Portland was environment week (yey Kakay and Miss Adel, up to now you are my tag team for the environment!) and we watched Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth which was pretty good.

And just to make us aware also of how much waste we generate per week, each of us were given trash bags to carry around for three days. We were to throw our trash and excess food in the bag. This generated a variety of responses… some people didn’t like it, while some people really had fun with it. I was one of the people who tried to eat less so we won’t carry around that much trash. Food packaging in America is terrible. Layers upon layers of plastic!

People shared spoons, recycled water bottles , or tried to transfer their trash to other people (!) But it really was amazing to see how 68 people can contribute to soo much trash. We were also given the chance to take our carbon footprints — which basically translates to

“If all of the people in the world lived like the way you do/ use up natural resources the way you do, how many worlds are needed to support us?”

If people lived like me, we would need 3.5 worlds. Oh, I need to cut down on my waste. One of my castmates needed 12 worlds! Living in the Philippines gave me the edge because I don’t need to heat up the house.

Sorry for this being so late, but we’ve been so busy!

Eureka is located in the very northern part of California on the coast. We arrived on Monday after a trip through Redwood National Park. The bus stopped at a ranger station and gave us 3 hours to explore, so Rasmus from Denmark and I decided to find a trail and go for a hike. We ended up making our way about 4 miles through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. If you’ve never seen this part of the country, just picture 200+ foot tall trees with a width of up to 60 feet around at the trunk! These trees were absolutely massive…the trail went over, under, and even through some of them. We obviously took advantage of our surroundings and tried to take the most ridiculous pictures we could.

On Tuesday, we had Community Impact in Eureka. Our cast was involved with many projects, including; working with rehabilitation patients, helping out around an elderly home, city beautification, and a redwood park cleanup. I was apart of a group that did admissions work as well as a BTS (Backing Track Show) at Eureka High School. That afternoon, we did an education workshop on the topic of “values.” We broke up into our home team groups (small groups) of around 8 people and had a “values auction.” Each person had a sheet of paper with different options on it, such as…1. Having a loving spouse 2. Being physically attractive 3. Being famous 4. Having total financial security 5. Peace in your Country…etc. We had a $1000 budget for the activity, and had to allocate all the money into the 15 or so options on the sheet. We then had an auction in our group where the highest bidder would win the option. Some items went for the full budget of $1000, while others went for under $50. It made us think about our own personal values and which are really important to us.

Before we head to Europe for the next 6 weeks of our tour, we’d like to share some facts from the US leg of our tour. We’ve counted up numbers from our shows, community service projects, travel days and some just for fun!

55 The number of interviews completed by the admissions team after our shows
49 Community Impact Projects
3 Times that our bus has broken down
117 Up with People alumni that attended the receptions after the shows
64 bottles of gel that Gabe from Tucson has used on his hair (he denies this fact)
6,959 audience members at our shows
11 Pairs of pants in Tyrell from California’s suitcase (this is after he sent 7 pairs home!)
21 Days of Community Impact completed
5594 Miles driven on travel days
83 pounds, the weight of Christine from Connecticut’s suitcase
119 classrooms that we did the Stand for Peace Project in. (However, Matt from Colorado thinks this is the number of children that Ljuan from Macedonia has scared)
40 hours of promotion by the marketing team
61 student applications that were received after the shows by the admissions team
190 cups of coffee have been drunk by Peppe from Sweden
4448 dollars in merchandise we’ve sold
1463 The number of puzzle pieces the cast has cut out for our Stand for Peace Projects (although Lysan from Germany guessed this was the number of pounds the whole cast has gained!
114 Hours of setup and strike
3424 is the total number of hours of community service that our cast has completed!
*Jennie from Tucson said this is the number of bad jokes that Raine from Canada has told, while Stefan from Germany joked that this was actually the number of hairs that Jörn, our Cast Manager has lost!

