We left the hotel at around quarter to eleven to catch the airport shuttle. We were to meet the UWP staff and the other delegates who were arriving that day. There were indeed 9 of us staying in the hotel and here are the names that I remember – of course there was Alecs, Yuri, Rafael, Julianna, then there was Benjamine (Belgium, she’s a girl), Guido (Italy), Rasmus (Denmark) and there was another Swedish girl (oh I’m so sorry I forgot her name!)
We stayed at the airport waiting around and I met lots more people! Staff members were there to welcome us and again, just to give you a clue about the diversity of the group, here are the names I remember – Vanessa (USA), Vanessa (Quebec, Canada), Amy (Malaysia), Sayuri (another Yuri, also from Japan), Graham (USA) and , and – oh no. I am so terrible with names! But there were quite a lot of people in the airport.
We were brought to the Montbello Convention Center where most of our activities and rehearsals are to take place… There, we met more people! And I finally met Scott, Anke and Colleen (who were my contacts during the application process) and more more people!! We got our schedules, bus passes and name tags (finally!!) mine said “Hanna Fernando-Pacua” (sosyal ang pag pronounce ng Pacua dito – Pa-koo-wah at hindi basta Pakwa hehe)
I was thrilled to meet a half-Filipina and half-Norwegian cast member! Her mom was there, looking very Filipina… it was Yuri who told me that she was pure Filipina. I was so excited to find someone to talk to in Tagalog – but it turned out even the Mom grew up in the US! No Tagalog for me! Oh but she was really excited to meet me – and her kids too, they were like, “Wow! A real Filipina!!!” They did know some Tagalog words, like : adobo, lumpia and pancit! – The mom traveled with UWP many years ago and met her husband there.
We basically just hung out and waited for our host families to arrive… my info sheet said I had Laurie and Bill Zempel, no children – and one dog. Uh-oh – I wonder what kind of dog!!!
We stayed at the airport waiting around and I met lots more people! Staff members were there to welcome us and again, just to give you a clue about the diversity of the group, here are the names I remember – Vanessa (USA), Vanessa (Quebec, Canada), Amy (Malaysia), Sayuri (another Yuri, also from Japan), Graham (USA) and , and – oh no. I am so terrible with names! But there were quite a lot of people in the airport.
We were brought to the Montbello Convention Center where most of our activities and rehearsals are to take place… There, we met more people! And I finally met Scott, Anke and Colleen (who were my contacts during the application process) and more more people!! We got our schedules, bus passes and name tags (finally!!) mine said “Hanna Fernando-Pacua” (sosyal ang pag pronounce ng Pacua dito – Pa-koo-wah at hindi basta Pakwa hehe)
I was thrilled to meet a half-Filipina and half-Norwegian cast member! Her mom was there, looking very Filipina… it was Yuri who told me that she was pure Filipina. I was so excited to find someone to talk to in Tagalog – but it turned out even the Mom grew up in the US! No Tagalog for me! Oh but she was really excited to meet me – and her kids too, they were like, “Wow! A real Filipina!!!” They did know some Tagalog words, like : adobo, lumpia and pancit! – The mom traveled with UWP many years ago and met her husband there.We basically just hung out and waited for our host families to arrive… my info sheet said I had Laurie and Bill Zempel, no children – and one dog. Uh-oh – I wonder what kind of dog!!!
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