And So it Begins....

I finally found some time to go to an internet cafe. It's really noisy right now because they are having a video game competition and they actually had to kick someone off of the computer so I could get on. I'm backdating the posts so you can get a feel of what our schedules have been like.

Today was the first of our multiple performances. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. After the first Nation's Night and the late night, we pretty much slept through breakfast and woke up right before rehearsal, at 845am. I'm having to dance with a knee pad because me knee is still bad. They only have one big practice room and each group has to sign up for a 45 minute time slot. Why we signed up for 9am every morning, I don't know.

While we were waiting in line for lunch, I had a minor scare. One of the organizers were asking for Maria Theresa from Filipinas. We don't have a Maria Theresa. So, I asked Maria Frianeza? They said yes and rushed me into the office. They didn't speak english very well and all they managed to get out was..."Maria's mother...in hospital" Well, at that point I started panicking. After a few seconds, I realized they were looking for Raisa & Ceska's mom and there was nothing to do with a hospital. That is one of my worst nightmares...something happening while I'm away.

In the afternoon, we performed at a book fair.

It was a really small gig. They split the groups up to perform in different locations. We performed with Thailand and did a 15 minute performance. We basically did barrio again, so I had my huge part as BG (i.e. background).

After the performance, we headed out to get some ice cream and went shopping.


Little did Nova Prata know how much money the pilipinos would be pumping into their economy!

8pm we performed at the Gymnasium again. This time we were the 6th (out of 7) to perform. We did Bagobo, Tahaw, and Blit Bilaan.

We bought these nude jazz shoes to perform in the streets, instead of going bare foot. We've been wearing them while waiting to keep our feet warm. When we went on stage for Bagobo, I noticed that Tin still had her shoes on. And as we start dancing, Bev says under her breath..."YOUR SHOES!!!" It ended up being fine though.

After we perform, we get to watch the other groups. S. Africa got a standing O...very well deserved!


Tonight, was Thailand's Nations Night. As we walked in, they greeted us by wiping this white powder on our face.

It was almost like Vicks where it started cooling and then almost hurting. They are a small group and only have 1 guy dancer. He actually looks like Randy Romero to me. They are a group from a University in Thailand. My guess is they are Angelo's favorite group...if you know what I mean. One of the girls actually looks like Cassie. We have a picture of them together and the resemblance is pretty amazing. For food, they served a dessert. It looked like mongo beans but it was in a sweet syrup. Very disappointing for those expecting Pad Thai.

Raisa had to go to the hospital. She had an allergic reaction to some of the bug bites and her arms swelled up so much that her sleeves were too tight. They ended up giving her 4 shots to make the swelling down. The nurse wasn't very gentle with her so it was pretty painful for her. It went down after a couple of days.

As usual, Bev, Genie, and I snuck out a little early to take our showers and get some shut eye. Nations night runs from 11pm - 2am and the 3 of us usually leave around 1ish. I'm too old to party like the others do.