Serafina Correa
Today was even colder than yesterday. I layered it on with thermals, jeans, 3 layers on top, a scarf, and a hat AND I was still COLD!!!! It felt like we were in Tahoe without the snow. The rain also started coming down pretty hard. Not only that, but my time of the month started amongst all this misery.
We, along with S. Africa, and Easter Island, headed over to Serafina Correa, a town 1.5 hours away from Nova Prata.
They first took our bus to a River that the city says many tourists visit during the summer.
Because the weather was so horrible, they took us to City Hall, where they showed us tourism videos of their city. The city is actually a mini Italy, since Italian immigrants came in 1892. Some of their buildings are miniature replicas of Italian buildings and the elders speak Italiano.
While we were walking around the city, Tin started throwing off her jacket because she felt a tingling feeling going down her arms. She broke out in hives and a local had to take her to the pharmacy for some cream. She ended up being ok though.
We had lunch at a school, where they served us pastas (yummy!). I ended up sitting next to the local who took Tin to the pharmacy. Her name is Letitia. Her english was very good because she went to English school. During the lunch, I introduced Listerine strips and hand sanitizer to her and her friend.
They were pretty intrigued. I ended up giving the Listerine to her friend.
After lunch, the kids from the school performed some songs and folk dances for us.
And a local woman sang while playing the guitar. She had such a beautiful voice.
I ended up sitting next to a couple of Africans. The girl I sat next to is named "Philippine".
She was born the year that Philippines won the Miss Universe contest and her mother named her after us. She's so cute because she always says "our" party is on Friday, meaning our Nations Night.
Letitia ended up being our tour guide around their little town. She took a bunch of us to the shops around town but I don't think anyone bought anything. After that, she became totally infatuated with us, almost to the point where I needed some major space. I started calling her "swim fan." She wanted to bring us to her mom and show us off.
A couple hours after eating lunch, they brought us to a restaurant, where they had all these sandwiches, mini pizzas, and desserts for us.
We were still full from all the pasta we loaded up on but couldn't refuse. So, we ate a little more.
We headed over to their cultural center after, to do a sound check. We got started a little late, so they didn't feed us dinner until 740pm and our performance was at 8pm. We were still full since we only ate about an hour earlier but we had to eat AGAIN!
We were the first to perform. We did: Kadal, Tahaw, Blit, Pandanggo, Itik, Maglalatik, and Tinikling. In the middle of Itik, there was a blackout. But the girls kept on performing like troopers. It took about another 15 minutes before we continued. We cut out Binasuan, and performed with no mics and lights. I think only someone's video lights lit the stage up. But we got our 1st standing ovation. The crowd was so awesome!
Then after Easter Island performed a couple of dances, the lights came back on. Side note: we've been calling them the Bunnies (like Easter) or Peeps (like the marsmallow candies shaped like bunnies and ducks). They aren't so friendly, especially the girls. They also LOVE to smoke. They were smoking in the hallway that we quick change in and I had to tell their director to ask them not to since Tina's pregnant.
S. Africa called both groups on stage with them during their finale of the Lion King. We were all doing the electric slide. It was so fun, but the peeps kept on pushing their ways to the front. I also got a little nervous that the stage would collapse because it was so small and there was about 100 people on stage plus their instruments!
We later found out that we were fortunate that a blackout occured. Because if it didn't, there would have been a fire. The place had one way in and one way out. It was so jammed pack in there that there definitely would have been casualties if a fire broke out. Thank God it didn't!
As usual, Cha had her share of fans....mostly kids. Jen1 got a ring from a guy. This was the start of the "pop star" life we had.
Tonight was Lithuania's Nations Night. We didn't get back until 1230am because of the blackout. When we got there, they were on the porch serenading us with their accordian and other instruments, welcoming us home. They taught us a bunch of Polka dances, served sausages, anchovies, chees, rye bread, and different types of liquer. At the door, they gave us bracelets made from a local wood.
