Frederik Derks on Tour

Subic Bay~ Last town in the tour! NOOOOoooo….

2009-01-22T14:18:00.002+01:00

So, finally, the review of the last town in the trip: Subic Bay.
As expected, this town was amazing! I mean, every city is unique, but with tropical beaches and a jungle in one, this place is simply great xD
I even got wild monkeys in the backyard one day! =D

Anyways, with this being the last week, you would think that everyone would be in this down-kind-of-mood. However, this didn’t seem to be the case, and everything looked like this whole experience would go on forever! (And although it felt like the time was coming, I would have loved for it to go on a little longer)

This week, again, I was roomed with my brother and friend Ouray from the Native American Navaho tribe! You remember him from my blogpost about Cheyenne, Wyoming, right? (If not, go read it now!) Well, we were roomed together again. Our host dad this week was Josh, also originally from Wyoming! It’s a damn small world!
He is a teacher that, like, travels around and teaches at schools all over the world. Every year (or two, three, whatever years), he moves to a new place. He lived in this house, and all his neighbors are also teachers at the same school! (Hey, place to stay was included in the job) And even better, two houses next-door was another teacher dude “sam”, who also hosted some Uppies (Dave, Anika and Marion). So, we had some half-sisters and a half-brother too!

CI this week was spent on just one site for me: Preda. This is a place where a priest (Fr. Shay Cullen) build a foundation to create a better life for children. In the Preda-house live girls that from young age have been forced to work in the prostitution, and young boys that were put in jail for no good reason. Fr. Cullen helps these kids by giving them a new life.
So, I got to spend some time in the boys-section of the house. The girls of UWP got to work in the girl-side. The first day we got to see an introduction-video about Preda and Fr Cullen. We also got a “tour” through the complex, and we discovered that they even have their own “Fairtrade”-shop. It’s really cool! You should take a look at the link I will put up under the post.
What the girls did this week was mainly painting a few walls, but with a cool design! I got to take a look at the finished work, and it looked amazing! But apart from lunch, we didn’t really see the girls.
The guys were working on a different location, uphill. So, we got to climb this steep stairway, up a hill! Wow, heavy! In the blazing sun! Aaargh!
So, once uphill we got to meet the guys. From the way they looked and acted… one would NEVER guess that these boys were put in jail! I highly doubt most of them even ever thought about stealing or whatever… Most of them were high-spirited guys that were just awesome to work and play with.
So, on the first day, we played some games and got to know them. Good kids =)
Second day that we were supposed to be in Preda was the only day during the tour that I was sick! Aaargh! Let’s skip this.
Third day. Totally cool! We offered the people from Preda to do some labor-work. So, we got to “even the ground”, since the place had a lot of hills. We did this, so the boys could start their own vegetable-kind-of-garden! You know, teaching and all!
But man, in the sun, this was some hard labor! Not normal for someone with my temperature-range… Anyway, we got to even a big part of the area, and the boys wanted to help all the time. The second you took a rest to wipe of the sweat, they would reach for the shovel and take over.
The people of Preda were amazed. Never before had volunteers worked “this hard” for them. Most of them just “walk around” for a day and leave again. For us, this was the right thing to do. It’s good to leave an impression.
The boys learned me how to crack nuts with stones, and which ones are edible. Good! Knowledge +1

The last day with the guys just was the best, best CI day we had on this entire tour! First, we got in this little bus/jeep thingie. All of us, singing songs and all!
Anyways, we were going to this neat little place in the jungle. This is the place the boys go every week to do their laundry. You expect a river, you get a waterfall!
We had such an amazing time, swimming, jumping, diving! Jumping of a waterfall from a height of a 3 story building. Oh My God! Soooo scary, but way too addicting! The waves you create when doing a “bomb” from that high are just too big! And when you hit the bottom of the lake because you went down way deeper than everyone expected, and feel the fish crawl around you, it’s such a good feeling!
It broke my heart to say goodbye.
On a side note: To get to the place, we had to take a few jeepneys and more public transport.

This week was unique in some ways. We got this “gallery” kind of activity. It was a “tour” with all important aspects of our trip in a gallery. Pictures everywhere, big posters, guidelines, everything. During this gallery, people could give “presents” to other people. But, you had to give the present to someone else. There was a requirement on each package to whom you may give it to.
I got: “This person challenged me” from Scarlet and “This person knows the true me” from Jordan. That was the time people told everyone you could only receive 1 present, so I was feeling guilty for not knowing. Anyway, I got both of them, and gave the next one “A person you shared a special moment with in Mexico” to Anthony AG, because he was the first one I got a good talk with for hours in Mexico. The other one was done (so I was the end of the line) and I got to keep the present. It was a little box with 2 chocolates in there. I gave one of them to Jordan (it was her present) and we decided to put the box in the “Time Capsule” (more info later).
Anyway, then Zach came up to me, asking if I got a present yet… I had to say “yes”, so, yeah… end of the line!
This was a good day. We got a lot of dances that day. You had to find partners in advance for song #1, #2 etc. etc. but you had no idea what song it would be. Loads of fun. I got this “sexy” dance with Vitor. Imagine that ;)

Well… almost done, I guess…
Leaves us only the final banquette.
On the last day of the tour, we got this almost-gala-like meeting, with loads of food, awards for people, etc. etc. It was a good but sad day. I was crying almost the entire time, and you know.

I have never had so many girls crying on my shoulders in one night, saying things like “You have no idea how wonderfull you are” and “You are such an amazing person”. Good for the ego, but that didn’t matter… The only thing that we all could do was cry, hope…

I have no way to describe the feeling of this moment… when you are sitting in the bus, and half of the people staying (taking another flight), running after the bus… Tears in everyone’s eyes…

Well, sad ending…

I will update this blog in the future!
Not feeling well right now… it’s still too deep…

See you later,
Thank you for following the blog.

Love,
Freddy

Promised links:
Preda Fair Trade: http://www.preda.net/
Preda Foundation: http://www.preda.org/index.htm

Double blog III: Last US city “North Platte” and the last of Manilla!

2009-01-07T16:28:00.001+01:00

What did you say? You haven’t heard from me in a while? Well, that’s because I got home, and some events happened to happen… So, now that things look like they’ve calmed down, I will inform you once more about all that has happened! I might be a bit off-balance, but please forgive me =D I’m just a humble servant of your time.

Let’s start off with the last city in the United States: North Platte, Nebraska! Loads of things happened! This would be the last city where we would be in the US, and of course, that all struck us like lightning! We would not be back in the US as “this group” ever again in our life… Even more bold, “this group” would never be the same again, since we had to say goodbye to some of our friends we’ve been traveling with since the beginning: Kirk (US), Catherine (Denmark) and Gwen (Switzerland) all decided to go home, instead of going to the Philippines with us. This was a hard decision for them, but it was a health-matter…
You bet, this was an emotional departure for all of us…

But, hey, that’s the end of the week, let’s start at the beginning again!

My host family this week was actually just one guy: “Chuck” (not Norris). He was an elderly guy, but with a good, strong heart. He does his own kind of volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. He’s decided to host two people in his house for the benefit of his town. Also, he remembered UWP from when he was young. Really cool no?
I was roomed with redhead James “Opie” Pennington, and we got a good time with Chuck. We also met Chucks family (read: Daughter and grandchildren) and we went to this cool restaurant with them (Fort Cody, which had Dutch flags on top of it!) where you could throw the peanut-shells on the ground! Wow, I’ve never seen that in a restaurant before! Weird but cool xD

So, guess what NP is famous for? You betcha! Their railroads!
So, for “regional learning” we didn’t really go out… instead, we watched a 2 hour documentary about the “North Platte Canteen”. This canteen made NP famous, back in the days, since soldiers that would be on trains and stop here, would be welcomed, no matter what or who, with a lot of volunteer-prepared food and meals. Apparently, the soldiers would remember this canteen until their last breath, just for the hospitality that they received.
Also, for the “exploration crew” that I was selected for on the last show day went to went to the current North Platte railroad-center, thingie. Really cool, railroads as far as the eye can see! I even saw kids there I met earlier that week in their classrooms. That brings me to my next part.

This entire week, I feel like I’ve been doing Stand for Peace and “Country Introductions”. I think I’ve been in 20 schools this week (or at least 20 classes), and all of them were totally awesome. Well, that was also pretty much all the CI I did this city. So, not much to tell, although I made some cool pictures…

About pictures, I plan on making a special post full with pictures as soon as I’m done with telling everything I want to tell =)

So, this week went by in a rush. I drank the last Mountain Dew in my life (that’s what I thought at the moment), said goodbye to friends for life, and send a big box home again. (I just wonder how it’s possible that a suitcase can gain 20 pounds in 2 weeks :S And then…
The Philippines!

So, let me do the last part of Manilla!
Actually, there’s not so much to tell… I told a lot already, at least the most impressive things…
But, there’s always more. Let me see how far I can get.

So, for the last few days, someone else got roomed with me. Guess who? Colin, right! The guy I was roomed with in Culiacan! Hehe, loads of fun!
Well, guess what, our family (now it’s “our” instead of “my”) took us to a hair-barber- thingie, where the hairdudes oiled our hair. For more glow and stuff xD Yeah, we looked like damn princes! (the prince of retardia)

Ooh, the shows here involved a new song! “Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling ka”. Or “I love you every rainy season”. Let me see… I can’t find the original song we practiced on, but I think I found a decent replacement. (Don’t watch the movie, it’s the song that’s good.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqyR8QTA62w&feature=related

Yeah, we performed twice in Manilla. Big shows, yeah. Very emotional too, having all the people you worked with in the slums, sitting in the room, watching probably the first show in their life… Man, emotional… no words…

And that might very well be the end of these cities.

So, the only city left is Subic Bay. Again, another interesting city with loads of tears.
But that’s a bedtime story for another time!

Love,
Bubbayz!

Double blog II: The Falls of Sioux and more Manilla Madness!

2008-12-05T13:43:00.001+01:00

So, the second Double Blog is here! Hip Hip, Hurray!
…
Thanks for cheering… *Sarcastic glare*

So, anyway, let’s start with Sioux Falls, South Dakota!
That’s right, another South Dakota! This is the only state (except for Denver, which included staging), where we went to two cities to! (Remember last double blog, Aberdeen, South Dakota?)
Let me try to do all of this systematic for once:

Host Family:
I was hosted with my hostparents Dee and Larry. Besides to that, I was roomed with Laura B., another UWP student from the USoA. We had some good times! We watched some movies (Alvin and the Chipmunks, The last Assignment (or whatever it was called)), and Dee reminded me of my own grandmother from time to time. It was really a pleasure to experience that =)
Also, at the last 2 days of our stay, their granddaughter stayed with us. It was so cool to spend time with all of them!
Oooh, oooh, we went to this weird but cool cinema thingy where you practically lay down on your back in a chair, and they played the movie on the roof! It was so strange, but it was cool at the same time! We saw a little documentary about mummies. Totally cool! What was the theater called… I can’t remember… Cinedome? Cinemadome?... Hmm…

Regional Learning:
Okay, this was maybe one of the cooler Regional Learning’s of the trip. At first, we did a scavenger-hunt through the city. We found a Dutch store “Het Hoekje”, which was placed at a streetcornmer. They even sold Stroopwafels, but at such a high price… And they weren’t even that high quality (gotten a bit old)… Anyway, I didn’t buy any.
All in all, the scavenger hunt was cool, and you actually got to see a part of the city, which doesn’t happen all the time during this tour.
The second part, however, was even way and way better! We went to visit the Falls where the city was named after: The falls of the Sioux-Indians. They were so amazing! I sat near the water, staring at the fall for so long. An hour? You could totally feel the spirit and the energy of the place. So amazing! I also saw an otter or beaver, sitting on a rock and diving in the water. Peacefull place. Beautifull. No words to describe it…

The Show:
Okay, normally I wouldn’t really mention the show. However, this was a special occasion. Because… with an audience of over 2200 people, this was the biggest show of Up With People in the United States since the turn of the millennium! Good Grief! Milestone!!! XD

All in all, another successful week!
But now, it’s time to go back to the present! (Well… a little closer to the present, a blog can never be present, since it’s always about stuff that already happened… Whatever…)
What I want to say is: Let’s switch to Manilla, where I currently am!

