DAY EIGHT: Downhill Slope

Is it even possible that we have already been here for a week, and that we have less than a week left here? Something about that makes me sad and anxious at the same time. This has been a great vacation and has helped me forget about (or at least remember less) the horrible summer I've had. Being here has just refilled my engines, so to speak. I'm anxious because I've had so many ideas concerning my kids and their pieces that I'm excited to share these ideas with them. I miss my kids, and I'm ready to get the season started.
But, I do still have a week left to continue to be inspired. It definitely continued today. The first thing on the agenda today was to go see Oxford HS (yes, from Mississippi) perform Man of La Mancha. They were unbelievable!! I was so proud of them, and so happy to have them representing Mississippi with us.

After their performance, it was back to Pollack Halls to get ready for our next performance. The kids got in costume and we had another rehearsal, and even changed several of the harmonies.

The performance was one of those dream scenarios where things just fell into place. The performance was timeless and we were sold out again. The majority of the audience was kids which was great. It was such a humbling experience to watch these kids look at out students as "stars". they waited with their programs to be signed, and all of our actors signed autographs for almost an hour after the show.

As I sit here and think about all of these great things that are happening to me, I can't help but think about Dad. I have missed him so much since coming over here, and I keep thinking about how I can't wait to tell him about this thing or that thing I saw and then I'm hit with the realization that I can't do that anymore. Vacations are great, but they don't take away reality. I still long for this pain to go away. I wish I knew how. I wish he were here. Dad, I know you'd have loved every minute of this.

DAY SEVEN: The Military Tatoo

It was so hard to get up this morning after the late night we had watching shows last night. I honestly thought as this day began that it was going to be horrible, but thankfully, I was very wrong.

Even though we got up very early (actually it was very late, it just felt early because of how late we got back) we came back to the dormitory after breakfast and ran into the only mean Scotsman we've experienced since being here. Let me explain. Our cleaning lady is the Wicked Scottish Witch of the West. Everyone else that works in our building is great, sweet, and easy to get a long with. The Scottish people are some of the nicest people in the world - except for Griselda the maid. Ok, maybe that's not her name, but it should be! She wants to punish us for the sink waterfall incident from two nights ago. First of all, we cleaned that up ourselves. The only thing she had to do was take the towels and move them to the laundry because we aren't allowed in there. But to get back at us, she has conveniently forgotten to give us towels for two days. This had to be stopped!

When she was on the other side of our hall today, I took a towel off of her cart while she was in another room. As I was walking out I heard one of the boys ask her for towels, and she flat out lied to him. She said that they had a towel shortage because the truck could not get up the mountain with the clean towels. She just left him with that. He turned to me and so I started to investigate and found mounds of towels on every floor BUT ours. Oh, and all the workers on the other floors were incredibly nice.

So, about 30 minutes later I was waiting for the elevator and Griselda walked over and waited to go down as well. When the doors opened, her supervisor exited as I got on. She asked Griselda if she had everything she needed and Grizzly Griselda said yes. I spoke up and said Actually don't forget you have an entire floor that doesn't have towels because the truck hasn't made it up the mountain yet with the clean ones. As the doors were closing I saw the supervisor give her a wicked look. We went to see "The Three Muskateers" performed by Wisconsin, and when we came back . . . we all had towels. Oh, sweet victory!

Anyway, then we went to the Royal Mile to shop and I managed to get all my family members taken care of. The kids were excited because they got 3 uninterrupted hours of shopping. When we went to the Military Tatoo which made the entire trip for me. It was absolutely amazing! I am so grateful for the opportunities that this trip keeps giving me. I am completely amazed everytime we do something new.

DAY SIX: The First Performances

Finally, what we've been waiting for . . . the opportunity to perform. After all, that's why we came here. We knew this was going to be quite a long day so we prepared ourselves as best we could.

First, we trekked down to the Royal Mile and did a street performance. They set up stages along the street and its your job as performers to attract an audience's attention. Logan (Baloo) got up on the stage and began singing One Blood with Christian (Mowgli) and Noel (Bagheera) and then the entire cast joined in. It was exciting to see the children from Edinburgh flock to our stage to watch. Our kids were remarkable with them. They actually spent most of their performance playing with the kids. Towards the end of our time on the Royal Mile, one of the Fringe Festival employees informed us that out first show was completely sold out! That never happens at the Fringe. There are 350,000 shows in 4 weeks time. It is just incredible and so humbling to see what Suz and thesekids do with so little. they don't even have an auditorium at home to sell out, but they sell out shows in Scotland. Some people back home should take notice and realize the gift they've been given and start supporting them.

