Aaaah....it's SO nice being in OUR home in GREEN Italy! We just got in about 15 minutes ago or so.
This journey proves how insane my father is! We left yesterday morning at about 11 a.m. (Portuguese time), then we stopped for lunch at about 2 p.m.. My dad then drove until about 6/6:30 a.m. (Spanish/French/Italian time, which is an hour ahead of Portuguese time) when he stopped to sleep for a half an hour, then continued driving again till 10 a.m. when we stopped for breakfast. From there we drove here. So he drove like 26 hours with only a half an hour sleep break! I guess when you're determined to do something, you can do anything (Oh gosh, that was so creepy! Right when I wrote "You can do anything" the song I'm listening to said that!).
Anyways, we got here safe and sound....tired, but happy =)
Ok, lunch time. Bye!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Quick Post
Ok, this is just a quick post cuz I have to go to bed since we're getting up early tomorrow and gonna be traveling for about 2 or 3 days...weee how fun....
Anyways, just wanted to let you know that my parents got that house I wrote about in the last post! It's a really nice and big house, completely different from all the other houses we've had. It kind of reminds me of an American house. They've told us that it's near where the Borden's used to live.
I just had to say goodbye to everyone again (except for Pedro and Nuno again! =( )...and I cried again when I had to say goodbye to Jas... Fortunately, I was fine with everyone else. Gosh I hate crying.
Anyways, here's a video Ben did of our time at Mount of Oaks...
Goodnight!
P.S. Oh yeah, apparently, when I have my hair down I look like a mermaid...whatever that means haha (wait, but then that means that you're a merman Ruben, since you're my lil bro! haha Don't worry, I won't tell anyone =P)
Anyways, just wanted to let you know that my parents got that house I wrote about in the last post! It's a really nice and big house, completely different from all the other houses we've had. It kind of reminds me of an American house. They've told us that it's near where the Borden's used to live.
I just had to say goodbye to everyone again (except for Pedro and Nuno again! =( )...and I cried again when I had to say goodbye to Jas... Fortunately, I was fine with everyone else. Gosh I hate crying.
Anyways, here's a video Ben did of our time at Mount of Oaks...
Goodnight!
P.S. Oh yeah, apparently, when I have my hair down I look like a mermaid...whatever that means haha (wait, but then that means that you're a merman Ruben, since you're my lil bro! haha Don't worry, I won't tell anyone =P)
Back Again
Here I am, back from the Mount of Oaks, back in the Farmers' house (I actually got back Monday). We were supposed to leave for Italy on Monday, but since we hadn't found a house yet, my parents decided that we'll leave tomorrow.
Fortunately, it looks like my parents have finally found a house today! I think it's so funny that when we moved from Mantova to Salo', the only house that all five of us saw ended up being the house we moved in, and now it looks like the only house that I went to see is the one that they're gonna be living in!
So anyways, our time at the Mount of Oaks was, yet again, amazing! It was crazy cuz this time, instead of being between 3 to 9 people (as it was when I was last there), there were about 35 people there! And what was even crazier was that I knew a lot of the people who were there! =)
I always find it exciting to be with so many people from so many different places! There were Portuguese people, Germans, Americans, two French girls, an Irish girl, a New Zealand girl, and, well, "Italians" (Alana and me)....I think those were all the nationalities. It was great living with all these people and getting to talk to them all and listen to their stories and testimonies! That's gotta be one of the things I love the most (listening to people's stories and experiences).
Having a bunch of Americans and German Freaks there, it was kind of obvious that the whole Bush thing would come up, but it was so awesome how Lyna (one of the French girls) got up and said "I'm not going to talk about this. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes. I don't know what I would have done if I was in his position and no one really knows what goes on with him. There's always something wrong with all politicians!". That shut everyone up =)
It's so awesome how, in just a few days, we all became a community, a big family, and when, Monday morning, we all said goodbye to one another, exchanging emails and hugs, no one really said "goodbye", but "see you another time" =)
Mount of Oaks is such a special and peaceful place. When Alana and I were talking about our time there when we got back, we noted that everyone there was always so nice and was always smiling. I can't wait to go there again, next year!
It sucks that we get to miss out on the African dinner they're having tonight! That sounds cool!
Oh, and while we were there we also went in the village and helped clean the school yard and the town hall's yard. It was so funny how, while we were walking around, everyone (especially all the old people) were looking at as as we passed. Some even stopped to watch us work. It was also so funny how it looked like all the old ladies of the village knew Barbara.
And here's a slideshow again hehe =)
I have to say, though, that I'm really really missing my bed and room. I've been kind of sick for some time now and haven't gotten any nice sleep yet. While at the Mount of Oaks, I would go to bed late and had to sleep in the wet tent and sleeping bag (the night after we got there it poured and our tent wasn't waterproof so we got wet) and now, at the Farmers', I'm sleeping with my family in the living room. The rest of my family is feeling the same way. I hope we don't have any misadventures during our travels back to Italy.
Fortunately, it looks like my parents have finally found a house today! I think it's so funny that when we moved from Mantova to Salo', the only house that all five of us saw ended up being the house we moved in, and now it looks like the only house that I went to see is the one that they're gonna be living in!
So anyways, our time at the Mount of Oaks was, yet again, amazing! It was crazy cuz this time, instead of being between 3 to 9 people (as it was when I was last there), there were about 35 people there! And what was even crazier was that I knew a lot of the people who were there! =)
I always find it exciting to be with so many people from so many different places! There were Portuguese people, Germans, Americans, two French girls, an Irish girl, a New Zealand girl, and, well, "Italians" (Alana and me)....I think those were all the nationalities. It was great living with all these people and getting to talk to them all and listen to their stories and testimonies! That's gotta be one of the things I love the most (listening to people's stories and experiences).
Having a bunch of Americans and German Freaks there, it was kind of obvious that the whole Bush thing would come up, but it was so awesome how Lyna (one of the French girls) got up and said "I'm not going to talk about this. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes. I don't know what I would have done if I was in his position and no one really knows what goes on with him. There's always something wrong with all politicians!". That shut everyone up =)
It's so awesome how, in just a few days, we all became a community, a big family, and when, Monday morning, we all said goodbye to one another, exchanging emails and hugs, no one really said "goodbye", but "see you another time" =)
Mount of Oaks is such a special and peaceful place. When Alana and I were talking about our time there when we got back, we noted that everyone there was always so nice and was always smiling. I can't wait to go there again, next year!
It sucks that we get to miss out on the African dinner they're having tonight! That sounds cool!
Oh, and while we were there we also went in the village and helped clean the school yard and the town hall's yard. It was so funny how, while we were walking around, everyone (especially all the old people) were looking at as as we passed. Some even stopped to watch us work. It was also so funny how it looked like all the old ladies of the village knew Barbara.
And here's a slideshow again hehe =)
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I have to say, though, that I'm really really missing my bed and room. I've been kind of sick for some time now and haven't gotten any nice sleep yet. While at the Mount of Oaks, I would go to bed late and had to sleep in the wet tent and sleeping bag (the night after we got there it poured and our tent wasn't waterproof so we got wet) and now, at the Farmers', I'm sleeping with my family in the living room. The rest of my family is feeling the same way. I hope we don't have any misadventures during our travels back to Italy.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Time for Goodbyes...
Today I had to say goodbye to Ruben, João, Jas and Ivo. Saying goodbye to the guys wasn't a hard and dramatic moment. With Ruben and João it was actually quite funny since we were just joking around (those are the goodbyes I prefer). With Jas, however, it was harder cuz it was right after hanging out together, talking about all kinds of stuff and then praying together (or better Jas praying for me). In fact, when I walked in the house after saying goodbye to her, with a bunch of wet tissues in my hand, my face red and tears in my eyes, my mom said "the combination of praying and saying goodbye is never a good thing for Whitney".