Hmm… Let me see where I left off last time…
*reads through archive*

Ah, yes!
Well, before I start, my hostdad Joujou wants to make a disclaimer:
“Make sure to tell the people in your blog that I don’t have the waistline of Jack Black! That would be such a disgrace.”

So, today (or yesterday when I will post this blog) was the last CI-day with our Gawad Kalinga group… It was such a sad depart! Kids were crying, people were sad that we were leaving… And so were we! The energy we had was so… pure and raw! Amazing! I totally fell in love with this place.
Gawad Kalinga-Taguig. If you ever get the chance to go there: Do it! Totally, you are gonna love it. Everyone with a little heart will fall in love with the place. Everyone is so nice, the work is honorable and… sigh… I’m just glad I got to experience all that.
Maybe one of the best times in my life. =)

Aaah, so, now, some typical experiences:

Let’s start with Balut. Balut is one of the delicate food-products of the Philippines. Everyone loves it here, and it’s called “the natural Viagra”, or so I was told. (Weird, Word automatically gives the word “Viagra” a capital letter…?) Anyways. I’m not gonna tell you what it is, so if you’re really interested, try to find some info yourself.
Why I won’t tell you? Because it’s too gross to put on a blog. Okay, I ate it, like you’re supposed to, but the majority of the foreigners that come here don’t dare to take it. I got it on tape, so maybe, I’ll upload that eventually!

Next: Jollybee! “It’s not a bee, it’s a friend!”.
Jollybee is the biggest fastfood-company in the Philippines! In fact, this is the only country where MacDonalds is NOT the biggest! And why? Because the Jollybee-burgers have more taste, and they have a cooler mascot: A bee that’s Jolly!
Ronald Mac Donald: “WTF OMG, how come that bee is more popular than me?”
Jollybee Owner: “It’s not a bee, it’s a friend”

Okay, insider joke…

Hehe, something really cool! Everyone (and I say, EVERYONE) you meet greets you on the street with a highpitched “Hello sirrr”! Oh, I love that! Totally worth the trip!
Also, the polite way to enter a sentence is by finishing it with “po”. So, “thank you po” is heard quite often!

What else… Hmm… I got my first manicure and pedicure here. But hey, what do you expect with a gay-couple as your hostparents. And they’re both diva’s to top it!
Hehe, I love them (no, not that way, just in the way that they’re cool!)

I know I have so much to tell! Damn… I don’t even know where to start! But I have to quit already!

Okay, one last thing: the skyline from my room is beautifull. I totally love the view of this city, both at daytime, and at nighttime!

Now, as a finisher: I hope my grandfather is doing all right. I wish him all the strength he needs in these hard times: I love you!

So, now, wave and say goodbye!
1… 2… 3…

Bubbayz!

Double blog I: Netherlands, euhm… Aberdeen & ~Manilla Alpha~

2008-11-23T09:02:00.000+01:00

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!

Cheyenne, my home on the prairie: cowboyland!

2008-11-15T07:20:00.001+01:00

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

Salt Lake City, Mormon-Capital and good times!

2008-11-12T03:51:00.000+01:00

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

Colorado Springs, Military Post coming Up (with People)

2008-11-09T06:04:00.000+01:00

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!

Albuquerque, city of warmth and heat!

2008-11-05T03:33:00.002+01:00

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

Sahuarita, Homebase of UWP,

2008-10-02T08:34:00.002+02:00

So, let´s make another week update.

First: Hostfamily.

They were really great. The family exsisted of a boyfriend/girlfriend (Greg and Melissa), and they both had children from previous marriages, so I had 5 lill’ bro’s and sissies! Really cool! It’s so awesome to play with the kids!
It was just such an awesome family. I felt really welcome, and we did a lot of cool stuff. We went up the mountains one night, and had some good times hanging around and talking.
My roommate was Mitch McVicker, one of the staffmembers. He is such an amazing guy. He’s like this tree: always silent and strong.
Only exception is that he is an awesome dancer, which is not really treelike…

Anyways, I got my first assignment as “Crew Leader” this week. That means that when we go to CI’s, I’m the contact-person with the facility and the “leader” of the group. I make sure everyone is doing what they should do and arrange everything, like lunch and stuff. Also, I handle the press xD
My first CI was at the “Casa de Esperanza” (House of Hope), where volunteers help others from all ages, from little children to elderly people. They take care of everyone.
What we did there was helping out the “growth of the children”. We painted one of their water features, so they can play with it again. The old paint got off, and it was neither pretty, nor safe, nor colorfull.
The other thing we did there was building a gardenbox. With that box, the children could watch babyplants go to adulthood, without the plants being eaten by squirrels.

On the second day, I was not the crew leader, but we went to the same site. This time, we were supposed to clean all the windows of the complex. Was a tough job, but we managed to get it done fairly early, so we had some time to take a nap during naptime xD

Oh, one bad thing: I lost my camera-recharger… I don’t know what to do with it now…
Should I ask my hostfamilies to send it, or should I buy a new camera (I can’t buy a European recharger here…)

Oh well, showday was a bit bad for me… I was not in the Love Medley! Waaah! It’s because a few guys’ parents came over, and one of them took my spot. I felt really bad, since that was my favourite part of the whole show…
Oh well…

The good thing about showday was: IT WAS INSIDE! Oh my, I can’t believe it! It was so much better, than performing in a constant, dusty environment. Everything was so good xD

Other than that, we got a speech this week from the founder of UWP: mr. Blenton. It was such a touching speech… How he met world leaders, Martin Luther King (who he had dinner with the night after he made his “I have a dream…” speech.), Popes, Mahad Magandhy’s grandson, people who set foot on the moon, and who not!
It was just so cool!
I gave him my business-card. Hope he’ll someday mail me.

Someone else I gave my business card that day was a Dutch “prince”: Pieter van Vollenhoven. He’s like, married to the sister of our queen. I also took a picture with him. Hehe, I hope I’ll stay in contact with him ;)

And if that was not enough, on the same day I met both of these famous people, I also met the musical founders of UWP, the people who wrote the first songs of the UWP show, including a few songs we still play in the show! It was so amazing!

They even played a few songs with us on stage! They are such great musicians! The Colwell brothers!

If that was not enough: we also did our first lesson of “Stand for Peach”, which is a program us UWP students give to smaller kids. We go to their classroom, and give a 1,5-2 hour presentation about how they can improve peach in their own communities (school, class, home, family etc.). We have a program for grades 3-5 (9-11 years old, if I’m not confused now) and one for grades 6-8 (12-14 years old).

I really have some good memories from my first SFP-work. I loved the kids!

So, another awesome week!

What’s up next? Hmm… well, my busdate was Rina from Finland, but she was, like sleeping almost the whole ride, or talking with Riikka, so I started watching a movie (Death Note II) with Chihiro! Good times, pit stop on the Mc Donalds, which was good.

Oh well, now I go to sleep…

Love you guys!

Bubbayz!

Hermosillo, city of eternal heat

2008-09-23T02:07:00.000+02:00

A week has passed since my last update. Even though I had internet at my previous hostfamily, I wasn´t able to upload stuff, so I´ll just do it retro-style again.

So, first day was travelday, man, was it hell! 12 hour busride, they said! My *censured* it was way longer! I don’t know how long it was, but we left at6 in the morning, passed a timezone (so, one hour longer) and arrived around 7 in the evening. Then we had workshops and introduction of the city until 10:30. At 11, we had a reception, since it was Mexican Independence Day! It took a few hours, and after that, I was so hungry, I could eat a rabbit, including cage, in one bite!

After that, we met our hostfamilies. I met my bigger hostbrother first: Angel. I slept in a bunk bed with him for the whole week.
The rest of the family existed of a mom and dad, younger brother (Edson, who is an awesome soccerplayer!) and Valeria (Cute, older girl).

So, let’s take it in subjects again, instead of a day-by-day story.

Community Impact:
What we did here was very diverse. I did the following things:
- I gave a speech about how sex is viewed in the Society of The Netherlands.
- I painted and cleaned basketball courts for 2 days
- I spent some time in a hospital as a “Funny docter” (like, clowns) and amused kids

Hehe, so, we did a lot of different things! They were all so fun to do!

Hmm… let’s see, oh yeah, the show!

The show was outside (like all Mexican shows) and there were so many krickets! Not normal! They were everywhere!
(8)Crawling in my skin(8)

Do you remember the girl I talked about the last message that I met in the bar. Well, on the day of the show she was driving all the way from Culiacan to Hermosillo (12 hour ride) to come to the show! And as if it was God’s wrath, her car broke down 15 minutes away from Hermosillo, and she spent the time she should have been at the show signing papers and talking to people to repair her car and stuff. Then, she had to go to a hotel, and couldn’t come to the show at all…
I felt so sad for her…

Another noteworthy thing to mention is that I bought some awesome black cowboy boots in Hermosillo! Why there? I hear you wondering, well, they are famous for it!

Also, my suitcase is crammed again, so I guess I have to send stuff home very soon…
Most of it will be presents. You know, for Christmas, and souvenirs and stuff!

Conclusion: Hermosillo is a good place to be. In fact, I don’t want to leave Mexico, but we are now in the bus towards the USA again. I’m watching AMV Hell 4 with Chihiro now, and I’m going to finish this message soon!

Bubbayz!
I love you guys!

Culiacan, the city of friends

2008-09-15T08:26:00.000+02:00

So, it´s now Sunday, and tomorrow is the new travelday. Now, an update on the end of Tepic, and all of Culiacan:

So, indeed, we were going to the beach at Sunday (last week). We kind of experienced “Hurricane Season”. That meant, after some time in the sea and on the beach, it started storming and the sky started to burst lightning and stuff everywhere!

After some time, we left and we started packing.

The next day was another travel day. I had Riikka as my traveldate (after having her as my roommate, I know it’s strange), because we were late and both forgot to find someone to be our traveldate…

I just want to say that I will really miss my family in Tepic. They were awesome!

After a while, we arrived in Culiacan! Yeah! It is such a beautifull place!

Lately, it has been known for it’s drugsproblems and violence. I want to say: Culiacan is amazing.

Okay, we heard some gunshots once, and another day I saw some military people standing somewhere, but it is never as bad as they say. In fact, the people here are very open and friendly! They really suffer from the current name of Culiacan, and that’s sad…

So now I’m going to tell about what I did.