Today we talked about how we want to be remembered. We closed our eyes … thought about where we see ourselves in 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 years from now … saw snapshot images of our future life… then listened to very appropriate mellow music as we wrote our own eulogies. I had to leave the room to help someone take care of something but was able to come back in for the last 5-10 minutes. It’s a funny thing, really, putting into words who you are and who you want to be. My eulogy didn’t turn out as a eulogy as much as a journal entry. Here is what I wrote:

“First of all I think it’s quite fitting how I am writing on the back of a sign-out sheet, like the world is trying to tell me to put myself back in the game … don’t sign out before you even begin or you’ll forget how to play. As my eyes were closed and I thought about how my life will be, there were no single significant people in my life, but groups of people… it was all memories of giving and learning what life is really about … no husband, no children … I saw images of a hammock swinging to a soft mountain breeze, little kids in rags jumping up and down, and me walking down a road shaking people’s hands… in that order. As I sat there listening to Scott’s words I thought to myself, ‘Who would I want to read my eulogy?’ Again, no one significant figure, but a person that quickly walked in and out of my life leaving me with a more concrete knowledge of who I am, what is important, and a memory of happiness. How is it that I am always brought back to them? Someone who doesn’t know me, someone I hardly know … but someone who I feel knows me better than anyone I’ve ever met… someone who I feel I can look into their soul and understand every little bit of it. Of everyone to read my eulogy I choose that person … a symbol of how I see the rest of my life. So how do I see the rest of my life? Breaking down stereotypes… not stereotypes of others, but stereotypes of my own.”

Stereotypes of my own… I sat there for another 2 minutes and couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. In this moment of reflection I realized that no matter how good or bad, it no longer matters to me how I am remembered. I realized that what is now important to me is what I have learned along the way, and that if I am genuine in my learning everything else will fall into place. It’s a scary feeling not to care, but when I closed my eyes and saw those snapshots of my life ahead a comfort overcame me. What I know in this moment is that whatever I endure in the future and whatever thoughts and beliefs of mine that change, I look forward to meeting that hammock, those kids, and quite literally, that road ahead.

On Friday, September 14th, thirty of our cast had a community impact AND regional learning trip to Sunset Beach State Park, here on the gorgeous Oregon coast. We met Stephanie, a knowledgeable park ranger who took us down to the cove beach of Cape Arago, where she taught us about some of the plants and wildlife that we encountered as we picked up trash along the shoreline. We want to share with you our Top Ten things we learned!

1. The Oregon coastline is made up of sand, rocks, and sandstone. The sandstone made Tyrell & Gina feel strong, because they could crumble it with their bare hands.

2. Seals (which we saw swimming offshore and chilling on the rocks at Simpson reef) can hold their breath underwater for 10-15 minutes.

3. There are 16 types of sharks that live off the Oregon coast. Suzanne was relieved we didn’t meet any.

4. We did see gray whales. They were close into shore and visible to us because they were feeding on the sediment that is stirred up around the reef.

5. The Oregon coast has four tides each day: high tide, low tide, a lower high tide, and a higher low tide.

6. A wrack line is debris, trash, and seaweed that washes up on the beach, and is left in a line when the tide recedes. We were picking up trash in the visible wrack lines at the edge of the water, and 75 feet from shore among the rocks & boulders.

7. A wave that is only four inches deep can lift a log that weighs five tons (or the majority of our show equipment!)

8. Ocean Fact: 10,000 semi-trailer-sized containers fall off container ships each year. Many of these containers open, and the spilled contents travels in the ocean currents and spreads out around the globe. Four million Legos that were dumped in the Atlantic Ocean in 1997 are making their way north through the Arctic Circle. They are predicted to arrive off the coast of Alaska by 2012 and on the Oregon coast by 2020.

9. A container of Nike shoes were dumped, and scientists found that the left shoes had a different migration pattern in the ocean current than the right shoes. The tennis shoes were still wearable even after traveling in the water for three years. Vanessa Graves was hoping to find some when she goes back to New Jersey.