It's still not completely real to me that I'll be leaving Europe in about 20 days and that I'll be away for a year. It will probably finally hit me once I'm on the plane for the States.
Tomorrow I'm going back to Barbara's with Marcia, Ben, Bruno and my sister Alana and we're staying there until Monday, when my parents will pick Alana and I up and we'll be off for our journey back to Italy.
Pedro, Nuno, and whoever else I wasn't able to say goodbye to: love you and see you in a year!!!
Soon will come the harder goodbyes: my Italian friends whom I've known for years and whom I have no idea when I'll see again! That will be weird...
P.S. I just found out that there's a band called Kill Whitney Dead! What the heck?!?! That's the stupidest band name ever. If you kill someone, they're obviously dead! And why does the name have to be Whitney??
It's still not completely real to me that I'll be leaving Europe in about 20 days and that I'll be away for a year. It will probably finally hit me once I'm on the plane for the States.
Tomorrow I'm going back to Barbara's with Marcia, Ben, Bruno and my sister Alana and we're staying there until Monday, when my parents will pick Alana and I up and we'll be off for our journey back to Italy.
Pedro, Nuno, and whoever else I wasn't able to say goodbye to: love you and see you in a year!!!
Soon will come the harder goodbyes: my Italian friends whom I've known for years and whom I have no idea when I'll see again! That will be weird...
P.S. I just found out that there's a band called Kill Whitney Dead! What the heck?!?! That's the stupidest band name ever. If you kill someone, they're obviously dead! And why does the name have to be Whitney??
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Getting Used To Living In A House Again
Sun, Aug 19
At the moment, I'm sick and cold. Everyone else is saying that it's warm in this house, but I'm cold. I think it's a mix of my body being used to being outside all the time, in the sun and fresh air, and the fact that I get cold really easily. There also must be something in this house that I'm allergic to, cuz my nose can't stop running and I keep having asthma.
I'm really missing the land. I'm not enjoying being in a house doing nothing and I'm also missing Baba and Anne. However, it looks like Marcia and Bruno are going to go down to the Land this coming weekend, so I might be able to go with them! :-)
Tue, Aug 21
Today I'm feeling better. Last night we had a worship time with Jenelle, Marta, Catherine, Stephanie, Jasmin, James, Olivia, Ruben, Joanna, Marcia, Tehur (I think that's everyone). I had never met the first four (I hope I spelled their names right...), so it was cool meeting them. It was an awesome time! Before everyone got here, Jas sang a few of her worship songs, which I always love to listen to (Can't wait for her to make a cd!) and then Isaac, Jenelle and Jas had a djembe jam. It was so funny how Isaac picked up the djembe and I could see that he really wanted to play it, so I told him to. He said he was embarrassed, but did so anyway. He was so good! He got into it right away and then Nelly and Jas joined in too. Once everyone got here, Jenelle lead the worship singing and playing the guitar and Isaac kept playing the djembe. That kid is just so full of talent! He can do almost everything haha. If he's this good at playing drums and percussion now, at age 10, I wonder how he'll be when he's my age!
I'm really excited that tonight we'll all be going bowling together! I haven't gone bowling in...at least 5 years!
Oh yeah, I found out that I'm allergic to Bingo! So weird...I've never been allergic to a dog before! Oh well, I still love him...even though, when we go for walks, it's more him taking me for a walk than the other way around! haha
Here's a slideshow for you to enjoy =)
At the moment, I'm sick and cold. Everyone else is saying that it's warm in this house, but I'm cold. I think it's a mix of my body being used to being outside all the time, in the sun and fresh air, and the fact that I get cold really easily. There also must be something in this house that I'm allergic to, cuz my nose can't stop running and I keep having asthma.
I'm really missing the land. I'm not enjoying being in a house doing nothing and I'm also missing Baba and Anne. However, it looks like Marcia and Bruno are going to go down to the Land this coming weekend, so I might be able to go with them! :-)
Tue, Aug 21
Today I'm feeling better. Last night we had a worship time with Jenelle, Marta, Catherine, Stephanie, Jasmin, James, Olivia, Ruben, Joanna, Marcia, Tehur (I think that's everyone). I had never met the first four (I hope I spelled their names right...), so it was cool meeting them. It was an awesome time! Before everyone got here, Jas sang a few of her worship songs, which I always love to listen to (Can't wait for her to make a cd!) and then Isaac, Jenelle and Jas had a djembe jam. It was so funny how Isaac picked up the djembe and I could see that he really wanted to play it, so I told him to. He said he was embarrassed, but did so anyway. He was so good! He got into it right away and then Nelly and Jas joined in too. Once everyone got here, Jenelle lead the worship singing and playing the guitar and Isaac kept playing the djembe. That kid is just so full of talent! He can do almost everything haha. If he's this good at playing drums and percussion now, at age 10, I wonder how he'll be when he's my age!
I'm really excited that tonight we'll all be going bowling together! I haven't gone bowling in...at least 5 years!
Oh yeah, I found out that I'm allergic to Bingo! So weird...I've never been allergic to a dog before! Oh well, I still love him...even though, when we go for walks, it's more him taking me for a walk than the other way around! haha
Here's a slideshow for you to enjoy =)
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Back from the Mount of Oaks
Friday, Aug 17
I have arrived in Estoril from the Mount of Oaks (Barbara's land)! I was hoping to be able to just have a shower and go to bed, but my parents are having a pizza dinner with a bunch of people in just an hour... Oh well, it will be nice seeing everyone.
Sat, Aug 18
I miss Barbara, Anne, the Mount of Oaks and the kittens! My time at Mount of Oaks was amazing! It is so beautiful and relaxing there! You have so much time with nature, God, yourself, and all kinds of people that pass through there! I had so much fun working in the woods with Anne (clearing it up for the 24/7 week), reading in the sun, contemplating the nature around me (I had never seen a shooting star before, but there I saw soo many!! So awesome!!!), playing with the kittens, watering the trees, and talking, laughing, crying, eating, being silly, having fun with the people there. There is such a sense of peace and family in that place. I really felt at home.
I had interesting conversations with different people about our views on things (which is always something I learn a lot from), about similar struggles or same experiences (which was really comforting), and about church and Christianity. It was so nice to be with people who think the same way I do on Christian subjects! Being a missionary's kid, you don't exactly have tuns of Christians around you and being an international, kind of weird and hippy-ish person, it's even harder to find Christians who think the way you do.
Mischu's kittens were so cute and funny! Duma (swahili for cheetah) is black, very adventurous and independent and loves to attack things and run fast. Sambo (the name the Masai give to striped animals that have no specific name) is white, black and gray with stripes and is the people's cat. She loves to just come in people's laps, snuggle up to them and fall asleep. She's also very playful and curious (she's always looking in the buckets and falling in them...one of these days there's gonna be water in them!). Pula (the name Angolans give to white people) is light gray. He's the only boy, is very lazy, loves to complain, eat and sleep and is the dumbest of them all haha. But he's very cute and silly.