We skipped Regional Learning on Tuesday for once, so that meant that we started right away with Community Impact. I was signed up to play with kids with disabilities, but they put me in a food shelter instead. There, me and some other people were sorting beans. In total, the 8 of us sorted out about 50 kilograms of beans in a few hours.
It felt really boring to do it, and that lunch was 2,5 hours late wasn’t helping either. However, when we actually had lunch, I started to understand why we were doing it. We sorted beans for people who don’t have anything to eat, and we were making sure they had good food.

Oh well, learning process, anyone?

Wednesday was an amazing CI! Again, I wasn’t going where I was supposed to go (I was supposed to watch a movie with kids with disabilities that day). About 8 guys of the cast went to the “men’s shelter”. It is like a home for people who were addicted to drugs and are recovering. All of them were men (hey, it was the Men’s Shelter, remember), and at first, I think they didn’t know what to think of them.
So we got a tour around the grounds. The Teacher showed us what was where.

After a while, we took a “break”, where we got some soda and all sat around a table. The guys from the shelter were doing some other things still, and we hadn’t interacted at all. Not a good atmosphere then.

And all of a sudden, someone played some music. We were doing suggestions about who was going to dance, and after everyone of the UWP group, and the teacher had danced, the men were all coming outside, and the teacher called them to dance to.

That might have been the most awesome moment ever. Within minutes, they brought out a huge jukebox with I don’t know how many songs on there! Everyone was dancing for no good reason, and it was just awesome!

The best dance we had was “Noa Noa”. It’s in our Mexican Show too, and we taught them to dance it. Really cool! Best song ever!

After a while, we helped them with making cookies (since that is what they do for a living). I can say from the bottom of my heart: these were the best cookies I ever tasted. There was a lot of love in there!

When we were finished with the cookies, we got to the grounds, and played soccer. First UWP vs Men Shelter. Ended up in a 1-3 victory for the Men Shelter.

After that, a mixed game with 3 Uppies and 3 Shelter guys on each team. Again, my team lost (not because of me ;) ), but we had so much fun.

Then we all had lunch together in the church. I talked to some people about The Netherlands and Mexico. The differences and the things we share, you know.

After that, we left, but not after we danced another round of Noa Noa! Bwahaha, just thinking about it makes me grin and smile!

Those people are just the best guys ever!

So, Marten (our Cast Manager) was also there, and we just made sure they got some free tickets for our show. In the end, they got about 10 tickets for both of the shows (we did two shows).

It was so amazing! They really were the heart of the audience, standing up when someone they knew entered the stage, and when we did Noa Noa, they just exploded!

Backstage, we were just talking about how much we will miss these guys.

It was just 3 days that we know eachother, but it looked like we were all buddy’s for life forever.

From the bottom of my heart: I, and the rest of the group, will miss them.

So, we did two shows. Both of them in the same place: a basketball stadium. The audience was not as full as we’re getting used to. After audiences of 3000, 250 seems like not so much. However, I tried not to look down, and made the most of it. You know, especially since the men shelter men were there!

After two (long) showdays, we finally had our regional learning day. It was basically: Go to a famous garden (green), go to an awesome science museum (1,5 hour was too short), and take a ride on a zip-line.

Later on in the day, our hostfamily (And Stewart and Gijs’ family, since they are real family) went to the swimmingpool. We had a lot of fun.

At the end of the day, we went to a club. There were a lot of Uppies there (of course, they announced we would all go together), and I spent some quality time with a girl at the bar. She was Sueng- Beom’s host-sister, I think. You know, talking and drinking and stuff.

So, now it’s, ow dread, it’s already Monday (after midnight), but I will just say it’s Sunday. So, it’s Sunday, and we spent almost the entire day sleeping, swimming and drinking Tequila in the pool. We had some good times =D

Now, I will upload this whole bunch of stuff!

Enjoy!

Greetings from Freddy,

Bubbayz!

Longest Post ever! Viva La Gente!

2008-09-09T08:06:00.000+02:00

Longest post in history!: Viva La Gente (Spanish for Up With People)

It´s been a while, I know! I just now realize how dependent I was on internet! I want to upload just so much, and want to send some emails, but that´s not possible without internet! Man, that blows, so I´m typing this in word at the moment, and put it on a USB-stick, so I don’t have to type everything in my precious internet-time, just to save some time. If the time-sense is wrong in this or other posts, it’s because of that exact same reason.

Anyways, today is Thursday, just so you know.

So, I forgot to mention something in my previous post, that I still want to read again when I get back home: during the pit-stop on the way to Breckenridge a few students (incl. Jenny, Josh, Mayke, me and more) all ate a living worm! Just to check how it would be. à Awesome, you should try it sometimes!

Ah, good times,

Well, back to Mexico. This week in La Paz is just awesome! Although the heat is just killing me like never before (average temp: 40 degrees Celsius, little over 100 Fahrenheit)!
We’ve been doing a lot of things voor CI here (CI= Community Impact, meaning leaving a mark where we’ve been). I’ve been doing:
- Painting a graffiti wall white that surrounds a baseball stadium (Where our first Mexican Show is!)
- Cleaning a park from garbage and also painted the walls there as the start of an Anti-Graffiti-Campaign.
- Cleaning 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) of road from trash, and sweeping it too

But, you know, being in the place that’s said to have the most beautiful beaches of the world (which I highly agree too, for so far I know), it just had to happen: BEACHTIME WITH THE WHOLE CAST!

Man, that was just plain good. We got to spend some hours on the beach with everyone. The water was exactly the right temperature (not cold, but nicely warm) and we swam, played water-rugby and what else! I even had my personal fish! (I got this 3 cm long fish swimming around me for half an hour or so)

We’ve also been at a museum and a local church during “regional learning”. I made some pictures. The museum told mostly the history of Mexico, and most of it involved the Spanish suppressors.

I met some really interesting people today. “Conscience” is the name of their organization, meaning both “consciousness” and “through science” in Spanish. They are, just like UWP, an organization that want to help others by keeping the environment clean. They work at the beach mostly.

So I talked to Emmanuel today a lot, who is a member of Conscience. He is also a tourist guide in La Paz and a biologist of the local nature. Because of that, he knows a lot about the history of La Paz and he told me the story of how the earth came to exist, as told by the original inhabitants of Mexico. (And believe it or not: there are a lot of similarities with other stories of other cultures that never met them).

I got his email-address, and I will ask him to maybe write down the story so I can post a (short) part of it here, if you all like that.

Also, I learned how to play “Shogi” yesterday, which is the Japanese form of Chess. It only has a bigger field (9x9 tiles), more units (9 different pieces, 20 starterpieces) and additional rules (like the rule that units upgrade into stronger versions or that you can place units you “defeated” on your side of the field). It’s really interesting, but Chihiro taught me well, and I think I got all the rules after one round of playing. I hope we’ll play again soon, but it takes a long time…

In case you were wondering: Yes, I won, big time

What else… hmm… oh yeah, we did a short version of the show yesterday to promote the “big show” for Saturday. I think we got a lot of attraction to new people, and I’m sure our sponsors got their attention too. My job was mainly: passing out flyers, and I think I got a hidden talent for street-vending: I gave away about 100 flyers , which almost doubled the #2.

=== Friday:

Little update on Friday. I hoped to be able to use internet today, but Murphy’s law prevents me from having it… My hostdads (Anthony and me live with 2 guys, (Peter and Victor?) that work at the same company) left yesterday, and they won’t be coming back today… Maybe Peter will come back tomorrow for the show, but I don’t know about Victor. Anthony is still setting up in the baseball stadium, so I’m kind of home alone, trusted with the key to guard the house.

My “hostmom”, which is Peter’s girlfriend You (at least, that’s how you pronounce it…) brings Anthony and me to our location every day, and she cooks for us too, every once in a while. Tonights dinner was good: scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese. The first non-taco –or-other-Mexican-food in a week!

Also, the filmcrew from North Carileina (Need Anthony to change that word) that traveled with us for 2 weeks now left today. It was a very emotional depart. You know, it’s strange how much you can attach to people in such a short period amount of time.

I feel like a lot of people I love are leaving all the time. Or maybe it’s me leaving…
whatever…

I hope they will join us in our facebook-group (dread, another thing I can’t do without Internet), so that we can all stay in touch.

What did I do today. I was on “Explorers team”, which practically meant you could explore the city without any objective at all. I used my time mostly staring at the sea, trying to find a bookstore (I found 3, one with only Spanish books, one without comics and one that just closed for holiday and moving and stuff…), eating ice-cream (mango-flavored) and I made another friend in La Paz: Rahoule, who is a street painter. I gave him my business-card and I hope he will send me an email someday. He was a really nice guy, that told me the store I met him (one of the bookstores) was the first shop in La Paz ever!
I’m learning every day!

Ooh, ooh, I almost forgot! I bought Christmas-presents today! Hahaha, maybe I’ll post a picture of it ASAP, because it’s real fun, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise yet… I don’t know what to do, but I’m really excited already!

=== Monday:

I’m currently on the travel bus right now. We have a 2,5 hour ride ahead of us, so I have some time to write down my thoughts now. Okay, no internet, but this word-thingie works great for me at the moment as a replacement!

So, let’s start where we left off: Saturday was a showday. We pretty much practiced parts of the show again, and since we’re in Mexico, we practiced the Spanish songs a lot. I mean, we need to perfect those.

It was the first outdoor show and the first show in Mexico, so it was very exciting. Bad thing was that it was raining all afternoon, so we were very late with preparing the stage (since the lights, beamer, screen and everything else was not allowed to get wet), and performing was hard on a slippery stage. It was dry during the actual show though, so we could do it anyhow. The atmosphere and conditions were just awful! For the 3000 people in the audience: it was still great! Thanks for coming!

Yesterday, Sunday, was the first time in 2 weeks we could actually sleep in. It was great, sleeping until 1 in the afternoon! A good earned rest, considered we got home at 3 AM, and the day before was a 20 hour day.

So after sleeping in, we just spent most of the day at home, relaxing. Good, Sunday is a restday!

Later on in the day, Victor, Peter, Anthony and me left with a few of Victor’s friends to some kind of house out of town. It was beautifull. It was a two story building with like no walls on the upper floor (so you could actually stand on the roof, which we did) and seeing the sunset above the see and the city was just good. Me and Anthony had some good and serious conversations. About life and our lives and that kind of stuff. Maybe a bit late, but I feel a lot closer to my roommate now.
Better late than never!

And now we left. Too bad, I really got to like La Paz, even though it’s hot as hell! It’s a place that’s good to live.
I want to come back here someday. I will really miss the people here!

Now, I’m out of inspiration, and I’m going to fool around with my busdates now!

==== Tuesday:

Okay, so today was the first day in Cabo Saint Lucas (If that’s how you spell it, I am a lucky person, since I don’t know how to spell it!) I know my host family has wireless internet, but since they don’t know the password, I still can’t upload this whole post! Dread!
Probably tomorrow =)

So, my hostfamily. I live with a mother and child. Lorenza and son Steven from 12 years old. Steven just got back from a “tour” through Europe, (last stop: Hamburg), so now he has a jetlag, like I had a month ago! He joined a “global village”, which is like UWP: children from around the world live together for a while, while taking care of each other. I really like that initiative!

