Saturday, February 24, 2007
12:33:46 AM

Today was a bit of an earlier start. We had again the home made waffles for breakfast. The ride in was punctuated by the usual road rage; the only difference. Today was cloudy. As a matter of fact, they are forecasting a tornado warning for overnight and into tomorrow. I enjoyed a total of 8 cups of coffee today; free coffee, one of the perks of being sponsored by a multinational company. Our major project for today was “Stand for Peace”, a curriculum developed by UWP in association with the UN “Culture of Peace” project. The project is implemented by teams of 3-4 student facilitators in the classroom setting. We do activities such as “cross the line”, personal flags, Stomp!, and Power With vs. Power Over. The session that myself, Patrick, Spring, and Kelly facilitated this morning went pretty well I think considering the near complete lack of prep time. In the afternoon we performed a BTS show for the whole school. It was thoroughly enjoyed. One story of note is when the personal caregiver of a severely mentally handicapped child broke down in tears because the usually mute child was singing along to the melodies of the songs. We ate lunch with the classes we work-shopped in the morning. Apparently, there are a lot of Weird Al fans out there besides myself.
In the afternoon we had an awesome guest speaker who emphasized “Keep your eye on the ball” among other things. She had spoken with UWP casts in the past and she was quite good. We wrapped up our CI project and then were picked up by our host families. It was raining today for the first time in a while. Our host granddad took Angelo and myself out to supper at “Spring Creek Barbecue” ; a real Texas BBQ. I had probably some of the best sausage I’ve ever had with some mac & cheese; mmm mmm good. We then went to Arlington (which btw is where the cartoon “King of the Hill” is based) to the big shopping centre there. Angelo got a haircut and I visited RadioShack and Circuit City. Back at the house, Angelo and I showed pictures to our host family of back home. After our folks went to bed we stayed up past midnight watching “Mortal Combat” in Spanish. It was all Good™. I can’t believe that tomorrow is show day already! ... And its sold out too!


UWP Jeopardy with Armando & Andrew
Brenna and Greg

Stand for Peace with 4A
Lunch Time!


Angelo and Mr. Riley
Angelo and our host parents

Thursday, February 22, 2007
11:44:26 PM

Despite almost dying in traffic yet again this morning, today was an awesome day. We had fresh, home made waffles for breakfast topped with warm maple syrup; a true taste of home. I decided to cut back on the coffee today and so limited myself to 4 cups in the morning. Today they had out the hazelnut blend which was especially delicious. After morning meeting, we loaded onto the bus and drive for about an hour (it would have been shorter if we hadn’t gotten lost) to the headquarters of Mannarelief; an NGO (no governmental organization) relief organization. They provide nutritional assistance to areas and institutes of need in over 30 countries. I was pulled from the seminar and tour in order to prepare myself for advanced work in Utrecht in a few weeks. Lunch was one of the best yet with brisket, beans, potato salad, and an assortment of desserts. We’ve been fed surprisingly well so far. I checked the scales and I’ve gained about 2.5 lbs. I think I’ll be loosing that when we hit Europe for sure; hopefully sooner. We also got free t-shirts with the Mannarelief emblem on them. Yay for free schwag! After lunch we boarded the bus again and drove out to our CI site for the day; a place called happy hill farm. Its a boarding school for at risk children of all grade levels. We broke into teams and spent time working different classrooms doing fun educational games all the while teaching about diversity. We played “Have you ever?”; where the group forms a circle and someone stands in the middle and states “Have you ever... [insert something here]” anyone who identifies with whatever the statement was goes into the center of the circle and dances around. The activity is geared to help break the ice and find commonalities amongst the group members.
Later in the afternoon we regrouped and performed a selection of our show songs for them and taught them the “stomp” rhythm section and we performed it as a group. Afterward, some of the teachers that had been there for over 5 years had said that no one has able to motivate everyone to participate in an activity like that before. We certainly made our positive mark.
Happy Haven is an interesting place. Its actually a farm and boarding school. The facilities are quite modern. The thing that struck me most was the segregation of the sexes. In the assembly for example, they had to sit on different sides of the gym. There is a “6 inch” rule that states they must be at least that far apart at all times. If you are caught even hugging anyone you can receive a day of suspension. I personally can’t count the number of people I’ve hugged today; its certainly a lot.
Anyhow, we’ve got a show tomorrow So I’m off to bed earlier tonight. Its all Good™ Oh and I almost forgot to mention! yesterday when I was out for m walk I did some shopping. I bought a toothbrush (i'm on my third one now because I keep forgetting them places) and an el cheapo cell phone on a pre paid plan. Its mainly for emergencies say if I get lost downtown or something. I haven't figured out how to call Canada with it yet either. But in any case, its free to receive txt messages so send em! If you have questions or comments or just positive encouragement, its all good. I'd love to hear from the people who read my blog. Of course I can always respond via email when next I find myself online.

