This week was a particularly interesting week in that it was a week that kind of punched us in the gut that this magical journey that we were on was not going to last forever, and that in another 5 weeks’ time, we all were going to have to say goodbye to the family that we all had created within the past months. North Platte marked the last city on the US tour for us, and it also marked the end of the road for three of our castmates who had decided not to continue on to the Philippines with us. I can’t, of course, speak for everyone on our trip, but I personally wanted to put all of those thoughts out of my mind because we did have four good weeks of the tour left, and it would not be fair to the people of North Platte if we did not put our best foot forward and share with them our spirit.
This was also a special week, like the week we had in Arizona, since for one of our own, it was a homecoming. Laura Lynn grew up in this town, and for the past couple of weeks, she had been telling us stories about North Platte. One of her favorite things to talk about was the two-headed stuffed cow that was one of the tourist attractions there. One thing I have missed about being in UwP is the ways that people welcome us into their communities. In Tepic, we were pop stars who were center stage in a parade/fashion show inside a shopping mall, and now in North Platte we were rolling into town with a full police escort. When we got to our main meeting place and put all of our belongings in the hallway, and sat down, we were treated with a routine by the local cheerleading squad. A couple of months after getting off tour, it was a really hard adjustment for me not to have that kind of treatment every time I crossed over a city limits.
Ever since the industrial revolution settled in and changed the landscape of our globe, North Platte was a major hub for the American railroad system. Nearly every transnational train would have to pass through North Platte. And it is for that reason that a lot of American GIs would pass through North Platte on their way back from Europe after fighting in the Second World War. The citizens of North Platte knew they had to fill a need for the soldiers who had seen so much. So the citizens gathered together and made sure the the GIs passing through would have a warm meal and even warmer hospitality when they got off those trains. All of the GIs that passed through were treated to banquets and feasts that were thrown in their honor. It was the first home-cooked meal that they had had since they shipped out. This tradition lasted for years, and has come to be known as the Canteen.
For our regional learning, we watched a PBS documentary on the canteen, and to our surprise, all of our staff (and Laura Lynn) were dressed in WWII-era costumes and everyone from town made us a full-on feast, midwestern style. Never before have I seen that many casseroles of all different types laid out before me in delicious splendor like that. Apparently, in the Midwest, it shouldn’t be called a “pot luck,” it should be called “Corningware luck.” There was not a pot out there to be seen. But the food was excellent, and the music was even excellenter. I know that’s not a word, but I don’t really care right now. There was a piano in the gymnasium of the church where the cast gathered every day, and for the duration of the meal we were treated by the piano stylings of an older couple who could play just about any song we requested. It was great to gather a round the piano, and just let the good music and good company wash over you. It turned out that this little feast was UwP’s idea of giving the American students some semblance of Thanksgiving, since we were going to be in the Philippines for the holiday. For us it was always nice to have downtime and just talk to each other and to the local people, and share good food with good people.
I really loved the host family that I stayed with, especially my host dad who happened to have his own full-fledged karaoke system in his garage, with around 5,000 songs to chose from. I was like, are you serious right now? My host dad is as much of a karaoke freak as I am? One night, he invited me into his garage and we took turns singing our karaoke signatures. His specialty was ‘40s-era tunes like Mac the Knife and New York, New York. This was a really good opportunity for me to increase my repertoire and see what I could do within my range. We had so much fun that we decided to invite all of the host families to another Thanksgiving celebration at the American Legion Hall and have karaoke be the focal point. So, not only did I feel very karaoke’d, I felt extremely Thanksgivinged as well.
After that whole thing, it was time to go back home and get packed up for the medium bus ride to Denver for the flight to LAX, the 12-hour layover in the airport, and finally the 14-hour flight to Manila. This was the time for all of us to wrap up the US tour by writing down all the memories we had in the various cities. It’s so interesting when you look back on things like this knowing that you did so much in such a short period of time, and hearing other people sharing their stories just reinforced for me the idea that we were a family. You don’t travel 5 months with somebody and not form a really strong bond with them.
That’s why it was especially hard to say goodbye to 3 of our family members that weren’t going to be with us for the final leg of our journey. Gwen, from Switzerland whose light and energy inspired me every day on the tour; Cathrine, my language buddy who was just one of the most amazing people I had ever met, and Kirk who was so awesome to me the first part of the tour were all leaving us and going to go back to their lives.
It was especially hard for me to part with Gwen, because she and I had really nice bond that began when she finally got the knot out of my neck Breckenridge so that I could finally turn my head to the right, and continued throughout the tour. One of the last face-to-face exchanges we had was when she noticed my Up with People hat I was wearing.
“Oh my God!” Gwen exclaimed, “I wanted to by an Up with People cap for myself, but I never did it.”
“Well, it would mean a whole lot to me if you had my hat.” I said, getting a bit teary-eyed.
“We can trade. I’ll give you my Swiss flag hat, and you can give me your UwP hat, and then the next time we see each other, we’ll both be wearing each other’s hats.” That was the best idea I heard throughout the whole tour. So, we switched our hats, gave each other huge hugs, and said, “See you very soon.”
When it was time to pack up the bus and say goodbye to our host families, we prepared ourselves for the longest travel day on the whole tour...
