Thursday, August 25, 2005
Nova Prata recollections cont. 9/1/05
geez, i thought i was gonna post all recollections in the last post. guess that didn't work...so back to sqaure 1 and i promise i'll end the recollections in this post! also this post was a draft i didn't finish back in aug. 25. so today is the 1st of september...have fun reading.
wednesday, all the groups had a day off from performing. so off the to hot springs...or the swimming pools heated by the natural springs. anyways, the swimming pools were heated by the natural springs, so that means no chlorine in the water. before jumping in the water, you had to go through a body inspection where this person will tell you to raise your arms to check for body sores or cuts, and that person would also inspect your hands for any sores. if you pass, then you can jump in. i actually utilized the warm waters as a rehab tool for my heel. the warm waters help with the swelling and abled me to push away the swelling. hurt like a bitch, but i was able to walk and put some pressure on my heel later on that day! there were some kool pictures taken that day, unfortunately i didn't take any, but i'm sure all ya'lls seen em already.
later on that nite, there was a performance by all of the local brazilian groups. that was pretty kool. what was also kool was anna banana's group performed too...i think. another kool thing was that the capoeira group invited a dancer from each group to come up on stage, so christian the chosen by default. he repped and did very well...sick bro! after the performance, another nations nite party and then sleep.
thursday, i had a day off so i can recover from the dumb heel injury. the performance for the evening was vinta voyage and the other muslim dances...forgettin the names at the moment. anyways, the highlight of the nite was vinta. since i had the day off, i was helping backstage with instruments and costumes changes. i was also playing cheerleader, gettin everyone juiced up to have a dope performance. so, all the dances were going well and the energy was high...until vincent fell of the bamboos--5 times. meanwhile backstage, we were watching on the monitor. the first fall, vincent got back up and we were all still rootin for the vinta peeps. then vincent fell again. by the third fall, all of us watching the monitor backstage were bummed. BUT...VINTA STILL FINISHED STRONG. THE VINTA DANCERS WERE DANCING ON THIN BAMBOOS WHICH MADE THE DANCE EVEN MORE CHALLENGING! DEPSITE THE 4 OR 5 FALLS, VINTA FINISHED STRONG. although vince was pretty much bummed out and didn't feel like chillin with us, i understood how he felt...(pleasanton - singkil). so that nite, most of were bummed but still felt we gave a good performance.
friday, it was redemption. we did cordillera and of course, last minute changes and adds by kuya rudi! salidsid for me and kirsi went really well. at times i was a little off beat, but vibin off the musicians just put me into a trance. gotta love it when the musicians vibe off of your dance while vice versa for the dancer.
during the day, some of us were walking around checking out the arts and crafts fair while others chilled at the hostel. me, angelo, and quim got some free stickers (brazilian flag). for almost the 2 weeks we were there, we couldn't find stickers. but finally we found some and got about 8 of em for the musicians that played for the trip.
friday nite was mabuhay nite and we were a hit. lot of people dug the food and the entertainment and the photo slide show gary put together. we also paid tribute to anna banana and her boyfriend and our sister *philippines* from the south africa crew. for those of you who don't know how *philippines* got her name....her mother named her after ms. philippines when she won miss universe. trip out eh?
saturday, we did muslim. again we were a hit...at least i thought so. during singkil, me and cass ended one count early. it was my fault, but cass was a little upset. i felt bad and couldn't apologize enuff for ending early. though, singkil was strong, tapping was on, and so were the musicians.
saturday, was also the day where i started feelin really sick. coughin, coughing, and more coughs. had a slight fever and the occasional cold sweat.
as for my heel, it was achy and swelled up. but i dance through the pain and continued to take the meds. those were some really good meds...i think i still have left over. uh oh...am i addicted? ahhahahahhaha.
sunday, the last day of performances, we did highlights or the best dances from our repertoire. so we did: manilena, salisid, pandanggo, singkill, errr...i forgot the others. so, we were suppose to keep it between 15-20 minutes long. somehow we were at 30? oops oh well. the crowd loved us anyways.
sunday nite, it was chaos. lots of drinking and costume exchanging. couldn't really tell what went on coz i was crashed out from being sick.
monday, most of the groups left early morning. we wanted to be up early and say goodbyes to the thailand peeps, but we all woke up late. some of us caught the south africa group leaving. they sang a couple of songs and man...it was heartfelt. had to hold back a tear or two...but it was kool.
us and the cadburrys were the last ones to leave. when it was time to say our goodbyes, i was saying my goodbyes to the kitchen staff. all of them expressed how they loved filipinas. and looking at them, some had tears in their eyes. man, had to buck up a bit and fight off the tears that were welling up in my eyes. the hugs they gave me...it was heartfelt.
so, 3 hour bus ride to porto alegre, 2 hour layover...2 hour flight to sao paolo, 2 hour layover...8.5 hour flight to miami, 2-3 hour layover to dallas...2.5 hour flight from miami to dallas with a major pain in the ass terminal change from dallas to SFO which delayed our flight to SFO. after that, it was a 3 hour flight to SFO. flight home was HELL, being sick and all.
so a 25+ hour trip to get back to SF. still worth it. call me crazy, but i wouldn't change anything. well, maybe the sick part, but it happened for a reason and it was a crazy experience. i guess we can use this experience and apply it to our next trip which is in FRANCE!
