Regional Learning: Teotihuacan Pyramids

 

What an INCREDIBLE regional learning day! On our travel day from Naucalpan to Toluca, Mexico, Cast A was privileged to spend the day at the Teotihuacan pyramids. Just wow. I had seen pictures before, but it is an entirely different experience seeing them firsthand and climbing them! We walked as a cast along "Death Avenue" to the largest of the pyramids, the Sun Pyramid. After taking a moment to take a cast photo, we were given free time for two hours to go explore. What did we do? Head for the top, of course! Tara and I decided to document our experience for everyone to see!

We had an incredible time at the top of the pyramid taking picture after picture. It was so funny to see what groups yelled for each other to snap quick group photos: "Study Abroads!" "Dade City Crew!" "Coloradans!" "Belgians!" "Band!" "Staff!" "JUMPING PICTURE!!!" Everyone was so excited to feel on top of the world!

Same hometown and high school, baby!

After climbing, many of us did some great souvenir shopping from the local vendors, then we walked to a restaurant to enjoy lunch. It was hot, but we still enjoyed our food!

Naucalpan, Mexico!

What a great first week in MEXICO!!! We arrived supremely late on Monday evening after traveling for more than 24 hours, and we met our host families. I stayed with a great mom, Silvia, and her two daughters, Paulina and Mariana. On our first night, I'll admit I was a poor house guest and requested to go to sleep IMMEDIATELY upon arriving home. I was simply too exhausted from traveling for such a long time!

Host code was Ceviche. I had to laugh at the irony...I HATE seafood! Bleh!

Our first day in Naucalpan, half the cast hosted a Culture Fair for elementary-aged students while the other half of us stayed at Academia Maddox to do school projects with classes grades K-12. I worked with Beyah, Sage, and Alicia in a 3rd grade, 6th grade, middle school, and high school classroom that day. We also got our first taste of 'Viva la Gente' stardom. All of the littler kids followed us around asking for autographs and photos! It was crazy! Brian was one of my favorite examples. The kids were rushing him, so he took a minute and told them to please organize themselves in a civilized line...haha

Photo credit: Misa

Photo credit: Misa

I loved how welcoming the students were- it was truly amazing (and laughable, at times! Why did they think WE were so famous? haha)

That night, Paulina and Silvia picked me up and we went to the mall so Paulina could by Mariana a present for her birthday on Friday. While at the mall, we ate Tacos al Pastor which everyone has been raving about! I think I'll need to try them again - they were good, but nothing to write home about. Maybe another sampling will change my mind! =) I also tried frijoles charros and Agua de Jamaica (hibiscus water). I liked both of those a lot! =) Note to my fellow spice-avoidant eaters - Pico de Gallo in Mexico is NOT the same as the U.S. Normally the U.S. pico is mild and not hot. Here? They put raw jalapenos in there - my mouth and throat were on FIRE!

The next day the study abroad students traveled by taxi to our study location. We were spoiled with a great facility and lots of snacks from our sponsor!

That afternoon, our cast engaged in a really amazing education workshop about world hunger. To read my blog about our Hunger Banquet, CLICK HERE

The next day was a day out of the ordinary for our usual UWP schedule. Typically we only rehearse the show on show days, but due to our crazy schedule this week, we rehearsed a day before our show...and a good thing we did (you'll find out why later!). We did some crazy workouts and practicing in the courtyard outside in the morning before moving our rehearsal inside to the stage in the afternoon. Needless to say, we had quite the audience of little ones staring at us the whole morning!

If you look closely, you can see some of the kids staring at us from the windows. They were only a small percentage of the audience we had all morning! Photo credit: Ambrea

Photo credit: Ambrea

I went to see Star Trek later that night and enjoyed popcorn for dinner (OH how I've missed popcorn!). I might have nodded off a little, but it had nothing to do with the movie and everything to do with my exhaustion level! =P

Show day was on Friday, and what a show day it was! Our tech team discovered our dimmer (which controls all the lights) wasn't working and that most all of our lighting wires were fuzed on Thursday, so they spent all day and all night attempting to fix the problem, but to no avail. When it came time for our first show of the day, our lighting technician and tech manager both worked some incredible magic to cover the fact that our normal lighting wasn't working! I honestly didn't notice that much of a difference from our regular lighting design...they did a fabulous job! We were performing for a huge audience of children and my favorite moment of the show was at the end when we sang "De Que Color es la Piel de Dios?" (What Color is God's Skin?) and they ALL SANG ALONG! I was crying on stage I was so happy! (Yes, I'm a nerdy music teacher who can get emotional over kiddos singing, get over it!)

