September 17-18th, 2006: Leaving on a Jet Plane...

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· More goodbyes to UWP staff: Red eye flights are brutal enough, without having to add heart wrenching goodbyes to them. After an excruciatingly long check-in process we had to say goodbye to our UWP office staff and ERCs. Bah. These people have been amazing to us. They helped us to become a part of the Up With People program, from the application process to the final visa, cheque, and scholarship. They trained us to be proper representatives of the organization. They set the example for how we should act with our host families and in the community. They challenged us to start taking risks and to get involved from the beginning, instead of being bystanders. They let us vent and then put us back together. We will miss them greatly. I will miss them greatly. We’ll make you proud.

· Now September 18^th: How strange. We just crossed the international date line. So now, instead of being Sunday, it’s now Monday. Back home in Massachusetts, it’s 10:49pm. In Japan, where we will soon be landing, it’s 11:49am. This is certainly going to make calling home interesting. So if I were to fly back to the states using this route, would I gain a day? I think so. Hmmm, that has some fun potential.

· It’s funny to look around the plane. The 80 of us take up a strong section of the economy class. Many have been sleeping since we first boarded in Dallas. Some have been stirring in and out of wakefulness. Few have been awake the entire time. There are quite a few of us who have been getting up to walk around and chat, me included. I actually just got yelled at by the flight attendant for standing in one place for too long so I had to return to my seat. Bah, it’s tough to sit still for this long, especially when a comfortable position to sleep in cannot be humanly found in my seat. When will we get to the point where everyone can actually sit, stretch, AND recline in our seat like the bigwigs in 1^st class. Ah well, I think I’m just antsy. I wonder what adventure will meet us in Japan. Already I’m hearing announcements in Japanese (thankfully an English translation soon follows), but for how long will I have that luxury. Will I understand what’s going on around me? Will I be able to communicate? Will I unwittingly offend the Japanese citizens around me? Will I do something stupid in the presence of my Japanese host families? The answer could be yes for any one of these questions. The biggest question is whether I will be willing to take risks so that I may learn. I need to be prepared to make mistakes and allow myself to make mistakes. Otherwise, if I protect myself too much, I may miss some wonderful learning experience. I see the non-English speakers taking chances. They bumble and fall (sometimes literally), but they are learning. Their English has improved exponentially. Will I be able to say the same about my Japanese at the end of these next six weeks? Time will tell, I guess.

· Three more hours until we arrive in Japan. After customs and grabbing our baggage we’re off for a 2 hour bus ride to a hostel. We sleep at the hostel and then off for an 11 hour drive. Bring on the Asian funk!

Arrival in Japan: Just a few minutes on land and I'm already getting into trouble. FYI: Do not take pictures of your friends as they are going through customs!

*The "fun" of exchanging currency and getting Japanese cash.

September 16th, 2006:

• Beautiful day in Milwaukee with Mom and roommate Kevin
• Tough saying goodbye to Mom
• Quiet all nighter before our trip to Japan: The quiet before the storm. Everyone on their computers.
  

September 15th, 2006:

Practice for our Japanese boy band dance, “Seishun Amigo”

• Great show for Mom.
• I'm go glad that Mom got to see the show as it has been running. Granted, she was sitting up front and I had to keep looking in other directions so as to not get distracted (I forgot my lyrics when she was in the audience for rehearsal). I think I can safely say that she was pleased with the show, especialy as all my castmates commented on how thrilled she was during the show and how they loved watching her reactions to everything. That's my Mom :)
  
• Funky retro hotel.

September 14th, 2006:

• Steve Farber: Jeremy's father gives an impressive presentation on leadership.
  
• Stand for Peace at a local Middle School
  
• Potluck and my “Real Mom”: Hooray for Mom visiting me out in WI. She was able to work her schedule so that she could spend some time with me AND conduct some business out here. I'm so glad that she's out here: A) to have some time with her and B) for her to see what a wonderful gift she has given to me by helping me to attend UWP. I cannot wait to see her reaction after the show.
  