SO THERE YA HAVE IT. ALL IN A NUTSHELL. I LEFT OUT SOME RECOLLECTIONS COZ THEY WERE TO JUICY TO POST. HAHAHAH. BRASIL WAS A DOPE ASS EXPERIENCE. THANKS ALL FOR SHARING IT WITH ME. i'm out, coz i gotta throw teddy bears into the lake.
wednesday, all the groups had a day off from performing. so off the to hot springs...or the swimming pools heated by the natural springs. anyways, the swimming pools were heated by the natural springs, so that means no chlorine in the water. before jumping in the water, you had to go through a body inspection where this person will tell you to raise your arms to check for body sores or cuts, and that person would also inspect your hands for any sores. if you pass, then you can jump in. i actually utilized the warm waters as a rehab tool for my heel. the warm waters help with the swelling and abled me to push away the swelling. hurt like a bitch, but i was able to walk and put some pressure on my heel later on that day! there were some kool pictures taken that day, unfortunately i didn't take any, but i'm sure all ya'lls seen em already.
later on that nite, there was a performance by all of the local brazilian groups. that was pretty kool. what was also kool was anna banana's group performed too...i think. another kool thing was that the capoeira group invited a dancer from each group to come up on stage, so christian the chosen by default. he repped and did very well...sick bro! after the performance, another nations nite party and then sleep.
thursday, i had a day off so i can recover from the dumb heel injury. the performance for the evening was vinta voyage and the other muslim dances...forgettin the names at the moment. anyways, the highlight of the nite was vinta. since i had the day off, i was helping backstage with instruments and costumes changes. i was also playing cheerleader, gettin everyone juiced up to have a dope performance. so, all the dances were going well and the energy was high...until vincent fell of the bamboos--5 times. meanwhile backstage, we were watching on the monitor. the first fall, vincent got back up and we were all still rootin for the vinta peeps. then vincent fell again. by the third fall, all of us watching the monitor backstage were bummed. BUT...VINTA STILL FINISHED STRONG. THE VINTA DANCERS WERE DANCING ON THIN BAMBOOS WHICH MADE THE DANCE EVEN MORE CHALLENGING! DEPSITE THE 4 OR 5 FALLS, VINTA FINISHED STRONG. although vince was pretty much bummed out and didn't feel like chillin with us, i understood how he felt...(pleasanton - singkil). so that nite, most of were bummed but still felt we gave a good performance.
friday, it was redemption. we did cordillera and of course, last minute changes and adds by kuya rudi! salidsid for me and kirsi went really well. at times i was a little off beat, but vibin off the musicians just put me into a trance. gotta love it when the musicians vibe off of your dance while vice versa for the dancer.
during the day, some of us were walking around checking out the arts and crafts fair while others chilled at the hostel. me, angelo, and quim got some free stickers (brazilian flag). for almost the 2 weeks we were there, we couldn't find stickers. but finally we found some and got about 8 of em for the musicians that played for the trip.
friday nite was mabuhay nite and we were a hit. lot of people dug the food and the entertainment and the photo slide show gary put together. we also paid tribute to anna banana and her boyfriend and our sister *philippines* from the south africa crew. for those of you who don't know how *philippines* got her name....her mother named her after ms. philippines when she won miss universe. trip out eh?
saturday, we did muslim. again we were a hit...at least i thought so. during singkil, me and cass ended one count early. it was my fault, but cass was a little upset. i felt bad and couldn't apologize enuff for ending early. though, singkil was strong, tapping was on, and so were the musicians.
saturday, was also the day where i started feelin really sick. coughin, coughing, and more coughs. had a slight fever and the occasional cold sweat.
as for my heel, it was achy and swelled up. but i dance through the pain and continued to take the meds. those were some really good meds...i think i still have left over. uh oh...am i addicted? ahhahahahhaha.
sunday, the last day of performances, we did highlights or the best dances from our repertoire. so we did: manilena, salisid, pandanggo, singkill, errr...i forgot the others. so, we were suppose to keep it between 15-20 minutes long. somehow we were at 30? oops oh well. the crowd loved us anyways.
sunday nite, it was chaos. lots of drinking and costume exchanging. couldn't really tell what went on coz i was crashed out from being sick.
monday, most of the groups left early morning. we wanted to be up early and say goodbyes to the thailand peeps, but we all woke up late. some of us caught the south africa group leaving. they sang a couple of songs and man...it was heartfelt. had to hold back a tear or two...but it was kool.
us and the cadburrys were the last ones to leave. when it was time to say our goodbyes, i was saying my goodbyes to the kitchen staff. all of them expressed how they loved filipinas. and looking at them, some had tears in their eyes. man, had to buck up a bit and fight off the tears that were welling up in my eyes. the hugs they gave me...it was heartfelt.
so, 3 hour bus ride to porto alegre, 2 hour layover...2 hour flight to sao paolo, 2 hour layover...8.5 hour flight to miami, 2-3 hour layover to dallas...2.5 hour flight from miami to dallas with a major pain in the ass terminal change from dallas to SFO which delayed our flight to SFO. after that, it was a 3 hour flight to SFO. flight home was HELL, being sick and all.
so a 25+ hour trip to get back to SF. still worth it. call me crazy, but i wouldn't change anything. well, maybe the sick part, but it happened for a reason and it was a crazy experience. i guess we can use this experience and apply it to our next trip which is in FRANCE!
SO THERE YA HAVE IT. ALL IN A NUTSHELL. I LEFT OUT SOME RECOLLECTIONS COZ THEY WERE TO JUICY TO POST. HAHAHAH. BRASIL WAS A DOPE ASS EXPERIENCE. THANKS ALL FOR SHARING IT WITH ME. i'm out, coz i gotta throw teddy bears into the lake.
# mixed and skratched by dessa : 4:12 PM
