And We're Off Again!

Hello again, friends!

Long time no blog!

I finished the tour in Mexico with Cast B 2012, and had a wonderful break at home. I skied, played games by the fire, and enjoyed my own bed. It was a great feeling to be at home after being away for so long. I will always cherish my own bed, sleeping schedule, and roaming the refrigerator freely. Although I had a wonderful time with my family, I was anxious to meet the new cast, Cast A 2013.

When I left Durango, there was about 6" of snow on the runway, and it was 6:00am. I was doubting the take-off, but landed safely in Denver, on the way to Florida. At around 10:00pm, I met my Lakeland host family, and my new roommate (Giselle from Mexico) and I was welcomed into another home. Needless to say, I slept like a rock that night. The next day began the epic new adventure. My other roommate arrived, Celine from Belgium, and we went shopping to supply the house with food for three soon-to-be very busy girls. It was a relaxing day off, only to be led into an extremely busy staging schedule. Monday was the beginning of the strenuous  days, learning names, learning songs, and wrapping my mind around what I was going to be doing, again, for another 6 wonderful months!

I could go on and on about the workshops we've had, but that would bore you. Instead, I'll tell you about our host family days. The first weekend, we went shopping in Tampa. You might be thinking, "why is that so cool?" Well, it's incredibly cool when two foreigners have never seen so many stores, and so many different things to sell. Of course there are shopping centers in Belgium and Mexico, but there aren't stores that sell just hats, or just phone cases. The amazement on their faces was... hilarious. "You have stores just for that?" "You actually have those? I thought those were just in the movies...!" It was so fun for me to watch them walk around the mall, curiously walking into random stores. Although that was a great weekend, this past weekend was by far the best. Our host-family treated us to a day at Universal Studios, where we wandered through Harry Potter World, Jurassic Park, and a few other themed areas. I have never laughed so hard on a roller coaster, especially when Celine saw the incline, and said, "oh no," and proceeded to scream! We got soaked on the Toon Lagoon ride (a children's ride) that we rode 3 times, and dried off in the warm Florida sun. We ate hamburgers in Jurassic Park, and drank Butterbeer from Harry Potter World. My roommates and I became so close, because there's nothing like holding hands and whirling around the Hulk roller coaster! It was definitely a day to remember!

And now, we just finished a Stone Crab dinner with shrimp, a true Florida dish. It was the best crab I've ever eaten (especially because we have so many crab in Colorado :)). I've enjoyed my time here in 80 degree weather, but I miss the snow terribly! 

Love to you all,

Bonnie

Manila!

Hello lovely friends!

I apologize for the lack of posts lately, I've been busy up to my neck! This past week, I was in Mexico City, but the week before, I was in Manila, in the Philippines.

Take a look at these pictures: This was my week in Manila.

I spent two days playing with young children in a small village called Gawad Kalinga Baseco. Gawad Kalinga is an organization that helps families build homes. In order for a family to receive a home, though, they must help build the home for 265 days. It gives them motivation, and it also gives them a reason to be self-sufficient. Some of the students in Cast B had the opportunity to share some smiles with the children in this community. We played tag, Duck Duck Goose, hide-and-seek, etc. I have never seen so many beautiful, bright smiles. These children were incredible! 

After seeing how a lot of the world lives, it opened my eyes to what I have. I am so thankful for the life I have been fortunate enough to live: I have clothes on my back, a roof over my head, food on the table, and so much more. Some of these children don't have any of that. All they have is their small community, and they're so happy! 

The next day, I spent time at the Nazareth home. It was a home for girls who were pregnant. Some cases were rape, incest, etc. Some of the girls were there just to have a safe place to give birth. I was privileged to be a part of the group that visited the home. We learned about the the girls, their stories, and we held their beautiful babies. The most impactful part of the day was learning the ages of some of the girls. One was 12, and one was 13. They were there because it was a safe place for them to go. In the US, I hear about 15, 16, 17 year olds getting pregnant, and I'm surprised, but when I hear about a 13 year old being pregnant, and knowing their situation, it is extremely shocking! They were still such little girls! Their bodies weren't ready to handle a pregnancy! That day also made me appreciate the fantastic family I have. 

