catch-up!!!

hey all!



sorry i havn't written lately! I've been SO exhausted I just pass out at my host family's house every night. It's been a long few days.



We've been blocking our show: for those of you who don't know what that means, we're learning where we're standing for which songs and presentations. The problem is, we'll all switch roles over and over this semester so we have to learn EVERYONE'S blocking. It's really tough, especially with those who have never been in a play or anything before where they had to block. It's turning out alright though. Kind of slow... but we'll learn it all soon.



So far I've been called in to do specialty dances for Go Daddy Go (a swing song), and Power With (a hip-hop song). It's so much fun to actually get challenged and learn such difficult choreography! Go Daddy Go is absolutely amazing! The footwork and choreography is really complicated and it looks amazing all put together (complete with flips and lifts!!!). Power with will take me longer to learn, but once i do it will be GREAT!! SOOO much fun. :)



So last friday Cast C did their Community Impact work (CI). We drove and hour and a half up into the mountains to work with the "Coalition for the Upper South Platte" or CUSP. They basically maintain the 1.2 million or so acres of land the source of the South Platte river comes from. This was actually quite relatable for me. The water i swam in that day most likely ran through North Platte, unless it was used for irrigation!



We first split cast C into two parts, one going farther up the mountain, and the other staying lower. Once we got split ( i was on the lower mountain) we split into smaller groups of about 15. My group got to work with Craig who is a biologist for the equivalent of the Game and Parks Commision in Colorado. Craig is SO much fun!! We all really really liked him! He was so much fun, and told lots of great stories.



We had to hike about a mile and a half to the place where we were going to work. It was really hot and most of us wern't used to hiking uphill in such hot, dry weather, so that was a challenge. What we ended up doing when we got to our "spot" was covering up the "social trails" the fisherman make to get down to the river faster. These social trails (beaten off of the regulation trails) cause much more errosion than is safe for the environment here. The more it rains, the more sand and plants go into the South Platte, which is also where 75% of Colorado residents get their drinking water!! Who knew something like walking off the beaten path could cause so many problems!!



So what we did was gather duff and slash. Duff=pine needles piled up on the ground. Slash=branches sawed off of pine trees. We worked for about 2 hours picking up both of these and dragging them quite a ways down the trail to cover up the social trails. They actually look really really natural! We also planted more seeds to cover up the trails, and even made one more trail towards the end where we had to clear out some poison ivy.



Overall this CI was quite a success. Craig even said we were one of the best vounteer groups he's ever worked with!!! :D go us!! :)



After we left we went to a very very small town about 5 minutes away where CUSP bought us all ice cream cones!!! all 70+ of us!! They were so incredibly nice, and we were honored to be working with them. :)



Okay, so it's getting late. I'll let you all go. I'll do my best to try and update this more often. Sorry about the delay!!



xoxo

--callie



p.s. I turn 18 TOMORROW!!! the 24th!!! GO ME!! rock my face.