Today: today was “regional learning day”, which means that we get to travel around town and that kind of stuff.
- we started with a few presentations. First: Venezuela, since two people in the cast/staff are from there, and they wanted to share stuff about their culture and country. Second: Philippines, since we will be getting there in a few months, and it would be stupid to go there unprepared.
- Afther that, we went on a trip to the outskirts of town. We went to the part where people literally live in huts! I felt so bad for them! Really, I even felt worse when we left, and we barely did anything to help these people.
However, they were smiling all the time, and a woman there told us that it means it was a good sign we came. It meant that the world hadn’t forget them!
So we played with the children there, and we actually had a lot of fun with them. I’ll definitely upload some pictures from that experience here!
- When we left there, we went to see a local waterfall. It is one of the few places in the whole state where there is fresh water every time of the year, and since this region is considered a “desert climate”, this waterfall is an oasis. It was really beautiful, but the battery of my camera went to heaven, so I don’t have any pictures…
On the way back, some of us were riding in the open back of a truck. We got a free mango, and it was truly delicious! It hasn’t been getting any chemicals or something, and the flavor was truly divine =)
- Last but not least, we went to on a cruise ship! This was just plain awesomeness! We got a live band, we could watch over the sea, and we could get as many drinks as we wanted for free! We even got dinner there, and I got 12 (!) rounds of sushi! Man, I love that stuff!
Something worth mentioning is that we saw the famous “arc” of Cabos while cruising. Only, on the moment I didn’t realize it was famous, but I still remember it, since there were some sea lions right next to it.
I also got some tequila there, but I think it was a little bit stronger than at my previous host family’s house. Oh well, I didn’t go over the limit, so I was fine =)

Now I’m tired, and I have to go to bed! Tomorrow will be an early day, and I hope I can (finally) upload this post (which has more than 5 word pages, size 11, right now).

==== Wednesday:

I don’t know what to think about today. My hostfamily couldn’t drop me off after 7, so I was an hour early for the normal “drop off” at 8. I read some Shonen Jump while waiting.
So what we did, was mainly waiting till our pick up trucks came to pick us up. After another hour of waiting, we finally drove to our destination, which happened to be “Casa San Juan Diego”, which is a place to help poor people, migrants and other people who have a poor change of living (like those in the slums I saw the day before).

What we did was mainly play with the kids. We played some fun games with them, and we sang for eachother. They were really cute and cool!

After they had left, we were kind of doubting what to do. We were supposed to go painting, but since the paint wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow, we were in a tight spot. Lucky for us, there was enough to do!
So in the end, we ended up gardening and making everything cleaner, so that these people have a decent place to live. Just to treat them some respect, you know?

In the break I decided to call my grandparents. I know they are going to move to Belgium for a while, and I thought I just had to call them. It was really good to hear their voices again.

I love you!

==== Thursday (again)

As you might have guessed, no internet yet. I hope I can use my hostmom’s internet this afternoon, since I’m getting behind on everything! I got a hell lot of pictures I still need to upload, and I can’t do that all at once, with one USB stick, so I’m sorry, but you have to wait for the pictures a little longer again…
I can’t help it…

So, today was again at the Casa San Juan Diego. This time, we were moving rubble, and painting a wall, basically. It was a tough job in the blazing sun, but it was to give the people that come there some respect, and a decent place to live.
Again, my wait in the morning was long and lonely…

Tomorrow will be like that again, so that’s going to be fun on the showday!
I am thinking about taking my music sheets with me and learn them by heart. That way, the performance point of view will be better!

I don’t have a lot to say… And I also don’t know what to say. I just want internet and upload this big-ass post!

==== Monday:

Okay, few rough days, and I’m on the bus again! Man, 2 weeks without internet is rough! I want to read my email, send some too! You know!

So, what happened the last few days?

Friday and Saturday were performing days! Both were outside, and again, they were in baseball stadiums, just like in La Paz! They like their baseball stadiums here, you know!
Well, about this place: They were actually 2 places, and the group got divided in 2. I stayed in Cabo San Lucas. So, we performed in both places and they were both just plain awesome!

When I was looking for my hostfamily the second night, I had to take around 10 pictures with people that were wild about the show (100% feminine) and a lot of autograph, most of them for little kids that bought a picture of the cast.

Yesterday, Sunday, my hostfamily took me out to the desert. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we arrived there I understood: We were going to ride on ATV’s! (Like little buggy’s without roofs, hmm… motorcycles with 4 wheels, that kind of stuff)
At first, it was a bit scary, me riding one of those machines, but after a minute or 2 I somehow felt a “click” or something, and all of a sudden I got really into it, knew how to change gears, knew when to add or loosen gas. You know, I got the feel of the machine!

We started on a mountain, and the first part of the tour existed entirely on gravel roads and hills. The second part, however, was on a beach, and we took a break there. So during the break (of around 1 hour) me and my hostbrother were driving across the beach and the dunes the whole time! We did some races and really got into it! I even raced my hostmom (and won big-time ;) ) and I had so much fun!

After that, we went up the mountain again, and with my new skills, all the rubble, gaps and hills were a piece of cake! Hahaha, new skills are the best!

When we were done on the ATV’s, we went to the beach! Our plan was to go waveriding, but me and Steven went in the water right away and when we met more people from UWP, we decided to stay where we were.

We had a good time there!

So now I’m on the bus again, sitting next to Colin Duket (we had to search a buss date with the first letter in you last name), and I’m going to fool around in a minute!

==== Thursday:

Wow, it’s been a while! Dread, in fact, this is the third Thursday without internet!

Oh well, let’s pick up where we left: after the busride we went on a ferry for about 8 hours. After that, we were (again) on a bus again for another 12 hours or something like that. Anyways, when we arrived at our destination, it was already Tuesday!

Tuesday was more a day to rest (and we needed it, traveldays are tiring!). We were at this hotel with swimmingpool, but since I forgot to pack my swimsuit in my backpack, I had to do other things (which was very easy).
So I slept for a bit, watched some Hunter-x-Hunter with Eriko (watching anime with a Japanese girl is way more fun =P) and slept some more. After lunch and more rest, we did some workshops. We tested our global IQ (which included drawing a map of the world and test if you got some countries. In fact, my map was very detailed, and I only forgot the philipines (of all countries in the world….)) and did a review of Culture Shock. It was very interesting.

After that we had some pictures made for the newspaper, and then we left to meet our hostfamilies!
So this time our “clue” to meet them was very original. They provided a costume for us that we had to wear. While walking on a catwalk with their clothes on, they could recognize us, and that way we could meet! It was very cool to do, and I now have my first female housemate: Riikka from Finland!

My hostfamily exists of one mother, a son and a daughter, all grown up. They are really amazing. Only sad thing is: no internet again… Oh well!

So, Wednesday, we had CI day. Our CI was located at the beach, so we started with a 3 hour busride! (for original reasons). We traveled with some Spanish students from a Technology University, and we had quite some fun on the bus.

So, on the beach, we arrived fairly quickly at our CI-site. It happened to be a turtle-protection-place. You know, where they put all the turtle-eggs, and let them all into the sea at once to increase the survival-rate!

Luckily, I was one of the people who got the opportunity to dig out some nest! Believe it or not, but I gave birth to around 53 baby-turtles! I feel like such a proud father. Their names? I can give you some:

King Leeroy

Iceburner

Sir Arthur James

Blazing Wind

Marie Antoinette

Rafael

Donatello

Michael

Leonardo

Hehe, I got more, but it would just increase the length of this post, so maybe later!

After the baby-birth-place, we got some time at a pool near a beach. We’ve been playing games near the pool, played water-polo (which was way more fun than you would imagine) and me, Arnab and Joris went Boogie-Boarding on the waves in the sea, which was amazing, since there were very high waves!

Well, that was everything until Thursday! It’s still morning, so this is where I stop!

==== Sunday:

Oooh, finally, my computer again!

Thursday and Friday, for my CI is was going to Casa Hogar, or Casa de Niño’s as it is also known. It was a house for abused children that still have parents, but can’t stay with them. All these kids have trauma’s and they were all under 12 years old.

So what we did was basically painting (again). The only difference with the other paint-CI’s was that this time we were painting the home of these kids. There were about 18 of us and we painted the entire outside, the hallway and about 9 rooms in two days. (total of 7 hours)

It was very hard work, but it was for a good cause.

Saturday was showday. My day existed of: teaching the “quartet”-choreography to Josh, Arnab and Humberto, then, set up the stage. After that lunch and run through of the show. Later, we had dinner and we did the full show.

This was in fact the first time that we did an encore! Yeah! It was so amazing! Bwahaha!

Something I’ve noticed in Mexico: we are celebrities here! Man, after the show, in the mall, in the burger king, everyone wants to get a picture with us in it. I think I’ve had about 50 pictures made in Tepic only! I also signed a hell lot of autographs!

But the best part is when an old man comes up to you, and tells you he really enjoyed the show, and you in particular. That really touches my heart, and is better than signing bra’s.
Okay, maybe the same level…

Anyways, it is really good like this. Only downside is that they don’t feed you… dread, I was so hungry last night, and I couldn’t go buy food, since I had to sign pictures and take pictures.

Oh well, as long as we enjoy the fame =D

So now it’s Sunday, and I think my family plans to go to the beach today! Yeah!

Well, gotta go!

I lost my sunglasses…

Bubbayz!

Miss you all,
I hope my sister had a wonderful birthday,
Your present will be awesome ;)

There be gold in them mines, Water in them Tubs, Snow in them Mountains! Mehico is just plain hot!

2008-08-18T06:41:00.006+02:00

It´s been a while since I´ve written here. For that, I´m sorry, but my access to internet was very short, and was never enough to write down what I felt. Also, I had to regroup myself.

I found out today that my girlfriend left me for one of my best friends.
I feel like I´m a “stranger in paradise”.

Well, I could talk about how I feel forever, but I still need to think about it myself…
It just hurts, you know…

So, let me start where I left off.

I left the family Cearley last week. I want to thank them again. They were awesome.

After that was a travel day. (I had Russ as a bus-date) We went up to the mountains of Breckenridge and stopped in an old gold-mine. I took a lot of pictures there, that might be a visual aid in a Dungeons and Dragons adventure I’m currently thinking about writing and to play it in the future. It was a lot of fun up there, and the location was awesome. I took some pictures of Chipmunks too. (They are like land-squirrels), while they were eating out of my hand.

Well, after a day, we arrived in Breckenridge (Indeed, the place where they recorded "Dumb and Dumber". You're so good to know that!). I got paired up with Eduardo (from Venezuela) as my roommate, and 2 people from a cameracrew (John and Dan) as housemates. We were all placed in the house of the family "Anderson". The family was: Rae (mom), Parker (son) and Sutton (daughter). They were just awesome. They brought us to every location every day.
Every night was a “party”-night. I mean:
Day 1: we all stayed in the Jacuzzi with some other families (that also hosted UWP-students) for a few hours.
Day 2: It was Fenna’s birthday, so her hostfamily came over (the hostfamilies all seem to know eachoter) and we all had a big Barbeque. Then we went over to her family to have some party in they’re basement, where we played pool, and I learned poker. (I kind of 30-folded my starting money)
Day 3: Again, spent a few hours in the Jacuzzi.
Day 4: I decided to change the name “Breckenridge” to “Party-city”.