We, along with S. Africa, and Easter Island, headed over to Serafina Correa, a town 1.5 hours away from Nova Prata.
They first took our bus to a River that the city says many tourists visit during the summer.
Because the weather was so horrible, they took us to City Hall, where they showed us tourism videos of their city. The city is actually a mini Italy, since Italian immigrants came in 1892. Some of their buildings are miniature replicas of Italian buildings and the elders speak Italiano.
While we were walking around the city, Tin started throwing off her jacket because she felt a tingling feeling going down her arms. She broke out in hives and a local had to take her to the pharmacy for some cream. She ended up being ok though.
We had lunch at a school, where they served us pastas (yummy!). I ended up sitting next to the local who took Tin to the pharmacy. Her name is Letitia. Her english was very good because she went to English school. During the lunch, I introduced Listerine strips and hand sanitizer to her and her friend.
They were pretty intrigued. I ended up giving the Listerine to her friend.
After lunch, the kids from the school performed some songs and folk dances for us.
And a local woman sang while playing the guitar. She had such a beautiful voice.
I ended up sitting next to a couple of Africans. The girl I sat next to is named "Philippine".
She was born the year that Philippines won the Miss Universe contest and her mother named her after us. She's so cute because she always says "our" party is on Friday, meaning our Nations Night.
Letitia ended up being our tour guide around their little town. She took a bunch of us to the shops around town but I don't think anyone bought anything. After that, she became totally infatuated with us, almost to the point where I needed some major space. I started calling her "swim fan." She wanted to bring us to her mom and show us off.
A couple hours after eating lunch, they brought us to a restaurant, where they had all these sandwiches, mini pizzas, and desserts for us.
We were still full from all the pasta we loaded up on but couldn't refuse. So, we ate a little more.
We headed over to their cultural center after, to do a sound check. We got started a little late, so they didn't feed us dinner until 740pm and our performance was at 8pm. We were still full since we only ate about an hour earlier but we had to eat AGAIN!
We were the first to perform. We did: Kadal, Tahaw, Blit, Pandanggo, Itik, Maglalatik, and Tinikling. In the middle of Itik, there was a blackout. But the girls kept on performing like troopers. It took about another 15 minutes before we continued. We cut out Binasuan, and performed with no mics and lights. I think only someone's video lights lit the stage up. But we got our 1st standing ovation. The crowd was so awesome!
Then after Easter Island performed a couple of dances, the lights came back on. Side note: we've been calling them the Bunnies (like Easter) or Peeps (like the marsmallow candies shaped like bunnies and ducks). They aren't so friendly, especially the girls. They also LOVE to smoke. They were smoking in the hallway that we quick change in and I had to tell their director to ask them not to since Tina's pregnant.
S. Africa called both groups on stage with them during their finale of the Lion King. We were all doing the electric slide. It was so fun, but the peeps kept on pushing their ways to the front. I also got a little nervous that the stage would collapse because it was so small and there was about 100 people on stage plus their instruments!
We later found out that we were fortunate that a blackout occured. Because if it didn't, there would have been a fire. The place had one way in and one way out. It was so jammed pack in there that there definitely would have been casualties if a fire broke out. Thank God it didn't!
As usual, Cha had her share of fans....mostly kids. Jen1 got a ring from a guy. This was the start of the "pop star" life we had.
Tonight was Lithuania's Nations Night. We didn't get back until 1230am because of the blackout. When we got there, they were on the porch serenading us with their accordian and other instruments, welcoming us home. They taught us a bunch of Polka dances, served sausages, anchovies, chees, rye bread, and different types of liquer. At the door, they gave us bracelets made from a local wood.
posted by Mur at 1:16 PM
4 Comments:
WOW! It sounds like you guys are having such an awesome time and that everyone loves Likha!! What's the story behind the 'ring'?
Kudos to you guys for continuing the show despite the power outage! right on!!
That was something else. Good thing the rondalla decided to sit on the edge of the frontstage and "serenade" the crowd while they were trying to fix the blackout.
hi mur! i hope you get well!
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