It^s been about 2 weeks since i last posted anything, and i`m now being hosted in La Paz, Mexico. I`ve been here for about 5 days already and have enjoyed every minute of it so far. 

The beaches and the town are absolutely amazing. The only real downside to being here is just how freaking hot it is, don`t get me wrong hot weather is nice but when its 90+ every day with 30-40% humidity it`s not so fun.

I`m staying with an older couple, Alejandro and Lucia, who live about 30 minutes outside of La Paz. They speak very minimal english of which I am very happy about.  All of the spanish that I learned and subsequently forgot following middle and high school is coming back allowing me to actually be able to communicate fairly well with them.

Since leaving staging a couple weeks ago i`ve had the unfortunate luck to only have participated in one CI (community impact) project. I spent about half a day on wednesday painting over grafitti in a local park and canal. Along with the painting we also cleaned up the park picking up trash and weeding.  The man that was our liason with the local organization DIF( ill look up what it means and get back to you) was very appreciative of the painting we did due to the fact that it was going to be on the local news and should help to jumpstart the anti-grafitti campaign here.

Buenos Tardes

Ben

The last 3 weeks have flown by, and we have moved from our location at the Sherman Events Center downtown out to Teikyo Loretto Heights.  The time spent with the cast has and is absolutely some of the best times I've had.  From meeting students from 22 different countries to getting to work with the staff for different things.

Today they announced who the interns are for the first six weeks of our tour, and I will serving as the Lighting Intern. I couldn't be more excited. After helping with strike and setup and then running through focusing the lights for our dress rehearsal/ first show it's going to be a very fun and exciting first 6 weeks.

So Friday was the big first day, I showed up at the rec center around 1230ish. From there my day sped by as I introduced and was introduced to over 90 students from 22 countries around the world. These 90+ people are the people who over the next 5 months will become as close as family to me and to each other. I couldn't be more excited to finally get started with the whole experience.

Today was spent watching the cast of the last semester put on a sort of preview of the show that we will start to learn tomorrow and then know in full by the end of the next 4 weeks.

Current Mood: anxious

ast B 2008 Tour Schedule
July 11th - December 16th, 2008
** Tour cities and dates subject to change.**

United States:
Orientation: Denver, Colorado: July 11- August 11
Breckenridge,Colorado:  August 11 - August 17
Mexico:
LaPaz, Mexico: August 18 - August 25
Cabo, Mexico: August 25 - September 1
Tepic, Mexico: September 1 - September 8
Culiacan, Mexico: September 8 - September 15
Hermosillo, Mexico: September 15 - September 21
United States:
Arizona:  September 22 - September 29
Albuquerque, New Mexico: September 29 - October 6 
Colorado Springs, Colorado: October 6 - October 13
Salt Lake City, Utah: October 13 - October 20
Wyoming: October 20 - October 27
Wyoming / South Dakota: October 27 - November 3
Sioux Falls, South Dakota: November 3 - November 10
North Platte, Nebraska: November 10 - November 16
The Philippines:
Manila, Philippines: November 17 - December 4
Cebu/Subic, Philippines: Decemeber 5 - December 16
End of Tour - Decemeber 16

This is a journal for my 6 months participating with Up with People

more info at upwithpeople.org