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| Churros shaped like Mickey |
So the night before going to Disney Sea, I had a very interesting slumber. I have no idea how Riza sleeps. She snores extremely loud, grinds her teeth, and screams like a samurai. I thought we were under attack about ten times through out the night, but it was just Riza yelling in her sleep. That being said, I did manage to get some rest so we could have a full day at Disney Sea, and like the title says, there are no whales or dolphins. I thought it would be some kind of SeaWorld, but all they have is a big lake thing in the middle, it is pretty cool, but I would have still liked a dolphin, or eight. It was a little more crowded here than it was at Tokyo Disney, but we still got to go on a lot of rides. One thing we went to was The Little Mermaid show. What was hilarious about the show was, the songs were all in English, and then the speaking was in Japanese. The Ariel was white, but she was speaking in Japanese, but it was a pre recorded track, so I wonder if she had any idea what she was mouthing. In the show, when Ursula popped out, it was this huge mechanical face that
came out over the audience and there was this little baby that was screaming bloody murder, but I don't blame him, it was kinda scary for a Little Mermaid Show at Disney. Then we went to go see another show that was called Big Band Beat. It was an area of the park that was old New York themed, so they had a little Broadway section. The show was pretty good, but Riza was obsessed with Mickey. I am going to go ahead and say that Riza thinks that Mickey Mouse is a real person, and not some random dude in a costume. Then we went on the Tower of Terror, and when we went to look at the picture the ride took, there was this little Asian kid who looked like he was straight up taking a crap, it was pretty hilarious, so we had to buy the photo. Even though it was maybe 1 degree outside, I still had to eat ice cream, I am obsessed. I think when I went to go buy the ice cream the lady thought I was crazy, but o well, big boy wanted his ice cream. So, in a previous post I talked about how they are obsessed with comedians over here, and while we were in Disney Sea
we saw all of these cameras and apparently one of the people
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| Crazy Vitamin Water |
being filmed was a really famous comedian. Everyone around me was making a big deal about it, but he just looked like a random person to me, so I just kept walking. One of Riza's friends that was at the slumber party thing we had is going to start working at Disney Sea around April, so I guess I have to go back to see her dancing on the floats, Mom and Dad, you wanna pay for another trip?? Speaking of the floats, they are pretty cool. The parades are on the water, they have these huge floats and all of these cool looking jet skis driving around them, so that was pretty impressive. Another thing I noticed was the commitment adults have to dressing up when the come to Disney. I sometimes couldn't tell the difference between the performers and tourists, I was for sure underdressed. We went on this Aladin themed ride, but it wasn't Aladin, not really sure who it was, could have just been a random Arab, and there was a room in the ride that had all of these bananas, and they somehow pumped in a banana smell in the room, it was really cool, and made me want bananas. We went around and did a lot of rides and had this really good popcorn; it was this apple cinnamon popcorn that was soooo
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| I wish my sweatshirt fit |
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| Quick trip to visit the Mayans |
good. We were done with Disney Sea, so we went to the mall. There was this store that was called Labrador, and I love Labs, so I had to go in. They had all of these really cool clothes. It was American style clothing, but had little Japanese flairs. I got a jacket and this sweatshirt with an American flag on it (I know, perfect for commemorating my trip to Japan) but when I put it on in the hotel room after buying it, it was crazy small. I tried the same size on at the store, but then wanted another color, so I grabbed another color off the other shelf in the same size that had just fit me so I didn't try on the new color sweatshirt because I assumed it would fit. I guess I grabbed it off the girl shelf or something, because it was crazy small, so I gave it to Riza, Merry Christmas. Got back to our room in the hotel and packed up and tried to fit all my clothes I had bought into one bag. Riza's mom gave me a box to put stuff in, so luckily all of my stuff fit. While I was chilling on the bed, I wanted to read the label on the Vitamin Water because sometimes they say some pretty funny things, but I forgot I was in Japan and it
took me way off guard, so I had to put up a picture for you to see it, it kind of looks weird. After being all confused with the Vitamin Water, I called it a night and went to bed. I put in my ear plugs, thanks Riza, and tired to get to bed before Riza had time to start sawing logs. So since we went to Disney Sea, I thought my word for this post would be "ocean", so here it is, "umi" 海. Little interesting fact, my favorite sushi restaurant in Hartford is called umi, so now I can impress everyone when I tell them it means ocean.