Oh, I found out that I can understand a lot of the Northern Portuguese! In fact, these two Portuguese guys that didn't know any English were convinced that I knew how to speak Portuguese but was too shy! haha It was great hanging out with them around the campfire speaking a mixture of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese! =)
My travels so far have also been very interesting. Coming to Portugal, we traveled from Italy to France. There, we stopped in a town to have dinner and I go to use my very limited French! I was so excited to do that and have the people understand me! (Take that Prof. Bresciani!) Then, we ended up sleeping in France in a rest stop, where my parents and Isaac slept in the crammed van and Alana and I slept in sleeping bags outside on the grass, where it was damp and freezing cold (the whole time my mom would wake up and check on us to make sure no one had kidnapped us!). The next day, we traveled from France to Spain and our van broke down! We ended up spending I-don't-know-how-many hours in a very creepy and surreal town in the middle of nowhere in a garage full of everything but the kitchen sink (actually, they might've had that, too!). My mom and Alana came up with a horror movie story that involved our family, the surreal town, the creepy people there, and killer moles. Don't ask. At least the dinner was really good. Oh yeah, and to complete the surrealness of it all, this older couple showed up at the restaurant/hostel/mechanic place we were at. She was a very loud and odd American and he was an intelligent German.
We ended up finally leaving at about 00:30 and arrived at Barbara's land at 3:30. Alana and Isaac slept the whole way there, my mom and I tried to stay awake, but would doze off every once in a while, and my dad drove the whole way doing all kinds of silly things to stay awake.
A week later, when I left Mount of Oaks, I had to take 3 trains to Lisbon. The first train I took was really small and only had a few people in it. When I sat down in the second train, I felt a very not pleasant smell fill my nostrils. I had been sweating a lot that day cuz it was SO hot and I had walked a lot, but I couldn't believe that that smell could come from me! I kept smelling myself with disgust thinking "I feel so sorry for the people in this train! I've never smelled like this before! How is this possible?". Then I finally identified the smell: it was certainly the smell of crap. Oh yay! Had I stepped on a big pile of crap?? I looked at my shoes, but they were clean. I noticed the old guy next to me looking at me like I was some kind of weirdo (which is actually the look I usually get from people =P), so I decided to just sit still for a bit and listen to music (since I couldn't stand listening to the very annoying dance song that the guy on the other side of the old guy kept listening to!). On the next stop, the old guy got off...and so did the smell. I finally figured out what the brown stuff on his jacket was. Poor guy.
After a long scenery of just big huge rocks plopped around fields of brown grass, the train started running beside awesome trees, a big river and a bunch of abandoned houses! I know it's not very normal, but I have a fetish for all three of those things =) So then I felt happy watching what was outside of my window and started to listen to some worship songs. When I got to He Reigns by Newsboys I felt something inside me want to jump up in my lungs and have me sing the chorus "It’s all God’s children singing Glory, glory, hallelujah He reigns, He reigns" out loud! Fortunately, I was able to tame the thing and tie it up in my stomach. However, I then started giggling and smiling haha It was then Mr. DanceSongOnRepeat's turn to look at me as if I was a weirdo haha A couple of songs later, during Wonderful Maker by Jeremy Camp, I started having the urge to cry! Fortunately I didn't. I can't figure out what the heck was wrong with me. I guess I was just really impacted during my time at The Land =)....and then there's obviously the fact that I'm such an emotional person :-/
I then almost fell asleep on that train, but the ticket man woke me up and told me that I had to change trains at the next stop and that my train was on line 5. That was so nice of him.
When I finally got to Lisbon, I desperately needed a toilet, but I needed to find Ivo (and I couldn't find a toilet sign anywhere anyway). It took me 40 minutes to find him! (and It's not exactly the nicest thing walking around a frickin big train station when you are in real need of a toilet!) I was so happy to finally see him again =) (Ivo, not the toilet). I had seen him once during my time here in May, but we didn't really get to talk, so it was really nice catching up on things with him. He didn't know that I was gonna be in Chicago for a year =(
Now I'm here, stuck in this house, with sleeping Bingo (the Farmers' huge black Labrador). I feel so trapped, sad and useless. I've either been sitting right next to the one window of the house that gets sun, or out on the balcony (though it's REALLY windy outside).
I'm regretting not staying at The Land longer, which was what I wanted to do. However, I decided to come here since this will be the last time I get to spend time with my Portuguese friends and since this is supposed to be a time for me to spend with my family before I leave to Chicago in about four weeks. I'm planning on taking Bingo for a walk this afternoon.
I have arrived in Estoril from the Mount of Oaks (Barbara's land)! I was hoping to be able to just have a shower and go to bed, but my parents are having a pizza dinner with a bunch of people in just an hour... Oh well, it will be nice seeing everyone.
Sat, Aug 18
I miss Barbara, Anne, the Mount of Oaks and the kittens! My time at Mount of Oaks was amazing! It is so beautiful and relaxing there! You have so much time with nature, God, yourself, and all kinds of people that pass through there! I had so much fun working in the woods with Anne (clearing it up for the 24/7 week), reading in the sun, contemplating the nature around me (I had never seen a shooting star before, but there I saw soo many!! So awesome!!!), playing with the kittens, watering the trees, and talking, laughing, crying, eating, being silly, having fun with the people there. There is such a sense of peace and family in that place. I really felt at home.
I had interesting conversations with different people about our views on things (which is always something I learn a lot from), about similar struggles or same experiences (which was really comforting), and about church and Christianity. It was so nice to be with people who think the same way I do on Christian subjects! Being a missionary's kid, you don't exactly have tuns of Christians around you and being an international, kind of weird and hippy-ish person, it's even harder to find Christians who think the way you do.
Mischu's kittens were so cute and funny! Duma (swahili for cheetah) is black, very adventurous and independent and loves to attack things and run fast. Sambo (the name the Masai give to striped animals that have no specific name) is white, black and gray with stripes and is the people's cat. She loves to just come in people's laps, snuggle up to them and fall asleep. She's also very playful and curious (she's always looking in the buckets and falling in them...one of these days there's gonna be water in them!). Pula (the name Angolans give to white people) is light gray. He's the only boy, is very lazy, loves to complain, eat and sleep and is the dumbest of them all haha. But he's very cute and silly.
Oh, I found out that I can understand a lot of the Northern Portuguese! In fact, these two Portuguese guys that didn't know any English were convinced that I knew how to speak Portuguese but was too shy! haha It was great hanging out with them around the campfire speaking a mixture of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese! =)
My travels so far have also been very interesting. Coming to Portugal, we traveled from Italy to France. There, we stopped in a town to have dinner and I go to use my very limited French! I was so excited to do that and have the people understand me! (Take that Prof. Bresciani!) Then, we ended up sleeping in France in a rest stop, where my parents and Isaac slept in the crammed van and Alana and I slept in sleeping bags outside on the grass, where it was damp and freezing cold (the whole time my mom would wake up and check on us to make sure no one had kidnapped us!). The next day, we traveled from France to Spain and our van broke down! We ended up spending I-don't-know-how-many hours in a very creepy and surreal town in the middle of nowhere in a garage full of everything but the kitchen sink (actually, they might've had that, too!). My mom and Alana came up with a horror movie story that involved our family, the surreal town, the creepy people there, and killer moles. Don't ask. At least the dinner was really good. Oh yeah, and to complete the surrealness of it all, this older couple showed up at the restaurant/hostel/mechanic place we were at. She was a very loud and odd American and he was an intelligent German.
We ended up finally leaving at about 00:30 and arrived at Barbara's land at 3:30. Alana and Isaac slept the whole way there, my mom and I tried to stay awake, but would doze off every once in a while, and my dad drove the whole way doing all kinds of silly things to stay awake.
