Okay, the structure is going to be a little different from now on. There are still 3 more cities in the United States that I need to blog about, but I’m also in Manilla, and I want to talk about that too. So the next three blogs, including this one are going to be “Double Blogs”. I also have to go to internet-café’s, so updates will be irregular
Let’s start with Aberdeen. In Aberdeen I was supposed to be roommates with Gabe, our showmanager. However, due to family circumstances, he wasn’t with us this entire week, what resulted in me being hosted alone. I stayed with an elderly couple. Al and Audrey.
They took me out for dinner right after they picked me up, and there was something I noticed right away: The waiters were superslow, and for the first time I ate in the USA, it reminded me of The Netherlands.
But it doesn’t stop there. The entire landscape of Aberdeen exists of cornfields and flat land! Every once in a while, you see cows in the fields. Also, the temperature is far lower than in the other places of the US I’ve been. About the same temperature as fall/winter in the Netherlands.
My entire week, I’ve been thinking about how much Aberdeen resembles my own little village.
Anyway, my hostparents were totally awesome people, and Audrey’s cooking was the best I’ve ever tasted. Every night, she would make something I didn’t knew even existed, and everything was delicious!
I also spent a lot of time with their son (Colin), who lives a few fields away with his wife (Denise) and little kid (Rayven). They were such nice people.
One day, they brought over a wii from their friends, and we all played the entire evening! Such a good time. I loved playing Mario Kart xD
One day, one of their friends, who also hosted some uppies, came over to A&A’s house, while me and Colin went to his house to fetch his Stallion “Pepper”. Then, all of us uppies got to ride Pepper. I liked it a lot. (Remember how I said my first horseride was in Cheyenne? Well, this will be the official first, since now I had to steer and accelerate and stuff myself). I managed quite well, even did a spin, whatever that was xD
And something not to be forgotten: HALLOWEEN!!!
This year was the first time I got to celebrate Halloween in my life! Hehe, one morning, we all had to bring along a “carving knife”, which we used to carve pumpkins. Me and Marianna worked together and carved a pirate skull in the pumpkin.
Another night, we had a big Halloween party with the cast. Everyone was dressed up as something (Or at least, that was the plan), and just partied along. A few people were party poopers, and didn’t dress up at all. I was a vampire (how original), but I think I managed quite well. I think it looked kinda good.
And now, maybe the most awesome thing of the week: Up With People Land. This week was all about “Immigration”, where we put up a game at the start of the week, until the end of the week. Everyone got a (fake) passport and was a citizen, immigrant, illegal etc. of some sort. The goal of the game was to have a job and housing at the end of the week.
I started as a legal citizen with a house. However, I still had to look for a job (kinda reminded me of real life). I tried to start my own business (A greenhouse where they grow Dutch “plants and vegetables”), but it didn’t get approved. It was supposed to be the cover for my masterplan: I wanted to start a mafia.
So, even without a business, I started my mafia. It mainly existed of stealing passports (Hey, people shouldn’t leave their passports lying around on the floor), and make people distrust eachother.
It went fairly well, and In the end, I had 2 companies, 3 houses and finished the game as the richest man in the group.
But the game in general was a lot of fun. We elected a mayor (Ryan, who actually loves politics a lot) and a lot of death threats and assassination attempts were done.
This makes us sound like a really bad and awfull group of people, but we all realized that this was a game. It was a way to have fun, while trying to get to a higher position in life.
I mean, come one, I even got married in the process, like so many others xD
Well, all in all, I can say this was a really good week. I loved it a lot. Everything was very good!
Next part of the double blog is Manilla!
After 2 or 3 days of traveling (I lost track with all the 12 hour long airplaneflights and switches of timezones) we arrived in the capital of the Philippines: Manilla! Even though it was 7 or 8 in the morning when we arrived, we were all tired and sleepy from the trip from the airport to our “meeting point”.
On a sidenote, we’re gonna be here for 2 weeks total.