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| Casually riding camels |
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| Booked it |
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| This picture really captured Riza's fear |
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| Under the Sea! |
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| Shooting cannons, typical Friday in Japan |
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| Bye Bye Disney Sea |
I had the awesome opportunity to work at Flat Rock Playhouse this summer doing the amazing musicals Evita and Les Miserable. I cannot tell you how much I learned and the great life long friendships I made. One of the coolest things about Flat Rock is the poet, Carl Sandburg. His home is right up the mountain next to Flat Rock Playhouse and it is beautiful beyond words. We got to hike up the mountain the first week we were there and the views were breath taking. While we were up there we wrote a letter to ourselves regarding what we wanted to get out of the summer, then they sent the letters to us when we got home after the thirteen weeks were over. I have yet to read my letter, so that should be interesting. On top of the mountain the 16 apprentices sat in a circle and went around giving another apprentice, that we barely knew at the time, a compliment and we had to accept that compliment by saying, "Thank you, I know." It was a really good way to get to know people better and start to be more comfortable with yourself and what your talents are. It is easy to focus on the negative characteristics in yourself, so easy that we forget what makes us special and fun to be around, so that was a really nice exercise. Lauren Hopkins, who is a saint and the best tapper I have ever met, was our surrogate mother for the summer. She would always compare the summer to the hike up the mountain; it is going to be so hard and there are going to be easy parts and more difficult parts, but once you get to the top it will be so worth it and then it is all downhill from there. We dove into rehearsals right away with Evita. The cast blew me away and I had such a fun time doing the show. Evita is about the life of Eva Peron, if you are not familiar I would recommend doing a little research on her life, it is crazy interesting and cool to read about her rise to prominence. So in the middle of doing all of these rehearsals and working crews for the show which included costumes, set building, working props, we had no free time what so ever. However, about half way through the summer we were given the sweet sweet gift of a day off. When they told us about having a day off, we almost fainted. We got to go white water rafting and hang out in Asheville for a hot second so it was really fun and much needed. While I am on the subject of Asheville, let me tell you a little about this city. It is super weird, don't get me wrong, it is a great city with tons of fun things to do, but the people I met there were like non other. It was like Urban Outfitters had thrown up all over the city. There was a lady who was walking around with no shirt on, apparently that is okay. Then there was this other guy who was walking this huge wolf dog thing that was pretty much half my height, but I had to pet it just so I could say I pet a wolf. It was really interesting and definitely worth visiting if you have the time. So while we were doing Evita and Les Mis, we also had to do a children's show up at Carl Sandburg's house. The show I was in was called Rootabaga! a Musicarl (Get it, Musicarl, like musical but using Carl Sandburg's name, cute I know) It is a musical that is completely made up of Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories. I played the character Jason Squiff and because I had the pleasure of having a Q in my name, I had a popcorn hat, popcorn mittens, and popcorn shoes. I have uploaded a picture of me and the rest of the cast after our last show jumping off the stage being all cute and what not. While Evita was going on we had to start rehearsals for Les Mis, it was pretty stressful, but a really great experience and good to know that we can handle stressful situations under immense pressure. As well as working crews, rehearsing, and doing the shows, we had to park the cars for the shows. We didn't actually valet the cars, but we showed them where to park because it is pretty confusing when you pull on to lot. Let me tell you, there are some interesting people that come to see these shows. When you tell them where to park they look at you like you are crazy and tell you they cannot park there and that you have no idea what you are doing. So, after they have yelled at me, I smile and tell them if they would like to park somewhere else we can arrange that. What I would really like to do is slash their tires and key their car, but alas, I cannot. Les Mis was with out a doubt one of the best theatrical experiences I have ever had. It was a first class production, with a ridiculously talented cast. I never once got tiered of hearing the show and I cannot express the envy I feel when I think about the audience members who got to experience it from the outside. I couldn't fit anywhere close to everything about my summer in this post, but I hope this gives you a little taste. I LOVE Flat Rock, it truly is a magical place and it will forever have a special place in my heart. I had one of the best, most fulfilling summers of my life at Flat Rock and I will never forget the rock, or the people I met. To the 15 apprentices I lived with, I love you all and will never forget the crazy summer we spent together and cannot wait till we are all in the city together. With all of that being said, I leave you with a video of the Apprentice Showcase that we did at the end of the summer. Special shout out to Patrick Dinnsen for killing it on the guitar.