A week later, when I left Mount of Oaks, I had to take 3 trains to Lisbon. The first train I took was really small and only had a few people in it. When I sat down in the second train, I felt a very not pleasant smell fill my nostrils. I had been sweating a lot that day cuz it was SO hot and I had walked a lot, but I couldn't believe that that smell could come from me! I kept smelling myself with disgust thinking "I feel so sorry for the people in this train! I've never smelled like this before! How is this possible?". Then I finally identified the smell: it was certainly the smell of crap. Oh yay! Had I stepped on a big pile of crap?? I looked at my shoes, but they were clean. I noticed the old guy next to me looking at me like I was some kind of weirdo (which is actually the look I usually get from people =P), so I decided to just sit still for a bit and listen to music (since I couldn't stand listening to the very annoying dance song that the guy on the other side of the old guy kept listening to!). On the next stop, the old guy got off...and so did the smell. I finally figured out what the brown stuff on his jacket was. Poor guy.
After a long scenery of just big huge rocks plopped around fields of brown grass, the train started running beside awesome trees, a big river and a bunch of abandoned houses! I know it's not very normal, but I have a fetish for all three of those things =) So then I felt happy watching what was outside of my window and started to listen to some worship songs. When I got to He Reigns by Newsboys I felt something inside me want to jump up in my lungs and have me sing the chorus "It’s all God’s children singing Glory, glory, hallelujah He reigns, He reigns" out loud! Fortunately, I was able to tame the thing and tie it up in my stomach. However, I then started giggling and smiling haha It was then Mr. DanceSongOnRepeat's turn to look at me as if I was a weirdo haha A couple of songs later, during Wonderful Maker by Jeremy Camp, I started having the urge to cry! Fortunately I didn't. I can't figure out what the heck was wrong with me. I guess I was just really impacted during my time at The Land =)....and then there's obviously the fact that I'm such an emotional person :-/
I then almost fell asleep on that train, but the ticket man woke me up and told me that I had to change trains at the next stop and that my train was on line 5. That was so nice of him.
When I finally got to Lisbon, I desperately needed a toilet, but I needed to find Ivo (and I couldn't find a toilet sign anywhere anyway). It took me 40 minutes to find him! (and It's not exactly the nicest thing walking around a frickin big train station when you are in real need of a toilet!) I was so happy to finally see him again =) (Ivo, not the toilet). I had seen him once during my time here in May, but we didn't really get to talk, so it was really nice catching up on things with him. He didn't know that I was gonna be in Chicago for a year =(
Now I'm here, stuck in this house, with sleeping Bingo (the Farmers' huge black Labrador). I feel so trapped, sad and useless. I've either been sitting right next to the one window of the house that gets sun, or out on the balcony (though it's REALLY windy outside).
I'm regretting not staying at The Land longer, which was what I wanted to do. However, I decided to come here since this will be the last time I get to spend time with my Portuguese friends and since this is supposed to be a time for me to spend with my family before I leave to Chicago in about four weeks. I'm planning on taking Bingo for a walk this afternoon.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Thoughts About The Past And The Future
Yesterday was a nice day. I finally got to hang out with Linda and Amira again. I think last time I hung out with Linda was in March and last time I hung out with Amira was July 2006. I have no idea when I last hung out with both of them...maybe three years ago.
I love how every time I see them it's as if no time has past. What I love even more is that we're still friends now, at age 18, even after all that we went through in middle school.
Middle school, oh gosh! Those were probably some of the worst and yet, at the same time, some of the best years of my life. They were the worst because we were all constantly changing and fighting and going through our "inner battles" (mine was depression and lack of self-confidence). They were the best because I grew and learned so much from those years.
It was so nice to laugh with Linda and talk to Amira again! It was so weird to see Amira driving though! I guess Linda and I are going to be next. (In Italy, you get your drivers license when you're 18).
What sucked though, was that during the day, Linda and Amira said that we should do this more often and talked about what we should do next time...but there will only be one last next time for me, since I'll be going to the States and who knows when next time I see them will be. Oh well.
It's crazy how near my move to the States is! I don't even realize it, but my mom's been telling me to pack up all my stuff, which sort of gets me more aware of it. I'm going to have to have a suitcase for going to Portugal for these next three weeks, a suit case for going to the States for a year, and a box of stuff that I'll leave with my parents.
It's weird how a year is both a very long time and a very short time! It seems to be a very long time when you look at it from the start, but then you get to the end of it and you realize how short it actually was.
So yeah, tomorrow we're leaving for Portugal. We'll travel as much as possible (which could be about 18 hours) and then sleep somewhere (we're thinking about sleeping on a beach or something) and then the next day, we'll travel some more (about 7 hours, I think) and arrive at Barbara's land. Then, my parents we'll leave me there and go to Cascais, where they'll stay at the Farmers' house and look at houses to rent. I'll join them a week later.
I'm excited about staying at the Land for some time with Barbara and then seeing the ocean and all my Portuguese friends again! Maybe I'll ever get to meet Jenelle =)
It will be fun, for sure.
I love how every time I see them it's as if no time has past. What I love even more is that we're still friends now, at age 18, even after all that we went through in middle school.
Middle school, oh gosh! Those were probably some of the worst and yet, at the same time, some of the best years of my life. They were the worst because we were all constantly changing and fighting and going through our "inner battles" (mine was depression and lack of self-confidence). They were the best because I grew and learned so much from those years.
It was so nice to laugh with Linda and talk to Amira again! It was so weird to see Amira driving though! I guess Linda and I are going to be next. (In Italy, you get your drivers license when you're 18).
What sucked though, was that during the day, Linda and Amira said that we should do this more often and talked about what we should do next time...but there will only be one last next time for me, since I'll be going to the States and who knows when next time I see them will be. Oh well.
It's crazy how near my move to the States is! I don't even realize it, but my mom's been telling me to pack up all my stuff, which sort of gets me more aware of it. I'm going to have to have a suitcase for going to Portugal for these next three weeks, a suit case for going to the States for a year, and a box of stuff that I'll leave with my parents.
It's weird how a year is both a very long time and a very short time! It seems to be a very long time when you look at it from the start, but then you get to the end of it and you realize how short it actually was.
So yeah, tomorrow we're leaving for Portugal. We'll travel as much as possible (which could be about 18 hours) and then sleep somewhere (we're thinking about sleeping on a beach or something) and then the next day, we'll travel some more (about 7 hours, I think) and arrive at Barbara's land. Then, my parents we'll leave me there and go to Cascais, where they'll stay at the Farmers' house and look at houses to rent. I'll join them a week later.
I'm excited about staying at the Land for some time with Barbara and then seeing the ocean and all my Portuguese friends again! Maybe I'll ever get to meet Jenelle =)
It will be fun, for sure.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Slideshow
So here's a slideshow I made with pics that we all took. Hope you enjoy it =)
To understand some of the pictures you need to read my other posts which described what went on during the tour =P
To understand some of the pictures you need to read my other posts which described what went on during the tour =P
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THE SPAGHETTI & SCHNITZEL TOUR Part 2
And here's the last part...