So, my experience so far is awesome! The first thing we did was go to a Philippine restaurant with some people, before we got to lunch. I had some Philippine beer (St. Miguel’s, which originates from here!) and grilled pork. Decent portions too. Total 210 pesos (3,30 euro or 3,90 dollar). After that, me and Marylou went to a local icecreamshop. We had a local recipe “Halo-Halo”, which is basically a bunch of different stuff (Seeds, frozen water, coconut, icecream and stuff I don’t recognized) mixed together. It was surprisingly good and filling for something of just 1 euro!
As you might have noticed: things are cheap here.
Oooh, so much happened here, I don’t know where to start… Oh, well, let’s start with my hostfamily. They are so cool xD It’s a gay couple, but I don’t really know how to describe them. I though a few times that they were best described as the “Philippino, gay version of Jack Black and Kyle Gass”, but that’s not entirely true either…
Oh well, we live in an apartment on the 14th floor above a mall. It’s totally awesome, since I can see the entire city from my window. It’s so beautifull! The sea and bay, and buildings everywhere. Joujou (one of my hostdad’s) keeps saying it’s ugly though… I love it.
Oh, hehe, traffic. Well, traffic here is crazy. Cars, taxi’s, jeepneys, tricycles, motorcycles…. Everything is everywhere at every second! A pedestrian has no power, not even on the normal crossing points. The stripes on the roads are decoration, and everyone drives as if their life depends on it! The pointers in some of the taxi’s I’ve been in that indicate the speed and fuel and stuff where broken and everyone seems corrupt.
The best part are the jeepneys! They are old army vehicles that weren’t used for a while. After that, people started to use them for public transport, and now 1/3 of traffic exists of jeepneys. They are the best motorized vehicles I’ve ever seen in my life! Everyone that owns a jeepney tries to pimp it to the max, and because of that, the best pimped jeepney gets more passengers xD Such a cool concept!
Oh, there is a lot that we’ve been doing already.
Since we’re in such a big city, it’s impossible to meet the entire group every day. Because of that, our group is split in smaller group that work at different sites around the city. I’m really honored, because I got chosen to be Crew Leader again. It must mean I did a good job before. I’m so proud.
Anyway, I’m leading a group of 19 people, and we do a lot of different things: We socialize with people in the slums, we teach and play with the kids in the school, and we do light construction work to build houses for the less fortunate. It’s such an honorable thing to do! We rotate what we do. Last time, I spent time with people in the slums, next time, I’ll be in the school, and after that I’ll be doing construction. I’m looking forward to it.
The conditions in the slums are so bad. It’s so sad… The entire “river” is full with trash and doesn’t even look like water. The teeth of the kids are falling out, but still: these are the most beautifull people I’ve ever seen. They are happy too. We provide them hope and show them that the world hasn’t forgotten about them… You, reader, don’t ever dare to forget them! Get of your but and help someone!
Anyway, we are working together with a partner who has been working in Manilla for a long time already. They are building houses and give people more decent houses. They do such a great job! They provide direct help, where the local community can help them building and expanding. Their motto is to provide land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry and as a result providing dignity and peace for every Filipino. Their name: Gawad Kalinga. If everything goes well, they will have rebuild all the slums in Manilla in 5 years. It’s such an amazing achievement! I’m honored to work with them.
Our regional learning was very interesting. We saw a movie about a museum that tells us the complete history of the Philippines. (The museum is like, 5 to 10 minutes walking distance from our house, so I’m thinking of going there someday). This country seems to have a lot of war history. Almost their entire history was about war and revolution.
We also went to the “Old Manilla”, which is the beginning of the town, where you could still see the walls from old settlements and we learned some history there too.
After that we went to a place where Gawad Kalinga (GK from now on) already did a lot of work. We saw the result of what we are going to do, and it was so amazing. The place was so colorfull and the people were so happy. I played with the kids for hours and hours, made up a song with them which we performed, played tag on a constructionsite (which gives the game such a huge extra dimension) and carried Dijo (Diejo) on my shoulders for an hour or so. He just ordered me around, pointing towards someone from Up With People, who he wanted to talk to, and at the end of every conversation he asked if the “beauty”, (that’s how he called the girls xD) would give a kiss to him and me xD We had such a good time!