Anyway, I'll catch up with you all soon! 

See you in December :)

Bonnie 

Welcome to the Philippines!

Hello friends!

I'm here in the Philippines, in Puerto Princesa, on the island of Palawan. We arrived here on Monday after a fantastic three weeks in Taiwan. I learned so much about the culture, food, and so many other things!

For now, though, I'd like to tell you about the day I just had.

I woke up this morning fully prepared to plant mangrove trees, or something similar. The UWP staff members told us to bring shoes that could get wet because we were going to be standing in a little bit of water. I thought, "oh, that's not a problem, as long as there are no snakes." Little did I know, we weren't going to a mangrove site. We were driven to a jungle (yes, a jungle). The bus couldn't make it down the road we were supposed to take, so we hopped on a 3 wheeled jeep-looking-thing, and bounced our way to an open pasture full of water buffaloes, stray dogs, and beautiful mountains surrounding it. By this point, I didn't really care what we were doing, all I knew was I had found the most peaceful place on earth! No mechanical sounds whatsoever!

But the road didn't end there. The Filipino "guides" said it was another 20-30 minute walk. I was still thinking "no big deal, this is incredible." As we ventured into the jungle, we encountered a small, lightly-treaded, muddy/slippery trail. The guides seemed confident in the direction they were heading, so we followed! Soon, we were passing people going the other way. We smiled and said, "mabuhay" (it means hello in Filipino), and kept walking. As we got farther and farther into the jungle, we came across a group of people serving rice and meat with bamboo shoots! It was incredibly efficient, so we tried the same. We quickly ate lunch with our hands, eager to get to work! We walked back on the path a little ways but took a sharp turn into the thick of it. We stumbled down a slope, and splash, we were in the river. Brown, mucky water, in the middle of a Filipino jungle, with strange creatures surrounding us. Nervous and excited to be in a river in the Philippines, we plunged into the neck deep water, floating our way to a place we could touch.

Once we got semi-comfortable being with the 2-inch spiders and floating things that felt like strange animals, we started clearing out the river of dead logs and debris. We worked our way down the river, tossing out what we could. When we ran out of time, we made our way back up the slippery, muddy river bank. Half of the group was quicker than the other, so we went a different way, with a different guide. One thing we didn't know: this guide took us on a 15-min detour. He explained it would take us through a small underground river, so we were all for it! When we got to the underground river, we held on to a rope to guide us to the exit. Another unknown fact: the exit was an extremely steep slope, more slippery than an ice rink! It was quite a challenge getting our group up it!

Once we were all through the underground river and up the slippery slope, it was more adventure. By this time, it's been 30 minutes. The other half of the group is already back with our bags, heading to the bus. We're still trying to find our way back. We start walking, and come across another river crossing. Fortunately, this one only requires one rope (only one rope, huh?), so we make it across quickly. Our guides are whacking vines and bushes out of the way, making a path, and when I ask, "where is our stuff?", they reply, "oh, we're close, ma'am." Another 30 minutes passes, and we're still beating through bushes, finding our own path. After we've been walking, and getting scratched for an hour, we finally reach our bags!

Oh no, the journey isn't finished yet, we still had to hike back out of the jungle! So, like I mentioned earlier, we clambered back the faint path, and after what felt like forever, reached the beautiful meadow. It was even more beautiful that the first time I saw it! Knowing where I was made me feel so comfortable! Then, an hour and a half later, we climbed back on the bus (with the rest of our worried group) and rode 2 hours back to town.

It was one of the coolest adventures of my life, and also one of the scariest, but I know I'll never experience anything like that again, so I decided to make the best of it! I pretended like we were in an Indiana Jones movie, which made me feel pretty bad ass! And now I'm at my host family's, in a comfortable bed, thankful we didn't get more lost.