The afternoon performance was a good first show. Like most first shows there were a few bumps, but nothing in comparison to some we have seen since being here. We got nothing but positive feedback from the audience.

Then, we watched two other shows after ours. First, Alice in Wonderland done by a Michigan school and then By the Skin of Our Teeth from Texas. Very late night. Early morning tomorrow.

DAY FIVE: Magnificence on a Mournful Day

Arthur's Seat is an inactive volcano that sits just beyond the University of Edinburgh where we are staying. According to legend, it is the site where King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table met to plan battles. It is where the round table remained and where they convened before and after fighting. To see it in person is magnificent. On this particular day we not only got to see Arthur's Seat up close, we basically walked all the way around it.

Today was the Fringe Festival Parade where each show gets to have a spot, and the spectators can get a glimpse into what they can see if they come to the shows. I spent the day with the technical crew and the handful of actors not in the parade. We walked from the beginning of the route to the end and got the opportunity to watch the parade from there. As we were walking I was just struck by the awesome beauty of God's creation. My breath was literally taken from me as I took in the scene in front of me. I wish my pictures did it justice, but they pale in comparison. I think this has been my favorite day so far on the trip.

After the parade we sat at Parliament waiting for the actors to join us, but they never came. It was actually nice to see and listen and just sit and absorb the Scottish culture. Eventually, we figured they must have missed us and went back to the University so my group made the trek back up the side of Arthur's Seat to the school.

To this point the day was perfect. It wasn't until things slowed down that I realized what today actually was . . . my parents' anniversary. Thinking about this made me immediately sad because I kept thinking about how Dad would have loved seeing Arthur's Seat. I called Mom and talked to her because I needed to hear her voice and know she was okay.

Fortunately, that was not the end of the day. We took the kids to a Kalie, where they got to learn how to do traditional Scottish dances. That paired with an unusual sink malfunction in Luke's room allowed me to have a magnificent end to my mournful day.

DAY FOUR: First Full Day in Edinburgh

Today was like a game of chutes and ladders - so many ups and downs. We've been here long enough now that everyone knows everyone, and for the most part everyone is getting along. Let me be the first to say how nice it is to just hang out with the guys. No offense to the girls, but the boys are so much less drama. They all get along and its just easy to be in charge of them.

Moving on - the Scots know how to make good dinner, but they are not as good with breakfast. There's nothing like seeing blood sausage to make you lose your appetite. Then, after breakfast, we left for technical rehearsal which went really well. It makes me excited for the show. Then, it was back to school and meet up for our trek down to the Royal Mile. but first we had to surprise Suz with her "gifts". I LOVED this part. So funny! The girls made "art" out of whatever they could for her dorm room. Then the boys actually made a basket out of duct tape and wire and filled it with soap they carved into specific shapes for her; her personal Bed, Bath, and Beyond basket.

Then, we walked to the Royal Mile. It's like four miles to get there. I thought I'd be okay after my fall on Day Two, but today my ankle said different. My foot began to hurt when we were halfway there. My foot started going numb and by the end of the day I couldn't feel my right leg moving because I was in so much pain. The trip back up the mountain to the college made me tear up. I hurt so much, but I did make it back, and felt good that I did it on my own.

So now I'm on pain killers, but hopefully it will get better.

DAY THREE: London to Edinburgh

Does 4 a.m. really exist? I don't even remember the last time I was up then (actually that's a lie...I do, but nothing pleasant has ever happened that early in the morning). When my alarm went off at four I felt like I was in some crazy dream. My body started moving and getting dressed, but my mind wasn't taking advantage.

You see, we had to have all of our luggage out for the AHSTF staff to load into trucks for the big move to Edinburgh. Then it was breakfast at 5 a.m. (very hard to eat a British breakfast that early) and then waiting for the bus by 5:30. At six we managed to get on our bus that took us to King's Cross Station. Now everyone knows what has made King's Cross famous . . . Platform 9 3/4's, Harry Potter's entrance into the wizarding world. I really felt bad because so many of the kids, and I have to include myself in that number, were severely disappointed because only the first eight platforms were open. Nine & 10 are closed for renovation so they were unable to take pictures at the famous sight.