It broke my heart to leave them, and especially Dijo… He was crying when I left. Sigh, he actually said he loved me… I feel so bad about that now…
Well, that’s just a little bit of info, so you can understand what’s going on now. It’s an amazing experience. But there’s still so much more to talk about. “Hello sir”, “thank you po”, “Jollybee” etc. etc. However, not enough time at the moment! And I have to save cool stories for next time, right? ;)
Anyway, I love you all, and remember, try to do something good for someone else every once in a while. It makes you feel good!
Okay, I’m off,
Bubbayz!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Cheyenne, my home on the prairie: cowboyland!
Yeeeehaaah cowboy! Guess what!? I’ve been in cowboyland! xD
Listen to my story!
This week, I’ve stayed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which is the “cowboystate”. And indeed, prairies and ranches all around my host family’s house! I stayed with this really awesome, cool hostfamily! (Lavelle and Ron) And on top of it: my hostbrother was Ouray, a native American (Navaho Indian)! You can guess: This is gonna be awesome!
So, like before, my parents were in town. They were here this whole week, and they got to meet my hostfamily too. They invited us all for diner, and everyone was very happy =) It was a good meal =)
Something else: This week was Genderweek. In this week, we discussed a lot about the roles that genders seem to have in our society. So, this complete week, everyone had to carry around an egg and take care of it, as if it was a child. Really challenging, making sure it doesn’t break.
And on top of it, on one day, we all had to show up in clothes of the opposite sex. So, almost all the girls got an overall or something really typical “manly”, together with a mustache, and a lot of guys wore dresses or skirts. Zach went the farthest, by shaving his legs… OMG!
Hehe, I have to say, this was one of my favourite cities!
Oh, there was this day that both my hostfamily and my real family and me and Ouray all went to the cowboyshop “the wranglers”. We had so much fun, trying on cowboyhats and stuff! My father, brother and me all bought a cowboyhat (If I’m not mistaken in the numbers).
Oeh, something else that was really cool this week was that my parents brought a “Sinterklaas”-costume with them. It’s a Dutch tradition to celebrate Sinterklaas, which comes along with a 3 week celebration. It’s so awesome!
So, everyone from the Netherlands did a culture presentation, which included an example of a small Sinterklaas-party! We had a lot of fun there!
Also, this week included the “expression session”. It’s a few hours where people are allowed to perform or express themselves for 3 minutes. Everyone that performed made it quite impressive.
Mayke and me did “Torn” by “Nathaly Embruglia” (or how you spell her name), where I was a mime. Never knew I could do that xD. I had make-up like the singer of KISS xD
Oh, for CI this week, we went to help out the State Law Library with their moving. They got a new building, and what I did was packing books for a few hours.
On the other day, we went to a homeless shelter, where we planted a tree, picked up trash, painted some walls and socialized with some homeless people.
Both CI’s where pretty cool!
And on the last day, my hostfamily got some pictures taken of me, dressed up as a cowboy. It was the first time I’ve ever sat on a horse xD
Guess what, when I got off, and we tried to put the horse back in the trailer, it escaped xD Hahaha, we had so much fun
This was really a great week. I loved it.
Love and greetings,
Bubbayz,
Frederik
Listen to my story!
This week, I’ve stayed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which is the “cowboystate”. And indeed, prairies and ranches all around my host family’s house! I stayed with this really awesome, cool hostfamily! (Lavelle and Ron) And on top of it: my hostbrother was Ouray, a native American (Navaho Indian)! You can guess: This is gonna be awesome!
So, like before, my parents were in town. They were here this whole week, and they got to meet my hostfamily too. They invited us all for diner, and everyone was very happy =) It was a good meal =)
Something else: This week was Genderweek. In this week, we discussed a lot about the roles that genders seem to have in our society. So, this complete week, everyone had to carry around an egg and take care of it, as if it was a child. Really challenging, making sure it doesn’t break.
And on top of it, on one day, we all had to show up in clothes of the opposite sex. So, almost all the girls got an overall or something really typical “manly”, together with a mustache, and a lot of guys wore dresses or skirts. Zach went the farthest, by shaving his legs… OMG!
Hehe, I have to say, this was one of my favourite cities!
