A Week in Paradise

We headed to the airport at 4:00am for our flight to the Philippines.  Two hours later, we landed in Manila and headed to the domestic airport where we had to remove 15 kilograms from our suitcases.  Because our domestic flight to Puerto Princesa was on a smaller plane, we were only allowed to take 15 kilograms onto the plane.  I threw all the clothes that I did not need into a trash bag and we left it for the week.  I was on the first flight to Puerto Princesa, which took 45 minutes.  Once we left the airport, I immediately felt the overwhelming heat hit me.  You could feel the ocean breeze and the humidity in the air.

Once the cast was back together we received our host families.  I was roomed with Jon, our pianist from Colorado, Fernada, from Mexico, and Teresa, from Germany.  We also lived with Nikka, who was the promotional representative that set up the city.  We stayed in a home with Mama Lorna, papa, and our host brother and sister Mark and Karen, who were our age.  We lived in a neighborhood where everyone was hosting UWP students, so we would get to spend a lot of time together throughout the week.

After sweating all day from the immense heat, I got to take a bucket shower in our house.  The bucket shower consisted of pouring cold water on yourself using a scoop, which is actually quite refreshing.  The worst part of the shower was pouring the cold water on your back and feeling the chills run down your entire spine.

Tuesday morning was our regional learning day where we got to spend the day in paradise.  We took a two hour bus ride to spend the day at the beach and visit the underground river, which has just been voted as the 7th Wonder of Nature.

Once we had lunch, a group of us took a boat to the underground river for a tour.  We passed beautiful mountains with the tops covered by clouds and massive rock walls with vegetation growing in breathtaking patterns.  After arriving to the area, we walked through the jungle with tropical plants and monkeys swinging from the trees until we came to this clearing that looked like a picture from a postcard.  We had arrived to the end of the underground river where the fresh water leaves the caves and meets the sea.

Next, we hopped into a boat and made our way into the underground river, which consisted of a series of caves and caverns that takes four hours by boat to get to the beginning of the river.  On our 45 minute tour through the caves, we saw all the marble and limestone structures.  As we paddled through the caves, some areas opened up into huge cathedral-like structures several hundred feet high.

After exploring the underground river, we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the ocean, which felt like being in a warm bathtub.  We were surrounded by the beautiful mountains covered by a breathtaking fog where beams of light were peaking through the clouds illuminating the trees below.  I spent most of my time in the ocean gazing at the beauty surrounding me and thinking about how lucky I am to witness such beauty.

That evening our host family took us to the birthday party of a priest in the village.  We arrived to a huge buffet with delicious food.  After we had eaten, some people handed us a microphone, and when you hand uppies a microphone, we sing.  We ended up singing and dancing for everyone at the party and they could not stop laughing at how much fun we were all having.  It was definitely a fun way to end such a relaxing day.

Wednesday was our community impact day where I had the opportunity to visit a school in the jungle.  About 35 students took jeepneys two hours through the mountains in the jungle to the coast.  A jeepney is a mode of transportation similar to a van with seats on either side of the vehicle.  We crammed 15 students into our jeepney and enjoyed a cozy and bumpy ride through the beautiful mountains.
Once we arrived at the school, the children were waiting at the gate with welcome signs and beaming smiles on their faces.  The students at the school come from very poor families that live in the area and the children have never been outside of their village.

We began the morning with a welcoming ceremony where some of the children sang and danced for us.  We then divided into three groups- one to set up a new library, one to paint a mural, and one to play with the children.  I spent the morning playing games with the children and having the time of my life.  I have never been good at crazy interactive games with children.  I love interacting with the children, but I always have a hard time just letting go and having fun.  However, for the first time, I was not worried about making a fool of myself because all I wanted to do was make the kids laugh and have fun.  I had a smile on my face the entire morning because I was so happy to see the children having fun.

After playing games for 90 minutes, we got to give the children gifts that had been donated by the Rotary club.  We handed each child a colorful notebook, a pencil, and a pencil sharpener.  The children were so thrilled to receive their first gift of the day.

Once the children received their gift, we got to choose two students to help us plant trees.  My two students took me by the hand and led me to a spot behind the school where two little plants were waiting to be planted.  Once I helped the children plant their trees, I heard music, so I danced with my students.  The kids were hesitant at first, but once I just went crazy, they joined me and we laughed and laughed.

After planting the trees, we headed back to the front of the school to give the children a new pair of sandals.  Some of the students did not have shoes to wear before we had arrived, but each child now had a new colorful pair of shoes to wear to school.  I continued dancing with one of my students and tossed him in the air.  Seeing the little boy so happy made me forget all the poverty I had been experiencing and helped me remember what it means to be happy.  I wanted to spend all day swinging the boy around in my arms, but it was time to move on to our next activity.

