A trip to Washington D.C! part 2

My bus ride to Washington D.C. was delayed with 2 hours!
I was supposed to arrive at around 9 in the evening, and we got there even later than 11 pm, I think.... !

I got a lot of things done though.. even though it was difficult to study with only the light from my mini computer!
Here in the picture to the right, I am beginning to starve a little... crackers and juice didn't last as long as I thought...

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The Turner family lives in Oakton, which is in fact in Virginia, - a whole other state than Marylon (the state where Washington D.C. is).

I did not know you could just pass through states like that. I have always imagined that every new state is like a new country... which is true in many ways - if you compare it with the climate and culture.
For instance there's a big difference between Alabama and New York and California and Michigan.
But there's not necessarily such an abrupt difference from one state to the other, around the border.

*

The night I arrived Willy, wanted to show me the monuments in D.C. This is one of the first thing a tourist, or just any person, goes to see (should go), when they come to the city.

There are tons of old historical monuments and memorials from the numerous wars the US has been through.
One of them was the Lincoln memorial, - very massive and fascinating.
By night all the memorial places are lid up. The area is quite deserted, but somehow I find that it emphasizes the message of the memorials. - There's a more peaceful and graceful atmosphere to a naked building standing alone.. or a sad and fearful atmosphere. Either it draws focus.

There was a Korean memorial (sculptures of soldiers walking through the battlefield), Vietnam memorial (a massive black wall with all the names that were lost in this war, built in such a way that it's going downhill).
We also very clearly saw the Washington monument. This is a tall tower that was built to commemorate George Washington, America's first President.

Washington monument

The Lincoln Memorial

The massive statue of President Lincoln,

 the inside of the house, from the previous picture.

Korean memorial place.

Soldiers walking through the battle field.

Actually really creepy to be by, at night...

- or any time of day, I suppose!

Einstein!

When I woke up the next morning, I had a run in the neighborhood. The sight was beautiful!!

Their house seen from the road:)

Their garden

(there was still spider web on the bushes from Halloween!)

Their house seen from further away!

Just outside their house. Isn't it incredible?

One of top 3 favorite trees in their neighborhood!

Saturday afternoon we went to Washington national Zoo.
Yay! I've been wanting to go to a zoo in a long time, so this proposal was absolutely perfect.

The zoo was very big and more 'park-like' than other zoos I've been to in big cities. It wasn't crowded and the place had lots of nature and big areas for just walking. It was beautiful to walk among all the colored trees, so we had a great autumn afternoon.

The 'we' would be me, Willy Turner and the 3 youngest of his kids (they have 5: John Paul, Joseph, Grace, James and Mary).

I also got a chance to meet up with Sarah Wittenberg, the second oldest in the family. She moved to Washington D.C. for her full time job. I hadn't seen her since the very beginning of my adventure here in the States, so it was good to meet up with her and see family, since I hadn't been able to see Phil and Susan for a couple of weeks.

One of the biggest leafs we had ever seen!

Me and Grace by the Gorillas

Tarzan's dad!

Grace and Nemo's home

("anemone, menomene, manone")

Mary wanted me to take pictures of her

on every statue of the animals!

*

When we got back to the house guests had already arrived. For dinner, all the siblings from the dad's side of the family had been invited. I saw Charles, Elizabeth and her daughter and son, Patricia with her husband and their twin daughters, Ed, and their mother Tia Rossario.

I had met Tia Rossario once before, when she went to Copenhagen on a cruise with her husband. I remember she gave me a ballerina doll from New York. I was about 4, I think.
The night at the dinner, she asked into where I lived in the city, while repeatedly saying: "New York is the place to be. Just take me to New York and I'm happy."!

Other than her, I had never met the rest of them before... And the last time they saw my dad, was when he was my age!

Julie, Willy's wife had made an enormous dinner and I helped make the applie pie. I also tasted an American tradition that's made for Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie. It was all delicious!

Adorable second cousins eating dinner!

The apple pie and the one behind is the pumpkin pie

mhh!!

The family!

It was wonderful seeing this part of the family. It's wonderful to have bonded with new members of my family and being looked up to by a ton of little second cousins!
We had great fun. We played Jenga many times (klodsmajor).
They were sad to see me leave, and some of the cousins from the other families already begged their parents to invite me to their house!

Jenga time!