Oh, there was this day that both my hostfamily and my real family and me and Ouray all went to the cowboyshop “the wranglers”. We had so much fun, trying on cowboyhats and stuff! My father, brother and me all bought a cowboyhat (If I’m not mistaken in the numbers).
Oeh, something else that was really cool this week was that my parents brought a “Sinterklaas”-costume with them. It’s a Dutch tradition to celebrate Sinterklaas, which comes along with a 3 week celebration. It’s so awesome!
So, everyone from the Netherlands did a culture presentation, which included an example of a small Sinterklaas-party! We had a lot of fun there!
Also, this week included the “expression session”. It’s a few hours where people are allowed to perform or express themselves for 3 minutes. Everyone that performed made it quite impressive.
Mayke and me did “Torn” by “Nathaly Embruglia” (or how you spell her name), where I was a mime. Never knew I could do that xD. I had make-up like the singer of KISS xD
Oh, for CI this week, we went to help out the State Law Library with their moving. They got a new building, and what I did was packing books for a few hours.
On the other day, we went to a homeless shelter, where we planted a tree, picked up trash, painted some walls and socialized with some homeless people.
Both CI’s where pretty cool!
And on the last day, my hostfamily got some pictures taken of me, dressed up as a cowboy. It was the first time I’ve ever sat on a horse xD
Guess what, when I got off, and we tried to put the horse back in the trailer, it escaped xD Hahaha, we had so much fun
This was really a great week. I loved it.
Love and greetings,
Bubbayz,
Frederik
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Salt Lake City, Mormon-Capital and good times!
We left Colorado Springs behind us and headed towards the Mormon-Capital of the world: Salt Lake City. This city holds the great Mormon temple (Which we paid a visit to, of course).
First things first: This city, I got hosted with Russ Reiter (.com) in the house of an Elderly couple. Their Son (Jerry –aka- Big J) lived just 2 blocks away, and he also hosted 2 Uppies (Javier and Franziska)! Guess what, we had so much fun!
Big J became like a second host-father to Russ and me, and it happened more than once that the five of us just stayed up till far after midnight, just playing games! (Especially Apples to Apples was popular). Also, his friend (Michael) stayed for a few nights! Loads of fun!
Aaargh, so much to tell! MY PARENTS AND MY BROTHER CAME! About halfweek in the week, a section of my family came by! I was so happy! xD I love them =) They met with Big J and everyone was at the show!
Amusement: This week, I rode my first motorcycle! xD Mwhahaha, I love burning rubber! It was way easier than I expected xD
Also, me, Big J, Russ and Michael went to one of the haunted mansion that was in town (almost Halloween!) We had so much fun! xD We were all acting like teenagers. And everytime there was a “maze”-part, we always had to wait for Russ at the end. So typical!
Apart from that, Big J and Michael and me went to watch a movie one night “The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon King”. Good movie! xD
Community Impact was okay this week. First day, I was working in a pumpkin-garden. Basically what I did was moving around pumpkins and plant vines.
Second day was a bit more spectacular: we went to one of the local Elder homes. It’s like a center where the elders gather and have fun together. We basically helped out the janitor by cleaning the terrace and restrooms (not the toilets themselves), and help the cook with cooking.
When we were done and finished dinner with the elders, they thought us how to squaredance! Haha, that was a lot of fun!
I love Square-dancing xD
Oh my, this was such a good week xD
I totally forget the big sleepover we had in Jerry’s livingroom xD Hehe, good times!
But now I have to leave for some business!
Love,
Bubbayz,
Freddy
First things first: This city, I got hosted with Russ Reiter (.com) in the house of an Elderly couple. Their Son (Jerry –aka- Big J) lived just 2 blocks away, and he also hosted 2 Uppies (Javier and Franziska)! Guess what, we had so much fun!
Big J became like a second host-father to Russ and me, and it happened more than once that the five of us just stayed up till far after midnight, just playing games! (Especially Apples to Apples was popular). Also, his friend (Michael) stayed for a few nights! Loads of fun!
Aaargh, so much to tell! MY PARENTS AND MY BROTHER CAME! About halfweek in the week, a section of my family came by! I was so happy! xD I love them =) They met with Big J and everyone was at the show!