Tuesday, July 10 – Travel day to SLOT festival, Poland. The journey to Slot is another one that João will not forget very easily. It was supposed to take 3 hours, but ended up taking 7 because of the extra weight of the trailer, which slowed us down, along with a lot of rain, a half an hour stop at the border for passport checks and a car accident in the middle of nowhere, which caused us to have to take a detour and try to find another way. Our arrival at the Festival was also very odd as it took us a while to convince the people at the gate that we were playing there and then Sambo and I had to stand in the rain, mud and cold to register. THEN, after we had unloaded our stuff and while we were waiting for Lukasz (my contact) to arrive, the guys decided to play hack ‘n’ sack yet again (they’re addicted to that game), but in the dark building. While playing, Pedro hit his head on the corner of a wooden box! So he and Ruben (his brother) went to the hospital and we stayed behind. The guys were really worried cuz they had seen a lot of blood come out of his head, but I wasn’t too worried cuz something very similar happened to Isaac some years ago (I guess you just get used to these things when you have a little brother haha). In fact, it was nothing serious, but he got 3 stitches. Our beds at this festival were mats on the floor of a classroom in the school in which many of the staff members stayed. And that was our first day in Poland! haha
I will never forget how, at the end of the day, when I was sitting on a bench, half asleep, in my pajamas, with a hot cup of tea and my hair, which was a mess from the rain, pulled back, some of the guys looked at me and said that I looked very pretty with my hair up and no make up on (my make up broke just a few days before the tour started). That was probably the sweetest thing anyone could tell me in that moment when I felt so crappy!
Wednesday, July 11 – Triplet opens up mainstage for SLOT Festival
Thursday, July 12 – Ben woke me up by putting something in my bed. When I checked, it was the puppy that I had fallen in love with the day before! Her name is Slotzka (or something like that) cuz some staff girls had found her on the festival grounds.
That day Reform the Resistance played on the small stage. There were many people at both concerts, but the RtR concert was better than Triplet’s.
It was kind of rainy, muddy and cold there and my back really hurt from sleeping on the floor, but the festival was really cool (check it out here) and big and the people were really nice, especially Lucazs. It was funny when he found out that I was 18 because he then said “Wow! That’s so cool! I bet you’re really popular back at home! I know that if I was one of your friends, I’d be bragging about the fact that my 18 year old friend was around Europe with two bands as their road manager!” haha
Friday, July 13 – We traveled back to Germany to the 13-eins, Jesus Freaks club gig in Ansbach. The club was small, but really cool and the Freaks were very nice. I wasn’t able to enjoy the concert very much because I was in a lot of pain and could hardly stand up. The concert was really weird because of all the drunk punks that came in, but the guys enjoyed it, so that’s what’s important. That night we slept in the Freak’s community. It was a very weird, artistic, messy and dirty house, but I was just glad that I could finally lay down and sleep. In fact, as soon as I got there, I just found the room in which Jas and I were sleeping and plopped on the bare mattress that was on the floor. I was so tired and in so much pain that I didn’t even change and take my jacket and shoes off. While I was falling asleep, Ben put a pillow under my head and some covers on me cuz I was freezing. I then woke up in the middle of the night all sweaty and with my head spinning. I’m pretty sure that I had a fever.
Saturday, July 14 – we got up and left for the one-day festival Rock without Limits in Albstadt. We got lost on the way, but, strangely, we got there on time. The place was a very nice, big church, which didn’t actually look like a church. The concert went well and it was nice to sleep in the nursery with clean and comfy mattresses, pillows and covers. Unfortunately, we had to get up early the next day because they had the morning service, but breakfast was really good and the people were really nice.
Sunday, July 15 – we traveled back to Italy and went through beautiful Switzerland. I had fun seeing the guys get all excited about the Swiss Alps and lakes. I think Switzerland is probably one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. I love driving through it - it’s so peaceful. That night we slept at my place.
Tuesday, July 17 – we traveled for about 9 hours to Rome. It was REALLY hot and we had no air conditioning (I actually hate a.c. but the air outside was way too hot and we were used to the German and Polish cold). It was kind of a stressful experience for João and Sambo because they had the “privilege” of finding out what Italian drivers are like, but it was also a very fun drive. I think I laughed the whole time =)
Wednesday, July 18 – we played at CineCitta’, Italy’s Hollywood. It was kind of a weird concert and then that night, after dinner and at 2 am I had a misunderstanding with the pastor there, who was my contact, which got me very upset. That was the worst experience I had to go through on the whole tour.
Thursday, July 19 – we traveled back up north for Rock on the Rock (our festival). That morning, I wasn’t too happy both because of what had happened the night before and because we got a late start. This time it was an even more unpleasant ride because we needed to bring the oldest son of the pastor from the day before with us, since he was Rock on the Rock’s MC and being 10 people in a 9 person van in very hot weather, isn’t much fun. When we got to Rock on the Rock, we were tired and sticky and in much need of cold water. However, we arrived right when my parents were telling everyone on staff that the city council had decided that we couldn’t start the festival. It was weird because a lot of the people there were praying with worried faces and there were people even crying, but Jas and I just laid down on the grass and watched the beautiful blue sky, while we prayed with smiles on our faces because we knew that the festival was going to start, we just knew that it would. At one point, we even started laughing and I felt so happy and free. After about an hour, the mayor came and told us that we could start =).
It was really weird getting there when all the staff was already there and everything was set up, since all the other years I was there from the start. It was even weirder that I went to bed that evening and didn’t get to be part of the first night of the festival, but I was so so tired. It was SO nice that Tehur was there from Portugal to manage the merch (which is usually my job) and it was also really nice to sleep in the gym instead of a tent! The whole festival was way more organized than it usually is!
Friday, July 20 – Both Triplet & RtR performed at RotR. They were great! I remember that while Triplet was playing, I looked around in the crowd at all the people who were singing along, jumping and dancing and then my eyes stopped on this one guy. He was just standing there, not moving, but he had the biggest smile on his face! =)
It was so nice during Rock on the Rock to just hang out with people that have been coming to the festival almost every year, as well as with people who were there for the first time. And it was really nice to get to know Tehur and Marcia better. They said I was their new hero because I was living with 7 guys and only one other girl for a month and I was still sane haha
Sunday, July 22 – The festival ended after an awesome morning worship and prayer for my mom's healing.
Saying goodbye wasn't really easy. For the first time I had to say goodbye to people that are close to me whom I have no idea when I'll see again...And what also got me sad was hearing people say "So I guess this is the end for Rock on the Rock...". We're hoping that it's not. In fact, we're planning on doing another one next year...we just need to find someone in Italy who will take most of the responsibility, since my family will be in Portugal.
That night, Triplet & RtR then had a concert about an hour and a half away.
Wednesday, July 25 – We had a gig at a pub on the lake.
Thursday, July 26 – Travel to Boxberg, Germany for Freakstock Festival. We had no problems getting there cuz this time my Dad was with us.
Freakstock was great! We got to hang out with a bunch of people that we had met at Saxstock and Slot Fest. We mostly hung out at the tea tent, which was awesome. (Yes, isn't that SO weird that I'D hang out at a tea tent? haha) We all said that it would be cool to have a living room like that. It was also really cool that Manuela was there (she had worked in the tea tent at Saxstock too).
The mud, rain and cold weren’t very nice, especially for the guys who were sleeping in tents (Jason, Ryan, Jas and I slept in a room in a building) and the food was probably the worst we had during the whole tour, but we survived and, actually, had a wonderful time there (or at least I did).
What was really weird the last day was that while saying goodbye to everyone I wasn't sad because for some reason I knew that at some point in the future we'll meet again. That's nice.
After the festival, we then went to Nassi and Sara’s house (we had met Nassi at Slot and then we saw her again at Freakstock) in Frankfurt. That was SUCH a blessing! It was so nice to be in a clean and dry house that had normal bathrooms and showers. Nassi and Sara’s parents were also very cool and nice.
And that’s pretty much it.
Great, I wrote too much AGAIN. Sorry...
