Update time!

So I know I haven't written in a while. Sorry about that. We've been busy with auditions for the shows the last two days. We had our first round yesterday, and it lasted from 6pm-10pm. We were very tired. We stayed up late talking about who we liked, and who would do well in what part. Today we finished auditions. We we trying to have the cast list done by 5pm, but auditons went until 5:10. We had our fisrt rehearsal tonight. Everybody watched the movie, and jared and I tried to figure out the cast. All of our notes from yesterday were on the computer, so we were only able to cast the 4 leads. We double cast them because they were all so good. I think that our leads are really going to make the show! 2 of the girls gave me a hug! It was neat! Jared then taught them the music to the last song. At first it was a little scary sounding, but by the end it was great!!! This show is going to rock! We're still waiting for the scripts though....

On Sunday we finally adventured into the city on our own. One of the students and his friend met us at this restaurant across the street. We ate and drank and had a good time. We then walked a few blocks to another bar. They had "videoke." Basically it's the same as karaoke, but it scores you somehow. We couldn't figure out how. I got the best score out of the group. Jared's cousin Ched, and our student Darwin disappeared for a while, and brought back some exotic BBQ. They handed me an egg, and Jared told me it was a hard boiled egg. So I cracked it, and this nasty black stuff started oozing out. I figured out that it was this "delicacy" called balut. It's basically a hard boild fertilized egg. So nasty. They then wanted me to try chicken feet, but they looked creepy, so I didn't. I did try chicken intestine though. It wasn't to bad. I don't think I'll eat it again though. Anyways, we each sang 2 songs. Well, technically I sang three and a half because Jared kept bailing out on his songs. We then rode one of the motorcycle taxi things back home. It was fun!!

I will post more pictures soon!!! I promise!!

Another Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGJSy0p4G0g

Bugs, rats and fun!

So last night we went to the grocery store. Jared's Grandpa is going to be out of town for 10 days, so we wanted to stock up before he left. We got lots of soda, so juice, chips, oreos and pasta. When we got back, there was a gigantic devil bug on the screen door. Jared and I were both to scared to get close to it, so we waited until someone opened the door to tell us dinner was ready. Before that, Jared tried to make the thing fly away by throwing stuff at it. Nothing worked. Luckily it left us alone. This morning we work up and realized that a rat ate through the cords to our DVD player. How annoying.

Yesterday I taught some of the dance group the dance to "We're all in this together." They learned it really fast! When we went to the gym today at 1:30, they were practicing on their own! We were so happy! We also had the lights in the back taken down, so that we can rehang them. We will be doing that tomorrow. Tomorrow, we are also teaching the song that will be used for auditions! Yay! As of right now, we have 55 people signed up to audition. Very excited about that!

Here are some more videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZgueyIhU34

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83uztxVHdWA

Campus Tour part 2!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNZNm1bPefw

Goat tastes like Teriyaki beef jerkey!

So exciting!!! We got the rights to High School Musical this morning!! We've been spending afternoons preparing in the gym. On Friday we will be rehanging the lights because someone hung them all in the back. What a waste!! Today we are meeting with the students to get people to sign up for the show. Yesterday we got invited to be judges for the national YMCA academic olympics! How cool is that? I also tried goat meat for the first time. It was yummy! It tastes like teriyaki beef jerkey! I also tried Brandy. Didn't like that so much. Well, I gotta go, I'll post more pics soon!

Some video

Here are two of the videos that I've taken. They take forever to put on the web here, so I will put the rest up ASAP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIfagNRNONw

MONKEY!!

Yesterday we went to this place on a river that has a batcave where thousands of bats all fly out at the same time to start hunting. Jared's uncle Bert took us. We took a boat to this little island below the cave to watch the bats leave the cave. We were still in the boat when they flew out. It was so neat!! For about 5 minutes bats just kept streaming out of the cave. When we got to the little island, we stayed there for about 15 minutes. We saw a monkey way above us in the trees! It was very exciting. When we got back to shore, his uncle showed me a monkey that's someone's pet! That was even more exciting! I wish I could have a monkey for a pet. We went out for drinks later that night with Bert, but by that time my stomach was really hurting. I had a sprite, and then I had to go get sick in the bathroom. It was gross. The toilet wouldn't flush, and they had no running water to wash off. At least I had my anti-bacterial stuff. I was still feeling gross today, so we didn't do anything. We were supposed to go kayaking and caveing. Maybe tomorrow.

High School Musical

So last night Jared and I decided that we will be putting on High School Musical here. It's the shortened version, so it's only an hour and 10 minutes. We met with the lady who is in charge of the cultural arts program today, and she seems excited. We are also going to be sponsoring a Thespian Troupe at the school. It will be the first one in the Philippines. Everyone seems excited about that. Jared's Grandpa wants us to come back in January/February to direct Grease. I would love to do that if I had the money. I wasn't sure I would like it here, but I really do. I've only seen one weird bug so far (knock on wood.) Soon we're going to be going to these caves where a bunch of bats fly out and make the sky black because there's so many of them. I can't wait. We have an opprotunity to go to Singapore, but we decided to stay here to work on the show. I would have loved to go there, but maybe some other time.

I'm posting all of my pictures to an account on snapfish.com You can check them out if you want. My user name is Laceynp@gmail.com and the password is laceyphelps

Well, I gotta go, we're about to go meet some of the kids who will be in the show!

-Lace

And I'm here!

So I'm here, and so far having a good time. We arrived in Manila at about 11 on Monday night, and didn't get to the place where we were staying for the night til about 1am. I had my first new meal that night. I forgot what it was called, but it was rally good. The next day, we went to a mall. It's very different than in the USA. There were two "wings." One was for everything that's considered technology and the other is everything else. In the tech section every other store was a cell phone store. They were all busy!! That night we left for Tuguegera (sp?) at 6pm. It's about the same distance that Vista and Vegas are. It took us 11 hours. 2 lane roads that are through mountains. I slept most of the way, so that was good. Today we took a tour of the college. It's very nice. I've never been stared at so much in my entire life. They must be surprised to see a white girl on their campus. Anyways, I'll write more tomorrow!

Love,

Lace

Leaving on a jet plane

I about 29 hours I'll be getting on a plane to start my adventure to the Philippines. I'm actually quiet scared. I really have no idea what to expect from this whole thing. I know that I am going to miss my family and friends so much. The longest that I've been away from home was 2 weeks while I worked at Camp Bravo. This should be fun though. Jared and I will be starting a theater outreach program while we are there. I've never done anything like this in my life, and I really can't wait.