Amusement: This week, I rode my first motorcycle! xD Mwhahaha, I love burning rubber! It was way easier than I expected xD
Also, me, Big J, Russ and Michael went to one of the haunted mansion that was in town (almost Halloween!) We had so much fun! xD We were all acting like teenagers. And everytime there was a “maze”-part, we always had to wait for Russ at the end. So typical!
Apart from that, Big J and Michael and me went to watch a movie one night “The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon King”. Good movie! xD
Community Impact was okay this week. First day, I was working in a pumpkin-garden. Basically what I did was moving around pumpkins and plant vines.
Second day was a bit more spectacular: we went to one of the local Elder homes. It’s like a center where the elders gather and have fun together. We basically helped out the janitor by cleaning the terrace and restrooms (not the toilets themselves), and help the cook with cooking.
When we were done and finished dinner with the elders, they thought us how to squaredance! Haha, that was a lot of fun!
I love Square-dancing xD
Oh my, this was such a good week xD
I totally forget the big sleepover we had in Jerry’s livingroom xD Hehe, good times!
But now I have to leave for some business!
Love,
Bubbayz,
Freddy
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Colorado Springs, Military Post coming Up (with People)
Hey, welcome back!
So, after an amazing week in Albuquerque, we came back to Colorado! However, not to the same hostfamilies as before (In Denver and Breckenridge), but in Colorado Springs!
Colorado Springs is famous for some very high peaks that lie within it’s region in the Rocky Mountains. (No, we didn’t go there) It also holds the base of an American Military Post. (Don’t say base! It’s the wrong word!)
Maybe you are wondering why Up With People would go to a place where the military is very strongly represented? Well, for one thing, it’s a totally new experience for most of us. The majority of us were hosted with military families and a lot of our time was spend at the military post. For another thing, the military is a big issue in the USA, or so I noticed. A lot of pride goes towards those who fight in the war for freedom.
In this city, we did not have a beneficiary that would normally receive the money that we get for doing a show. Instead, we let all the military families come to our show for free! The money would go towards the military anyway, so this was a good solution!
Now about my host family. I had a mom (Mary) and a dad(Bill). Mom worked as a massager, and dad was a top man who thwarts internet pirates who do child porn and stuff. He’s a good man with an honorable job. Before that, he was a policeman.
One of their kids was in the war. I did not get to meet him, but I met the other two of them (Chris and Justin), and they were awesome.
So, this week, I was hosted with the Chinese guy from our cast: Steven! Hehe, he’s such a cool host-brother! He’s a businessman in China, and you could notice it from a lot of things he did or said. Always asking questions about “the system of this”, or whatever. It wasn’t just once that I walked into his room, when he was surfing on Wikipedia, looking for business strategies that they use in other countries (I caught him on USA and Denmark, but who knows what else). Anyway, he’s a good guy!
Oh, something else! In this city, we did not do any Community Impact! Instead, we spent a lot of time (3 days) in classrooms, doing our “Stand For Peace” program! It was a lot of fun! I always get such funny classes!
We also went bowling this week! I got a low score of just 150… bummer… But we had a lot of fun! xD
So, Colorado Springs was pretty awesome! I had some good times hanging out with Steven, Justin and the rest of the family!
Before this week, I wasn’t very fond of anything that had to do with war, from whichever side. However, during this week, I talked a lot with my hostfamily about the war and the police, and it was all very interesting. I think I learned how militaries come to exist, and good or bad, they will always be there.
My lifelesson for you guys out there:
A conflict does not have a good and a bad side. It does not have a holy and an unholy side.
Instead, a conflict exists of two forces of good with different styles. Not understanding the good side of the other, one’s nature will make you believe the other is evil.
It’s like you were saying a white man and a black man cannot be of the same species. This is of course a big flaw in mankind’s thoughtprocess.
Someone’s outside does not represent the inside. It’s the differences that make us unique, but the similarities will always be there. Being unique is as good as being the same.
Price both of them. Learn to accept the differences. Appreciate it that not everyone is the same as you, and that not everyone has the same style as you. If the styles are too far apart, look for the similarities, and you are bound to find a friend in any man or woman.
