In order to get to Colorado Springs from Albuquerque, you have to pass through Denver, and for the cast, it was like visiting home. As we were whizzing along the highway, I saw the Lightrail stations that I would take every morning to go to the Sherman Center. And then I started thinking about the very beginning of the tour, and how far the cast had come since the days of 12-hour rehearsals, and how people who hadn't danced a day in their lives were thrust into intricate dance lines, and people who had never been on stage before being petrified about the first show. Now, 11 weeks, and 13 shows later, all of those once-amateur dancers can do every single dance routine forwards and backwards, and every stage shy person doesn't bat an eye when performing in front of 2,000 people. That is what is incredible about the UwP program: it takes you to the limits, and changes you forever.
Even though our tour schedule says, "Colorado Springs," we spent most of the week on Fort Carson, which is an Army post within the limits of Colorado Springs. It was a little city inisde a big city. Because of the international nature of our program, all of our host families were in Colorado City, and Jochem and I were hosted again for the third time, which was cool because we were so comfortable with each other. As soon as we walked through the door, our host parents talked to us about Xoçai Chocolate, which is a special kind of Belgian Chocolate that a square of only has, according to my Host Dad, "more antioxidants than 12 pounds of tomatoes." And after 5 minutes of being there, Jochem and I knew more than we ever thought possible about the Xoçai business, antioxidants, and how the chocolate had changed not only their lives, but the lives of their friends. I loved this host family, because it was the first, and most definitely last, time I would hear phrases such as: "You have to eat your chocolate before you go to bed," or, "Have as much chocolate as you want." My host family rocked. Their names: Dan and Esther Sallee, he was a chiropracter with his own massage therapy school, and she was a cosmetologist/massage therapist. When Jochem and I were there, he was about to close his school and his chiropractics business, and she was not taking any more clients because they were going in to the chocolate business full-time. Needless to say, I loved everything about this host family, other than the fact that they were Republicans. But hey, nobody's perfect, right?
I digress. In this particular city our contribution to the community was our Stand for Peace Program where we go into the elementary schools in the area and teach the students about diversity and choices they make when they're faced with conflict. It's a really awesome program. Each classroom has 2 to 3 people from at least two different countries, and so they get so much culture on top of the things that we try to touch upon. It was great in this city because my partners in crime were Crystal from Wisconsin, and the Sioux Nation, and Veronika from Sweden. Veronika and Chrystal taught the kids all kinds of Sioux and Swedish games. What was different about this city was that most of the kids had at least one parent in either Iraq or Afghanistan. There were some points in the program where we ask if anyone has questions, and some of the younger kids raised their hands and instead of asking something, they would say, "My Mommy's in Iraq," or "My Daddy's in Afghanistan." It just put the whole war thing in perspective. Since this isn't a political blog I won't go into everything, but I just hope that all of the soldiers from Ft. Carson come home safely.
One of the highlights of the week was that we went bowling at the bowling alley on the post, and it was super fun. For the first string, I decided to let the other people in my group bowl for me, and they ended up bowling a 100, and winning the game for me. The second string, I decided to bowl for myself, and I bowled an 11. I never realized how hard the sport of bowling really is. In my mind, I'm an awesome bowler, but in practice, my aim is all off. I think that if I had gone to that lane where the gutters are blocked off with foam padding, I might have bowled a 300. I'm just saying.
I don't know if it's because a lot of our cast members equate guest speaker time with nap time, or if it because of another reason, but it so happens that we don't have a lot of guest speakers on tour. This week was an exeption, because we had an economist come and speak to us about the economic theory behind globalization, how it works, and what the future of it is. After his speech, he answered some questions on that topic, but most of the questions we had pertained to the US financial crisis. So, it was thanks to him that I understand how everything works, and why it'll still be years before a bank will ever approve me for a credit card. This speaker was special because he happened to be our Cast Manager's 90-year-old grandfather. It was great to see a man of his years with a mind that was still razor-sharp.
