Vegas: Stripped

I experienced Vegas like I have never experienced it before.

Nope, there were no wild, drunk nights. And no, I did not hit the jackpot. I did visit the penny slot machines, but let me tell you about the Las Vegas that we do not usually hear about.

I have been to Vegas a couple of times before, but it is only now that Vegas popped up to me as more than just the Strip. Beneath the flashy lights, spinning roulettes, whirring slot machines, is a real, true to life, normal (well, kind of) city.

We did our Stand for Peace projects in two schools in Vegas, and they were really awesome and smart schools. These diversity workshops always end with a show preview (BTS) and, I had my taste of my childhood dream to be an "artista". In the school shows, we have a few country introductions where some (2-3 people) cast members get to greet the school and introduce themselves in their native language.

In the first school: "Magandang umaga sa inyo...." (voice drowned in applause)

In the 2nd school: "Mabuhay..." (voice drowned in applause again)

Amazing, there were a lot of Pinoys in Vegas and they are proud to be Pinoy. A number of kids said hello, shook my hand, yelled "Mabuhay!" They looked really excited and I also received some hugs! I especially loved it when I learned that they have been living in the US for a long time but still did not forget their Tagalog, and "po" and "opo" (Philippine expressions of respect).

I also had the opportunity to join the Admissions team to do a couple of UWP presentations to high school classes at the Las Vegas Academy. It was my first time to do an Admissions presentation and I was so nervous and did not know what to expect from American high school kids. We (JC Rivas, UWP Education Coordinator and Aimee, a cast member) presented to three classes (1 theater class and 2 language classes) that day. I had to learn the presentation in time for my advance work for Germany.

It was very interesting - we really hope a lot of them will consider to travel! (Ah, by the way, I met another Pinoy student. I think he graduated from the Ateneo grade school)

Another amazing experience in Las Vegas was breaking the fast of Ramadan with the Muslims in the Mosque. We were given the rare chance to go inside the Mosque, speak to the Imam, and actually staying with the Muslims as they prayed. At the end of the evening, we shared an Afghan meal with everyone (too spicy for me!) I had an amazing conversation with a Muslim girl about the conflicts related to the religion around the world.

I got a little bit emotional when we were talking , because the issue was so close to home. She hugged me and told me that she will pray that never in my life that I will doubt or fear the religion, for it is only the humans who are making the mistakes and NOT the religion.

We had an amazing show facility, and again, I had family in the audience. Tita Girlie (mom's sister) and Tito Conrad drove from LA. Tito Bobot (mom's brother) and his wife, Maria, lived in Las Vegas but was unable to go because of reasons that cannot be disclosed! My uncle was my host dad.

Photo: Tito Bobot and his wife, Tita Maria

Viva Las Vegas!

ps.I was able to catch the "Mamma Mia" ABBA musical at the Mandalay Bay. It was super great!

Pinoys in Portland!

Photo: Tita Alice and Tito Eric were my dad's classmates in High School

The power of technology!

After 2 nights of staying with all the people in our host family's house, I learned that I was to transfer host families. And the best part was : They were a Filipino family and they were the Tadeos! Tito Eric Tadeo was my dad's classmate in high school. And it was very nice of them to "take me in" ! We even had a nice dinner with some of their friends.

I actually got to live in 2 states! All UWP activities were in Portland, but the Tadeos lived about 30 minutes away across the bridge in Vancouver, Washington.

They are a family of artists! Tito Eric is obviously a musician, Tita Vivian is a cool designer (she gave me a really, really nice bag which she design and created herself) and Noelle is – ah, I never really witnessed Noelle show off her talent, but I can tell that she has lots of it. I know she sings, she writes and that she’s really smart. (Ahem, definitely Up With People material)

I got the chance to visit her school’s Open House, the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. The VSAA is what they call a “magnet school” – exclusive, specialized public schools that admit students based on talent and merit. The Open House invited parents to talk to teachers individually about what’s in store for the students for the year. It is basically a getting to know you session where they also discuss the grading system, status of performance, etc, etc. I was amazed at the curriculum and the depth of the discussions that they obviously have.

THANKS SO MUCH TADEOS! For the Pinoy meals, the good conversation, the music! I really hope that you enjoyed the show...

Portland, Oregon

Photo: Neighborly host sisters. Johanna, Megan, Laurel, Cassidy, Tiffnie, Hanna, Sarah, Kellys, Marita and Maria. Our host families lived close together so we walked around downtown Portland.

Portland week was sort of like a blur to me. (And I am writing this in Las Vegas, and I can't even recall last week!)

