Setting Sail

From Newburyport we drove to Salem, Massachusetts-famous for the Salem witch trials.  We had about two hours to go exploring around the city on our own.  For some reason, I expected at least some of Salem to look like it did in the 1700's with old wooden houses and open fields.  Much to my disappointment, it looked like a regular modern-day city.  However, we did come across a witch on the street!

After exploring Salem, we headed to Hamilton/Wenham where we had the opportunity to meet General George Patton's daughter-in-law who now lives in Hamilton.  It was so special to hear what life was like for her as a member of a celebrated army family.  She was thrilled that we were in town and she was so grateful for the work that we would be doing throughout the week.  Hamilton/Wenham  was so excited for us to be in town that almost every cast member was housed alone because everyone wanted to host us.  It's such a special feeling to arrive into a town and be so graciously welcomed.  This week I lived with Ian, Carey, and her two children- Ella who is 16 and Cooper who is 14.

Schools have finally begun in Massachusetts and Tuesday was our first time to go into the schools and work with the children.  Instead of our usual community impact projects, this week was spent in the schools.  I worked in an elementary school on Tuesday in a fourth and fifth grade class where we facilitated an activity called personal flags.  The purpose of the activity was to give the class a chance to design a flag that represents them.  At the end of the class, we put all the flags together making one large flag that represents the entire class.  It was so great to spend time in the classroom and interact with the kids.  At the end of the day, some of the kids were having a hard time letting us leave.

Wednesday we performed three 40 minute shows in the morning for the entire middle school and high school.  It was an exhausting morning, but the middle and high schoolers loved our mini show and it was a good way to promote our two full shows at the end of the week.  Later in the afternoon I worked on preparations for Concord next week.  Some of the cast will be facilitating anti-bullying workshops in the Concord schools.

I had the opportunity to work in the high school on Thursday.  With high school students we facilitated an activity that revolved around values.  We had a "values auction" where students try to outbid one another on certain values.  The purpose of the activity was to get the students to commit to their values and to help them realize that if they feel strongly enough about certain values they are worth fighting for.  I was really surprised at how engaged and participative most of the students were when we were working with them.

This week our two shows were in the high school gymnasium.  We built a stage on one end of the gym and set up our usual equipment.  Friday night was a sold out show of 1000+ and the audience was full of energy.  People were standing up and dancing and singing with us through most of the show.  Because our performance was in the gym, it was incredibly hot.  One song in and we were all sweating uncontrollably.  By intermission you could not tell if I was sweating or had just gotten out of the shower and forgot to dry off.  But despite the unbearable heat, the energy from the audience made our shows in Hamilton the most fun performances yet.

Sunday was our host family day so we started off the morning by going on a walk through the woods.  We never had a dull moment together and we always found something to talk about or laugh about.

After our morning walk, we all headed to an apple orchard for some old fashion apple pickin'.  Many other host families had a similar idea, so it was fun to see cast mates and their host families also picking apples.  Ella, Cooper, and I had a great time running up and down the rows of apples trying all the different types.  After tasting eight different apples, we about had our fill of apples for the week.  One of the highlights of the orchard was the apple cider donuts, which basically tasted like heaven fried in oil.  After the orchard we headed back home for a mid afternoon snack.

Ian loves to sail so Carey and Ian took me sailboating in the afternoon.  Sailing has been on the top of my bucket list for many years so I was incredibly excited not only to be on a sailboat, but learn how to sail.  Before we set sail, we stopped in the yacht club to get a nice adult beverage for our sail.  Once we were on board, Ian immediately began teaching me about the parts of the boat.  We started untying tons of ropes that served some purpose for sailing and then we raised the main sail on the mast.  The main sail is the larger sail that is attached to the mast and the boom, the perpendicular pole to the mast and extends the foot of the sail.  We then raised the jib, which is the smaller sail in front of the main sail.

We untied the boat and off we sailed.  We had about a nine mile an hour wind, which helped us sail at a steady pace.  As we began, the wind caught the sails and the boat tilted to about 45 degrees as we moved through the water.  At first, I was a little worried that I was eventually going to be swimming home if the boat did not stop tilting.  However, Ian explained to me that there is a 1000 pound keel on the bottom of the boat that counteracts the sideways movements of the boat.  Ian eventually showed me how to steer the boat with the tiller, which is a long handle connected to the rudder.  

We sailed around the harbor for about an hour and I can assure you I had the largest smile on my face the entire time.  

It was very difficult to say goodbye to Ian, Carey, Ella, and Cooper because I grew very close with the family throughout the week.  The reason Up With People had the opportunity to come to Hamilton/Wenham was because Carey saw a show when she was in school and remembered how much she enjoyed her experience.  She decided to call the Up With People office in Denver three years ago and she has been working ever since to bring us to her community.  We spent every available minute talking, laughing, or just being together.  I am so blessed to have lived with them for the week and they truly made me feel like part of their family.  Staying in different host families has allowed me to think about what kind of family I would like to have someday.  After this week, I know I want to have a family that is as incredible, loving, and as fun as the Nielsen family.