The school is located near a beach, so for lunch, we headed down to the beach with the children.  As we walked over the hill onto the beach, I felt like time had stopped and I was in a dream.  I thought the kind of beauty that was before my eyes could only be seen in dreams, but there I was in paradise with the most precious children.  I had to take a few minutes to myself and walk along the beach to reflect on how thankful I was to have such a blessed experience.

Once we had lunch all the children ran into the ocean to swim.  The cast was unaware that we would have the chance to swim again, so none of us brought proper swimming attire.  However, it did not matter because we all ran into the ocean after the children in our jeans, shorts, and shirts.  We spent the next 90 minutes swimming with the children and they loved having us join them in the ocean.  Every UWP student had two or three children hanging on each arm and around their neck.  They used us as launch pads to climb on our shoulders and jump into the water.  Two little boys clung onto me and I threw them into the water and twirled them around as fast as I could.  Near the end of our time in the water I held the two boys, one on each side, and sang to them.  I closed my eyes so I could remember this moment for the rest of my life.

We got out of the ocean and headed to the shore to give the children one more gift.  Most of the children did not know how to brush their teeth, so we taught them how to brush and gave them new tooth brushes and tooth paste.  The children and their families were so excited to be able to brush their teeth and they thought it looked like fun.

It was hard saying goodbye to the children.  I gave the little boy that I danced with a big hug and it was hard to let him go.  It was so incredible to spend time playing with the children, but I know that I am the fortunate one who has changed because of the impact those children had on me.  I had been hoping for a humbling experience for several weeks now and spending the day with those children brought me such joy and humility.  I was praying for a humbling experience because I sometimes get so consumed in the life I live that I forget about what truly makes me happy in life.  And surrounding myself with some of my closest friends and the most beautiful children reminded me that what makes me happiest is seeing those around me happy.

That evening Ate Karen and Cuyo Mark, which means older sister and brother, took me, Teresa, Jon, and Fernanda to the boardwalk to meet a bunch of other uppies for a special Philippino delicacy.  Karen and Mark were so excited to introduce us to balut, which is a fertilized duck egg.  I had mentally been preparing myself to try balut ever since we left the United States, but when the time actually came, I freaked out a little bit.

We got to the boardwalk and Karen went to find a man selling balut.  Karen explained to us that we could just swallow the egg, but when she came back with the eggs, they were way to large to even attempt to swallow them.  It was then that I began to panic.

I watched several other cast mates eat the balut and watching their faces did not put me at ease for my turn.  I was gagging just thinking about putting a baby duck in my mouth and eating it.  However, Karen brought my manhood into the experience and said "in order to be a man, you must eat balut."  So it was time for me to man up and go for it.

I took an egg, which was still warm from being boiled and I cracked the top of the egg.  Before you eat the egg, you have to suck the juice out.  Danny from Mexico, Max from Germany, and I cheered to our manhood and drank the juice.  I had a rather difficult time not gagging, but I kept going.  Next I peeled off the shell to find a large bird like creature with what appeared to be veins covering the bird.  Karen said that our ducks were 17 days old, which to me means that I was about to eat a straight up baby duck.  I took a deep breath, dipped the egg in salt, closed my eyes, and took a bite.

I was surprised to find that it was not as bad as I had expected.  It was rather chewy, but, thankfully, it still tasted like I was eating a hard boiled egg.  It was all mind over matter and I eventually earned my manhood by finishing the whole egg.

With a new pep in my step, all of us headed to a tiki bar to celebrate our vocal instructor, John's, birthday.  We arrived and the majority of the cast was already there celebrating.  One thing I have learned about our groups is that anytime more than 10 of us are together, we tend to take over places, and that is what we did at the bar.  We heard live music playing on stage, so it did not take us more than a few seconds to decide that we needed to be on the stage dancing.  We ended up singing and dancing all night long and it was a great way to end such a treasured day.

Thursday was an internal day for the cast.  During the morning, I was in a dance workshop where I learned one of the Mexican dances for our Mexican medley in the show.  During the afternoon, we had a couple education workshops and talked about how we are doing as a cast.  It can be difficult sometimes traveling with 100 people for six months, so it's always nice to be able to talk as a cast and understand how we are all feeling.  Having time to talk together always brings us closer as a cast and makes us stronger.

Friday was show day in Puerto Princesa and our performance was a birthday gift for the beloved mayor of the city and he was also our sponsor.  We rehearsed all morning and afternoon and were supposed to perform at 7pm.  However, our show did not end up starting until 8pm because the Philippino people are not so time conscious as we are in the United States...and living in such a beautiful paradise, I wouldn't worry about time either.  We ended up performing for 4500 people who loved the show and wanted to take so many pictures with us afterwards.  My host family brought me a special gift that they had made for me.  It was a shirt that had my name in big letters on the front.  Below my name was a huge heart followed by their last name.  The back of the shirt said the slogan of the Philippines-"everything is more fun in the Philippines."  The gift was a sign that I had become part of their family and it was so special to know that I had become their brother in such a short time.