Hope all is well, and Happy Halloween!

XOXO
Bonnie

Nihao ma? (How are you?)

Good evening friends (morning for you)!

What a week it has been. Up with People finished the USA tour with a bang, and headed to Taiwan with excitement, and a bit of nervousness. We boarded a plane in New York City and landed in Taipei at 11:00pm the next day. I cannot begin to explain the anxiousness we all had on the plane. We couldn't sit still, it was Up with people students roaming the plane, talking about how excited we were!

After we landed in Taipei, we boarded three buses, jammed them with our luggage, and ventured into the crazy night driving of Taiwan. Two hours later, we arrived at an incredible temple where we spent our first night. The thrill, and exhaustion, was overwhelming. The strong smells of incense were so "spiritual" and  welcoming of the culture. The girls got one room and the boys got the other. We slept on bunk beds, but they were not the traditional American bunk beds. 

We slept on thin blankets and red, rectangle, brick pillows. For three hours, we rested our minds until we were greeted by the sun. We did yoga on the roof in the humid, sticky air. Our breakfast was hot soy bean milk, hot coffee, and hot tapioca with some sort of sauce. We also had a rice bread sandwich with an assortment of meat and vegetables. Needless to say, it was interesting.

The rest of the day was spent touring Erlin, Taiwan. We visited the largest Buddha in the world, met out sponsor, who welcomed us with a traditional tea ceremony, and then we toured a museum that had a display with the history of the bicycle. By this time, the jet lag was starting to set in, and it was all we could do to stay awake on the bus. Then, before I knew it, I was in bed at my first Taiwanese host family. What a great experience. So welcoming! 

I'm writing this blog, and it's Tuesday night here, and it feels like just yesterday we were doing our first Community Service project. Now I truly know the feeling of "time flies." This culture is incredibly giving. Everywhere we go, they have gifts for us, and they give us a presentation of their school, or nursing home, etc. Today, we interacted with students at Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology. It was great to meet students our own age, and talk to them about the college experience in Taiwan. We're even doing a private show for them tomorrow night! I can't wait. 

Now, let me tell you about all of the food we've been trying. A couple nights ago, we went to a night market. There are food vendors, clothing vendors, and many other vendors. The strangest food I ate: chicken stomach. It didn't taste bad, but the texture was a bit more than I could handle. The other crazy food they eat regularly here is stinky tofu. It smells (literally) like fried dog poop. It makes you want to vomit, but it actually tastes pretty good, surprisingly. And right now, I'm drinking Mango Taiwanese beer. Strange combination, huh? My host dad walked in, saw me and my roommates working hard, staring at our computers. He didn't say anything, walked out, and came back with a handfull of beer and said, "enjoy." He must have sensed our mood. Anyways, I have loved almost every moment of being in Taiwan. Some smells I can't get out of my head, and perhaps that is how I will want it to be when I can't remember the taste, but some things I will never forget, and the smell of stinky tofu is one of them. I will never forget the Taiwanese BBQ with some other cast members in celebration of the Moon Festival. 

I will try to post more often, but for now, I am going to bed because tomorrow is a show day! Thanks for tuning in :) 

Wan an (goodnight in Taiwanese),

Bonnie 

Being Great

Hello all:

I finished my week in Newburyport, MA and now I'm in Hamilton, MA. Our cast manager left for week, and just before he left, he enlightened us with some wisdom. "It is easy to be great when we have what we need. The real challenge is being great when we don't have what we need. Cast B 2012 has been great, whether we have what we need or not." I applied this to our tour around the world, and there have been and will be times when we don't/won't have what we think we need. It takes courage, teamwork, strength and open-mindedness to be great when we don't have everything. We are here to be great wherever and with whatever we have. 