10. We were warned to “Never turn your back on the ocean.” Oregon coast has “sneaker waves” that are very dangerous. They are waves that are much larger than the average waves washing into shore. Luckily, none of us were washed out to sea.
Oregon coast has four tides each day: high tide, low tide, a lower high tide, and a higher low tide.

After an overnight travel stop in Redding, CA, we arrived in Winston, Oregon on Tuesday afternoon. You wouldn’t believe the climate change we experienced from our drive out of Central California into Southern Oregon…It was actually a bit cold. I’m pretty sure you could have missed the town of Winston if you blinked to slow…we thought Corcoran was small, but Winston has a population of below 5,000. I will say that it is in one of the most beautiful parts of the Country I have ever seen. Lush green mountains and rolling hills everywhere you look! Upon arrival, we had a couple hours before host pickup; so our cast had a number of discussion groups we call, “hot topics.” We could choose between the discussions of capital punishment, euthanasia, abortion, and torture as a use for terrorist. We set some guidelines for these topics and basically just had a mature discussion regarding people’s views and opinions. I discussed abortion…It was interesting to hear the views of non-US citizens and how their cultures effected their views on what mostly seemed to be pro-choice vs. pro-life.

For host family allocation and pickup, I was excited to see my great group of roommates for the week. It was basically a “Man Fest,” with my cast manager Jorn from Germany, show manager Gabe from Tucson, Jeremiah from Wisconsin, Louis from Panama, and Jeremy from Montana. Our host parents Karl and Deb lived in the next town over from Winston, although only about a 5-minute drive. Their home was up in the mountains with 6 acres of land. They had 80 or so chickens, roosters, geese, ducks, rabbits, 3 cows, and 2 dogs. It was awesome, and such a relaxing home out in the “Boon docks” as they said. Wednesday was the start of what would be a busy week in Winston. Our CI activities began in the morning and I was a part of a group that attempted to build a float for the Winston Melon Festival Parade. They basically gave me a couple roles of chicken wire and some paper machee…I called my host dad Karl and he came to the park where we were to try and salvage what I had already built. That afternoon we got a special tour of “Wildlife Safari,” a wildlife preserve north of Winston. The preserve is home to everything from lions, bears, and hippos, to llamas, zebras, and giraffes. Wildlife Safari actually has one of the most successful cheetah rehabilitation programs in the world.

On Thursday and Friday we did a total of 3 “Stand for Peace” programs. My group of 3 was in a classroom of 7th, 4th, and 3rd graders at a number of schools in the Winston area. The kids had a great time and we were able to perform two BTS (backing track shows) for the schools. I really find our “Stand for Peace” program extremely relevant and effective for the students we work with. Having us work one on one with them in the classroom, and then being able to associate it with the show we perform in the afternoon, seems to make a lasting impact. That night we went for a swim in the river near our host families home. Our host dad had to stay back and finish some work, but he wanted us to be safe from any cougars or other animals…so I carried a massive machete and Jeremiah had a 22 pistol strapped to his leg. Needless to say we felt pretty tough. Even better, when we got back that night, our host dad let us shot his powder rifle. It was a replica of a civil war rifle that we had to pour powder into and then pound the bullet in. Definitely the loudest gun I have ever shot, and the spark and smoke were so awesome.

Friday afternoon was the beginning of the Winston Melon Festival, our main sponsor and the reason for UWP being brought to Winston. We helped out with concessions, our UWP booth, kids activities, anything that was needed. It’s a fairly small rural festival, but a lot of fun to be a part of. We arrived at the Melon Festival early Saturday morning for rehearsal, and then headed out for the Melon Festival Parade. We ven took home the trophy for judge’s choice! We spent the day at the Melon Festival doing more volunteer helphad our float, which ended up looking great, and the cast walking behind with international flags waving. We looped UWP music and performed “Keep the Beat” in front of the judges. We e with whatever was needed. I signed up to judge the ugly knee contest, but I ended up competing and took home the prize for sexiest knees at the Festival…One of my most coveted accomplishments to date. (*There were 6 people in the contest)