Tuesday, July 10 – Travel day to SLOT festival, Poland. The journey to Slot is another one that João will not forget very easily. It was supposed to take 3 hours, but ended up taking 7 because of the extra weight of the trailer, which slowed us down, along with a lot of rain, a half an hour stop at the border for passport checks and a car accident in the middle of nowhere, which caused us to have to take a detour and try to find another way. Our arrival at the Festival was also very odd as it took us a while to convince the people at the gate that we were playing there and then Sambo and I had to stand in the rain, mud and cold to register. THEN, after we had unloaded our stuff and while we were waiting for Lukasz (my contact) to arrive, the guys decided to play hack ‘n’ sack yet again (they’re addicted to that game), but in the dark building. While playing, Pedro hit his head on the corner of a wooden box! So he and Ruben (his brother) went to the hospital and we stayed behind. The guys were really worried cuz they had seen a lot of blood come out of his head, but I wasn’t too worried cuz something very similar happened to Isaac some years ago (I guess you just get used to these things when you have a little brother haha). In fact, it was nothing serious, but he got 3 stitches. Our beds at this festival were mats on the floor of a classroom in the school in which many of the staff members stayed. And that was our first day in Poland! haha
I will never forget how, at the end of the day, when I was sitting on a bench, half asleep, in my pajamas, with a hot cup of tea and my hair, which was a mess from the rain, pulled back, some of the guys looked at me and said that I looked very pretty with my hair up and no make up on (my make up broke just a few days before the tour started). That was probably the sweetest thing anyone could tell me in that moment when I felt so crappy!
Wednesday, July 11 – Triplet opens up mainstage for SLOT Festival
Thursday, July 12 – Ben woke me up by putting something in my bed. When I checked, it was the puppy that I had fallen in love with the day before! Her name is Slotzka (or something like that) cuz some staff girls had found her on the festival grounds.
That day Reform the Resistance played on the small stage. There were many people at both concerts, but the RtR concert was better than Triplet’s.
It was kind of rainy, muddy and cold there and my back really hurt from sleeping on the floor, but the festival was really cool (check it out here) and big and the people were really nice, especially Lucazs. It was funny when he found out that I was 18 because he then said “Wow! That’s so cool! I bet you’re really popular back at home! I know that if I was one of your friends, I’d be bragging about the fact that my 18 year old friend was around Europe with two bands as their road manager!” haha
Friday, July 13 – We traveled back to Germany to the 13-eins, Jesus Freaks club gig in Ansbach. The club was small, but really cool and the Freaks were very nice. I wasn’t able to enjoy the concert very much because I was in a lot of pain and could hardly stand up. The concert was really weird because of all the drunk punks that came in, but the guys enjoyed it, so that’s what’s important. That night we slept in the Freak’s community. It was a very weird, artistic, messy and dirty house, but I was just glad that I could finally lay down and sleep. In fact, as soon as I got there, I just found the room in which Jas and I were sleeping and plopped on the bare mattress that was on the floor. I was so tired and in so much pain that I didn’t even change and take my jacket and shoes off. While I was falling asleep, Ben put a pillow under my head and some covers on me cuz I was freezing. I then woke up in the middle of the night all sweaty and with my head spinning. I’m pretty sure that I had a fever.
Saturday, July 14 – we got up and left for the one-day festival Rock without Limits in Albstadt. We got lost on the way, but, strangely, we got there on time. The place was a very nice, big church, which didn’t actually look like a church. The concert went well and it was nice to sleep in the nursery with clean and comfy mattresses, pillows and covers. Unfortunately, we had to get up early the next day because they had the morning service, but breakfast was really good and the people were really nice.
Sunday, July 15 – we traveled back to Italy and went through beautiful Switzerland. I had fun seeing the guys get all excited about the Swiss Alps and lakes. I think Switzerland is probably one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. I love driving through it - it’s so peaceful. That night we slept at my place.
Tuesday, July 17 – we traveled for about 9 hours to Rome. It was REALLY hot and we had no air conditioning (I actually hate a.c. but the air outside was way too hot and we were used to the German and Polish cold). It was kind of a stressful experience for João and Sambo because they had the “privilege” of finding out what Italian drivers are like, but it was also a very fun drive. I think I laughed the whole time =)
Wednesday, July 18 – we played at CineCitta’, Italy’s Hollywood. It was kind of a weird concert and then that night, after dinner and at 2 am I had a misunderstanding with the pastor there, who was my contact, which got me very upset. That was the worst experience I had to go through on the whole tour.
Thursday, July 19 – we traveled back up north for Rock on the Rock (our festival). That morning, I wasn’t too happy both because of what had happened the night before and because we got a late start. This time it was an even more unpleasant ride because we needed to bring the oldest son of the pastor from the day before with us, since he was Rock on the Rock’s MC and being 10 people in a 9 person van in very hot weather, isn’t much fun. When we got to Rock on the Rock, we were tired and sticky and in much need of cold water. However, we arrived right when my parents were telling everyone on staff that the city council had decided that we couldn’t start the festival. It was weird because a lot of the people there were praying with worried faces and there were people even crying, but Jas and I just laid down on the grass and watched the beautiful blue sky, while we prayed with smiles on our faces because we knew that the festival was going to start, we just knew that it would. At one point, we even started laughing and I felt so happy and free. After about an hour, the mayor came and told us that we could start =).
It was really weird getting there when all the staff was already there and everything was set up, since all the other years I was there from the start. It was even weirder that I went to bed that evening and didn’t get to be part of the first night of the festival, but I was so so tired. It was SO nice that Tehur was there from Portugal to manage the merch (which is usually my job) and it was also really nice to sleep in the gym instead of a tent! The whole festival was way more organized than it usually is!
Friday, July 20 – Both Triplet & RtR performed at RotR. They were great! I remember that while Triplet was playing, I looked around in the crowd at all the people who were singing along, jumping and dancing and then my eyes stopped on this one guy. He was just standing there, not moving, but he had the biggest smile on his face! =)
It was so nice during Rock on the Rock to just hang out with people that have been coming to the festival almost every year, as well as with people who were there for the first time. And it was really nice to get to know Tehur and Marcia better. They said I was their new hero because I was living with 7 guys and only one other girl for a month and I was still sane haha
Sunday, July 22 – The festival ended after an awesome morning worship and prayer for my mom's healing.
Saying goodbye wasn't really easy. For the first time I had to say goodbye to people that are close to me whom I have no idea when I'll see again...And what also got me sad was hearing people say "So I guess this is the end for Rock on the Rock...". We're hoping that it's not. In fact, we're planning on doing another one next year...we just need to find someone in Italy who will take most of the responsibility, since my family will be in Portugal.
That night, Triplet & RtR then had a concert about an hour and a half away.
Wednesday, July 25 – We had a gig at a pub on the lake.
Thursday, July 26 – Travel to Boxberg, Germany for Freakstock Festival. We had no problems getting there cuz this time my Dad was with us.
Freakstock was great! We got to hang out with a bunch of people that we had met at Saxstock and Slot Fest. We mostly hung out at the tea tent, which was awesome. (Yes, isn't that SO weird that I'D hang out at a tea tent? haha) We all said that it would be cool to have a living room like that. It was also really cool that Manuela was there (she had worked in the tea tent at Saxstock too).
The mud, rain and cold weren’t very nice, especially for the guys who were sleeping in tents (Jason, Ryan, Jas and I slept in a room in a building) and the food was probably the worst we had during the whole tour, but we survived and, actually, had a wonderful time there (or at least I did).
What was really weird the last day was that while saying goodbye to everyone I wasn't sad because for some reason I knew that at some point in the future we'll meet again. That's nice.
After the festival, we then went to Nassi and Sara’s house (we had met Nassi at Slot and then we saw her again at Freakstock) in Frankfurt. That was SUCH a blessing! It was so nice to be in a clean and dry house that had normal bathrooms and showers. Nassi and Sara’s parents were also very cool and nice.