Signing more autographs!

We had our second show later that night and it was another great success. Paulina and Silvia came that night, and so did every boy-obsessed middle school girl, for that matter! haha. Those girls LOVED to talk to, get autographs from, and take pictures with the boys of our cast! =)

Saturday was our host family day - which I'll write another post about - and then Sunday we did yet ANOTHER double show day. One of my best friends, Brian, announced to the cast that he was going to be leaving to go home the next day and I was in shock and completely saddened. I set out to enjoy my last day with him! We warmed up and got right to work to do the quickest rehearsal of our lives before our first show at noon. Unfortunately, many cast members were getting overheated, tired, and sick backstage, so we lost quite a few folks before and during our first show. It made for quite the adventure, but we pulled together and supported one another in every way we could to still produce a great show! Mariana, Pepe (her boyfriend), Paulina, and Silvia all came to see the show!

We went to the Police Station to have lunch that day, and then before we knew it, it was time to head back to the show facility to get ready for our second show. I've never been so hot in my life during the shows here, and I've heard it'll only get worse...yeesh! Our second show that day was a private show for one of our sponsor's, but not many folks showed up. That's ok - we still perform our hearts out for the audience, regardless of the small group! =)

That night I came home, ate some quesadillas, and packed before going to bed! Paulina and Silvia dropped me off the next morning to head to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids before traveling to Toluca, Mexico!

Hunger Banquet: Raising Awareness of World Hunger

On Wednesday, Cast A had an emotionally charging education workshop concerning world hunger. Instead of being fed lunch, we entered a room and were handed an identity card stating who we were, where we lived, a bit about our lives, and our income status (high, middle, or low). We passed haunting statistics and photos on the wall as we made our way to our "class section." I took on the identity of Deng, a poor farmer from Vietnam. Due to my low-income status, I joined the majority of the cast on the floor, in a section covered in trash. The middle-income people had a circle of chairs, and the high-income group had a full table with chairs and decorations. The high-class was served by the staff. They were able to pick their beverage and were soon brought salads with vegetables and dressing. Later they received chicken and pasta, and finally fresh fruit. In the meantime, the middle-class group was given a big pot of seasoned rice and a pot of beans, Horchata (a cinnamon rice/milk type Mexican drink), and serving utensils and cups for everyone. Finally, the low-class was given a big vat of half-cooked rice cooked that was sitting in way too much water. It was a combination of mush and crunchy uncooked rice - there’s no good way to describe it. We were also given murky water in a jug, 8 plastic cups and a used metal serving pan (it still had some salad in it from the high-class meal). There were about 40 of us in the low-income group, so we had to figure out how to serve ourselves and make it work without having proper serving utensils or plates/silverware. I took a piece of paper that I had and folded it up to make a makeshift plate/utensil, but it wasn’t easy. A lot of people were eating with their hands or sharing cups, or even using the trash off the floor.

Eventually, the staff came in and took all of the food away – and there was still a LOT. Then, they brought in a trashcan and made a public display of throwing all the remaining food away as we had to sit and watch. At one point, one cast member from the low-income group ran up and grabbed a bowl of fruit out of the hands of a staff member before she could throw it away. It made me realize why thievery can be so present in such low-income areas. You fight to survive and do whatever it takes to do so.

The whole group in our Hunger Banquet room. Far left: High-income, Middle: Middle-income, Far right: low-income. Photo credit: Ambrea Peterson

The middle-income group serves up rice and beans. Photo credit: Ambrea Peterson

The middle-income meal: Rice, beans, Horchata, and serving utensils. Photo credit: Ambrea Peterson

The entire experience really impacted me because the statistics hit me hard. I always knew there was a bad imbalance of income level and food distribution, but I didn't know the hard facts. Perhaps you don’t, either, so I'd like to share them with you:

In a world-context, low-income includes anyone who earns less than $911 (USD) a year. Middle-class is considered anyone earning $912-$9075 a year. High-income is everyone else who's income is more than $9075 a year. Even though individual counties might have different ideas of what low, middle, and high classes are, it's eye-opening to see the worldwide statistics.