Our show that night was at 8:00 pm and we actually had a local band open up for us playing an hour set. The venue was out doors and a huge turnout for Winston with around 1,200 people in attendance. People brought their blankets and chairs and sat out on the grass lawn in front of the stage. It felt great to perform a show in the cool air and not have to be dripping with sweat like usual. Sunday was our free day and my host parents loaded us up in the car to go up to Crater Lake. It’s an ancient volcano that collapsed long ago and has formed a massive lake. It’s the deepest lake in the United States at just less than 2,000 feet in some spots. The most crystal clear blue water you have ever seen. On the way, we also visited some beautiful Oregon waterfalls. It was an incredible day to see the beauty of this area. Winston was another great city with so much to offer. Thanks again to my host parents Karl and Deb for all they did to make our stay so wonderful. I think that’s all for now, we’re off to Eureka, CA and the Great Redwood Forests of northern California…

Sorry for the lateness of this post! -_-;;;

The week in Portland, Oregon, the focus was on the environment issues across the world, making Cast B more aware of this world issue! One of their activities was that they have to carry their own garbage for 4 days. But today I would like to remember the cultural shocks that I had in Portland.

The first one was that my host family (7 members) had 14 computers and lap tops that they use regularly in the house, and we were tacking about environment. What an irony!

The other one is that the entire cast went to a community service project called Project Homeless Connect. An EXPO for HOMLESS PEOPLE. Wow only in USA! So that day, instead of going to an expo for energy sources or automobiles, computers or animals this time we were to help on an expo for homeless people. Besides my surprise of seeing an expo for people how life was on the street, it was very inspiring!

We were a catalyst and connection for the homeless and the activities that where prepare for theme! Activities like haircuts, optometrist, glasses, dental care, lunch, clothing, bicycles and hamlets, advice to get health care, a job and/or a place to live, even their was a station with a animal doctor to help for their mascots. Interesting how the society in many cultures is development even for the people how most need it! It was really great to see how Up with People and other organization can work together to make things like this possible. Good job Portland! And I want to thank you all the people who were there to make true this kind of projects. We are part of the chain of humanity, never forget that!

Hector Ramirez
Education Coordinator for Cast B 2007

A week in Corcoran. Most People don’t even know where that is. Well, just so you know, Corcoran is in the central valley just north of LA. It is this tiny little farm town that just so happens to be the home of the California State Prison. It has one major street with three street lights! That is all I knew of this stop on our tour until we got there… and this little city made a huge impact on us all.

As soon as we stepped off our bus we had our week cut out for us. What with the parade announcing our arrival and the 107F heat we began our week in Corcoran. All week, we experienced heat well above 100. We worked with the local schools doing Stand for Peace and Mini Shows. We also partnered with YMCA after school programs everyday, covering all ages from elementary through high school. We toured JG Boswell cotton Gin and picked tomatoes fresh off the vine. It was beautiful to stand in the endless acres of farmland enjoying fresh tomatoes.

The most impacting thing here, however, is the people. After working in the schools all day and with the YMCA after that. We really connected with the youth of this community, we became part of this community. Our show was sold out, everyone knew who we were, we couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized by someone. I can’t help but think we had an impact hope but I really wonder if they realize the impact they had on us!

This city was amazing and that’s an understatement. I will remember this city forever as one of my favorite stops on tour. In the words of my host sister, “We Heart Corcoran, California!”

It is Thursday today and the three days that passed in San Diego has been very interesting for me … Tuesday was a day full of speakers, and it was a welcome break from rehearsals and workshops that only involved people within the group. I needed variety. And Tuesday was truly one of them.

The City of San Diego is right beside the Mexican border, and the location makes it a hotspot for illegal settlers. Our morning started with Kathi Anderson, Executive Director of an organization called “Survivors of Torture International”. The non-profit deals with people who are victims of politically motivated torture or illegal immigration. some of the services they offer are healthcare, legal counsel, livelihood training and counseling. We also learned at how the staff dealing with the clients also undergo what they call a “vicarious trauma” due to their exposure to the sad and horrible stories of torture..