Well, on day 5, we already left, which was too bad. I really enjoyed being there. The family is just awesome. Parker is a student in animation-movie-making and wants to travel around the world. I invited him to come to the Netherlands someday.

It’s just too-bad that we couldn’t have a “host-family-day” there, since I would have loved it.

Now, these days from a more “work”-perspective.

We went to our first CI (Community Impact) location on day 2. Together with Paulina, Linda, Eduardo and Catherine we painted the local “conference-room”, which is used for almost every important person, or so they said. They were really happy with the result.

The next day, I went to another school (elementary) where we, together with Russ, Jenny, Annika and Mitch cleaned up the look of the school, which involved:
Plucking weeds, painting benches, painting playing-objects and that kind of stuff. We had a lot of fun there, which included fooling around.

The day after was a show-day (Day 4), and we spent the whole day preparing for the show. I really enjoyed it, but it was a lot of work.
We also practiced the “Mexican-medley” a lot there, since it would be a few days before we left to go there.

The second show was a huge success, and it was almost 2 times as good as the first one. The people really enjoyed it and I was really happy that it worked out just fine.

My host family gave the show a 9 out of 10, which is not bad, considered this is the second show ever.
I also met the parents of Jordan (another student). They were really nice people, but since it was short, I didn’t get their contact-address. This is the third family (after Ben’s parents, the Cearleys and Zach’s family, the Murphys).
I really like how they are asking their kids to meet me. I feel like a celeb, but hey, it doesn’t get to my head, does it?

Well, you know, after the show I got to sign 3 autographs which felt really cool. People asking for that, most of them little kids.
I also interviewed a potential future UWP student. I think she will make a good chance. She’s from Ukraine and is very independent. Personally, I would recommend her.

The day after the showday was in a big room in an hotel, where we spent the rest of the day and night together. We had a lot of fun there, but waking up at 3 in the morning was a big pain in the ***.
We made it though, and I fell asleep in the bus again, with Ai as my bus-date. We arrived at the airport later on around 6 in the morning, where we left to Mexico. We traveled around the whole day, and after a few-hour-flight, which I almost slept through completely, we arrived in Mexico! Dread, was it hot!
Again, another bus-date, Lexi, and sleeping a lot again. After a while, we made a short stop to eat lunch and I bought some Mexican burrito’s. Man, where they good!

After a while we arrived in our final destination, La Paz, which felt as hot as hell! You sweat, even when you’re doing nothing with the air-conditioning on! Ah well, it’s worth it!

Now, I have Anthony A. (Staff member; light technician) as my roommate.

Today, we had a “rest”-day. I really needed that, since I almost didn’t get any sleep the last week.
My host-family exists of 2 people, which are in love and let us stay in their house. The girl is a teacher in “Law”, and the guy is her student. They are good people =)

I just finished my first few tequila’s, and I love it. It’s supposed to be a strong liquor, but it’s not that heavy, and I think I could drink a whole lot of it. I would love to drink more, but since I’m with a staff-member, it wouldn’t be such a good idea. And drinking enough booze to get a whole island drunk wouldn’t be such a good remembrance for my host-family here.

Since today is the birthday of the girl, we are going to have a party with her family later this evening. I’m looking forward to playing “Super Smash Brothers Brawl” with her brothers. I also hope I will have internet, to post this whole message (I’m typing this in Word) on my blog. Well, you will know when I had ;)

Let me conclude this whole message, since I just started on the 3^rd page on letter-size 11. This will probably be the longest post I made, ever, so This will bore you.

I still need to learn the lyrics for the “Mexican-Medley” of the show, since it’s very hard.

I'm sorry, again no pictures, since this is I can't upload my pictures at the current location, somehow... Sorry!

Byebye,

I miss you, family and friends,

Bubbayz!

It's true, what they say
You can't always go home
You can't always be warm inside.
That in love we're like orphans,
Strangers in paradise

Show and depart

2008-08-11T06:08:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was the day of our first show. We had a hell lot of fun!

The morning started with the dress-rehearsel, and there were quite some mistakes, but it doesn't matter! It was way fun!

Now, for the interesting part: the show was in the evening, and started at 3 o'clock. At 2 o'clock, the whole staff collected the cast, and we went to the "green room", which is the room where you chill out before and after the show as an artist.
There, we got to do some very intense things. For example; we got a speech, where we had to close our eyes. Our show manager, Gabe, started talking, and it got really emotional. It reminded you about the loved ones you left behind, and even though I got a good luck message from both my parents, I still felt a bit alone...
Matthew, a staff-member, started a tradition: He got a book, something like a diary, where you write a page in respect for another castmember. He wrote to Gwen from Switzerland, and now Gwen has the book, writing for someone else. (She really deserved it. She was the first person to open her heart to the complete cast, asking for help. That took some courage!)
But, there were good things too, it wasn't all emotional ;)
For example, we did some mood-setters. Yells. Fun games and stuff! Really cool, peeling potatoes and other things that were just good ice-breakers.

Well, the show:

The opening-song started, and I was playing the saxophone as expected. In fact, I got a solo, when a power-cable got unplugged, and the only sound in the whole room was the sax! It was so awkward and scary, but it got the dancers to finish their dance, and all was well in the end.
I don't want to brag, but I might have saved that moment...
Well, the rest of the show was just awesome. I got a feeling almost everything went well! The love medley was awesome to do (you know, the part with the comedy) and I got the feeling I was blazing fire from my sax during "Go-daddy-Oh".

In the song before the last song, our staffmembers came into the aisles of the audiance, carrying giant cardboards with texts like "Cast B, we love you", "You guys are great" and "Keep your eyes on the ball", almost the whole cast was ready to cry.
It was just so emotional... But it was a good emotional!

So, today was the last day with this host-family.
The Cearleys were awesome and I will never forget what they did for us. I had a good time here, and I certainly hope I will meet them again, later in my life. They are awesome!
Tomorrow is the day we are going to Breckonridge, west of Denver here. A 2 hour ride.

We will stay there for a week, before going to mexico.

Now I'm going to prepare myself.

Bubbayz!

too... much... to... tell...

2008-08-09T07:16:00.002+02:00

So, just as the title says: I just have way to much to tell, so this whole post might be a bit messy. I apologize right now for everything you don't understand later on in this post.

So, let's see. We've been in the new building for 2 or 3 days now. Tomorrow we have one run-through of the show, and after that: OUR FIRST PERFORMANCE!
Today was the day the whole cast met eachother exactly 4 weeks ago. And also, on 08-08-08, when the Olympics are being held in China, our last student has finally arrived. FROM CHINA!
Her name is "Grace", and I hope she will fit in the cast soon.

Let's see. The show. I think it's pretty sure what I will be doing. Even though more people learn the same roles for the show (so that they can rotate), I think I will be doing the next things.

Saxophone in the opening-song
Saxophone in a "rap"-kind of song
Saxophone in "Go Daddy-Oh", which is a swing song and awesome to play on sax
Saxophone in the ending song (Themesong: Up With People)
I will be "frontline" on "I can believe", which is a song, pretty much coming from the heart and charisma.
And the best part: I will probably in the Quartet (in the love song medley), which is the only comedy-style part of the whole show! I'm so happy to be in there.

Also, tomorrow is saturday. On monday, we will leave for our next destination. I'm a bit sad. I really like my current host-family. They are good people, and I will really miss them...
I feel like I still have so much to do with them...
Time is short!

Oh, a fun thing between the lines. We're here in Denver, which is located in a climate that is almost classified as "Desert", and we had a lot of sunny days. In fact, it only rained for 2 days this month, and both were just 5 minutes of almost no rain.
Today was different. After dinner, all of a sudden, it started to rain, storm and hail. My host-family was shocked by it. Appearently, this was not normal here in Denver. So, after 2 or 3 seconds staring at it, Ben, Zach and I took off our shoes, socks and shirts and we ran into it. It was just awesome. The rain felt so good, and even though there was hail, you almost couldn't feel it. Pictures were made, but I don't have them on my laptop yet. Coming soon!

Ben and Zach both got a piercing today. Ben through his ear, Zach through his lip.
I'm secretly thinking about getting a tattoo. You know, on the back of my hand, a tri-force or something like that. Would be cool.
I'll sleep a few nights, considering it.

And just one clairification: I had contact with my girlfriend today. She said that at home, everyone thinks life here is great and awesome, with no worries at all. (She didn't say that, but that's how I think you guys think about it).
Let me tell you, nothing is perfect. In fact, I've been crying a lot here. Leaving all of your loved ones behind at the same time is harsh. Okay, most of the time here it's fun, amazing and I'm learning a lot, but I just wanted to share the other side of the coin with you. I really miss my girlfriend, my family, my friends...
They are all really precious to me, and being away from there where your heart is, almost unable to communicate due to a difference in time is hard.
It's a reason for a man to cry his heart out once in a while...

Hmm... I think that's it. Maybe I forgot something...
Ah well, if I remember, I'll tell you next time. It wouldn't be that important if I can't remember it. =D

Bubbayz,
Love from Frederik
to my family,
friends,
and my amazing girlfriend Esther

Oye el boom, boom, boom, de mi corazón

2008-08-06T05:36:00.002+02:00

So, today was the last day in the Sherman Centre, the place where we've been going to for practice and where we've been all the time so far!
Tomorrow, we will be in a local highschool called "Teikyo Lerado Heights", where we will have our first show on saturday! Can you believe it? We haven't even been here for 3 weeks, and we're already getting ready for dress rehearsel!

So, on request: what is changing me?
This is a very interesting question, since the program is focused on teaching people and letting them grow. They want you to reflect on your own situation.
So far, I could name a few of the obvious things:
My dancing skills have inproved, my vocal skills have too. I have expanded my vocabulary of a lot of languages, including English and Spanish!

But there are a lot of "hidden" changes as well, which are less obvious, but are certainly there. They are, in my opinion, by far more interesting, for they are growth of the spirit and mind, not just of the brain:
- I understand why my mother always was talking about "comunication", and I am now getting used to do so more often then I used to.
- I am more confident and my self-esteem has grown.
- I realized just how much time can change. I get the feeling I know all the people here for years already. It also seems ages since I last saw my family and friends... On the other hand: it looks like I arrived here just yesterday. Everything still looks completely new and the in one or two weeks, I'll be in Mexico! Can you believe it? At that point, I'm already on 20% of my trip.
- These past few weeks in America helped me gain a few dreams: I want to make a movie or series someday. Also, I'm in love with the concept of "build-a-bear", and if I'm still when I get back home, I might take steps to make a dutch version.
- I respect hard work more then ever. I work her for 9 hours per day on 6 days a week (exception is Wednesday, which is 12 hours per day), and never before am I willing to do so. It's for a good cause, and that is good for personal growth.
- I have expanded my comfort zone very broadly! I don't know my limits at the moment, and everyday, I am growing.
- I started to respect things you don't like, for that is the main power of personal growth!

So, what about the title of this topic.

It is spanish for "my heart is going like 'boom, boom, boom'", which has 2 meanings for me:
1> I love my girlfriend. I truly do, and the thought about her does indeed let my heart beat a little faster than usual.
2> The excitement of the trip is truly an inspiring moment of the heart for me. I can't express it in words...