When it comes to the distribution of world income, the imbalance in numbers is numbing. The poorest 20% of the population have only 1.4% of the world income. The fourth 20% hold 1.9%, the third 20% have 2.3%. The second 20% hold 11.7%, and the richest 20% own a staggering 82.7% of the world's income.

1.7 billion people worldwide lack access to clean water

Every 3.6 seconds, 1 person dies of starvation...usually a child under 5.

7 countries are home to 2/3rds of those who suffer from chronic hunger. Those countries are: Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

As a cast, we also discussed solutions and steps we can personally take to help the cause. Of course, there are the small steps such as not wasting food and making sure to buy fair trade items so that all workers involved in the production of a good receive fair and equal pay. But if you are interested in learning more and taking further action, please look up the following organizations and become involved as you see fit:

1. Stop the Hunger - www.stopthehunger.com

2. End Poverty International - http://www.endpovertyinternational.org

3. Mercy Corps - http://www.mercycorps.org

4. Feeding America - http://feedingamerica.org

5. UNICEF - http://www.unicef.org/

You can also take some time to play Free Rice on www.freerice.com. For every correct word association you guess correctly (or any subject question, for that matter! You can change what the questions are about!), the World Food Programme donates 10 grains of rice to impoverished communities worldwide. It’s a free game that helps feed the world, all while improving your vocabulary and other knowledge.

The Hunger Banquet was an amazing opportunity that really got our cast thinking. It propelled us to take action, and we hope that these statistics will prompt you to do the same. Curing world hunger can not and will not be cured overnight, but with little efforts from many, overtime, we can improve the quality of life for millions worldwide.

From Belgium to Mexico!

Our cast ended our European tour in Tielt, Belgium and geared up for our country transition into Mexico!!! Because of the way our travel day was going to pan out, we gathered on Sunday night (our host family day) for a cast sleepover in our performance venue. We arrived at 9 and then had some internal time to make sure we were ready for our flight and to make sure we were prepared for our first day in Mexico when half the cast would host a culture fair and the other half would do school workshops with classes K-12.

Once the business side of things was done, we took some time as a cast to say goodbye to two of our castmates who would be leaving the tour upon arrival in Mexico - Diana and Caroline. We had a night full of laughter, tears, shared memories, and lots and lots of hugs. 

Being sung to...one of Diana's favorite songs from 'Pitch Perfect.' Photo credit: Ambrea

Photo credit: Ambrea

I recruited Hayley to give me a quick hair trim that night, which was quite humorous as we hunkered down in the bathroom - Hayley sitting on the toilet, me on the ground, and she trimmed my hair into the garage bag! Yay for hair care on the road!

Photo credit: Ambrea

It was optional to sleep, no staff member could force the cast to lay down and sleep like they try to do in Kindergarten. Many did, many did not, but I chose to join one of the 3 rooms FILLED with mattresses to get a few hours rest in before our long day of travel.

 3:30am rolled around and the staff was waking us up. We got ready, loaded the buses, and were on our way to Frankfurt, Germany to catch our direct flight to Mexico! Beyah was my bus date for the 6 hour bus ride. We slept the entire time! haha

 We got to Frankfurt, checked in, and waited for our flight. I grabbed some lunch at McDonald's with some of the others, and then before we knew it, we were boarding!

Photo credit: Ambrea

Photo credit: Ambrea

I'm not actually in this photo, but Ambrea was able to snap a picture of quite a bit of our cast

Photo credit: Ambrea

 Ironically, because our last names are next to each other in the cast, Beyah and I were also plane dates. Hooray for 17 continuous hours sitting next to each other! Good thing I really like the guy and can have great conversations with him! During the first part of the flight, I watched the new movie, "Oz, the Great and Powerful" and HATED it. I had to turn it off halfway through because I was so disappointed and bored. I eventually finished it, but it was a struggle, let me tell you! We had some lunch, lots of water and juice, etc., and I took another 1 hour nap. I attempted to watch "Les Miserable" since I knew I loved it, but I got about 45 min. in and couldn't focus anymore. Since the flight was 11 continuous hours, we took quite a few stretching breaks. I walked a bit and stood around talking to others before returning to my seat. Beyah and I had some great conversation for the last 3-4 hours on the plane, and then...FINALLY...we were landing!