The next speaker was Pedro Rios, the Program Director of the American Friends Service Commitee. Their organization deals with the illegal immigrants who come into the United States — mostly those who cross the border from Mexico.

The border, aside from being a physical manifestation of the separation of Mexico and the US, also represents a site for human rights abuse.

After a promo show at the Seaport Village in San Diego, we were off again to another Regional Learning Activity at the Tijuana Estuary. The Tijuana Estuary is a wildlife preservation park (wetland) that runs along the border.

Soon, we were at at the border, looking over to Mexico. It was a weird feeling to see a very thin but powerful fence separating two countries. We got to talk to Sean Gisler, the Border Patrol officer on duty that day. According to him, due to the daily risks they face on the job. almost all officers are against amnesty for illegal immigrants. He also emphasized that 22% of those that cross illegally have criminal cases such as rape, robbery, substance abuse and smuggling. It was amazing how in the morning I was empathizing with the immigrants, and in the afternoon — I could also totally feel for the Border patrol officers and how they risk their safety preventing the illegal immigrants coming through.

Wednesday and Thursday were both Community Impact days and I decided to challenge myself and signed up to volunteer for the Southwest Keys Unaccompanied Minors Center. The organization helps young people who cross the border unaccompanied by their parents or guardians. They provide food, shelter, education — and everything else that every kid should have. At the Center, we painted the office walls and interacted with the kids a little bit.

I was amazed at how beautiful the place was — indeed incomparable to the rescue centers or orphanages that we have in the Philippines. The kids (15 residents only at a time) were well provided for and the stuff that they have available at the center are things that a normal Filipino child can only dream of! They had gardens and a basketball court. The buildings were air conditioned - with vending machines and bathtubs and carpets and computers. Two kids to a bedroom and each room had their own bathroom.

The kids mostly came from Central America — Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc.. ; and there was one guy from China. Most of them did not speak any English - so my conversations with them were full of “no comprende” !

Seeing them all there affected me a lot, and made me think hard : What prompted these kids to just risk their safety and cross the American border illegally? What will happen to them next? When they were all introducing themselves, I was just sitting there in awe and thinking about how many more people around the world may be chasing the American dream ?

I just fell silent then and there and wondered about how these kids’ lives were in their own countries.. were they happy? were they forced to cross the border? do they ever want to go home? Do they have any family?

It was a fascinating CI for me. I believe that I connected with the kids even with the very bad language barrier. “No intiende” but muchas impormasyon and realization.

Here are some processing questions that I’d like to reflect on , and maybe invite you to try it yourself..

1. Put yourself in the shoes of a torture victim. How are you feeling? Also be aware that you have somewhere to go or someone to talk to.
2. Put yourself in the shoes of one of the staff that works with torture victims. Do you think you may be able to handle it? What do you think will be the hardest part of it?
3. Put yourself in the shoes of an illegal immigrant? What drove you to leave your country? Was it fear? need? Loss of hope? Is it worth all the risk?
4. Imagine that you are a border patrol officer, working hard in the hot sun. Imagine the border patrol officers’ family waiting eagerly for him to come home at the end of the day.

Have a great day everyone!

Our facility for the week was Buena High School, the only high school in Sierra Vista and many kids here have a military family background. I think it is a gorgeous school, itlooks like a theme park as Hanna said, and there are many trophies by the Wall of Honor. I had some trouble finding the restrooms without my glasses, as all of them were numbered to a 4-digit code like a classroom!

We had a Community Impact Day in Sierra Vista! This is soooo exciting because I am going to a Juvenile Delinquency Center to interact with the teenagers there. Have long heard of JDC in the US, and I didn’t agree with Hector when he tried to explain to us that it is like a jail for young offenders. It is truly more like an education center than a detention center to me. These youth, aging between 8 to 17, are staying here from 2 weeks to some a year for burglaries, assaults, and other crimes. They have to stay in cells and there are 2 teachers here, teaching them a lot about citizenship and basics. We were there to give them a sense of peer fun and global citizenship awareness.

