Today, the 21st

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)

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?

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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...

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...

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

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!

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

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...

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

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!

"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!)