Have a good rest,
Bubbayz!
So, after an amazing week in Albuquerque, we came back to Colorado! However, not to the same hostfamilies as before (In Denver and Breckenridge), but in Colorado Springs!
Colorado Springs is famous for some very high peaks that lie within it’s region in the Rocky Mountains. (No, we didn’t go there) It also holds the base of an American Military Post. (Don’t say base! It’s the wrong word!)
Maybe you are wondering why Up With People would go to a place where the military is very strongly represented? Well, for one thing, it’s a totally new experience for most of us. The majority of us were hosted with military families and a lot of our time was spend at the military post. For another thing, the military is a big issue in the USA, or so I noticed. A lot of pride goes towards those who fight in the war for freedom.
In this city, we did not have a beneficiary that would normally receive the money that we get for doing a show. Instead, we let all the military families come to our show for free! The money would go towards the military anyway, so this was a good solution!
Now about my host family. I had a mom (Mary) and a dad(Bill). Mom worked as a massager, and dad was a top man who thwarts internet pirates who do child porn and stuff. He’s a good man with an honorable job. Before that, he was a policeman.
One of their kids was in the war. I did not get to meet him, but I met the other two of them (Chris and Justin), and they were awesome.
So, this week, I was hosted with the Chinese guy from our cast: Steven! Hehe, he’s such a cool host-brother! He’s a businessman in China, and you could notice it from a lot of things he did or said. Always asking questions about “the system of this”, or whatever. It wasn’t just once that I walked into his room, when he was surfing on Wikipedia, looking for business strategies that they use in other countries (I caught him on USA and Denmark, but who knows what else). Anyway, he’s a good guy!
Oh, something else! In this city, we did not do any Community Impact! Instead, we spent a lot of time (3 days) in classrooms, doing our “Stand For Peace” program! It was a lot of fun! I always get such funny classes!
We also went bowling this week! I got a low score of just 150… bummer… But we had a lot of fun! xD
So, Colorado Springs was pretty awesome! I had some good times hanging out with Steven, Justin and the rest of the family!
Before this week, I wasn’t very fond of anything that had to do with war, from whichever side. However, during this week, I talked a lot with my hostfamily about the war and the police, and it was all very interesting. I think I learned how militaries come to exist, and good or bad, they will always be there.
My lifelesson for you guys out there:
A conflict does not have a good and a bad side. It does not have a holy and an unholy side.
Instead, a conflict exists of two forces of good with different styles. Not understanding the good side of the other, one’s nature will make you believe the other is evil.
It’s like you were saying a white man and a black man cannot be of the same species. This is of course a big flaw in mankind’s thoughtprocess.
Someone’s outside does not represent the inside. It’s the differences that make us unique, but the similarities will always be there. Being unique is as good as being the same.
Price both of them. Learn to accept the differences. Appreciate it that not everyone is the same as you, and that not everyone has the same style as you. If the styles are too far apart, look for the similarities, and you are bound to find a friend in any man or woman.
Have a good rest,
Bubbayz!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Albuquerque, city of warmth and heat!
Hey!
I realize I have a lot of work to catch up with! I tried to do it earlier, but I had some busy times last weeks and this last week, I didn´t have any internet at all!
So, let´s start where I left off:
We just left Sahuarita (Arizona) behind us and drove into New Mexico. You know, there is this song by Weird Al called “Albuquerque”, and guess where in New Mexico we went…? ALBUQUERQUE!
It’s a magical far away place, where the sun is always shining, the air smells like warm root-beer, and the towels are oh so fluffy! (8)
Anyway, we went to New Mexico and I was hosted with two girls this time: Marieke (Netherlands) and Britany (USA)! We met our host family at the local “Event Palace”, (more details later in this message). Our host mom picked us up. Linda was her name.
Well, we drove to their house and it was HUGE! It was so frigging awesome! They got their private cinema and pool table and what not! She also has two cute little girls: Seemay and Seewai (Chinese names, for those who didn’t notice)
So, this week I was hosted in a huge house with girls. Sweetness!
Oh, this was such a great host family! This might even have been the most precious families I’ve had on the tour. We got such a strong bond at the end of the week!
