The First Day... plus one.

It was 6:15 on Friday evening and it was time for my plane to embark and to start the first phase of my physical journey with Up With People. (The psychological and imaginary journey had begun about a month earlier when the prospect of the tour still merely a fleeting dream.) The intercom crackles, “ladies and gentlemen, here’s the plan…” the gentle murmuring of passengers preparing for flight ceased. “It appears as though there’s some sort of electrical issue on our wing—something we can’t fly without.” The cabin filled with a hundred odd souls collectively wincing—a gentle breeze of sighs intermingled with the sharp intake of air-- all waiting to hear the words delay or canceled. “We’re going to steal the next plane that comes in and with a little luck we’ll be on the road in a hour or two.” Well… we ended up leaving about an hour later and somehow were only twenty minutes late landing. Love Southwest.

At the airport I wander round waiting for my bags. My heart pulsating with each new face—could they be with Up With People? Eventually I spot a sign and head over to a tall Dane—don’t ask me names quite yet—he grins and grabs my hand. “Got you’re bags? Let’s go!” We meet up with five or six kids from the Netherlands. Three boys and three girls all, except Joyce—a tall blond… wait… they all seem to be tall and blond... anyway Joyce is in the midst of her sophomore year at University—the others are taking a gap year—which makes them starry eyed 18 year old high school graduates. I feel almost old. I’m the same age as most of the core staff. Based on the folder I got before being we were shipped off to our host families the cast is made up of around 120 students/staff from 20-23 countries.

In the morning I met my delightful host family—a pair of physicians—Joel and Roxana with four kids—the oldest is off to school in New Jersey and I’m in his room in the attic. It’s a minor adventure scaling the ladder to his room. They have three other kids—two boys 7 and 11 and one girl whose 15. She’s an excellent swimmer and they’re all uber friendly. They also have two dogs and two cats. My memory is failing, its late and a dozen names are bouncing round my skull-- the only name I can remember is Eric—he’s 11. He taught Naohiro (my housemate— a 29 year old software engineer from Japan) and I to play a new board game—the name of course escapes me. However, I will post its name later (as well as the other two delightful kiddos) because it’s great fun and you should play it.

We spent Saturday exploring our neighborhood and the city. Joel led us (myself, Naohiro and Michelle-- another UWP student who is staying with a neighbor and is from Brewer Maine) around the downtown area. Before today Naohiro had never seen a wild squirrel. He was quite excited. In Japan they live in Zoos. It was wonderful seeing the city with Naohiro and Michelle. They were enthused about the little details from squirrels to the size and splendor of grand hotels and western hats. We then ventured over to a swim meet to see our host sister race the 500 freestyle. She missed the state qualifying time by .68 seconds— about half a forearm length. It was a thrilling race—three swimmers stroke for stroke—thrumming chants and cheers the lead changing on every turn—our girl grinning with each breath—reaching for the finish.

We spent Sunday relaxing as the winter winds gently dropped a warm white blanket around the city.  Naohiro, Michelle, Joel, Roxanna and the youngest boy trekked over to the natural history museum and watch the 3d IMAX Hubel film. See it if you can. It’s stunning. Space is haunting. 

Finally the evening arrives and we head over to the auditorium where we’ll being spending the next month working. The crew and the students who travelled last semester and will be joining Cast-A this semester gave us a rollicking preview of a few of the songs and dances we’ll be doing. This music is heart pumping and thought provoking.

Always more to say and stories to share but for now—sleep sweet and dream big. ~danny

PS. New Dates and places for the Itinerary. Below are the new locations and the date of for the Dress rehearsal!

Dress Rehearsal performance, Colorado Heights University: February 4 - 7:30pm 

Boca Raton, Florida: February 27 - March 6

 

Prague, Czech Republic: April 18 - 24

 

Weinfelden, Switzerland:  April 25 - May 1 

 

There are still two weeks in Europe, four in Mexico and one in Florida TBD.