I'm alive

I am alive. We are in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and leaving this morning for Tucson, Arizona.

We had a show last night that was packed to the bursting point. The church decided to host us two weeks ago. I have no idea how they rounded up that many people! But someone had been praying for years that WDT would come to their church, so that was pretty cool.

I left my cds in the kitchen trailer, so it's going to be a long day!

"We all sat around and prayed. Or rather, Aaron prayed, and we agreed with him."

Courtesy of Walter

Vacation

Hey, ho, Kermit the frog here...

I'm blogging from Waco. Ashli and I decided to take a break from taking a break. All our other cast members wanted to "do things" on their days off. We opted to take the truck down to the Scobell's Bed and Breakfast. So all day today we've done as little as possible. Some laundry. Some emailing, postcarding and (for me) updating my spending logs and ledger. So far everything balances, and I'm able to pay next months bills yet again. Thanks be to God.

Wednesday we head to Big Springs, where we'll speak to a camp about what we do. Then Thursday it's off to Las Cruces, NM. We picked up one show last minute before we have to be in Tucson.

I think I would be more inclined to do things if we weren't going back over the route I've lived and driven. As it is, highway 20 is my old stomping grounds. Not even a roadrunner to break up the monotony!

Give me some time to apologise to the people I've offended, and I'll try to explain myself better than I did. I'm debating whether or not to delete a post...

Last night was our most interesting performance to date.

An East Indian Church was our audience. Originally we were supposed to be at their church, but the pews weren't movable, so they rented a community center. I don't think they knew what they were getting into. It was hot and bug infested. We spent a good amount of time cleaning during set up. The weather yesterday was well over 90, with very high humidity. No air conditioning at first, but at least they figured out how to turn it on before the show started. Scooping the rice from the kettle was torture!

The contact was late (probably because we set off the alarms in the building going through an unlocked door) and we were sweating like crazy. All of the girls turned their jeans into capris. We were told, when he arrived, that Indian women don't show leg, so we would have to roll our pants back down before we came into contact with the audience. We were worried because Balangaos wear skirts just below the knee, and in one scene I wear shorts playing a child. They said their congregation is somewhat acclimated to "Western Theater" and would understand that these are only costumes.

Then, we were short on circuits, so three of our nine lights wouldn't work. The air conditioning was loud, and our mics were cranked up, without much effect. Well, most of our mics were. Mine I turned off to run to the rest room, and forgot to turn back on. So I spent all of act one mute. I can project, but in a gym.....

That was the bad stuff, here's the good. The audience was one of our most responsive. Many of the congregation had recently moved here from India. They wore the most beautiful Saris (I think that's what they're called). They had two missionaries to India that they support, and the couple stood up and told of their experiences translating the Bible for the past 25 years. One man gave his life to Christ, and almost a dozen want to do missions work. One 8-year-old girl wants to be a missionary or a doctor. We told her she could do both. Afterwards, we got to talk with some of the ladies washing dishes. We had men standing around, but no one was sure if they would help in the kitchen, or take orders for a woman. They would, but we minced around that issue for a while. Julie said she did the same thing tearing down the stage. It was a very long night, and we got home well after midnight.

Tonight we're at a black church with 7,000 members. What a difference a day makes...

Reconciliation is a beautiful thing.

Recently Overheard (idea stolen from Elfin Ethicist):

"We called her on Christmas Eve to wish her a happy Easter..."

Courtesy of Walter

Here I am blogging from the crazy land of Waco, TX.

Adrian came up to Dallas this morning to give me a two day vacation. So far I've talked to VC and eaten at Bangkok Royale...Yellow Curry! My favorite! Oh and I went to use up some of my credit at the used bookstore. I still have $36 left, so there's plenty more to be bought. Today I sprang for Idylls of the King, The Last Temptation of Christ, Devil's Advocate, and Women in Love. That should keep me going for a while!

Last night's goal was to be packed up by 10:15. The kitchen crew locked the doors on the trailer at 10:13:15. Am I stoked or what? I have the best crew ever!

How many things can go wrong?

Our show last night was sloppy. The audience loved it, they were responsive, but little things kept going wrong. I almost missed and entrance. I was camped out by the side of the stage and realized that my cue was being said. I made it, but just barely. Also, there was a strange vacuum happening towards the audience. We lost one prop off the front end, and two more went sliding that direction. The button popped off my skirt, and I was trying to keep it on the whole first act. And finally, I got so tired of all the food we waste after a show that I scooped large portions of adobo. The last five servers didn't get full portions after all, and two of our cast had to eat peanut butter sandwitches. Tonight I'm supposed to be less zealous. And we ran out of veggies, but that wasn't my doing...It's a process, learning how much to make for how many. Our recipes are way off, but not all the same direction. Our fruit cocktail recipe is almost double what we need for the amount of people it says, but the vegetables always run the closest to the margin.

Ah well, the things you learn. On the plus side, kitchen crew got done in plenty of time with set up, and finished with the stage crew in tear down. Last night we were almost an hour behind them.

I looked at the calander, and it's September 11. I completely lost track of days. you know how you hear people say they'll never forget what they were doing when Kennedy was shot, or the space shuttle crashed? I was sleeping in when my sister called and asked if I could get any information on a plane that had crashed into the twin towers. I tried to get online, but couldn't. I called my family and a few college friends to try to find out what was going on -- since I didn't have a television. My friends and I skipped classes, went to Matt's apartment, ordered a pizza, and spent the day watching the news reports unfold.