Sorry, no pictures today! I haven't made any interesting pictures the last few days, and they are not on my laptop either, so... maybe later!

I'm going to quit this long post now! I hope to hear from everyone soon!

Bubbayz,

love to Esther

day off

2008-08-04T05:43:00.002+02:00

I know I haven't been on a lot lately, sorry for that,
well, let me talk about it:

1> These last few days were killing me! They are tiring me out, and today was the first day in 3 weeks I could actually sleep in.
2> You guys should not get used to a daily update: When I'll be in the Philipines, or maybe even in some places in Mexico: there will be times I can't update for weeks! Just get used to it.
3> Last few days weren't interesting, okay..

So, about number 3: we did a few run-throughs of our show, we practiced the songs we already know. The only thing interesting of the last few days was that we are learning a Spanish medley! That one's actually quite fun!

Today was interesting though: I slept in till 10:40 (for the first time I can sleep later then 6:00 in the 3 weeks I'm here), and just when I was finally talking to my family for the first time in a week, I realized that we were going to a picknick in the park. I felt really bad about that, since I really wanted to talk to my girlfriend... I haven't talked to her in 2 weeks now... I miss her so much... It's killing me...

Well, we got to our picknick which was fun, since a few other castmates showed up. (Euhm... Jenny, Ai, SuengBom, Josh, Anthony and Eduardo) We went to fish some crawfish in the creek and we played some volleyball. None of them lasted very long, but it was fun to do!

After that, we went to go shopping. First thing we did was going to "Build-a-bear", which I consider a "hole in the market". You can make your own bear there! I made 2: one for me, one for my girlfriend. I called them "Freddy and Ezzie". Ezzie has a "I love you" sound in it, and has a ribbon. Freddy just has a bandana. I stuffed the bears, and added a heart in both of them (Everyone needs a heart, right).
I had a lot of fun there. My hostsister made a "pirate"-bear, which is really cool too!

After that, we went to some gatches-stores. I almost bought some "christmas presents" for the family when I get back, but I don't know for who I have to make a "surprise", so I can't actually buy something...

Well, that's about it. I really miss my home, and my girlfriend the most of all...

Now, here you go! 2 pictures: one of me and me bears, the other one is Zach in one of the stores we went to!

Bubbayz!

First CI project

2008-07-31T06:25:00.003+02:00

Okay, I haven't posted in a few days, since the last few days are very tiring, and even today is not a good moment, but I'm going to do it anyway...

So, 3 days, right?

Day 1: We talked a lot about stuff. Learning circles and Culture Shock stuff.
I think I'm in crisis-mode now, or maybe I'm just leaving it. Oh well, let's move to something more interesting:

Day 2: Yesterday, we had our first Community Impact Day! It was really awesome. Almost the whole cast went to the place where in 2002 was the biggest wildfire in all of Colorado's recorded history. Over there, we were doing a lot of stuff to restore the wild again, since it's still all to be restored. Of all the 1300 something acres that were destroyed, we managed to restore 5 acres, by planting trees, plucking threatening weeds and spreading grass all over the place. It's was so hard work, especially at this height (the altitude was killing me), but we managed to do it in a few hours. It felt so good after we finished!
When we got back, the president of UWP told us about his history with UWP and after that. Really interesting!

Day 3: today, not special. Okay, I was in a workshop today (I might be one of the singing quartet in the Love Medley) and the change is very big that I will be playing the saxophone in the show. But that's about all.
Ohyeah, we learned some Spanish today, in a spanish medley. That was cool though,

Ah well,

I'm tired, no special pictures anyway,

Okay, maybe a one:

Me looking like Chuck Norris!

I couldn't take my camera, but I got a few albums from other people,
enjoy!

Anika
Neele
Wichitra

Enjoy other people's pictures this time!
Bubbayz!

Borrorace in South Park =D

2008-07-28T05:59:00.004+02:00

Okay, today was just awesome!

We woke up at 5 in the morning, to leave for the borrorace (A borro is a crossbreed between a donkey and a horse) in South Park, yes indeed, the one from the series! It just so happens that my hostdad, hostbrothers and me were supposed to be one of the "checkpoints" for the race. (checkpoint 8).

So we drove the 4runner up to the mountain, that high that not even trees could live there, only some moss! It was just so cool, there was still snow up there, and we were about 5 kilometers in the air, on the highest pass in the whole rocky mountains "Musquito Pass".
(It got it's name because there was a musquito smashed in the book where they record all names and stuff, and not because there were 1000000000 musquito's on the way)

So, anyways, our checkpoint was located near an old mine, and there was still some wreckage all over the place, which made some great pictures! (I'm thinking about using those as visual aid in RPG's like D&D)
Also, since we were that high in the mountains, I got some great pictures of the mountains. It's really cool, but I can't upload them all, since there will be around 300 of those...

Instead, I will post a picture of me in south park, and... well, you'll see =D

WILD WATER RAFTING!!!

2008-07-27T05:46:00.005+02:00

Okay, first of all: a link to the pictures of yesterday (education, scavengerhunt and capital building)

So, over to other business:
Wild Water Rafting!

One word: Frigging Awesome!

We were waking up at 5 in the morning, which was bad, but after a 2,5 hour ride through the mountains (they were awesome! Beautifull!) we met with a few other UWP-people. After that, we got instructions about how to raft.

And then... on to the river!
We were dived in two groups!

This is my group,

See, I'm right behind Zach, and in front of Franziska and Birgit.
The other line was Gijs, Paulina, Jackie and the tour-guide!

Ohyeah, Ben actually fell out of the other boat!

In the end, most of us dove in the water for fun. It was very cool, the wahter was not cold or hot, just right!

Link to more pictures here

Tomorrow, pictures of the mountains, since we're going to see the burrow races, typical to Colorado!

Bubbayz!

About today

2008-07-26T05:10:00.002+02:00

Today was completely different from normal.
We started with morning-meating as usual, which was followed by "Education Training #2". Me and Cheryssa gave a short "workshop" to the rest of the cast, and I think it was pretty educational to us too. We learned a lot about how to teach little kids. Very good.

After that: HomeTeaming! Yeah!
We are hometeam 7 (I might have said that before), and we are just the most awesome team ever. We did some fun games to tighten the bonds between our team, and we keep up with a name:
The Dark Sprinkles, where "Dark" is prounced very Dark. Sprinkles is the complete opposite of that, and is said in the most cute voice you have.
Well, we have some "Team 7 Insiders" now, which is cool.

After THAT: Pizza for lunch and then a stroll around Denver with some people. We were doing this game which I forget the name of, where you have a list of questions and objectives you need to fullfill and that is only possible by going around Denver. It has been very cool. I liked it.

Well, after that: HOME
Man, my blisters have blisters.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow: We're going wild-water-rafting!

Well, I need my sleep, so I'm off now!
Pictures will be on the hold, sorry,

Bubbayz!

Moderate day

2008-07-25T07:38:00.003+02:00

Dread, today started soooo sloooow!
Before we had lunch, we had a 3 hour blocking-session, which took so much attention and patience, it seemed like 3 days!
Well, after that: just vocals and cast movement. (Singing and dancing)

So, next up: the interesting part of today.
Our host-family took us out to a stroll in Denver, which was really cool, since they took us out, and eventually, we went to see a movie: Mamma Mia, which I recommend to anyway who love "musical-movies". It was just awesome.

Here are some of the pictures we took on the stroll!

Oh, by the way: I just took out my strange-hair-thing. It just didn't feel right, but the Etheopian girls just kept pushing me. So, I did it, I'm done.

Bubbayz!

2 Days

2008-07-24T06:01:00.003+02:00

Man am I tired!

10 o' clock here, but it feels like 1 in the morning.
We talked about blocking today. That means: where does everyone get on and off the stage during the show. We did the whole show twice, so that took a lot of time.

Oh, just for the matter: every wednesday will be the long day!

About the "education"-thingie I talked about earlier: I got teamed up with Cheryssa, and we get to do an activity. We got this cool game, which is great for an "ice-breaker", and let everyone get to know eachother better. We got 10 minutes, and we think it will work. =)

Well, what can I say,
I feel really bad... I miss my girlfriend a lot... I don't know what to say, but it feels like I haven't seen her for months...
I love you, sweetheart,

Now, for something completely different, which also threw me out of my comfort zone:
Meron cornrowed my hair today, and I currently look like a hip-hip senior!

Look pictures!

Anyways:
Photo Albums:
21-22 July
23 July

Bubbayz!

Today, the 21st

2008-07-22T05:22:00.002+02:00

So, after having a good rest on Sunday, monday started early again.

What did we do?

The day started with a leadership-workshop. It compared people's definitions of leadership, and showed how different cultures descripe leadership. Very informative when you are learning about "Global Leadership", like we hare.

Next up was vocals, which I'd like to refer to as "Singing class", since all you do is sing.
I'm actually getting pretty good at Spanish songs!

After that, we were taught how to work in front of classes. You know, for when we are supposed to be teaching kids when we're on the road. I applied to help with the next "education", thingie they're about to do.
It might be a good training for when I want to do the "education coordinator"-internship.

Oh, I didn't tell about that, right?
In UWP, you have the possibility to follow certain internships. They allow you to work with a professional and it's good for your CV (A+ Rank). You are doing so much more when doing it, and it will pay off after the trip.
The two internships I'm interested in are "Education Coordinator" and "Show Manager". I will do my best to get both! (There are 3 periods in which you can apply for an internship).

After the kids' stuff, we had more dancing. We learned to dance to the spanish song we learned earlier, but I was taken away in the middle, to do some more "singing auditions" with some other guys. I hope that went good.

So, no pics today,

Oh, I've become a member on facebook.com I post ALL my pictures there, and I might put a link on this blog every once in a while. You can only see the pics when you are a member, but it's a lot easier than uploading every picture at a time.

Bubbayz!

Host family special 1 (Cearley's)

2008-07-21T07:32:00.004+02:00

So, short yesterday: I was kinda sad, for some reason, but half of the cast went to batman, and it was really cool.

Today: Today was the first Host-family day. So I will post pictures of my host family now:

So, these is my hostfamily:

Upper row:
Steve Cearley, my host dad,
Martha Cearly, my host mom,
Mogly, the younger host-dog (the older didn't want to be on the pic)
Cathy Cearly, my host sister,

Lower row:
Zach Murphy, my host-bro and fellow castmate
Ben Cearley, my other host-bro and fellow castmate.

So, Zach and I are guests at the family Cearley. They are really sweet people, and they have two dogs: Blue and Mogly. We have some great time together. We are in really good hands. I will miss these people when I have to leave in a few weeks...

Now, more pictures!

Just a normal day... or was it?

2008-07-19T07:03:00.002+02:00

Okay, today was actually the first "normal" day. Well, I did learn like, 7 songs and a new dance, but still: no workshops or meeting or whatever.

However, there was one thing that really touched me. Somewhere in vocal-session, Humberto, a Mexican guy, said I made his day. He heard that day that one of his friends in Mexico died, and he was pretty sad, but somehow, my positive attitude and energy helped him smile, and he thanked me for that.

That was the most important moment this trip, maybe. That made MY day.
No pictures today, I'm sorry.