The Heredero family will always have a special place in my heart because of the kindness, generosity, and love that they showed me during my short week with them.  It was extremely difficult to give them one final hug and say goodbye, but I took comfort in knowing that I would come back to the Philippines to see them all once again.  They are a special family and I will make plans to visit them again someday.  I took away from them a better understanding of what it means to give of yourself and to love and welcome a stranger into your family

From Rural Taiwan to Urban Taipei

From Erlin, the cast headed to Taipei located three hours north on the coast.  We arrived in time for lunch, but then some of the cast left to go rehearse for a special celebration performance for the Taiwanese Independence Day.  Up With People had been invited to perform for 8000 people in a massive arena for the 10/10 celebration in which the president of Taiwan would be in attendance. Additionally, this celebration was filmed and shown on national television across the country as well as to any Taiwanese people abroad.  I was already incredibly excited to perform  for such a large audience on national tv, but once I walked into the arena, which holds 20,000 people, I lost my breath and could not believe where I was.  The arena was so large that I could barely see the seats at the top. The stage was massive and looked like it was made for a professional performance.  We were only allowed to perform for 10 minutes, so we only performed four of our songs that highlighted our diversity and international aspect of the organization. Because this was such a large performance for the country and we were one of many other performance groups, we were only allowed to rehearse on the stage for 30 minutes. 

That evening, we met our host families.  Back in Denver during staging, one of my roommates was Linda from Taiwan, who is a promotional representative and sets up the cities before we arrive.  During my week in Taiwan, I had the chance to stay with Linda's cousins.  My roommate for the week was one of my closest friends, Miguel, our dance captain from Tucson, Arizona.  Two girls, Kelli, one of our education coordinators, and Vera, from the Netherlands lived with another cousin of Linda's and they lived in the same building. 

Because Taipei is so large, most of the housing in the city are small apartments.  Our host family lived in a nice cozy apartment and Miguel and I shared a room where we slept on the floor on top of a comforter.  

Tuesday morning we had to be at the Taipei Arena very early to prepare for our performance that afternoon. Our performance was live for the president and 8000 people, but it was taped to be shown the following day during the actual celebration.  When we arrived, we immediately began rehearsing our songs until we were called to the stage for a final dress rehearsal.  Once we had our final run-through on stage we immediately went back to rehearsing in our assigned room. We fixed every small detail from our hand positions to our facial expressions since this performance was first and foremost a television performance and the camera would be right in our faces at any given moment. 

At 2:30 we began getting ready for the show and took time to silently prepare mentally and physically.  The silence allowed me to process the special opportunity that I have been given and prepare to give my all during the 10 minute show.  

By 3:00 it was time to head back stage to wait for our turn.  I can remember standing back stage and looking out behind the curtains at the endless sea of people and being excited to show the audience who we are as Up With People. As I stood on the steps waiting to run out on stage all I could think about was how blessed I am to be a part of Up With People and fortunate to have such special experiences. My heart was racing and I was not sure if my legs would allow me to even run on stage. Then, I heard our music play and I ran to my spot with the biggest smile on my face. I was extremely nervous until I heard a familiar sound in the audience. It was the cheers of excitement from the rest of the cast in the audience. Once I heard those screams, all I wanted to do was make my cast mates proud of me. Suddenly, I was no longer performing for 8000 people on national television, I was performing for my closest friends.  

For this performance, I danced in a gypsy dance, which is a physically exhausting, high energy, flirtatious gypsy party dance.  I gave it my all and took in every moment on that stage until my final pose where I was dripping with sweat and trying to catch my breath. 

Once our performance ended, we could barely contain our excitement.  We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching the other performers from a monitor backstage. Just when we thought our day was about over, we heard word that the President of Taiwan wanted to meet us and take a photo with us. We were running around our dressing room trying to get ready to meet the president and look our best in our show costumes and international costumes.  We all got into our usual Up With People pose, which consists of levels allowing for 100 of us to quickly pose for pictures. You'd be surprised how good we are at taking group pictures these days.  Once we took our positions, the president walked out, greeted us, and stepped into our neatly leveled pose.  I don't think we have smiled so big in any other group pictures as we did when we were standing with the president.  It was certainly a special day and I made many memories that I will forever cherish. 