And that’s pretty much it.
Great, I wrote too much AGAIN. Sorry...
Friday, August 3, 2007
THE SPAGHETTI & SCHNITZEL TOUR (as my mom called it) Part 1
Ok, so here’s a description of the tour (I’ll try not to be too long)…
Monday, July 2 – Triplet arrives in Italy
Tuesday, July 3 – Reform the Resistance arrives in Italy, then both bands come to the Hursts’ house (my house) and a great commotion invades the place.
Thursday, July 5 – We travel to Saxstock, Germany (aprox. 12 hr drive). Everything is going fine until we run out of gas in the middle of nowhere on the highway, about 2 or 3 hours away from our destination. I try to get someone to stop, but no one does. The guys venture off into the trees on the side of the highway and find a house where people give them some diesel. Unfortunately, because we’re at the beginning of a hill and we have a trailer hooked on the back of the van, the van doesn’t start. Then a cop stops and, with what sounds like an angry tone, tries to explain something to us in German (which we obviously don’t understand) and leaves. The only thing we do get is that we have to stay in the van and have the triangle out. Some other things happen that I won’t list to avoid making this so long, and then the guys decide that we should push the van up the hill so that we can then just roll down the other side and get to the next gas station. They push and push and we finally get to the top of the hill. It’s pitch black outside by now and cold, we try to start the van and it won’t even turn over. Fortunately, a mechanic comes (we think that the policeman called him, so he actually wasn’t mad at us but helped us!) and recharges our dead battery. When we finally get to the little town in where our first festival is, we can’t figure out where we need to go, it’s 1 am, nobody is around, the phone numbers I have aren’t working, and the fields around the town have no lights. Fortunately, João just guessed where to go and we found it. Friedemann (the festival organizer) then brings us to the house we’ll stay in, which is a small vacation home in the middle of a field, with goats nearby. The guys aren’t too happy about it, but hey, at least we have beds to sleep in after such a long journey.
What was really awesome about this whole day was that I didn't stress out or get worried about anything! Usually I get stressed out pretty easily when I have a lot of responsibility, but this time I was alright =) (I'm pretty sure that a big part of my being relaxed is thanks to the guys who made the whole experience a lot lighter and funnier). It was also cool that the guys let me do the decision making and that they respected me as tour manager even though I am just 18.
Friday, July 6 – Triplet plays at Saxstock Festival. It's an awesome concert even though they make a few mistakes. And Jasmin's voice was great even if she still had the mouth infection!
Saturday, July 7 – Reform the Resistance plays at Saxstock Festival. During the concert the snare drum keeps moving forward and at some point Ryan hits his finger on the side of it. He keeps playing though there's blood spattering all over and Ben jumps on stage, duct tapes the sliced finger and the concert keeps going! (I never even noticed any of it from where I was standing at the merch table)
Saxstock is a nice, small festival, which has been going on for 2 years. The people there were extremely nice to us and we loved our time there. The atmosphere was very cozy and happy and it felt like we were part of a big family. We made many friends. There are some pictures on their website.
Sunday, July 8 – Salvation Army Club gig in Chemnitz, Germany
The place we played at was a small, underground club with a low, round stone ceiling. The guys loved it (even though they couldn't jump much cuz otherwise they'd hit their heads haha). Not many people came, but most of them had already seen the bands at Saxstock. At the end of the concert, we said goodbye to everyone. Daniel, one of the organizers of the Saxstock Festival, came up to me and was so sweet. He told me how he was impressed at how I put all of myself into this and how touched he was that I even went up at the last Triplet song when Jas called all the girls to the front and that I was one of the only girls that danced. He said that it really showed that I cared about this tour.
Monday, July 9 – For our free day, we were all going to go to Dresden, so I got up early to get ready, but found a bunch of stuff on the table. I wasn’t really happy about it since I had asked the Portuguese guys to clean up after themselves when they had their 3 am cereal snack, but I decided not to bother them and to let them sleep a bit longer. After I cleaned everything up, I got stuff ready for lunch (cuz I figured that it would be nice to have a hot meal for once) and then went to wake the guys up cuz I needed at least one of them to help me prepare the meal. I had to go into their room to wake them up about 7 times and then, finally, 45 minutes later, they started getting up and said that they could just make some sandwiches for lunch. Being very tired and very frustrated is not a good combination for me. In fact, I went in my room to Jas (who had decided to stay behind and rest) and burst out into tears. In the end, I stayed behind with Jas while the guys went to Dresden.
It was soo nice to just be us girls for a day! (This tour taught me that hanging out with guys a lot and living with guys are two very different things haha). Jas and I had a lot of fun. We slept a lot, talked a lot, laughed a lot, had nice showers and I made a very good dinner. Was very relaxing. We also made a short and very funny video of our girl’s day, but Ben has it on his computer. Later on, Daniela passed by for a visit and we had a candle lit tea and cookies time accompanied by music. Daniela was one of the girls who helped with food during Saxstock. She is a little, shy and sweet 30 year old girl who doesn’t speak any English, so it was interesting “speaking” to her using the few German words we knew and using our hands. I loved it. Yeah, it’s kind of frustrating not being able to say exactly what you want to say, but it’s interesting trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t know your language.
Later on, the guys got back and they gave me flowers and told me how they were sorry and that they didn’t mean to disrespect me and that I was doing a great job and that they appreciated it, etc....Aren’t they sweet? =)
Monday, July 2 – Triplet arrives in Italy
Tuesday, July 3 – Reform the Resistance arrives in Italy, then both bands come to the Hursts’ house (my house) and a great commotion invades the place.
Thursday, July 5 – We travel to Saxstock, Germany (aprox. 12 hr drive). Everything is going fine until we run out of gas in the middle of nowhere on the highway, about 2 or 3 hours away from our destination. I try to get someone to stop, but no one does. The guys venture off into the trees on the side of the highway and find a house where people give them some diesel. Unfortunately, because we’re at the beginning of a hill and we have a trailer hooked on the back of the van, the van doesn’t start. Then a cop stops and, with what sounds like an angry tone, tries to explain something to us in German (which we obviously don’t understand) and leaves. The only thing we do get is that we have to stay in the van and have the triangle out. Some other things happen that I won’t list to avoid making this so long, and then the guys decide that we should push the van up the hill so that we can then just roll down the other side and get to the next gas station. They push and push and we finally get to the top of the hill. It’s pitch black outside by now and cold, we try to start the van and it won’t even turn over. Fortunately, a mechanic comes (we think that the policeman called him, so he actually wasn’t mad at us but helped us!) and recharges our dead battery. When we finally get to the little town in where our first festival is, we can’t figure out where we need to go, it’s 1 am, nobody is around, the phone numbers I have aren’t working, and the fields around the town have no lights. Fortunately, João just guessed where to go and we found it. Friedemann (the festival organizer) then brings us to the house we’ll stay in, which is a small vacation home in the middle of a field, with goats nearby. The guys aren’t too happy about it, but hey, at least we have beds to sleep in after such a long journey.
What was really awesome about this whole day was that I didn't stress out or get worried about anything! Usually I get stressed out pretty easily when I have a lot of responsibility, but this time I was alright =) (I'm pretty sure that a big part of my being relaxed is thanks to the guys who made the whole experience a lot lighter and funnier). It was also cool that the guys let me do the decision making and that they respected me as tour manager even though I am just 18.
Friday, July 6 – Triplet plays at Saxstock Festival. It's an awesome concert even though they make a few mistakes. And Jasmin's voice was great even if she still had the mouth infection!
