North Platte into Kansas City

Monday August 8^th, 2006: Travel Day & First day in North Platte, Nebraska

So this is what the rest of my tour will look like. Today, Wouter and I said goodbye to David and Thora (and in some part to each other) and head onto our two busses at Tivoli campus to begin our travels to North Platte, NE. It was so strange saying goodbye to David and Thora….in addition to saying goodbye to the many staff we had worked with so intensely for the past month. Let’s just say that many tears were shed by all.

For this trip, my bus buddy was Tyler from New Mexico. He just recently graduated from a military high school and had heard about Up With People through a relative who had traveled years ago. Tyler was most drawn to the community service aspect.

I had a great time learning about Tyler, his upbringing, his family, his past-times, and his thoughts on war and religion.

(If I’m remembering correctly, his family is intact. He has two brothers and he was raised Christian (Baptist and Methodist?). He enjoyed going away to his military school and he hopes to go further into the armed services, hopefully to learn how to “blow shit up”. There were a few gay people out at his school, but he really couldn’t stand them because they were “fags” (too swishy). We had a great talk about homosexuals who give other homosexuals a bad reputation, meaning “fags”. It was enlightening to hear from him that he appreciates Bob and I and how we act around others.

Tyler enjoys spending time with friends and attending drinking parties. He’s been in fights and finds himself perseverating over a recent skirmish in which an acquaintance attempted to steal some beer from him and during this interaction a gun was drawn. He decided at that time not to persue this battle, but continues to run through it over and over in his head. He and I talked at length about honor and respect and how flashing of weapons is a “pussy move”.)

Our first destination in North Platte was the local bowling alley. As many of you know, I am not a huge fan of bowling. I just never found a nack for it. However, this was BIG BALL BOWLING, like I had done in Uganda. WHAT A BLAST! Wouter, Kirstin, Jeff, Dong, and I played nearly two rounds and laughed the entire time.

At 5:30, we met our new host families. Ammar from Syria and I were to be hosted by the Engel family. They were identifiable by their “small child’s toothbrush”. Jay and Amy and their two eldest children, Jordan (14) and Jacob (12), greeted us. Their youngest, Adam (8) was at a birthday party.

After our first meal together, tacos, we went off in their big Suburban truck (I think that’s what it is), we went to pick up Adam. This was some BIG birthday party. 40 children, mostly around the age of 8. For a while, Ammar and I stuck near Jay talking about the differences between Nebraska, Mass., and Syria. I found myself rapidly getting figity. A) I wanted to play on the HUGE blow up terrain parks that this family had invested in for the party and B) I wanted the families to see Up With People engaging with the kids. So, in typical Erik style, I dove in with the kids. I think I did the right thing because all the kids and all the adults started smiling at us and the host of the party began asking us about UWP.

Ammar took a more conservative route and watched. I’m really interested in getting to know Ammar. His perspective is so different from what I am accustomed to hearing and reading from the media, especially with regards to issues in the Middle East. I hope to learn a lot from him. Thus far, I’ve learned that people in Syria favor things on the right. Interesting.

The bulk of the remainder of the night included a tour of the town and a sharing session in the Engel’s living room. Ammar and I shared our host family gifts and different books about our home areas. Adam and Jacob played music for us on the piano and talked about what they had learned about in school with regards to United States and world history. Jordan was more reserved, but I was able to engage her in conversation about dance.

Alas I should probably get to bed. Ammar is already trying to sleep and I’m typing by a lamp at the foot of the bed. This week, I share a bedroom with a Syrian in the house of, what seems to be, very traditional Christians. This could make for an interesting combination. Let’s see what flies J

Wednesday August 9^th, 2006:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY!!! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. We’ll have to celebrate your day when I get back. Thank you for all your support.

Practice time at a new location on a new stage. Our show will be at North Platte High School, in an auditorium that fits about 1200. Imagine if we can fill it. Most of the day was spent in practicing bits and pieces to get our bearings on how we will work with the stage.

This evening we went to the ranch of Buffalo Bill where we were given a tour of his home and fed by local cattle farmers (not surprisingly, there weren’t many food options for the vegetarians in the group). I found myself sitting with several cast and staff members having the most RANDOM conversations about childhood cartoons (local and foreign), toys, and vomit stories. I really enjoy these opportunities to kick back and chat (seemingly) about nothing. It really makes the world seem smaller and less intimidating when you can just chat with people from other nations.

Thursday August 10^th, 2006:

Another aggressive gesture has been made towards the American culture. I heard today, initially through my host brother Jacob (good for him for being so up to date) that there was an attempt made to destroy several flights heading from London to the U.S. using bombs engineered with a disposable camera and an explosive cleverly disguised as a sports drink. How frighteningly creative.

We could take this as an omen that Up With People should just stop. Give up. Take ourselves out of harms way. Instead, we will continue on with our tour. Such events highlight the need for this organization. Certainly with fear in my bones I do wish that we could tour to the Middle East to let the cultures there know that all Americans are not bad people! We are not all selfish, power hungry, rich, grey haired white men trying to force our “family values” down other cultures’ throats. Unfortunately, “Middle East” is not in our itinerary. However, thankfully, we have Ammar here with us. He has already been helping us to understand better why there is such animosity towards the U.S. I hope that the people he meets along the way will be as willing to listen to him.