September 13th, 2006:

• Old Colony CI: So my host family was cool enough to come with me to our CI at Old Colony historical museum. Our project was to help to clean up the roads and weed the gardens/lawns so that the area could look more authentic to its period. Surprisingly, I was unable to participate in the CI WITH Rich and Susannah, as I was volunteered to partner up, by myself, with one of the employees to flatten gravel. Funny, everybody had a look of fear on their faces when he told me that I would be working with him alone. Apparently many weren’t sure I would survive. Thankfully, he was a very kind gentleman who works for Old Colony. He had been trained as an architect years ago, but found a passion for renovation.
• Soda Fountain: After surviving my CI alone, Rich and Susannah took me to an old style soda fountain. I remember my Mom telling me about these places, but I had thought that they were completely extinct. Apparently not. To celebrate, I had a “Black Cow”, which I used to drink all the time when Mom and I used to live in Newburyport. Fantastic.
• Ride in Rich’s 3000GT VR-4: This brought me back to being 13 years old. I was fascinated by this car back then, with its all wheel drive, all wheel steering, active spoilers, and other various toys. Who knew that many years later, while on a world tour, I’d be taken for a ride in one?

9-11-06

September 11^th, 2006: Five years after that fateful day, Up With People is in full effect and pursuing world peace. Oh…. And Happy 30^th Birthday Deka!

• Instead of traveling by bus, I decided to sign up and travel with Edu, DeeAnn, and Phoenix in the van. This was a nice chance to chat and get to know all three without the presence of 40 other cast mates. I was also thankful to have the opportunity to play some of my music (why doesn’t my car have one of those nice auxiliary inputs? Clearly, I need to buy a new Toyota! I’ll ask Mr. Toyota when I meet him J )
• Arrival at Carroll College: Greeted by the Mayor and the Carroll college football team (with no complaints from many in the cast)
• This city I am hosted with Kevin and his host family of the past few weeks, Rich and his fiancée Susannah. Rich 1996 alum) is studying at Carroll College to become a pharmacist and Susannah is a pastor at a local church. They are a trip together and Kevin is always a handful. I’m in for a riotous week for sure.

September 10th, 2006: Washington Pavillion

Hmmm, so what does TP'ing mean in your culture? For American's, it's a joke. For the Chinese, it means someone has died! Imagine Dong's reaction when he saw this just outside out host family's house.

• Washington Pavilion: Imagine this. Three floors of audience. Sold out show to the point of having to turn away potential viewers (heck, my host family almost couldn’t get in!). We ROCKED that house!

September 9th, 2006

• After a long day of practice in the bitter cold, we finally got to perform at the Dakota Bowl. The Dakota Bowl is a major fund raising event for the catholic schools in the area. The money is raised through the ticket sales for the football game between a North Dakota high school and a South Dakota high school.

This was “big doins”. The stadium was comparable to the old Patriots arena. A large screen color display was used throughout the game, one that had been used in the last Olympics.

Though we were freezing, we gave it our all. We started with Ayiko, then went into a (cheesy but fun) 60s medley. Finally, Jen and I finished everything out with “We’ll Be There” (remember our recording adventure a few days ago?). This was another once in a lifetime experience. Though we were technically lip-syncing, we all sang our hearts out. The energy amongst all of us was intense and vibrant. Jen and I gave the audience a show! And as we finished….fireworks went off….LITERALLY. How many people get to have fireworks go off after they finish performing? This was just awesome! Well worth braving the freezing cold and practicing cheesy….and I do mean CHEEZY songs.

September 8th, 2006

• Classes at Washington HS: Though sleep would have been much appreciated, Dong and I decided to join Jeannie at her school so that we could see how schools are run in the mid-west. Dong observed some English classes where I observed a study skills class and a special education art class. The first thing I was struck with at this school was its size. It was at least twice, if not, three times the size of my college campus! It was MASSIVE. Apparently they have about 30 students in each classroom, which are generally team taught by two teachers.

