Gary was staying with some relatives in Rwanda while his mother was up in the mountains gorilla trekking. One evening, while Gary was with his relatives, gunshots were fired in the home. Gary explained that he spent the next two days hiding in the center of the home, away from windows and doors, where the family passed the time by watching movies. Eventually, the militia came to take his family to safety.
Meanwhile, his mother was up in the mountains when the genocide broke out, unaware that her children had been hiding in the midst of a massacre. When she finally heard the news of the genocide, she immediately tried to flee the country. His mother made it to a facility run by three nuns where she was able to contact her family. Gary explained that during that time, Belgians were not well liked by the Rwandan people, so his mother was very worried about finding a way out of the country. She was not sure if she would be safer to stay at with the nuns or to try and cross the border. With her Belgian passport hidden in her shoe, Gary's mother made it across the border with a fake Dutch passport and a large bill to bride the border patrol. Her mother found out later that the nuns who helped her were victims of the horrific genocide.
I can only image the feelings that Gary's mother felt as she was in the mountains wondering if her children were safe and if she would survive. Gary said that after living through that nightmare, his mother lives every day as if it is her last. I am very blessed to have had a chance to hear Gary's story, especially so early on in my journey. Gary's story has taught me to make the most out of each day of my travels and that each day is a gift where I am given chance to grow and learn.
The first week of staging was a very busy and eventful week. Our days begin at 8 as the cast arrives and catches up with one another. Each morning we have an all-cast meeting at 8:30 to go over the events of the day and any announcements. The rest of the day consists of either vocal rehearsals, cast movement rehearsals, or education workshops. During rehearsals, we have been learning the music and dances to some of the new songs in our show called Voices.
The second day of staging was devoted to auditions for dancing, singing, and speaking parts of the show. After the first round of auditions, students are called back and asked to work on specific dances or songs for further auditions. Throughout the rest of staging, students will continue to work on their specific dances and songs until eventually the final students are selected to perform the solos and dances for the show.
This week I was asked to learn several dances and a couple songs for the show. In order to learn the dances we have dance workshops. Friday, I danced in an 80's medley workshop and a hiphop dance workshop for two hours each. It was an extremely exhausting yet fun day. In addition to dance workshops, and cast movement rehearsals, because the Up with People program is intense and fast-paced, several times a week we have workout sessions. This week we had a 90 minute Zumba dance party, which the entire cast loved.
Our days end with a wrap-up meeting at 5:15 and we arrive home at 6 ready for dinner. The rest of the evening I spend with Bruce, Linda, and my host sisters Marloes and Linda. Several nights this week Marloes, Linda, and I went on a walk to visit some of my other cast mates in the neighborhood. We walked to a lake down the street to skip rocks and get to know each other.
My first week was a blast and I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the coming weeks!
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