Thus far I’ve learned that much of Syria’s animosity towards the United States is due to our “unfair support” of the Israelis. The Syrian perspective is that the Israelis are the cause for all the war in the Middle East and that the U.S. should not intervene.

…..Back from a break. I am actually in the midst of finishing up a conversation with Ammar and Jay (host Dad) about religion and the parallels between the Islamic Koran and the Christian Bible. Jay and I didn’t realize that there were so many stories in common, including those of Jesus, Moses, and Joseph. This further brings to question, “How different, REALLY, are all the religions in the world?”

We’ve also been talking about politics (Get this, Maki is going political). Ammar began the conversation talking about how surprised he is that U.S. media does not show more about events in the Middle East. My response was that we tend to focus on those things that seemingly impact us directly. That and many Americans feel that the battles in the middle east have been going on for thousands of years, and will continue to do so until the end of time. Why bother focus on it. To be honest, that has been my perspective.

Ammar attempted to provide Jay and me with recent events (within the past 75 years) in the Middle East, such as Israel’s takeover of Palestine. He is amazingly knowledgeable. He admits to having done lots of research on his part. I really wish I had a note pad so that I could recount the dates and dealings. I feel so ignorant. In my dream world I would have a video camera and there would be a representative from Israel here to give the other side of the story. I guess I will “just” need to be a more avid reader. I’ve heard from several sources that British media tends to be more balanced. BBC, here I come.

I have to give Jay credit. He fully admits to living in a sheltered area of the country, where he concerns himself little with the politics and wars overseas. I appreciate his honestly. I asked him why he chose to host UWP students. To this he responded that he wishes to get to know people from other countries, not so much their politics. Very cool.

Oh, and by the way, we had a mini show at Cody Park. We had a BTR (?) for 1^st Financial Bank’s family barbecue. I think it went relatively well. Of course, I perseverated over my one screw-up (I spun the wrong way in “Keep the Beat”). Regardless, the crowd was appreciative and we all had fun playing volleyball and Frisbee.

Friday August 11, 2006:

Unfortunately, this was my second day missing CI. However, it was my own doing. I volunteered to help out the merchandising team. It seems I will be helping to sell shirts, buttons, and pictures before and after the shows. Time to dust off my salesman hat.

Though I would have liked to have participated in the community service project for the day, I did enjoy the opportunity to get to know Michelle and Laura. We even had two lunch breaks (thanks Gabby for inviting us).

Tonight my host family, the Engels, offered a barbecue for host families and their cast members in the neighborhood. Olga, Deka, and Laura joined us for dinner, pool time, and smores (yumm). Such a great time, kicking back and acting goofy.

Right now I’m practicing Village and Sound of Piece with Adam. I’m psyched that he and his older brother, Jacob will be joining us on stage tomorrow. Maybe we can convince Jordan (their sister) to apply for UWP in the next few years.

Saturday August 12^th, 2006: Disturbing news and our first show on the road.

Today was supposed to be all about practicing and workshops for the show tonight. Instead, we received some really difficult news from Cori. Unfortunately, two members of our cast will have to leave. This may possibly leave us without a band!

This really shook the troupe. Personally, I was in shock and I decided to think later and do some care-taking first. So I checked in with everybody I could see who was sitting alone. Thankfully, I was not the only one playing this role. It struck me how this is a great crew. I don’t have to play therapist to EVERYONE. We honestly care about each other, like a family. We really take care of each other.

Amazingly, we rallied for the show. It was a success. Nearly all the audience members I interviewed said they loved it…save a few “older” women who said that the music was not their style. They were at least willing to agree with me that the energy and enthusiasm of the cast was positive. (Hey Wayside, I’m still thinking strength-based!)

After the show, I flew to the merchandise table to help make some sales (I’m now on the merchandising team. Time to take my retail experience off mothballs). As soon as that died down, I was off to help out with admissions. When I was done with my responsibilities, I met the Engels in the café. Ammar was helping the boys to get autographs from every cast member. He has a great heart. I really wish we had more time to chat and get to know each other. Maybe we’ll be hosted together again?

Sunday August 13^th, 2006: Chill Day

Oh, my, how much do I love sleep? I think I slept for a solid 10 hours! This was a much needed day. I went for a walk (would have ran but my knees are acting up again), showered, and then the Engels took us out for some last minute sight seeing. We checked out the military memorial, the trading post, and…after a nice dinner with Amy’s parents, we (Jay, Amy, Jacob, Adam, Ammar, and I) went to a small amusement park where we raced carts and played around on bumper boats. Great way to end our time in North Platte. Jordan joined us later after completing her cheerleading practices.

Monday August 14^th 2006: Goodbye to North Platte. Hello to Kansas City!

It’s late now, so I should really get some sleep. It was sad to leave the Engels. They were a sweet family. However, I am now living with the Spellmans: Barb, Crhis, Michael, and Matt. I’ve been so fortunate in my host families. I believe that this will be a great week, not better than the past few weeks, just great in a different way. Hopefully with this pirated wifi connection (ssssssshhhhhhh!), I’ll be able to maintain more regular contact. Now, time for sleep.