The show in this city was really special in that it was dedicated to not only all of the military families on the post, but also to all of the troops that are giving their lives overseas. I was a little nervous about doing my spoken word pieces, especially the seond one, because it actually mentions the war. But my worries were totally unfounded because after the show, Martin, our Cast Manager came up to me and said that I did such a god job that one of the Generals on post wants to use the second poem as part of his training. That felt really awesome when I heard that.
That's what happened in Colorado Springs... stay tuned for (drumroll...) Salt Lake City!
Even though our tour schedule says, "Colorado Springs," we spent most of the week on Fort Carson, which is an Army post within the limits of Colorado Springs. It was a little city inisde a big city. Because of the international nature of our program, all of our host families were in Colorado City, and Jochem and I were hosted again for the third time, which was cool because we were so comfortable with each other. As soon as we walked through the door, our host parents talked to us about Xoçai Chocolate, which is a special kind of Belgian Chocolate that a square of only has, according to my Host Dad, "more antioxidants than 12 pounds of tomatoes." And after 5 minutes of being there, Jochem and I knew more than we ever thought possible about the Xoçai business, antioxidants, and how the chocolate had changed not only their lives, but the lives of their friends. I loved this host family, because it was the first, and most definitely last, time I would hear phrases such as: "You have to eat your chocolate before you go to bed," or, "Have as much chocolate as you want." My host family rocked. Their names: Dan and Esther Sallee, he was a chiropracter with his own massage therapy school, and she was a cosmetologist/massage therapist. When Jochem and I were there, he was about to close his school and his chiropractics business, and she was not taking any more clients because they were going in to the chocolate business full-time. Needless to say, I loved everything about this host family, other than the fact that they were Republicans. But hey, nobody's perfect, right?
I digress. In this particular city our contribution to the community was our Stand for Peace Program where we go into the elementary schools in the area and teach the students about diversity and choices they make when they're faced with conflict. It's a really awesome program. Each classroom has 2 to 3 people from at least two different countries, and so they get so much culture on top of the things that we try to touch upon. It was great in this city because my partners in crime were Crystal from Wisconsin, and the Sioux Nation, and Veronika from Sweden. Veronika and Chrystal taught the kids all kinds of Sioux and Swedish games. What was different about this city was that most of the kids had at least one parent in either Iraq or Afghanistan. There were some points in the program where we ask if anyone has questions, and some of the younger kids raised their hands and instead of asking something, they would say, "My Mommy's in Iraq," or "My Daddy's in Afghanistan." It just put the whole war thing in perspective. Since this isn't a political blog I won't go into everything, but I just hope that all of the soldiers from Ft. Carson come home safely.
One of the highlights of the week was that we went bowling at the bowling alley on the post, and it was super fun. For the first string, I decided to let the other people in my group bowl for me, and they ended up bowling a 100, and winning the game for me. The second string, I decided to bowl for myself, and I bowled an 11. I never realized how hard the sport of bowling really is. In my mind, I'm an awesome bowler, but in practice, my aim is all off. I think that if I had gone to that lane where the gutters are blocked off with foam padding, I might have bowled a 300. I'm just saying.
I don't know if it's because a lot of our cast members equate guest speaker time with nap time, or if it because of another reason, but it so happens that we don't have a lot of guest speakers on tour. This week was an exeption, because we had an economist come and speak to us about the economic theory behind globalization, how it works, and what the future of it is. After his speech, he answered some questions on that topic, but most of the questions we had pertained to the US financial crisis. So, it was thanks to him that I understand how everything works, and why it'll still be years before a bank will ever approve me for a credit card. This speaker was special because he happened to be our Cast Manager's 90-year-old grandfather. It was great to see a man of his years with a mind that was still razor-sharp.
The show in this city was really special in that it was dedicated to not only all of the military families on the post, but also to all of the troops that are giving their lives overseas. I was a little nervous about doing my spoken word pieces, especially the seond one, because it actually mentions the war. But my worries were totally unfounded because after the show, Martin, our Cast Manager came up to me and said that I did such a god job that one of the Generals on post wants to use the second poem as part of his training. That felt really awesome when I heard that.
That's what happened in Colorado Springs... stay tuned for (drumroll...) Salt Lake City!
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