was absolutely HILARIOUS to watch!! I think my favorite part was cast....'67... I think... but they did this little number where they all did the ROBOT!!! It was so great to see a bunch of 40 and 50 somethings get up and do the robot!! I commend them for their performance and I for sure give them credit for enjoying doing it!!!
Today we just got the chance to hang out with our host family which has been great so far and we are currently getting ready for dinner!! My host family has been great and I feel like I have just gotten here and I already have to leave tomorrow!!!
Lastly I have posted some pictures from our opening show so I hope you enjoy them!!!

Tucson, AZ!!!

So much has happened since the last time I updated and yet it has only been a couple days!! Our first show was absolutely AMAZING and we really rocked the house!! We had so many amazing moments on Saturday from our first green room, where we all laughed and cried, to our actual first performance for a live audience!!! It was a great day and it was crazy for me to think that we all just met each other a month ago but yet it was crazy to realize that a month was already over and that there are only a little over 4 months left!!!
Sunday was filled with rest and relaxation with my host family on our last day together!! My roommate Suzanne left early Sunday morning with her cast and it was hard on my host mom to see her leave! She and I both were rather mopey that day and so my host dad decided to get us out of the house by taking us to the Harry Potter movie #5! It was a great movie and it was nice to just spend the day relaxing and enjoying their company!
Monday we left early in the morning for Gallup, NM! We got there and immediately met our host family! There ended up being 6 of us “uppies” staying with one family and it was great! Our host family was so much fun and I think their favorite part of having us there was the fact that they got to feed us all of their food!!! They use to own a small bakery in Gallup which their son now owns and so we went there for breakfast on Tuesday morning and ate Mexican pastries and Mexican breakfast burritos!! Everything was soooo good!!! Tuesday we worked on preparing for our show and then preformed Tuesday night!! It was great and even though Gallup is a fairly small town, we had a good sized crowd at our performance!! So it was a lot of fun to see!! Then Wednesday morning we had a guest speaker come and talk to us about the Navajo Code-talkers that helped the US win WWII. She was very interesting and I had no idea that our country came up with such a thing but I thought it was very cool!! We then boarded the bus and headed to Tucson, AZ!!! We arrived in Tucson at 5pm and immediately met up with our host families and went home to spend the evening with them! I am staying with Emi from Sweden who is part of the cast and my host mom is actually her mom’s best friend which is really cool!! I never thought I would come to Tucson and learn so much about the Swedish culture!! It is so great because they are teaching me some Swedish so when I go to Sweden on advanced work I can say a few things in Swedish to them!! This makes me really very excited!
And finally, today was great!! We started by having some Advanced Team Training and then we went to the resort that the UWP reunion is at all weekend and got the opportunity to mingle with alumni!! Also while I was there I got to see a friend from home that traveled last semester and her mom because they came all the way to Tucson to help with the reunion!! It was so great because I didn’t realize how excited I was to see people from home until I saw them!! It was so wonderful because even though I love what I am doing and am so excited for where I will be going, it was great to have a piece of home come to me and comfort me a bit!! So today was great and when we got back to our home we ate dinner and then got to go swimming in our host family’s pool! It was so relaxing and needed because today and the upcoming days have been and are going to be CRAZY!!!

Our first audience!

I am currently high on life as I write this tonight. We performed our show for an audience for the first time this evening. It was a dress rehersal for us and Cast B and some other Up with People people got to come and watch it! It was so amazing getting to actually perform for someone finally!! It is crazy thinking that less than 4 weeks ago none of us knew any of the show and now we are performing for people!! it was an EXILARATING experience!! It is so funny because I feel like we have been working and working and working on this show never getting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and tonight we finally got a glimse of that light and it was truely WONDERFUL!!! I was so proud of my cast tonight because we all came together and have worked so hard to get to this Saturday night when we perform for our first offical audience!!!! I can't wait for that moment and i know it is going to be FANTASTIC!! Yesterday we got to watch Cast B perform their dress rehersal for us and will get to see them again tomorrow when they perform for a live audience!! I think it is just so great to think about how far we have all came in the past 3 and 1/2 weeks! I know that there have been moments when we wanted to give up and just throw in the towel, but we all stuck it through together and tonight was just a taste of all of the fun we are going to have in the upcoming months. And I know that it has all been and will continue to be worth it!! Anyways, I feel like I am rambling, so i am going to go, I will probably post some more pictures after our performance this Saturday so make sure you check them out. Also, last time I called home my family informed me that I use the word incredible too often and that I should find a new word/words... I feel like i have improved at least in this post so far! C-ya!