At the beginning everything was a little reserved, we talked a little about what is UWP and where we are from. I tried to break the ice and asked them where is China, a little Mexican boy shouted ‘the other side of the world!’ after a small silence. They asked Benjamine about the language in Belgium and asked Jörn about his Chinese T-shirt bought in Thailand. Glad to see the students started to laugh.

Then we introduced the stomp section in our show and brought them to the beats and finally to their feet. After half an hour we nearly completed the full first section of the show and I am so proud of the team!!!

Then we enjoyed the Cross the Line game, we talked about lying to a friend, marrying someone from another culture, HIV/AIDs, death penalty, freedom of speech, and they were all really interesting. I remember there was one like:

Would you kill a butterfly to win a one-week trip to Hawaii?

Would you kill a dog?

I knew about the pet culture in the states and I respect their connection with pet animals. So it was kind of a surprise how our opinions were diversified, regardless of our origins. Some people would choose to kill, just because a cat scratched him.
I switched when it turned into a cat because I really heard it’s not a pleasant and easy job to kill a cat, and I don’t want to go to Hawaii anyway. And it was really interesting to hear one of the youth mentioned we killed one of the 9 lives of a cat.

If you have the power to end world hunger by killing a random innocent person, would you do it?

It actually struck me that many of us chose not to. My answer was yes, since there are so many people dying for this great cause, with the greatest regret at their deaths that they are not able to put an end to it. It would be a great favor to these great fighters. And I am sure they would be willing to die for such a great cause, since many of us actually agreed we would be willing to sacrifice our own lives for it. On the other hand, there are thousands dying out of hunger each single day. If I could kill one person to save those millions, I simply kill less. It really is not smart nor benevolent to see millions die at the expense of your own cowardliness.

Then it started to get complicated into sort of a philosophy problem:

Would you kill 10, 50, 500, 5000, or 50000…?

I stood still at my yes side, but got a little frustrated at how the question was phrased. I believe there are thousands of people working at reducing world hunger, all good people, and they are DYING for it, without being able to put an end to it. So as long as it’s a measurable number this is a worthy thing to do, but there should not be a measure of how many people we are willing to sacrifice.

It was so interesting to discuss it with youths from a JDC, I was so glad to see that each one of them shared something with the whole group. And they were so respectful and insightful just as a normal group that I believe they will be great people once released. But of course there are times when they revealed some unusual thoughts, like one of them mentioned he would never marry because he has seen how wives treat their husbands, and another mentioned he would do whatever to go out of Arizona because he had stayed here for his whole life.

Then we had some more discussion on our home countries, I talked something about the Great Wall, and taught a greeting in Chinese. They are such wonderful group of people, and showed their passion for life, one of them also came to Matt for beat-box tricks. I had so much fun with them and got more hope that they can help make the world a better place.

Then in the afternoon I went to an elementary school to promote our show. They are such a talented and energetic group of kids, that they guessed I was from China at first sight, and one of them even named ‘ Sweet Chicken’ or something as a Chinese dish. I love this audience; they are all prospective UWP kids. Our promotion team was really smart to have this coloring contest in elementary schools, and the winners would get a free ticket as a prize.

At about 3 o’clock we went to The Mall at Sierra Vista, the only Mall in the city. We performed 2 mini shows and I stood at a table trying to sell our show tomorrow. We realized how important it is for the cast to promote the Up with People show.

I thought about going to Mexico on our free day, but host mom said our advance team actually told them not to take us across the border because some people may not be able to come back into the US because of their Visas.

Seems like border crossing is a big issue here. We talked about immigration, how the Apache tribe got angry and tried to drive whites out of the country. I had a debate with the host family since I see it the other way around. It was the white people who grew aggressive and ungrateful and even cruel at the beginning, while the Indians had a good reason to be unsatisfied. Then went to the borderless world and the Taiwan issue, and the Tian’an men incident at the transformation period. I gain insight every time talking with different people and truly developed my own understanding on it as well.

I hope tomorrow’s show will be another great success.