New Feature Added!!!! Located now on the sidebar is a Send TXT widget which allows you to message my cell phone in real time.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007
6:46:05 AM

Ok, well maybe today got off on the wrong foot so far, but its all good. Did I mention that our host grandpa is ex-military? A former member of the construction battalion who served in the Viet-Nam war. I think that is really cool and something to be respected highly; the one caveat to that is the 6 am military shakedown complete with full Texas accent. “Its 6 am, geet up or you’ll be late son”. I don’t think that Angelo is having such a good time as me. I’m staying on a sofa bed in the living room that must be folded up and made every morning before breakfast. He’s got is own room down the hall but the bed is far too short for me anyhow so its all good. Another interesting thing about this place is that its equipped with an expansive security system. It features both internal and external motion tracking sensors. Each night if you even walk to the bathroom after the alarm is set; it goes off and its very loud. The same goes for the external system as well. Its certainly different than what I‘m used to.

12:25:42 AM

Well, today all worked out just fine and dandy with only a few minor hitches. For Breakfast I had the traditional Wheaties. On the way in to our home base this morning. Angelo was very sick and we had to pull over so he could get out and vomit. I don’t think the crazy Texas driving helped either but enough about that. We did eventually arrive. I really like our morning meeting room (which is the Mannatech lunchroom) because there is a free unlimited supply of coffee throughout the day. By the time our morning had wrapped up I had polished off 7 cups of that wonderful Starbucks blend stuff. I think I’ve also perfected the technique for making ice coffee and I enjoy that just as much or maybe even more. Our morning workshops were centered around our Community impact days on Thursday and Friday where we are in schools. Our theme for the week is diversity so we did some brainstorming and activities surrounding that.
Lunch today was donated by a former alumni who just happened to work for [insert drum roll here] Pizza hut! A lot of us were so glad to finally see some pizza again. I think tortillas a great, but not for every meal of the day for weeks on end (or so it seemed). After lunch we loaded onto the bus and headed downtown to tour the 6th floor Museum. Its exhibits are all related to the assassination of former US president J.F. Kennedy. The museum itself is the building that Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president from. You can stand and look out the same window he looked out of; there is an x on the pavement on the street outside that indicates the location where JFK was shot. After our tour we had a Q&A session with the curator and then an hour of free time to wander around. Unfortunately there was nothing but restaurants in that area so I didn’t get in any shopping; I did however take lots and lots of pictures.
Our host grandfather picked us up back at Mannatech and on the way back we experienced several more cases of road rage, both from him and other drivers; I think its a disease of epic proportions here in the states. Back with our host family, we had mashed potatoes and pork sirloin for supper. Our host family was quick to leave us for an important church meeting. I decided to go for a walk. I was gone for about an hour and a half. In my travels, I witnessed a police arrest in a parking lot; it was just like on COPS. Anyhow, tomorrow is another day to make a difference. I’m off to sleep :) Its all Good™


We all got labeled as we studied diversity this morning
Pizza!
The Boys of Summer, well, in Febuary at least. (Matt, David, Jonas)
DART light rail, downtown Dallas

JFK museum


X Marks the spot.
shot from the 6th story corner window




Bad Boys, what'cha gonna do?

Its all Good™

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
7:36:48 PM

Well, here am I at the Mannatech weekly business meeting with a crowd of about 150 “Mannatech Associates”. From what I’ve gathered, Mannatech is a nutritional supplement manufacturer that works much the same way as Amway and Mary Kay with regards to their product distribution network. Why am I here you May ask? Well for that answer we’ve got to go back to 6:45 this morning. I awoke to the bustle of people packing up their mats, pillows, and blankets from the gym floor. Unfortunately by the time I was ready for sleep there wasn’t much room left on the mats; so I slept on my jacket in the corner. I just had to smirk when people started to complain about how uncomfortable the mats were. I was all good. We loaded the bus before the break of dawn and set off for Dallas. We had a sub-continental breakfast of fruit juice, yogurt tubes, and a bagel with cream cheese. My bus buddy was Yu-lin so we talked at great length about the history and geography of China. Later on, I took the opportunity to snooze for a while (about an hour but when I woke up the scenery hadn’t changed) followed by a few episodes of Family Guy. For lunch we stopped in the town of ________. They gave us each $5 for lunch so I went to a restaurant called “Poppeye’s” with Karin, Patrick, and Meg; others followed. The other options were Subway and Taco Bell. I wanted to try something new. As it turned out, they sell mainly “chicken & biscuits”, I had a spicy chicken sandwich with fries and pop. I tried a new kind of pop called “Big Red”. There was also a doughnut house nearby that Karin and I were determined to visit to buy some tasty doughnuts for the rest of the trip but alas it was closed. After 45 minutes we all got loaded (onto the bus), as our driver said. In the afternoon I slept a little more and we also watched the movie “Crash” which deals very bluntly with racial stereotypes and violence in L.A. California. Later in the afternoon, the Dallas skyline began to loom larger in view. Although we got lost a few times, we still arrived early to our major sponsor’s headquarters in Dallas; Mannatech. We were greeted with coffee and cookies; but mainly the coffee. We had our meeting and were reunited with Leo and Jeff; the advanced team for Dallas. I found out that Angelo from Curaco is my room mate for the next week; it should be interesting for sure. Our host mom and dad (well rather host grandmother and grandfather) are Francis and Casey Riley and they are Associates of Mannatech which brings me full circle. We’re currently listening to former NFL player Butch Johnson.