*

Washington is a nice place to visit, because everything is free! All the museums - even the zoo - are free. And Sarah said there's always tons of free concerts, exhibitions and things to do and see. Perfect place to live as a student :)

However, Washington was not the place I spent too much time in, since the family doesn't live in the city. Their suburban house in Oakton is adorable! They have lived there for the past 20 years, and gradually extended the size of the house! There is a cute garden out front with a hammock in the corner, a front porch with big comfy chairs (like the ones everyone of the housewives has in Desperate Housewives, to people watch.. and spread gossip!) and an even bigger garden in the back, where the kids race around on their bikes and the dog plays around.

*

I am sitting in the car on the way to our hike.
Willy is telling me that we just passed the city Manassas, where the first battle of the civil war in 1861 (-1865) took place, and he pointed out the window, showing me the battle field. 620.000 soldiers lost their lives in the civil war!
This is apparently also the town the famous American band Crosby's is from (I didn't know them - but the Turners told me they were very known in my parents generation!).

Right after the end of the civil war, President Lincoln was assassinated. He was shot in a theater, while watching a play! So obviously the memorial of him that I saw the first night was built in memory of that horrible event.

Looking ahead, out of the window in the car now, we can see the Blue Ridge mountains. The sight is extraordinary, - mountains covered with forests in autumn colors. This is where we'll be hiking!

I have not yet had the chance to walk past The White House!... which is something I have to do.. but I will just have to come back another time for that. Willy says that if I come in the spring, there's a building that has it's balcony open for the season, where you have a great view overlooking The White House and the park around it.

We went hiking up Mary's rock (named after the family's youngest, we joked about). The view was amazing and we saw the phenominal colors of autumn as far as the eye stretched from the forests running up and down the numerous mountains.
Here are some pictures!

Amazing colors right??! 

This is the autumn in Shendoah

that everybody would kill to get a chance to see every year.

It was afternoon at this time, so the sun was already lowering from the sky.

I love the effect of the shade gradually covering up the landscape.

It's like the shade creates a frame around this picture!

Look how bright and beautiful a day it was!

Sweet Grace in rays of sunlight

Julie and Mary

Julie and Mary falling behind.. but I got some good shots of them!

After a couple of hours of hiking, we reached the top, Mary's rock!

Priceless!

The view behind me ;-)

All together - as you can see - I had a lovely weekend. So thank you Julie and Willy for that.;)

I will soon write a blog post about the news from life at school and home at the Markle. I just wanted to share these pictures with you as soon as I could!

All my love. X

A trip to Washington D.C. and Cinderella on Broadway! part 1

Right now, I'm sitting on the pavement, waiting for a bus that'll take me to Washington D.C.!
I know a great bunch of you are thinking: "Jeez you're so spontaneous, Jasmin!". I know.. it would be like me just to take off to a random place and explore or just get away! However, I didn't just decide to go as a tourist on my own, I have family who lives there. Willy Turner, my dad's cousin, and his family have a house in Washington D.C. :)
They invited me a long time ago, but it's taken many weeks for me to finally find a weekend I could make the time to get away.
- actually I want to correct that, because being fully committed to studies where you have to be active from 9 am to 11 pm, there's never a weekend you can take off. I have several midterm exams next week! But I've just accepted that extra work next week will bring.

*

This week has been really long and hectic. Omgosh .. just as I wrote this I realized that my weekend has started! I had my Saturday private lesson re-scheduled, so I could go straight from school today (Friday) and stay over for two nights at the Turners' house.

Anyways, this week has been reeally long, and I think it's because I've grown so much this week; 
I've taken major steps in particular classes, and from that I've used so much energy putting greater effort in my prepared work, being strict with my personal rehearsals every single night, dancing wider and wilder, sweating more, sitting on the tip of my chair asking more questions, caring less about showing my tears about personal things in Meisner classes, and finding time to see a Broadway show :).

Through all this though, I have found myself getting more used to the routine of getting up at 6 am and sleeping at 11 pm (thinking about the amount of sleep I get, compared to all the energy I use, makes me want to whine this instant!).

Something I love being able to fit into my calender 

- and a good way to start the morning.

I watched the sun reach every building,

waking up the whole city.

The water glowed and sent breezes my way.

Fresh and calming.

Despite the tight program, I have accepted the fact that my recharging and the minimum 8 hours of sleep will be kept for the weekends!
In fact I have come to accept that there is no other way, if I want to be fully prepared for all my classes too, and take time to stretch every night, steam my face to clear my voice and massage my legs.