I just wanted to say I was touched by Humberto's comment. I'll post a picture of us together together.

New days

2008-07-18T05:27:00.002+02:00

Today, we woke up earlier, because Ben wanted to try a different line on the lightrail. It worked, and we met some people from the cast on the rail, so that's pretty cool.

Today's day (after morning meeting);
- We had a "workshop" about "barcodes" which was about stereotypes and all that. Really cool to hear that almost everyone thinks about The Netherlands, like; "Sex", "Marihuana", "Hookers" and that kind of stuff. Tulps, wooden shoes and windmills were less populair choices! Really interesting.
- After that, we were told things about how to hold a journal, blog, make pictures about your journey and everything else that is used to memorize your trip. Really usefull and it gave me some cool ideas. Even some things that I can use to spice up this boring blog.
- Lunch,
- Then, our first Chorus meeting. Meaning: everyone was divided in groups (soprano, alto, tenor and bariton-base) (I was the latter). We learned 2 songs completely and one song halfway (I think).
- After a fifteen minute break we got to do dancing again, which was pretty easy and cool today, since it was almost only "freestyle". 3 new dances completed today! Yeah, we're rollin' baby!
- Some people (including me) were taken out of the dancing session to go to the basement. We had our first band-meeting there, but we didn't play yet.
- We were done.

- We had a lot of fun on the lightrail today, since, like, 11 students were all going on the same train. It was so funny, making irritating noises and stuff.
- We ate pizza today
- I need shaving cream and a razor.

- I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

- I uploaded all my pics to facebook.
Link 1
Link 2

I'm still working on the video's though, sorry for the delay!

Dancing, Lunch, Dancing, Talking, Dancing... owyeah, and Culture Jam

2008-07-17T06:36:00.004+02:00

Title says it,
see you later!

No, wait, lets just don't do that! I'll start at the top of today.

So, I woke up, took a shower, prepared and *speed forwards* when we finished morning meeting at the UWP "center", the modules started again. I only had dance modules left, so I changed clothes and prepared myself. Okay, I'm so happy nobody of you readers saw me, 'cause I looked like a baby-giraffe learning to walk... Man, that was dreadfull...

So, after that, I had, like 2 hours of free time, which I used playing random games with random people. Pretty funny, and it made me forget my horrible dancing for a bit.

Lunch was up next. I talked to two Japanese girls during the whole lunch, which was very difficult (since they are not the best English speakers in the cast), but it was really funny and I learned some Japanese and Japanese culture. (I will include a picture of the girls on the bottum)

So, after that, we all talked about how we should learn from other people's culture (which I actually did during lunch), which was kinda boring. I saw some people fall asleep, (but it wasn't THAT boring though...)

When we finished, we DIDN'T have fitness. (Hurray). Instead, we were thought how to dance (the Hurray was gone when I heard that). But it was kinda cool, actually. We learned the basics of our first dance which we will perform onstage.

So, diner after that, followed by Culture Jam. Culture Jam is, like, everybody on the cast may or may not perform something typical for their country. So me and the other Dutch people all sang our national anthem. (Pictures below again)

Oh, well: PICTURE TIME:

So, on one picture, you see me, with all the Dutch people, singin the national anthem and telling about our national colors.

On the other picture, it's me with the two Japanese girl I was having lunch with: Eriko and Ai. They are wearing their kimono's for Culture Jam here...

More next time, I'm tired now,
these long days are tiring me out... One day seems like... more days put in one!

Oh well, maybe I'll have some time Sunday, maybe I can upload a lot of pictures then.

See you next time,

Bubbayz!

(Post scriptum: this post has a delay because the video didn't want to upload. I'm sorry about that!)
(Post post scriptum: the answer to your homework was: "You don't look fat in that pants")

Second day: first auditions

2008-07-16T06:27:00.003+02:00

So, today started with newsflashes from all around the world. Kinda handy to know what's going on.
After that, we could talk to alumni, (people who traveled before us) to ask about their experiences and that kind of things. Really funny to talk to them, and to hear that the people you are in the room with, are going to be your best friends, ever. Period. (not all of them offcourse, but at least some of them)

So, after that, learning about the "Life experience cycle", which main point was to analyze things that happen, and analyze how you can learn from something.

After that was maybe the most important part of the day: modules. (They were like auditions, in my opinion). You had to do a few things (like singing, speaking) and they would judge you, to see who's going to do what during the show.
I hope I didn't screw up...
I only need to do the dancing audition tomorrow, and then, I have, like, a lot of free time (like, 2 hours). After that, we're going to talk again, and after that... the worst thing that could happen after dancing audition:

MORE THAN 2 HOURS FITNESS... STRAIGHT!

I'm not looking forward to that... I think I'll be dead by tomorrow-evening... Just give me some mental help there, okay?

So, picture time!

This is kinda like the group with who we talked to the alumni. (Excluding me)

The one at the bottom is my room mate, actually: Zach Murphy. The girl above him is teaching me Spanish. I'm pretty good at that actually.

I can say "no te ves gorda en esos pantalones". Now, you guys guess what that means :) That's your homework for today.

Bubbayz!

First activity day!

2008-07-15T05:22:00.002+02:00

So, today was our first activity! Wait, let me start at the beginning:

I woke up at six a clock in the morning, having to prepare for stuff and... you know, stuff.
Ben (Hostbrother and also an UWP-student) drove us to the lightrail. We took it, and walked the rest of the way to the building. Well, we arrived safe and sound and we started with "opening session" or something. You know, "today's announcements" and stuff.

Well, short break, and then we got all these cool games that were designed to break the ice and stop being embarresed.

Example: everyone was standing in a circle, and someone asked a question. If the answere on that question was Yes for you, than you had to run to the center of the circle and dance the robot. That kind of games. I really enjoyed that!

Next up was lunch, which we all needed. After that, "expectations" which was like, the rules of UWP and everything again, over again. People could answer questions and staff members answered them to you.

Last, but certainly not least: Fitness... For... 1,5... hour...
Man, it tore me appart, but somehow, I managed! Yeah, I'm cool! Really funny. The bad thing is: Wednesday, it's going to be, like 2 or 2,5 hours... Just great!

Oh well, we ate Quesedille, which is mexican food, made on an american grill. Host family is great!

Got a new picture though: everyone gathered during the break:

Welcome party!

2008-07-14T06:10:00.005+02:00

Hi there!
So, second post on the trip! Today was very exciting, since we got to meet, like, everyone on our group! I think we have a very cool group of interesting people! There was not a single soul in the room(s) that I didn't like, and I hope it will stay like that for a while :)

So, what did we do? Well, first, we went to one of Denver's theatres (see above image) where we got an introductionshow for everyone on our cast. Ex-participants of the program showed and sang some of the songs we are going to do as well. The UWP-president spoke to all of us and welcomed us all. We got introduced to the staff and some current participants told why they joined the program.

After the introductionprogram we got some kind of a meeting-reception. It was very cool, since we all got to meet eachother!

I really enjoyed those few hours, and I'm really forward to getting to know everyone better.
Right now, I'm going to prepare for tomorrow and then I'm going to sleep.

But first:
PICTURES! (I appologize: I can't flip some of the pictures. I'll find out how to do so soon!)

About the pics:
Grouppic: The complete cast, and flags of all participating countries in the background.
The girl: She's one of the ex-participants. She sang for us today and she has the most powerfull voice ever, even though she's blind.
The man: That's our president :)

Bubbayz!

Jetlag, Homefamily

2008-07-13T01:23:00.004+02:00

So, first post on the trip! Yeah!

Let's start at the beginning. On the morning of 11th July I left in Brussels at 11 AM. 9 hours later, I arrived in Chicago (Local time: 1 PM). The next plane should have left 2,5 hours later, but it didn't. We got, like, 1,5 hours delay, so we left at 5 PM in Chicago to go to Denver. 2,5 later, we arrived in Denver at 6,5 PM local time.

So, that was kinda roundabout for: I met my host family after being awake for 24 hours, at around 8 PM Denver time.

Okay, that's that. The flight was very cool. We traded a few places with random people on the plane, so almost all UWP-participants could sit close to eachter: very cool, very funny!

That's that. First thing I did was when we arrived was met my host family: family Cearley. My host-papa and mama are really cool. They have a daugther who also traveled with Up With People before, and now they're son is in our cast. (He's on the picture below too)

So, this are the three participants who are staying at my host-family. (fltr: Me (Frederik Derks), Zach Murphy, Ben Cearley).

We drove to their home almost immediately and I fell asleep like a block. I woke up at 3 AM in the morning (it would be 11 AM in Holland where I'm from), so I kinda had to force myself to sleep again.

Well, I kinda have this culture shock thingie now: I kinda expected kingsize meals everywhere (since my dad told me), so I kinda checked in the airports' Mc Donalds, but the quarter pounters are exactly the same. The difference is in the options: darn, way too much options. Where we have about 5 kinds of energy-drinks, here, they have houndred kinds of them! I already got my favourite: Mountain Dew.

Hmm... so, that's about it. My photocamera battery is dead at the moment but I'll upload some of the pictures I made soon. (Maybe tonight, if it all works out)

Yeah, I made it! + sponsorlist

2008-06-16T14:27:00.007+02:00

Updated: 22-06-'08 (19:53) (Updated sponsorlist)
Updated: 27-06-'08 (20:08) (Updated sponsorlist again)

It´s been a while since I last posted, I know. I´m very ashamed of that, but I had a lot of things to do last month. I´ve had my exams (And I graduated! Yeah!) and preparing for the tour is just eating my time! All by all, I have paid the full amount of money I needed, got my visa last week and now I'm completely ready to leave!

Also, I want to post a list of all my sponsors. A lot of people made it possible for me to leave, and now that I'm ready, I will post the entire list of sponsors so far.
There still are a few people with whom I'm still busy for sponsoring, but I will add them later.

Here is the list so far: (New ones included)

My Up with People experience is made possible thanks to:

Bieze Food Group, Nijkerk

Rotaryclub, Oosterwolde

Lionsclub, Oosterwolde

Derks & Derks b.v., Amersfoort

EFMI Business School, Leusden

Ecostyle, Appelscha

Mr Bert Hooghoudt

Mr Anton Dobbelaar

Mr E. de Graaf

Müller Transport, Holten

Starsock, Oisterwijk

Aannemersbedrijf J. de Jong, Oosterwolde

Wenneker Distilleries, Roosendaal

Els & Vincent v.d. Dungen, Oisterwijk

Fordgarage J. Hoogterp, Oosterwolde

Youri & Kenny Mars

Schoenmakerij H. Ypma, Oosterwolde

Celavita, Wezep

vden Bogaert Vastgoed, Cromvoirt

Willem & Daan vd Heijden

Drogisterij De Jong, Appelscha

Personal sponsors:

My parents, Fochteloo

My grandparents, Ravendswoud

My friends: Eduard, Martijn, Martijn, Rahoule, Ferdinand, Marcel, Niek, Koos, Willem, Sanne, Tim, Elizabeth, Olaf (Various places)

People from tha hood & stuff: Fam. Nijboer, Fam. Oosterloo, v. Borselen, Fam. Bonnema, Fam. vd Bosch, Fam. Cats, Fam. De Weerd, Jelle & Tsjikke, Taeke & Joke, Appie & Hennie, Fam. Ypma, Jan en Yvette and Phon.