Photo credit: Ambrea

Our welcome with our new name: Viva la Gente! Photo credit: Ambrea

Many of our Mexican student's families showed up at the airport to say hello and welcome us! Barby's parents even brought the family puppy! I was in love!

 Then it came time to load the buses to drive to Naucalpan for host family pick-up. The only problem? Diana and Caroline weren't coming with us! We had to say goodbye which I absolutely hated. Luckily for me, I'm going to stay with Diana in San Diego after tour for a week, and Caroline lives 20 min. away from me in CO, so it wasn't goodbye for either girl, it was simply "see you later." I love and miss both of those girls!

With one of my favorite ladies- Miss Di!

No doubt that much travel was EXHAUSTING, but luckily, the transition into Mexico has been an easy one. Yes, the cast is experiencing jet-lag, but we all feel it the same way. We have enough energy during the day, and we sleep through the night just fine, but we get SUPER tired early on, like around 8 or 9pm. I can't complain, though. This transition has been a million times easier than the transition over to Europe! Here's to an exciting, lively, amazing last 4 weeks of tour in MEXICO!!!

Roomie Blog: Bettina

My wonderful roomie this week in Tielt was the gorgeous Bettina from Norway! Fun fact - Bettina was one of the FIRST people of my cast I ever met! I bought my Voices CD from her at the merch table in Denver when I went to see the show last August! I asked if she was going to be a second semester and she said yes, so I told her to remember me because we'd be cast mates the following semester!

We had a great time together this week and got to share bunkbeds! =) So, without further ado, Miss Bettina:

From: Oslo, Norway
Age: 19
Favorite Color: Blue (you'd never guess looking at all of her belongings...note the sarcasm)
Bettina's Favorite thing we did together as roomies: The night we enjoyed ice cream from the ice cream truck with An and Robrecht!

Fun Facts about Bettina:
- She loves fishing and running- this girl runs like a machine!
- She thought she was a boy when she was younger! haha. I suppose that'll happen when you grow up with 3 brothers and are the only girl!
- She talks in her sleep - I witnessed this!

hahaha- we took this picture back in Ft. Myers- our first city on the road!

Host Family Day: Tielt

We didn't really have a plan going into our host family day on Sunday. We knew 2 things: 1) we were going to sleep in and be lazy and 2) we would have to pack and be back at the Europahal by 9pm that night for our cast sleepover! But, the rest remained a mystery!

We stuck to having a lazy morning. I slept in, worked out, uploaded pictures, and showered before having a yummy breakfast with freshly baked Sunday pastries. Fun fact: Sundays in Europe are a BIG deal for bakeries. No other place is open, but you wake up super early and go get all the fresh treats at the bakery before they close. Apparently showing up at 9am is considered "late," according to An. Such a different culture than America!

Then Bettina and I spent time cleaning, organizing, and packing. We had to have our suitcases International travel ready and at the correct weight, so we were very meticulous in our packing! It was a very successful morning and Bettina and I did a fantastic job making everything work! Hooray!

We kept trying to get a hold of An's boyfriend, Robrecht, so he could join us for the day's activities, but he wouldn't pick up his phone! We took off for an adventure to the highest point in Tielt...aka this tiny little hill - I burst out laughing when we saw it! So diminutive in comparison to the mountains in Denver! We ran into Maddie and her family and we enjoyed a nice time in the old Catholic schoolhouse turned into a restaurant. I ordered the best hot chocolate ever and had my last Belgian waffle!

 Robrecht showed up eventually and brought handpicked flowers from his garden for An to celebrate Mother's Day - sweet!

 After we finished eating, we went out to explore the fields, the sights, and the windmill!

Aren't they cute?

Climbing up the steep stairs to see the inside of the windmill

We met a doggie on the road!

And a cow

 Then we played in a park!

Later, we went out to La Vita e Bella for some yummy Italian food! We had some SLOW service and some interesting (rude) reactions from our server, but we still enjoyed our night out for one last supper together! That was always something I really loved about staying at An's house - we had fantastic meal conversations that kept us at the table for quite some time! =)

After dinner, we went home, said goodbye to An because she was headed to Antwerp to spend time with her son and his family, and then finished packing up our things and headed to the Europahal with Robrecht to be dropped off for our 1st cast sleepover!!!