Saturday, July 7 – Reform the Resistance plays at Saxstock Festival. During the concert the snare drum keeps moving forward and at some point Ryan hits his finger on the side of it. He keeps playing though there's blood spattering all over and Ben jumps on stage, duct tapes the sliced finger and the concert keeps going! (I never even noticed any of it from where I was standing at the merch table)
Saxstock is a nice, small festival, which has been going on for 2 years. The people there were extremely nice to us and we loved our time there. The atmosphere was very cozy and happy and it felt like we were part of a big family. We made many friends. There are some pictures on their website.
Sunday, July 8 – Salvation Army Club gig in Chemnitz, Germany
The place we played at was a small, underground club with a low, round stone ceiling. The guys loved it (even though they couldn't jump much cuz otherwise they'd hit their heads haha). Not many people came, but most of them had already seen the bands at Saxstock. At the end of the concert, we said goodbye to everyone. Daniel, one of the organizers of the Saxstock Festival, came up to me and was so sweet. He told me how he was impressed at how I put all of myself into this and how touched he was that I even went up at the last Triplet song when Jas called all the girls to the front and that I was one of the only girls that danced. He said that it really showed that I cared about this tour.
Monday, July 9 – For our free day, we were all going to go to Dresden, so I got up early to get ready, but found a bunch of stuff on the table. I wasn’t really happy about it since I had asked the Portuguese guys to clean up after themselves when they had their 3 am cereal snack, but I decided not to bother them and to let them sleep a bit longer. After I cleaned everything up, I got stuff ready for lunch (cuz I figured that it would be nice to have a hot meal for once) and then went to wake the guys up cuz I needed at least one of them to help me prepare the meal. I had to go into their room to wake them up about 7 times and then, finally, 45 minutes later, they started getting up and said that they could just make some sandwiches for lunch. Being very tired and very frustrated is not a good combination for me. In fact, I went in my room to Jas (who had decided to stay behind and rest) and burst out into tears. In the end, I stayed behind with Jas while the guys went to Dresden.
It was soo nice to just be us girls for a day! (This tour taught me that hanging out with guys a lot and living with guys are two very different things haha). Jas and I had a lot of fun. We slept a lot, talked a lot, laughed a lot, had nice showers and I made a very good dinner. Was very relaxing. We also made a short and very funny video of our girl’s day, but Ben has it on his computer. Later on, Daniela passed by for a visit and we had a candle lit tea and cookies time accompanied by music. Daniela was one of the girls who helped with food during Saxstock. She is a little, shy and sweet 30 year old girl who doesn’t speak any English, so it was interesting “speaking” to her using the few German words we knew and using our hands. I loved it. Yeah, it’s kind of frustrating not being able to say exactly what you want to say, but it’s interesting trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t know your language.
Later on, the guys got back and they gave me flowers and told me how they were sorry and that they didn’t mean to disrespect me and that I was doing a great job and that they appreciated it, etc....Aren’t they sweet? =)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Back From The Big Adventure!
So the tour has finally ended and I’m both sad and happy about it. I already miss the guys and Jasmin.
The tour officially ended Saturday with the bands’ last concert (which was amazing! First they both played on main stage and then they played an acoustic set on a smaller stage - both times with a huge crowd). Then Reform the Resistance got their plane Monday morning and Triplet got theirs on Tuesday.
The experience was great and the whole tour was awesome. I’m really glad that I was a part of it! I got to see places that I had never seen before, I learned a lot, I met a bunch of new people and I got to know the guys and Jas better =)
The guys said that I did a great job as tour manager, but personally, I don’t think that I did much and I know that it wouldn’t have gone so well if it had been with two other bands. They’re all like my brothers and sister and they were so nice, sweet, honest and helpful.
Sure, there were some moments during which I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy and there were some arguments between us, but I think that’s normal when nine people live together for a month and go threw all the stuff we went threw.
I think the one person that had the most difficult time was João. It was his first time on a tour and I think it was his first time traveling outside of Portugal for a month, so not being used to all of it probably made it kinda hard. AND he had to always drive so much, so it was pretty stressful for him. I’m glad he came on the tour, though, (yes, even though we were arguing almost the whole time) cuz it was a good experience for him and it was nice hanging out with him.
The funny thing about the tour is that the bands didn't know each other before the tour started, but just a few days after the tour started, it was like they had known each other for years. The only person I didn't know already was Ryan, Reform the Resistance's drummer, but we became good friends very quickly, too. Maybe we connected because we were the only blonds on the tour haha. Another thing that I think is really funny is how those who play the same instruments are so similar! Ruben and Sambo are the two bass players and they are both very nice and sensitive and are both my huggy buddies. Ben and Jason are singers and guitar players and they are both strong, leader figures, and ladies men, but they are also very caring. And then Pedro and Ryan are the drummers who are both sweet and very funny. I love them all very much =)
Since I couldn't post anything during the tour, I'll have to post everything now, but I guess it's better to post a bit at a time so that you're not overwhelmed by it all. After posting all that I've written, I'll also post the slideshow I made of different pics we all took =)
At some point, when Ben's not too busy, he will make a video of the tour and I'll post that here, too.
P.S. Oh yeah! During Rock on the Rock, friends of ours from an American military base near by brought me my new laptop! So now I'm typing this on my awesome new laptop!! =) I'm happy.
The tour officially ended Saturday with the bands’ last concert (which was amazing! First they both played on main stage and then they played an acoustic set on a smaller stage - both times with a huge crowd). Then Reform the Resistance got their plane Monday morning and Triplet got theirs on Tuesday.
The experience was great and the whole tour was awesome. I’m really glad that I was a part of it! I got to see places that I had never seen before, I learned a lot, I met a bunch of new people and I got to know the guys and Jas better =)
The guys said that I did a great job as tour manager, but personally, I don’t think that I did much and I know that it wouldn’t have gone so well if it had been with two other bands. They’re all like my brothers and sister and they were so nice, sweet, honest and helpful.
Sure, there were some moments during which I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy and there were some arguments between us, but I think that’s normal when nine people live together for a month and go threw all the stuff we went threw.
I think the one person that had the most difficult time was João. It was his first time on a tour and I think it was his first time traveling outside of Portugal for a month, so not being used to all of it probably made it kinda hard. AND he had to always drive so much, so it was pretty stressful for him. I’m glad he came on the tour, though, (yes, even though we were arguing almost the whole time) cuz it was a good experience for him and it was nice hanging out with him.
The funny thing about the tour is that the bands didn't know each other before the tour started, but just a few days after the tour started, it was like they had known each other for years. The only person I didn't know already was Ryan, Reform the Resistance's drummer, but we became good friends very quickly, too. Maybe we connected because we were the only blonds on the tour haha. Another thing that I think is really funny is how those who play the same instruments are so similar! Ruben and Sambo are the two bass players and they are both very nice and sensitive and are both my huggy buddies. Ben and Jason are singers and guitar players and they are both strong, leader figures, and ladies men, but they are also very caring. And then Pedro and Ryan are the drummers who are both sweet and very funny. I love them all very much =)
Since I couldn't post anything during the tour, I'll have to post everything now, but I guess it's better to post a bit at a time so that you're not overwhelmed by it all. After posting all that I've written, I'll also post the slideshow I made of different pics we all took =)
At some point, when Ben's not too busy, he will make a video of the tour and I'll post that here, too.
P.S. Oh yeah! During Rock on the Rock, friends of ours from an American military base near by brought me my new laptop! So now I'm typing this on my awesome new laptop!! =) I'm happy.
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