But then we got on our train and began the voyage to Scotland. I will absolutely take as one of my favorite memories of this trip the first hour of the train ride and the hilarity that occurred from doing Mad Libs with Alex Parker, Andrea Shearon, and Kaz Zumbro. Hours 2-4 I slept. I tried to stay awake, but it just wasn't happening. But the good stuff all seemed to come in the last hour anyway. I got to take pictures of the largest castle in the world, the beautiful seascape of the North Sea (most calming view I've ever seen), and then entering Edinburgh.

When we exited the train in Edinburgh there was a Scottish bagpipe player performing American songs like Yanke Doodle, Dixieland, and Deep in the Heart of Texas. Very cool way to start our Scotland days. The next adventure, not so much! They crammed 80 people on one charter bus. Claustrophobic, anyone? It was unbearable, but it only lasted about an hour and a half. Finally, we made it to the University of Edinburgh, our final destination for the trip.

The greatest thing about the University is that2 all of their rooms are single rooms. So, we all will have some private time which will be greatly needed. The cafeteria food is amazing . . . so much better than the Bankside cafeteria. Supper tonight was fantastic. For the rest of the evening, we rested, and the boys made a nice little surprise for her birthday tomorrow. Let's hope she likes it.

Scotland Trip Day Two: London Bridge I fell down

Maybe I wasn't as rested as I thought or maybe we just did more than expected, but I'm already exhausted and its only the middle of day two.

This morning began with an interesting breakfast. Definitely different from what Mom and Dad used to make. They fry their toast. Just because they say something is sausage does not make it sausage. Their apple juice tastes like it has a little extra flavoring, so to speak.

Then, it was off to the Tower of London. I must admit how excited I was to see this place. Being a fan of Ghost Hunters International I wanted to see what a real hanted house would feel like. The only thing is .......... NO SCARY!!! I'm pretty sure the only thing that was terrifying was all the darn steps we had to take going up and down the tower. I'm not sure the kids were as excited to do something historical.

When we left we had to walk to the Underground, but we stood forever waiting for the bus to show up so Suz made the last minute decision to walk to The Globe. This was was about five miles. Clumsy me fell off a sidewalk and twisted my ankle (but please note that I was still walking faster than a few of the kids). The Globe was magnificent! Absolutely breathtaking! The kids got to have an acting workshop with one of the Globe Shakespearean Actors. They did scene work and I think they really enjoyed it.

We did an insane amount of walking today. My ankle was giving me fits but in situations like this I guess you just have to roll with the punches. We went to this pizza place for lunch and had the worst waitress in history. She got my order and my drink order wrong. Then we walked another two miles back to the hotel. I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 miles for the day.

But we weren't done yet. We came back to the Bankside House and we began getting ready for our night out on the town. We were taking the kids to see Chicago performed at The West End. About the time I finished getting ready the two days of sun in London came to a screeching halt. The bottom fell out of the clouds and it rained harder than I've seen in a very long time. It stopped right before we left. All 33 of us are dressed to kill. Everyone looks really good.

It was about a mile to the Tunnel, and halfway there it started to rain again. It wasn't terrible before we got to the Tunnel and took our two different subway trains we needed to arrive at out destination. When we came up from the Tunnel and entered The West End it was pouring sheets of rain. We still had to walk three blocks to get to our theatre for the evening. By the time we arrived there was really no way to tell how good we all looked anymore. There was no point in having an umbrella or rain jacket. I was drenched to the skin through three layers of clothing!

However, the show was absolutely worth it! Yes, Chicago is a bit risque, and watching it will make you blush a little, but it has fantastic music and London's version had an incredible cast. Roxie Hart was played by Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child. She was very good. I really liked that this version didn't stick to the normal casting choices.

On the way home it was still raining, so by the time we made it into the Bankside where we were staying we made drenched dogs look good (although I did quite enjoy Logan Little and Christian Green's imitation of native Londonians talking about the crazy Americans). When we got back to Bankside we packed our bags and got ready for the big move to Edinburgh - that only happens four hours from now.