This week, we were working in classrooms in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. The coolest part? We were in 83 classrooms, and reached over 2000 students. We did activities such as creating a personal flag with the elementary students, a values auction with the high schoolers, and a cultural trivia game with the middle schoolers. We talked about what values meant to different people, and why we value different things. At first, the high schoolers were reluctant to get into the workshop, but after we did a few rounds of bidding on things like "a long happy life" or "to find the cure for a disease", there were discussions floating around the room that surprised me. These students were talking about the importance of having a long healthy life, and if you have that, everything else can fall into place because being happy rubs off on everyone else, and happiness can spark people to do great things. Some of these kids were only freshmen! It was a great way to start our classroom work. 


We have two shows this week, and it's estimated that 1200 people are going to show up at both shows. Incredible, isn't it? And I can't believe it's already September. I'm starting my third month! and in three months, I'll be home for Christmas! Man, time flies! 

I will see you all soon, and until then, hasta luego! 


Bonnie 

Good afternoon, friends:

I apologize for the lack of updates lately. When I get back to my host family's house, it's all I can do to stay awake during dinner. I will also apologize in advance, especially because these next few weeks are going to be incredibly busy, preparing the cast for ouf first international travel day: a 17 hour flight to Taiwan! So, bear with me!

These past few weeks have been incredible. Last week, the cast was on Cape Cod. What a beautiful place! We performed in a venue that seated 1400 people, and each night was sold out! Awesome, isn't it? While on the cape, we did a variety of community service projects. The cast helped clean and tidy the local YMCA, helped with maintenance for a local farming group, and visited elderly people. The best part of the cape was not the community service work. The best part was whale watching! On one of our host family days, a group of us spent the day in Provincetown and enjoyed part of the morning and afternoon watching Humpback whales splash around off the coast of Cape Cod. It was a wonderful experience! I am so grateful to have had that awesome bonding time with some of the cast members as well!

This week, we've been in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It's a beautiful, small colonial town, about the size of Durango. The first day of community service, I was in a group that worked at a church building a natural play ground for preschoolers with special needs. We made a sand box surrounded by large rocks, we built a teepee from vines and sticks and various other things. We made a wheel type thing in the ground and a small art studio to display the artwork they create. It was such a pleasure to see the joy on the supervisors face. She said it would have taken them months to accomplish what we accomplished in one day! I felt so honored. She also attended the show and said she had never seen something so powerful. It was a great week for the cast. I am so proud of the effort we all put in, and it's incredible to see what we got out of it.

These next weeks will be insane. We are doing anti-bullying workshops every day next week, along with 5 shows! Once again, I'm sorry for the lack of posts.

Hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of summer!

Love and hugs,

Bonnie

100 Sardines

Hello friends!

It's been a great first couple of days on the road! The travel day to Lowell, Massachusetts was exciting and taxing. We woke up at 4am mountain time, and finally went to bed at 11ish eastern time. We met our host families upon arrival in Lowell, and they were welcoming and maybe more excited than we were! On Tuesday, we participated in the Merrimack Riverside Beautification Project. The Merrimack River runs through Lowell, and it's a large part of their history. It used to power the mills for the textile workers, and over the years, the banks have slowly gotten neglected. A group of about 50 of us cleared large logs, painted a mural, picked up trash, etc. The stamina of the group was extremely impressive. I was so proud of us!

Today, a  group of students and I conquered the town to promote the show. We played a game called "Trade it Up" where we started with a quarter and traded it for something other people were willing to give us. We ended up with a demo phone from AT&T and $5 from a person planning on attending the show. The idea of the game was to tell people why we were trading, and tie Up with People into it. I had a blast meeting all kinds of people from all over the city.

Now, imagine the whole cast in a meeting, sitting in auditorium chairs, talking about the next day's activities. Then, we migrated to the stage to play a couple of team bonding games, and a suggestion was sardines. Now imagine 100 people running all over Lowell High School searching for one person. When we finally found him, we packed in like sardines, and laughed our heads off until the rest of the cast found us. It was a great way to end the long day.

I hope you are all doing well!

"Go confidently in the directions of your dreams."

Bonnie Waller, USA