I was first hosted with 5 other students from the cast - Cassidy, Megan (USA), Maria (Sweden) and Matt (USA), Lucas (Belgium). I moved to another host family in the middle of the week, but that story deserves an entry of its own!

Portland was environment week (yey Kakay and Miss Adel, up to now you are my tag team for the environment!) and we watched Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth which was pretty good minus the snippets that screamed hey-you-see-I'm-so-smart-why-didn't-you-vote-for-me- now-look-at-your-president.

And just to make us aware also of how much waste we generate per week, each of us were given trash bags to carry around for three days. We were to throw our trash and excess food in the bag. This generated a variety of responses... some people didn't like it, while some people really had fun with it. I was one of the people who tried to eat less so we won't carry around that much trash. Food packaging in America is terrible. Layers upon layers of plastic!

People shared spoons, recycled water bottles , or tried to transfer their trash to other people (!) But it really was amazing to see how 68 people can contribute to soo much trash. We were also given the chance to take our carbon footprints -- which basically translates to

"If all of the people in the world lived like the way you do/ use up natural resources the way you do, how many worlds are needed to support us?"

If people lived like me, we would need 3.5 worlds. Oh, I need to cut down on my . One of my castmates needed 12 worlds! Living in the Philippines gave me the edge because I don't need to heat up the house.

We also did Stand for Peace (see http://bananaspinworld.blogspot.com/search/label/Stand%20for%20Peace) at the Prescott Elementary School.

My CI for Portland was for a women's shelter.


For regional learning, we went to the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (no longer in Portland, but already in Washington state) , which I think was really nice. Check out the website here. One thing I love about America is how they value the natural wonders (or some) that they have. The trip to Mt St Helens was very exciting, beautiful, and educational!

This made me think back again to Crater Lake in another part of Oregon and how I hoped that our own Philippine Taal Volcano can have a nice and informative visitor center. I guess that can be one dream I have for my hometown.

Two shows again in Portland! I got to meet Katie Allen's (from Georgia) parents who flew in to watch the show. Katie is one of my ice-cream craving friends and also co-child wrangler (translation: we take care of the guest performers in the show) , ah and we are also both "signers" (not singers) for one of the songs. A big hello to Mr and Mrs Allen! It was great to meet you !Photo: Suzanne Maas from the Netherlands is the new Education Intern!

Homesick!

I just discovered wi-fi signal here in Las Vegas! I still owe you all my Portland entry. That will be up soon. But now, allow me to dwell on this moment of homesickness.

After 2 months on the road, it is finally settling in. Last week at a hotel, I met a Filipino lolo who was working as a hotel janitor and I found myself hugging him. I believe that will be a moment that I will treasure forever.

I miss my dad and our tiny apartment in Makati. The long walks to the office and the delicious food we eat. I miss our car and the long hours we spend in Manila traffic.

I miss my mom and her cooking and our Tagaytay weekends.

I miss my husband. I miss missing him while I am at home and he is in the base, I miss anticipating the time when he can come home to me. I miss the late night phone calls and unlimited text messages.

I miss Sir Mario and my officemates in AFI. I miss my meetings. I miss my Nescafe coffee breaks, precious moments spent sitting on the table in front of the coffee vendo machine at the 8th floor.

I miss UPLB and school. I miss driving through Calamba and Pansol and the winding road at PCARRD.

I miss Landmark, Glorietta, Powerbooks, Big Chill, Jollibee, Red Ribbon. I miss avocado shakes and tapsilog. I miss riding the bus to Binan.

I miss scrapbooking.

I miss my bed, my closet, my books.

Heck, I even miss junk text messages and the sound of tricycles!

I miss my old life! Who knows when I'll get it back?

-- hanna in a moment of sadness --

EUREKA !

Photo: Jules and Cassidy wrote that on the sand and made me pose



It was from Eureka, California to Coos Bay when I discovered my soulmate: The Snickers Ice Cream Bar. Mmmm. Go ahead, add it on to my growing waistline.





On Travel Day, we stopped by the Redwoods National Park. Amazing, magnificent trees! The bus dropped us off and we explored a short trail in the forest.





CI in Eureka was cleaning up a local sports stadium that the community members helped build. It was really beautiful. There was a baseball, football and soccer field. Season is about to start again. Another CI was working with the Physical Rehabilitation facility at the local hospital. We worked with physical and occupational therapists , and I found it really interesting.



We performed at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts.



And it was also there where my dance shoes broke...










With my host family in Eureka, host mom Jacquee and host dad Duane! I was roommates with Sarah (from Kentucky) and Kellys (from Venezuela).