I assume tonight at the show we'll pray for the survivors and their families...

Things that go POP in the night

My right foot, apparently. I was doing something yesterday, unloading the kitchen carts I think, and my foot made a rather funny pop. It was sore but walkable, until I went leaping offstage yelling "locusts!" Then my foot went "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" About 2 this morning I woke up crying it hurt so bad, and after icing it all night it's very swollen. I have no clue what I did to it, but the last time I broke a small bone in my foot, it was rainbow colored by now. I have hopes its just a tendon thing. Doesn't make it hurt less that way, but at least I won't be confined to a walking cast for six weeks. It's going to make running around barefoot tonight and tomorrow a pain.

I cannot believe that we are going to do this four more nights in a row. I am so sore!

Yesterday, the church's nearest ramp was on the opposite side of the gym from our trailers, so we had to haul everything uphill and around. The set up for kitchen crew is still new, so I don't know where to put everything to maximise the space. I spent hours just moving stuff around.

And I'm changing my name every night, I've decided, for variety. "Rachel, where does the.... Rachel, where do you want...... Rachel, what do I do now....?" I'm kitchen manager, so it's my job to organise set up, and repacking after the show. Then we have a dozen or so volunteers to help wash dishes. I wear a headscarf every show day (...and most others too. Saves on having to do my hair when I'm just going to put a wig on it.) , so I was being called "the little girl with the handkerchief." Makes me easy to identify. For some reason the church gentlemen who were scrubbing the pots found me in charge amusing. I think it's my stature...being 5'1"-ish has it's disadvantages. ( I may actually be 5'2" but people gave me such a hard time about partial inches I round down.) The counters were so high last night I couldn't see into the dish tubs without a major feat of athletics.

And the junior high kids who were serving called me ma'am. I know I'm in Texas, but ooh that hurt...then I did the math. I am almost twice their age. The big 25 is creeping closer. This year will be my second 24th birthday, since I seem to have mentally skipped my 23rd. Seriously. I even put it that way in my scrapbook. Is this what happens when you get old?

Today is our first show. Prayer from my buddies would be appreciated. We are all a little nervous... Yesterday we had a quick run through without setting up the stage. It went alright after a very rocky beginning. We are starting an hour early just to give ourselves time for a few mistakes and mishaps during set up.

Man Howdy are my bank accounts a mess right now! I just spent a considerable amount of time managing them after a month of neglect. Ouch!

A day off

Hobby Lobby

Today was my first real day off! What, do you think, Did Julie and I do our first day in Texas? Went to Hobby Lobby of course! I got some new cross stitch projects, and Julie got five colors of crochet thread for doilies.

Our host family is originally Dutch, but has lived in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, California, and Europe, among other places. They both worked with Wycliffe. They feed us very well, and quite healthily. We are grateful, since we've been living on candy, sandwitches, and pop on the road. After our shopping trip, we indulged in a movie marathon while crafting. We watched "Here on Earth" and "The Cutting Edge." So, mom and dad, you can stop telling me to watch it -- it was good. Here on earth I didn't like. The ending made it better, but most of the movie she was obviously trying to go for the rich guy behind her boyfriend's back. Intentionally. It made it hard to feel sorry for her at the end.

Tomorrow we have to put up the stage and do a rehearsal. It's been a week since our dress, so we're rusty. And, last week, our director made several changes on Tuesday that we're supposed to implement. I wrote my blocking changes down, but putting into the show without rehearsal is going to be interesting...

The longest day, ever.

My driver is out of the picture for drivingso we've switched roles. First of all, Kansas is a long state. And flat. And twenty questions is less than thrilling. "Oooh! Oooh! Is it corn?"

Everyone is getting frayed nerves. I was the brunt end of a joke or two today, which was out of boredom, but still smarted, and I was touchy for the rest of the day. (Bible quotes degenerated into firing proverbs back and forth at each other, which ended with finding verses with our names in it. Rachel isn't the paragon of virtue, exactly, and the one that was such a riot over the intercom begins, "Oh father, I cannot stand..." That and having handfulls of m&m's shoved in my mouth pretty much ended my patience. Then the truck ran out of gas. We are all tired, and everyone tried to be helpful, which resulted in everyone running around like the headless chickens, no one was listening to our leader because everyone had their own idea of what should be done. To sum up, we're tired, and it's a long trip, and it'll be good to be stationary for three weeks once we hit Dallas. Thank God tonight is an early night, with a late start tomorrow. We'll all get sleep.

The girls all bonded tonight over "The Prince and Me" which was cute. Sometimes sitting around and laughing at a dumb movie is a great de-stresser.

Other than those altercations, everything is going well. We are definately becoming more of a family, as we bond and get to know each other better. Every new home we have to retell our life stories, so soon we'll be able to go around the table with everyone else's. We have a few down days in Dallas before our first show on the eighth. Hurrah for sleep and shopping!

More updates from Texas!

For your information, I'm Rachel's little sister, Allison, and I'll be updating her blog when she can't get to a computer...

Travelling

Travelling

So, we're here in Denver. Last night we stayed in Salt Lake City, the night before in Boise. It is taking forever! The suburban (which broke down yesterday) is fixed and going to catch up to us tonight, late. We'll be eating breakfast tomorrow at quearter of 5. What a wretched hour to be awake. I'm hoping I don't have to go first on the driving...

And speaking of driving, my pilot seems to have really messed up his ankle playing volleyball, so I may have to switch jobs tomorrow...