Well, let’s keep this kind of chronological!
So, CI this week was at the “Event Palace”, which was kind of our headquarters this week. I was assigned Crew Leader for the activities at the Event Palace, and in return for letting this huge group of people stay at their place, we did some things in return for the owner: Fofo! (Such a cool business woman)
We helped clean her entire shed, repainted it and reorganized it. This does not sound like much, but it was a HUGE amount of work, and the work we achieved was A-ranked! I was so proud of my crew =)
Oeh, this is cool! Our show here was performed at the local ZOO! I was one of the lucky ones that got to explore the zoo all morning and I had a lot of fun looking at (most) of the animals. (I didn’t get to see all of them)
Well, there was this big water-pool between the stage and the audience! You know, with those big zoo-carpers in there and swimming! There were even ducks in the audience xD
I had a lot of fun in this performance!
Now, after this relaxing morning, I had to work twice as hard in the night, since striking the stage was a pain in the *** with water all around it. I ended up interviewing people and striking all night! I didn’t get to go to the Event Palace until 1 or 2 AM. Indeed, we didn’t go to our host-families this night because at 3 AM we all were to gather together again!
I didn’t sleep at all that night…
At 3 AM everyone got woken up and we got an EARLY breakfast and started to on the bus, because we were going to the annual BALLOON FESTIVAL!
Man, were we excited! This is the biggest Hot Air Balloon Festival in the world! People from all over the world gather and let all their balloons go at once! Almost a 1000 this year! Even some fancy shaped once, like a giant Nemo (Finding Nemo), a big pull of beer, a parrot, a “Dart Vader” and many more “regular” ones like triangles or other symmetrical forms.
So, everyone got assigned to a crew to help with the balloons to get them ready to go airborne! Most of the people were in teams, but I happened to be alone. I was quite scared to work that early in the dark with complete strangers to do something I know nothing about, but in the end it turned out to be a lucky turn of events!
When we got our balloon all up and full of hot air, me and another volunteer both got invited to ride the air balloon! It was so amazing! Flying up into the air and seeing balloons everywhere around you. It just felt so good! We did some cool stunts too! When we crossed a river, we got very close to the water, almost touching it, and we hit some trees (on purpose ;) ), which was really cool!
My “Pilot” was sir Jim, who has been flying for decades! He knows how to play the winds at different altitudes, and it was a pleasure to be one of his guests on the ride!
There was something else which was so cool to watch. The first few “test”-balloons went up in the air when it was still dark. Before they left the ground, they let the flames go into the balloons, which made them light up really bright. So, imagine about 10 to 15 balloons all in a row, making this huge lightshow! It looked really cool. They even did it in the air, but that might have been by accident. It still looked cool though!
Well, after a few hours seeing balloons all around me, I headed back to the buss. I was so excited to be able to tell my hostmom what we did that day.
Hehe, so after being awake for 32 hours where I walked through a zoo, did a show and drove a hot-air balloon I just crashed in my bed when I got home!
Linda woke me up for dinner a few hours later. After that we watched the first “Death Note” movie and played on the wii for a few hours. And since we were already in that rhythm, we stayed up until 3 AM!
The day after was our free day. Lots of fun =)
Something else noteworthy is the following: We had to carry around our trash for the entire week. Every little piece of litter we left behind, had to go in our personal trashbag! I actually did pretty good, having almost no trash. But remember this: everything you do not eat from your plate go's in there, everything you do not use when you get it, goes in there.
Oh well, this was one of my most precious weeks. I love Albuquerque and I have a lot of good memories here.
I will definitely come back some day,
Bubbayz,
Frederik
I realize I have a lot of work to catch up with! I tried to do it earlier, but I had some busy times last weeks and this last week, I didn´t have any internet at all!
So, let´s start where I left off:
We just left Sahuarita (Arizona) behind us and drove into New Mexico. You know, there is this song by Weird Al called “Albuquerque”, and guess where in New Mexico we went…? ALBUQUERQUE!
It’s a magical far away place, where the sun is always shining, the air smells like warm root-beer, and the towels are oh so fluffy! (8)
Anyway, we went to New Mexico and I was hosted with two girls this time: Marieke (Netherlands) and Britany (USA)! We met our host family at the local “Event Palace”, (more details later in this message). Our host mom picked us up. Linda was her name.
