Week two

Week two is complete! We've got 20 more weeks to go! I can't believe it!! Here's my week run down for you!

Monday 20th: Today we had an education session about leadership and what it means to be a global leader. It was really interesting to learn about how different countries viewed leadership. Lots of similarities, but lots of differences too. We made a collage of images that remind us of leadership as well as brainstorming words that make a leader. We had a few other discussions about leadership in a number of different group settings. It was really cool. We went into our home groups and we were lead around the building with blindfolds on. It was a bit scary, but I trusted my group!! We did more blocking for the show. It gets a bit tedious, but it's a necessary part of staging. The boys and I went on a walk tonight and almost got caught in a storm, but we made it home!

Tuesday 21st: We learned two new songs today: Shoshaloza and Keep the Beat. They are really cool songs! We spent some time learning about UWP admissions (which is an internship position). UWP is something I feel passionate about, so it was cool to talk a bit about what the program stands for and it's history. Then came a really fun part of the day! We all went into the cafeteria and entered Las "B"egas complete with "B"egas show girls (Gabe, Matt, and Paul haha), Elvis impersonator, dancers, dealers, security, and tables with cards and chips. Of course, with UWP it wasn't just an ordinary card game. Each table had a list of rules and instructions that the winner and loser of each round would move up or down a table, respectively. Another very important rule was that we could not communicate in any way, shape, or form including most sign language/body language. Little did we know that all the tables had different rules, so when people moved to different tables, there was confusion, frustration, and lots of laughter. We talked about it afterwards and applied it to our UWP experience. Each host family and each different culture we are a part of will have different 'rules' and traditions and we might not know everything about them, but we have to learn how to adapt and accept these new 'rules' with patiece and understanding. It also shed some light on how it might feel to not be able to speak the same language as our host families. It was a really cool session. We had another neighbourhood dinner of delisious Mexican food, lots of laughing and jokes, and an all around good time.

Wednesday 22nd: Today was a really good day! It started with a round table session on leadership. We wore our 2's (which means like business casual) for the first time. A bunch of local non profit workers and leaders came to talk to us in small groups about how they use leadership in their lives. It was really inspiring. We had another session about more UWP rules/guidelines while we're traveling. It was pretty common knowledge, but it has to be done. Tonight was the Culture Jam! Around 40 people from our cast performed songs, skits, and dances from their countries, states, and cultures. It was so fun!! Aude, Sheena, and I performed "Thomas' Snowsuit" by Robert Munsch to a recording of Munsch reading it. It was reeeeeally fun/funny! People kept coming up to us saying "NNNNNNNNOOOO". It was hilarious. What a great day!

Thursday 23rd: This morning we had blocking again. Our first run is in less than two weeks!! We had our first regional learning in downtown Denver. We had a scavenger hunt (that my team won!) around the city which ended at the Environmental Protection Agency (which is in a really cool building that is almost 100% local and recycled materials, and lots of different 'green' features like a garden roof, open window panels for natural lighting/temperature control, and lots of other things. It was really cool). Today I found out that I'll be a part of the mic group singers/background singers for the show which is sweet! We learned a lot of new songs today. I can't remember if I wrote this before, but our singing instructor's son is the lead guitarist of the Fray which is really cool. Their current basist is an UWP alumnus. We had a delicious neighbourhood dinner again tonight and played frisbee in the golf course behind. Tinna and Sofie taught me some Swedish today!! I'm practically fluent haha. Laget? Bra!

I know I have a few days to go, but some friends are here to play a game and go hot tubbing!
BYE!