International folk ensemble southwest tour: may 2012

The past few weeks I've been traveling through new Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas with the International Folk Ensemble. I played sweet music with my besties Alex, Erin, Ben, Scott, Aaron, and Alina to accompany dancers as well as perform our own special numbers to help during fast and elaborate costume changes. I can't tell you what an amazing trip it was and how lucky I feel to have participated in such a fantastic group this year. I, of course, had some reservations about the trip and knew I was making a lot of big sacrifices including being away from Trent (and Zeusy) for 25 days, having to wear uniform clothes that at times made us seriously overdressed in public, counting off AFTER we already knew everyone was on the bus, eating a ton of sandwiches, and using a buddy system. But I went through a similar experience last year in my trip to the Midwest with the folk dancers and the positives seriously outweighed the negatives. For instance:

- Performed for well over 20,000 people over this period of time and some of the venues were completely sold out. 
- Visited cities and areas of my own beloved country and was able to see how other communities perceive current political, social, and spiritual standings within america. 
- Made and strengthened friendships with truly outstanding individuals.
- Sold CDs with my own voice on it!
- And of course, was able to serve and stand as an ambassador to the school and church that I love.  

The following are a pictures and highlights of the trip. As with all BYU instate tours, our housing arrangements are almost all with host families around the area (just like couchsurfing!!!). So I loved that. 

Our first show was in Farmington, NM. While there, we visited some old Aztec ruins and Ben and I acted as the tour guides since i had the pamphlet and he can explain anything scientifically.

Alamogordo, NM was pretty fun and I stayed at a woman's house who lived in Cloudcroft. It's a beautiful small tourist town high up in the mountains with national pine forest. This lady, Fern, really liked tilapia and actually heated up a whole frozen bag of it in the microwave for me an my roommate once we got in. I was funny since we weren't actually hungry. 

Ben, Erin, Alex, and I visited the oldest zoo in the southwest and watched a black bear clobber and eat a pigeon that snuck into its cage. It was crazy!

The following day we played in the white sands national park. I recommend it to everyone! We then played in El Paso. It was so fun to play the Mexican numbers in a border city. Also, the venue was gigantic.

Odessa, TX. this was one of my most favorite shows. The theatre was super nice, gigantic, and we had amazing crowd responses. Since the center was so new, they were creating a cast wall where people sign their names and we were able to sign too!

We played a morning show in Midland, TX for an elementary school. Erin and I found these in one of the classrooms.

On our long drive to Corpus Christi. Ben is sporting my bus mat and neck pillow. 

Finally some free time at the beach. People who know me know that that's all I need to be happy (as well as tasty food and an adequate amount of sleep). Our show in corpus christi was a little smaller but I was happy enough with the quality of the audience.

My host family provided super tasty homemade brisket and beans that weekend. I was in heaven! Also, that Sunday night I went to the bishop of the ward's house and jammed with him and Alina, Erin, Scott, and Ben. The bishop had amazing instruments and definitely knew how to play them all super well.

By Laredo, TX, Ben and I were starting to get sick of the structure and started our "sneaking off" adventures. we snuck out to their downtown which basically was like a little Mexico and bought delicious liquidos and pastries. We had three performances sponsored by boy scouts of america and I had the opportunity to sing the national anthem at all of them. These shows were packed and again so so fun on the Mexican numbers. 

Also my host family was so extremely sweet in Laredo. I absolutely loved them and hope it isn't the last time I meet them!

san antonio temple. the stained glass was absolutely amazing!!!

The next couple days were kind of random since our San Antonio show was canceled due to conflicts with the venue. Instead, we had an interactive show at the church building. The following days were more touristy with smaller shows. Honestly it was kind of nice to have the break though. 

Then we went to Louisiana which was by far my favorite part of tour. New Orleans had delicious food and the hosts treated us so well. 

Turing Oak Valley Plantation

Ben, Erin, and I eating at Acme oyster bar. 

On the swamp tour

the guide was a hoot and told us stuff like how we as college students don't need to go to college

Kissy kissy!

strutting around Bourbon street

Eating the famous french doughnuts  

Me and Alina getting our palms read. Everyone needs a little voodoo in New Orleans.

My host family here was awesome to and live on the other side of lake Pontchartrain. It was a beautiful town and so lush which made me a little homesick for Seattle. They gave me and my roommate Brittany Mardi Gras beads, made delicious homemade jambalaya, and made king cake! We were truly spoiled there.

We traveled to some familiar parts later in Houston, TX. This was probably our best performance as a band. We seriously felt like superstars afterwards. people jammed the hallway after the show as they watched us play in the lobby. I was so crazy and ruckus that the security guards kicked us outside. 

The following day we were supposed to go to the Johnson space museum but we went to a ward member's house on lake Houston instead. We played on their jet skis, water tubed, and (again) ate delicious food!

From Houston we went to Dallas. This show was also awesome. We played for a totally sold out house. The following day we had a bit of free time and about half of us went and relaxed at our hotel pool. Then we went and saw the avengers! We ate at Denny's and saw a wolf there and it bit me. No big deal...

Last we played in Texarkana. the crowd, though small, was fantastic and extremely grateful for the performance. Since this was our last show, the group was really performing for each other. There was a lot of emotions running wild that night but we it'll managed a suburb show. Here are some last show pictures.

The last night of tour I slept with a host family that owned pet peacocks!

WHEW! It was a crazy busy trip. I give a lot to cdit to the tour directors and other leadership and their hours and hours of effort making the trip possible. I know that even if we did not impact anyone's life in the cities we visited, we certain changed hearts within the group including my own.