Special thanks:

My aunt and uncle bought me a camera. Charlotte and Martin van Iersel, thanks a lot!

Well, I will update the list when needed!

Bubbayz!
(Ah, I missed saying that!)

Happy birthday to me!

2008-05-08T09:27:00.005+02:00

Yeah, it was my birthday last week.
I became 18 at the fourth of may! This means I'm old enough for the travel right now! One step closer to the adventure!

So, what's up with that? It means I got presents! People even bought me things from my wanted list, so I'm going to update the list in a few minutes. Untill then, this is what I got from the list:

A laptop (! I'm using it this very moment)
A keyholder with digital photos
A teddybear from my girlfriend (got it a few days ago, she's currently in Rome)
Well, I got a book, but I don't know if it's a góód book. (The horse whisperer)

Oh yeah, I also added a search engine to the blog. Maybe you could try it once? It just spares you a few clicks untill you are at the google website.

Bubbayz!

The clothes make the man

2008-04-30T10:53:00.002+02:00

So, clothes...

When you travel with Up With People you have a maximum amount of weight you may take with you. This amount is set to 20 kilograms. Within this 20 kilograms, you have to take the following clothes with you:

- A very high quality suit, for meeting presidents and important people,
- A good looking quality suit (or the same as the above) for when meeting the hostfamilies
- Normal clothes, like jeans and t-shirts
- Old clothes that may become dirty
- Old shoes for walking
- Black dancing shoes that go with the high quality suit, and for dancing on stage!

So you can understand, that's a lot to take with you! And that's just the clothes! How about the other stuff you have to take with you? Well, just make sure you stay within the set amount of weight, and you'll be fine. However, I want to take less with me, since I highly doubt there will be no opportunity to buy some souvenirs.

Well, so, what do I have already? ALL OF THEM!
Oh, wait, no, I don't have the dancing shoes, but I will buy them very soon!

That's it about clothes,
have a nice day!

So... Much... To... Tell...

2008-04-24T08:27:00.002+02:00

Okay, it's been a while since I posted here, and I'm a little ashamed of myself that I didn't post earlier, but so be it.

So, let me list some things that I did last week, which are connected to my journey:

- Got things from wanted list
- New sponsors
- Police assurence

First of all: I got something from my wanted list! Yeey! My girlfriend gave me a teddybear, which I can take with me! Aaaah, she's such a sweet girl :) Thank you!
Second: I got news from some sponsors! Yes! The sponsorlist is still growing! One of our neigbours wanted a sponsor-letter, so I gave him one. He would ask his partners if their company would sponsor me.
Also, the local Lions club said my presentation was as strong as iron! They will support me also!
Third: I am on my way to complete the Police assurence. I only need the government to sign it, and then that's finished also!

So, it's been pretty busy, and I had little time to post here. I hope you don't blame me, since it's not my fault. It's no-one's fault and all is right :)

Well,
Bubbayz!

Fund Raising Blooper? Nah...

2008-04-13T11:27:00.005+02:00

So, it's been three days since the last update, right? Well, I've been very busy! Exams are eating my time like cookies! Can you imagine?
And I still have to earn money! What to do, what to do?

And then, I had another opportunity! The yearly, local Play-Backshow (you know, a show where the whole village is pretending to sing othere people's songs) was coming up! Every year, the best three 'play-backers' get a small money-price! "Maybe I can use it to earn a little pocket money for my trip!", is what I thought...

So, I started practising... I decided to do 'lauwe pis' from Theo Maassen, since it also has some talking, which I very hard, and because of that: very good to score points!
And yesterday, the playbackshow took place. And, well, somehow I ended up winning the first price, hurray! But... sad but true, this year no money-price...

I still have my price: a playbackshow-cup, which is great off-course! Well, I guess I ran out off luck this time ;)

Now... think of another way to earn money...

Yup Yup

2008-04-08T19:19:00.002+02:00

Alrighty then!

I've kept silent a few days... Not that I didn't wanted to post here, but I had other priorities... Ah, well!

So, whats the news?

1> I am currently busy with my "Police Certifiate". You know, so that everyone knows I'm a good guy who doesn't run off with anybody's car. In Holland however, they take a verrrry long time, before this whole project is finished. I have to go to the community centre, than, send my (half filled in) documents to Brussels (where one of the Up With People headquarters is), then, fill in some more, send it to the Dutch government, fill in more again and THEN it's ready to be send to Denver. (The main headquarters)
2> I think I'm through my potential sponsors. I haven't heard anything from any sponsors in a few days now. I don't expect to be busy with it daily from now on, like before...
3> So, now I have to find other ways of fundraising. Things I'm thinking about:
- Sell stuff on a flee market
- Find a good paying job
- Give a party where people can pay money if they want (or if they want to drink or something... Don't know yet)
- Do the same thing, but now I play a movie on the wall with a beamer, and you can join me.
- Other stuff, any fun ideas?

So, that's most of the news now. Nothing much, I guess, but well... the trip didn't start yet, right?

So long!

Frederik

About today - a special day!

2008-04-05T20:38:00.003+02:00

Well, today was just awesome! I finally was able to meet some of the people I'm about to travel with! I was right, there ARE nice! A lot!

So, what happened? Well, like almost every other student, I came with my parents. Together, we drove to our destenation in the centre of Utrecht, which was a bit difficult to find, but we found it whatsoever.
We were the first to arrive (half an hour before the starting time, but hey, we came from afar and didn't want to be late), and I started, talking to the counseler I've only spoken to by email! She's a very nice lady, who helps me with all the preparetions.
And after a while, more students came dropping in. There were other Dutch students, like me, but also a few from Belgium and some Germans! Whoah! And, without exception, they're all very nice. We all started talking, and before we knew it, it was time to get started.

So, what we got was some kind of presentation about everything what, how, and when we are going to do! I already knew most of the things, but it was super to hear a lot of inspiring stories from ex-UWP'ers first-hand. You hear stories about authistic children who can barely remember any names for their whole life, but they do remember the name of a student! It was heart-touching.

Well, the presentation was a bit long (2 and a half hours), so after that, we all were very hungry. Naturally, we all started talking again, while eating lunch all-together. Very nice! And after that, people started to go home, and so did we.

Yeah, I liked it a lot!

But, there's more news today! I got a gift from two very special sponsors. They are two little, German boys who gave up their pocketmoney this week, to support me on my quest. I thank these two boys in particulary today.

Danke schön, Kenny und Youri!

Also, I got a request about whát I'm about to do... well, I was about to save that for cucumbertime, and nothing really special happend, but I will post it very soon! Expect a detailed summary (probably in parts, 'cause it is all very 'wide') next week!

I love you, dear readers!

Bubbayz!

Just some updates

2008-04-04T21:31:00.003+02:00

Yeah, well, I don't have anything impressive to say...

Oh, but I do! I got a new sponsor! Yeah! Very nice! Expect a new logo on the blog soon people!

And, another thing! AAARH! Tomorrow is when I will meet my partners in cri... travel! I'm verrrry excited, 'cause I don't have a clue about who I'm talking to on MSN at the moment... (I said before I think they are nice people, right?)

Anywayz, I already got a few people following this blog, and I haven't even left the country =P That's just crazy! I figured this whole blog might be a little interesting to follow, right, right? =)

That's all for today, I guess...

Cee Yuu Next Time!
Bubbayz!

Next Saturday...

2008-04-03T20:54:00.002+02:00

Hey there!

So, what's new? I can tell you! Next Saturday (that's two days from now), there will be a big meeting with most of the students I'm about to travel with (From Holland, Belgium, Germany and more!) in Utrecht! You can guess that I'm very excited to meet the people who have to keep me company for more than 5 months!

I have already had some contact with a few other Dutch people. There already is some kind of 'click', so I guess everything will be alright! Those eople are very nice :)

So, the meeting will be at 12:30. I don't know how long it will last, but I guess I'll be just in time to update this blog after that! (At least, I hope to be)

That's all that's new for today, folks!

Have a nice day!

Wanted-List update

2008-04-02T19:22:00.002+02:00

So, I made a decision! It would be a lot easier ánd betterlooking to place the wanted-list in the menu on the right! This way, it's much easier to add to, delete from or change the list!

I got a few replies already! Thanks, those might be some good tips! I added your ideas to the list!

Everybody, don't hold back to reply some more! Tips are always welcome!

Gotta go already...

Thnxbai

Wanted!

2008-04-01T19:02:00.002+02:00

"My birthday is just a month away already! What should I ask for?", was what I was wondering today. You know, I'm one of those people who wants a lot of nice, cool things!
Then I knew! "Let's ask a lot of usefull things this year"! For my journey to far away lands!

So I started thinking... What should I ask for? What would I defenitely need?

Some of the things I thought about:

- Laptop (with internet, to update this blog every now and then)
- USB-stick (to have access to a lot of needed data)
- Keycoard (they have those new digital keycoards, on which you can put a lot of photo's to move in a slideshow!)
- Money (Okay, very... unoriginal, but still usefull! I defenitely need (pocket-)money on my journey)
- Backpack (speaking for itself!)

Well, if you have some more tips... you can always post a reply! (You knew that, right?) I'd love to have tips for usefull things to travel with, that are fun to ask for your birthday!

Till next time! Bubbay!

Oh, and you have untied shoelaces! (April's fools day!)

Whoa! Big Fish!

2008-03-31T21:29:00.003+02:00

Updating yet again!

Today, I was calling with one of my potential sponsors, and guess what! I got a big fish!
Yeah! Biggest one yet! I'm so happy, I could jump a hole in the air! (If only I could...)

So, that's the most exciting news since yesterday. Also one of the preparations they asked me to do was record my voice and sing a song. I sang one song today, and I will post it here, eventually...
The song was "Get Rhythm"(I love to type that word) from "Johnny Cash"!

Well, gotta go!

Bubbayz!

Up-(to)-date!

2008-03-30T17:34:00.002+02:00

So, I'm updating again!

I figured that I should make a habit of posting frequently. That way, a blog will get interesting and people will start/keep reading all this! Hurray!

Time is passing by. I think I know how to use almost every possibility of this blog. I can hide previous posts, but then I thought, "Why should I delete that post again? It's also part of this blog, and it stays visible! Point!"

Well, nothing really commentworthy happened here. I'm still busy calling, e-mailing, visiting or some other way of contacting my sponsors. Seeking sponsors was a good thing! They keep me active, and they give me another motivation to do my best! I can't let them down, now that they entrust me to do a little good in the world!

Sponsors, I will do my best!
Readers, you should too! Do your best!

Bubbayz!

Learning how to use this blog

2008-03-27T17:08:00.000+01:00

Just like all of you might have seen, I am currently learning how to use this blog. This is the first time that I am going to use a weblog, so it's completely new for me.
Forgive me if not everything is looking good at the moment, I'm trying my hardest!

What this update is all about: I guess I just put up two logo's of some of my sponsors.

Yeey! Mission accomplished! Now, I have to figure out how to delete the previous post. It's like a scar on a 'to-be' perfect something... Ah, forget it! I will find out eventually!

Till next time!

Test

2008-03-12T16:27:00.001+01:00

Well, this is for testing if I can work with this!
Don't blame it on me if it doesn't work, mister personal computer

EDIT: So, it works