Well, we drove to their house and it was HUGE! It was so frigging awesome! They got their private cinema and pool table and what not! She also has two cute little girls: Seemay and Seewai (Chinese names, for those who didn’t notice)
So, this week I was hosted in a huge house with girls. Sweetness!
Oh, this was such a great host family! This might even have been the most precious families I’ve had on the tour. We got such a strong bond at the end of the week!
Well, let’s keep this kind of chronological!
So, CI this week was at the “Event Palace”, which was kind of our headquarters this week. I was assigned Crew Leader for the activities at the Event Palace, and in return for letting this huge group of people stay at their place, we did some things in return for the owner: Fofo! (Such a cool business woman)
We helped clean her entire shed, repainted it and reorganized it. This does not sound like much, but it was a HUGE amount of work, and the work we achieved was A-ranked! I was so proud of my crew =)
Oeh, this is cool! Our show here was performed at the local ZOO! I was one of the lucky ones that got to explore the zoo all morning and I had a lot of fun looking at (most) of the animals. (I didn’t get to see all of them)
Well, there was this big water-pool between the stage and the audience! You know, with those big zoo-carpers in there and swimming! There were even ducks in the audience xD
I had a lot of fun in this performance!
Now, after this relaxing morning, I had to work twice as hard in the night, since striking the stage was a pain in the *** with water all around it. I ended up interviewing people and striking all night! I didn’t get to go to the Event Palace until 1 or 2 AM. Indeed, we didn’t go to our host-families this night because at 3 AM we all were to gather together again!
I didn’t sleep at all that night…
At 3 AM everyone got woken up and we got an EARLY breakfast and started to on the bus, because we were going to the annual BALLOON FESTIVAL!
Man, were we excited! This is the biggest Hot Air Balloon Festival in the world! People from all over the world gather and let all their balloons go at once! Almost a 1000 this year! Even some fancy shaped once, like a giant Nemo (Finding Nemo), a big pull of beer, a parrot, a “Dart Vader” and many more “regular” ones like triangles or other symmetrical forms.
So, everyone got assigned to a crew to help with the balloons to get them ready to go airborne! Most of the people were in teams, but I happened to be alone. I was quite scared to work that early in the dark with complete strangers to do something I know nothing about, but in the end it turned out to be a lucky turn of events!
When we got our balloon all up and full of hot air, me and another volunteer both got invited to ride the air balloon! It was so amazing! Flying up into the air and seeing balloons everywhere around you. It just felt so good! We did some cool stunts too! When we crossed a river, we got very close to the water, almost touching it, and we hit some trees (on purpose ;) ), which was really cool!
My “Pilot” was sir Jim, who has been flying for decades! He knows how to play the winds at different altitudes, and it was a pleasure to be one of his guests on the ride!
There was something else which was so cool to watch. The first few “test”-balloons went up in the air when it was still dark. Before they left the ground, they let the flames go into the balloons, which made them light up really bright. So, imagine about 10 to 15 balloons all in a row, making this huge lightshow! It looked really cool. They even did it in the air, but that might have been by accident. It still looked cool though!
Well, after a few hours seeing balloons all around me, I headed back to the buss. I was so excited to be able to tell my hostmom what we did that day.
Hehe, so after being awake for 32 hours where I walked through a zoo, did a show and drove a hot-air balloon I just crashed in my bed when I got home!
Linda woke me up for dinner a few hours later. After that we watched the first “Death Note” movie and played on the wii for a few hours. And since we were already in that rhythm, we stayed up until 3 AM!
The day after was our free day. Lots of fun =)
Something else noteworthy is the following: We had to carry around our trash for the entire week. Every little piece of litter we left behind, had to go in our personal trashbag! I actually did pretty good, having almost no trash. But remember this: everything you do not eat from your plate go's in there, everything you do not use when you get it, goes in there.
Oh well, this was one of my most precious weeks. I love Albuquerque and I have a lot of good memories here.
I will definitely come back some day,
Bubbayz,
Frederik
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