Wednesday afternoon we had a regional learning day where we had the chance to choose where we got to explore. I chose to go to the Taipei 101 building, which used to be the world's tallest until the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai was built.  Taipei 101 has the world's quickest elevator and you could feel the pressure on your body and your ears pop as we went up. One neat thing about the building's structure was that it had a 620 ton damper at the top of the building. The damper is a ball that is suspended by a series of intricate pulleys and it absorbs 40% of the buildings shock. Because of this damper, the building is able to withstand strong forces due to wind or earthquakes.

That evening Linda took Miguel, Vera, Kelli, and me out to a toilet restaurant where you sit on toilets and the table is a bathtub. It was basically a restaurant that made eating anything unappetizing, but it was such a unique restaurant and we had many laughs throughout dinner. 

Thursday, we had a community impact day and I had the opportunity to visit a nursing home.  In Taiwan, some nursing homes are funded by the government and the residents get paid to live at the nursing home if they meet certain requirements. Because it is funded by the government they often need help cleaning the large home. 

In the morning, the 20 of us at the home divided into two groups and I was with the group that got to work out with the residents.  We stood by the residents in their wheel chairs and helped them stretch and move around a bit. I had the chance to help a blind man work out and it was one of the most special moments.  Half way through the workout, the man grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him to give him a hug. Every time I got close to help him, he had the biggest smile on his face. When we had finished our workout, he did not want me to leave and he kept holding on to me.  It was a very memorable moment.  

That afternoon we played international bingo with the residents.  Instead of calling out numbers, we called out how to say hello in many different languages. The winners received an international gift that we brought to give them. 

That evening, Linda took me, Miguel, Vera, and Kelli to her house to light lanterns. It has always been on my bucket list to light a lantern, so I was so excited to have the opportunity to do it with some of my closest friends.  I expected the lanterns to be pretty small, but when Linda showed us, they were as tall as I was. She explained that each color represents something different and I ended up choosing a lantern that was red and white, which symbolized health and my future.  Before we lit the lanterns to send them into the sky, we wrote wishes or prayers on our lantern regarding the color. We then decided that it would be special to write prayers for each other on one another's lantern.

One by one we lit our lanterns.  We lit the oiled paper and watched the lantern illuminate and slowly begin to rise.  All I could think about while I was watching my lantern lift off the ground was how blessed I am to share this experience with such special friends.  Eventually, my lantern began to rise quicker and quicker until I was struggling to hold on.  I was afraid to let my lantern go, but once I let go, I felt this sense of peace and comfort.  My lantern floated away, and as it did, it twisted in a beautiful spiral into the starlit night sky.  I watched my lantern float away until I could no longer see the flickering light.  Lighting the lanterns will always be one of my most cherished memories during my semester.

Saturday was our final show day in Taiwan and it was at a beautiful venue. We performed for 2500 people in an outdoor amphitheater in a park down the street from the Taipei 101 building.  It was extremely hot being outside, but it was such a memorable performance.  It was extra special because my host family from Taipei was there was well as my host brother, Oskar, from Erlin who came to see the show one more time.

After the show and strike, at 11, Linda and our host family took me, Miguel, and Vera to a fancy club for some dancing.  As exhausted as I was, we danced the night away and did not leave until 3:30 am.  We met several cast mates at the club and had a blast tearing up the dance floor.

On our host family day, we went to Linda's grandfather's 80th birthday celebration.  I have never been to a bigger birthday party.  Linda's house had been transformed and there was now a giant circus tent in her driveway.  In the tent were 200 of Linda's closest relatives and friends.  There was a stage at the end of the tent with karaoke and performers dancing.  Each table was filled with platter after platter of lobster, shrimp, crab, rice, noodles, and every kind of food you can imagine.  Our host family wanted us to try some of the delicacies at the party and decided to have us try chicken testicles, actually just tasted like chicken with a very odd texture. Vera, Kelly, Miguel, and I decided to sing karaoke to Linda's grandfather, so we sang karaoke to happy birthday.  It was fun to spend the afternoon with Linda's family and experience a Taiwanese party.  

That evening we had an all-cast sleep over because we needed to leave for the airport to head to the Philippines at 3:30 am.  It was a very short, hot, and restless night sleeping in a large room with mats on the floor for four hours.

It was difficult to say goodbye to Tony and Wimma because we had such a great week with them.  At the beginning of the week, Wimma was very shy and did not say much, but halfway through the week, she sat down with me and told me how happy she was that we were staying with and that she will always be my friend.  Tony wrote me a note saying that we will always be brothers and I have a place to stay  in Taipei.  When we had to say goodbye, Wimma started crying.  After they left, Tony called Linda and she gave me the phone.  He wanted to tell me once more that we are family and that he will miss us very much.  I treasure my experience in Taipei and the unbelievably kind, caring, and loving family that I had the privilege of living with.