I really enjoyed the classes I attended. The students in the study skills class reminded me of my clients back home. This class was designed to help the younger high school students learn to focus, listen, and organize their thoughts. Wisely, there are only about 8 students in this class with two teachers, so very few behaviors go without notice. I was impressed at how much time the teachers took to explain WHY they were doing certain activities, or WHY the students were being redirected for their inappropriate behaviors. I think that all too often these kids are merely sent out of class without an opportunity to learn about why their behaviors are nonfunctional. These teachers really tried to appeal to their students’ strengths and use the relationships with the students to bring about change. Impressive. The politics of this area may be frightening, but at least the education is good J

Next I attended an art class for special education students. This was a fun class. They were working with chalk and most couldn’t wait to get dirty. I had an opportunity to meet and draw with basically each student. Most were thrilled by having a guest in the room. Many reminded me of my students back at NECC. I was struck by the amount of support the teacher had. I think that there were almost as many paraprofessionals as there were students in the class. As a result, I found that the class maintained a safe, comforting, and positive environment for both the students and the teachers. Who woulda thunk?

• Pool with Ashes, Will, Madoka, Catie, and Rachel: Hooray for down time!
• Mall: There’s Red Sox paraphernalia everywhere! Where am I?
• TGI Fridays: Much needed R & R…and a happy drink.
• Brief stint downtown: We tried to party downtown tonight, but it just wasn’t in the cards. It’s really tough to go to the clubs when you have 19 and 20 year olds with you. We’ll just have to wait until we get to Europe.
• Robin Williams: Instead we decided to rent and watch a movie, the best of Robin Williams Live. This was a great idea, only there were no subtitles and Robin Williams tends to speak at the speed of light. Poor Dong couldn’t understand anything and most of Robin Williams’ humor is based on American culture and news. Demerits to the Americans for being culturally insensitive with our choice of movie. Next time we’ll pick something everybody can enjoy.

September 7th, 2006

September 7^th, 2006:

• Stand for Peace: Oscar Howe elementary school
• Kids’ enthusiasm: This was a great group of kids to do the Stand for Peace curriculum with. They just ate it up. Rafa, Raol and I just had a blast playing with these kids.
• Best show yet: As if having a fun group for our educational component wasn’t good enough, they were our best audience yet. When we did out brief show, they hooted, they screamed, they cheered. I’ll take an auditorium full of children anytime over paying adults. Their energy gives us energy to perform. If only we didn’t have to worry about the fund raising factor. Ah well, the kids loved the show and that’s all that mattered.
• Recording with Jen
• I had a once-in-a lifetime opportunity this evening. Our musical director and his host father took Jen and me to a recording studio to record “We’ll Be There” for the Dakota Bowl. What an amazing process!? I felt like I was in a music video. We each had time in the booth, singing to the solitary microphone. The producer (?) was sitting at the computer and mixer, tweaking things as we sang.

Jen did an amazing job. She sang strong and clear and it didn’t take her too long to get through her tracks. I was so thankful that she went first. She had experience with recording and knew what was needed.

Me, however, I took considerably longer to record my tracks. For me, it was a completely different way of thinking and singing. I tried to remember all that our director had been telling me, “less nice, more rock”…but I was completely out of my environment. Before UWP, I hadn’t sung in years. When I had, I was in a choir. I was supposed to blend my voice, not become Bon Jovi. It really struck me how much control and attention must be paid by a musical artist to cut a quality track. I could sing an entire verse perfectly, but then lose strength, tone, attitude….whatever for one word and I’d have to record it again. Maybe recording artists don’t need multiple million dollars for recording in a studio, but they at least deserve for us to download their songs legally for a buck a piece.

Life goal #something….Accomplished.