Interesting Factoids:
2 time Superbowl football player for the Dallas Cowboys. Age 18 you begin to think that you have a shot to be a great athlete. The statistics are against you but you dream about it anyhow. 18 players of each of the teams they played in the superbowl have died. Equivalent of 5000 whiplashes over 10 years of playing. The NFL players give up 25 years of your life to play 10.

Original Brennan Quote of the Day
You never know when you might die; so don’t wait to make a difference in people’s lives. Make a difference now.

To Do:
Add self to wikipedia


Van Horn Gym where we spent the night
Dawn Breaks and we're on our way again


Arriving in Dallas

Finding our Host families
Angelo my room mate for the week, and my host grandma
Butch Johnson, former NFL football star


Its all Good™; well except the fact that I'm again stealing the neighbours internet and I have to go outside to get a strong enough connection to use it.

Monday, February 19, 2007
7:09:11 PM

Early to rise, I left my host family behind at 7:30 am as we boarded the bus. Today was spent almost entirely on the bus with the exception of two stops, one at a ghost town named Dos Cabezas and another in El Paso, Texas. There wasn’t much to see except for the graveyard at the first stop but in El Paso we stopped at a mall fur lunch. My bus buddy today was Joke (pronounced Yo-Kah) from Belgium. On the way there we watched two movies; the Secret, and School of Rock. The scenery was very boring as we drove back through Arizona, New Mexico, and eventually Texas. We arrived in a small town called Van Horn, Texas around 5:30 local time. We crossed our first time zone today going ahead an hour. We are staying the night in a high school gym; unfortunately when we arrived, they were in the middle of a basketball practice so we played some tennis and football outside until supper. Supper was the usual spicy enchiladas with rice, beans, and unsweetened ice tea. I guess we are going to watch a movie tonight, probably something called “Amelie”, I have no idea what it is about but I’ll watch it anyhow because we don’t have any internet or anything. Its all Good™

Monday, February 19, 2007
12:33:50 AM

Today was an awesome day if I've ever seen one. I slept in till about 11 or so and woke up to the aroma of brewing coffee. We had mexican breakfast tacos filled with eggs (cooked like omelets with dried meat, peppers, tomatoes and onions) and refried beans. It was all good. We drove about 40 miles out of Tucson to the Kitt Peak National Observatory http://www.noao.edu/kpno/ at an altitude of 7000 feet above the Arizona desert. On the way we talked about American culture and how Americans in general have a lot of resources available to them as a society (oranges available to them year round and drive through banks for example) and when for whatever reason they donÕt receive what is percieved to be the best service, product, ect. There is a lot of complaining to be done which leads to a general sense of arrogance. We also noted that America is very celebrity driven. Celebrities receive more attention than the president. Also time is money. Anyhow, located there are 14 telescopes, the largest of which has a huge 4 meter mirror (which places it about the 4th largest in the world) Telescopes aside, the view from there was awesome, you could probably see 50 miles easily. We got to go inside 3 of the buildings where the giant telescopes are housed; the Mayall 4m, the 2.1m, and the McMath Pierce Solar telescope. On our way back we passed the David-Monthan (http://www.dm.af.mil/) Airbase which houses huge fields of aircraft that can all be prepped for duty on 72 hour notice. There were, A-10 Warthogs, CP-130 Hercules, AWACS, fighter jets of all sorts as well as some larger cargo jets. On the other side of the field is located the junk yard where decommissioned aircraft are stripped down and scrapped. We stopped by at their Niece's house for a short visit and we ended up going out for supper with them later at an authentic Mexican restaurant. While waiting for a table, we met some people who had formerly hosted UWP people in Mexico. I of course understood next to nothing in this whole exchange except for the familiar theme song in Spanish. But I smiled and it was all good. For supper I had a chicken melt on a tortilla with flam (a custard type substance) and deep fried ice cream for dessert. It was all goodª

Tomorrow we are leaving for Dallas, Texas. We'll be on the road both monday and tuesday so next week will be a bit shorter. Fingers are crossed that I'll have internet access :)


The Back Yard
The Arizona desert filled with suharto cacti that can grow to 20 feet high
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico and the extreme southwest of the United States


The McMath- Pierce Solar Telescope


Infrared cameras, that just goes to prove that I really am hot!






Acres C-130 aircraft





My Tucson host family and their grand daughter

The making of flour tortillas