It sounds funny that those are things I have to fit into my calender.. but the thing is, when I come back to my room at 8, and I'm so exhausted that I could collapse on the bed and sleep instantly, I have at least 2 hours of homework ahead of me. And after homework, it's important to take care of myself with all of these things, and end the day in a relaxed and peaceful way. If I just collapse on the bed or get under the covers with worried thoughts or the sweat from my dancing .. I don't wake up as good and ready as I should have.

Another thing, that helps the tightness

and stress of my intensive schedule.

Any kind of daily treat is a must,

- being good to yourself.

This was the first time I have ever taken a cake

at the residence, since I got here.

I couldn't resist the berries!

*

2 hours later, - I am now sitting in the bus, after a long delay in the bus schedule.
I have 4,5 hours of travel ahead of me. But here's what I'm going to work on:
- My blog
- Essay abut my performance on 'Wishing you were somehow here again'
- The script for the children's Christmas play at the New York temple (for the children in the Salvation Army that I teach drama every Friday)
- Revise the dance terms and history for my midterm exam in dance class on thursday
- Read the plot of Camelot, to prepare myself for playing the character of Guenevere, with the song 'Before I gaze at you again', for Monday's performance lab class
- Learn Viola's 'I left no ring with her..' monologue from Twelfth night off by heart, for Shakespeare class on Monday

.. as you can see, I need the 4,5 hours!

*

So the Broadway show I went to see was Cinderella, with Susan Wednesday night!
We had amazing seats! On the 5th row in the orchestra!! We could see the conductor clearly, the tiniest details on the costumes and the spit and sweat from the performers.
The awesome tickets was a lucky placement for the student rush tickets. These can only be bought in person, on the day of the performance. The prize for the student rush tickets were $34 per ticket! I am not kidding, the fine people next to us payed something between 150 and 250 dollars for their tickets! 

It was such an amazing and beautiful show. It was well cast, which is something I have been arguing about for the last two musicals I've seen (Chicago and Phantom of the Opera).
The night we saw it, the role of Cinderella was played by an understudy, but I found her just as perfect for the role - if not better - than the original of this production (Laura Osnes - who in fact won a Tony for this role).
What struck me once again - because it obviously wasn't a surprise - was that here on Broadway there's not much of a difference in the original role and the several understudies. The competition here is enormous! Even though every performer is unique, you will find tons of people like you. Therefore, it is no surprise that there are hundreds of extraordinary copies of Cinderella in New York City.

I loved how Rodgers & Hammerstein have created the character Cinderella in this version of the old fairy tale (which is usually remembered from the Disney movie and not the original text!).

In the musical, Cinderella has more profound hopes and needs.
Without loosing her gentle character, she can still argue about her circumstances. She doesn't argue much though... but what I really liked about this show is that we as an audience saw more of what she is met with every day; how the stepmother treats her and what her world is like, working and obeying all day.
- The strongest point in the entire show, is when the stepmother tears Cinderella's old jacket apart; the only memory she has left of her dad.

It is such a vulnerable part of the story, because we witness how the things that bring Cinderella most happiness are taken away from her whilst she keeps working to find more happiness.

We meet her reflections in the song 'In my own little corner', my favorite song in the show. Personally, this is the song that was 'missing' in the story beforehand. Without this song - and a few others in the show, but especially this one - the story is just a lovely fairy tale, far from the human world.
The song is a wide journey through Cinderella's dreams, yet her fears through it all too.

She sings about sitting alone in her chair, in her own little corner. Here she imagines all the different people she could be.
Correction - she not only imagines, she says that's what she is! In other words she takes herself away from the poor life she is living now, and for a second she sees the world through someone else's eyes. She escapes her world, in order to be someone 'better'. 

I'm as mild and as meek as a mouse
When I hear a command I obey.
But I know of a spot in my house 
where no one can stand in my way.

In my own little corner in my own little chair
I can be whatever I want to be.
On the wings of my fancy I can fly anywhere
and the world will open its arms to me.
I'm a young Egyptian princess or a milkmaid
I'm the greatest prima donna in Milan
I'm an heiress who has always had her silk made
By her own flock of silkworms in Japan
I'm a girl men go mad for love's a game I can play 
with cool and confident kind of air.
Just as long as I stay in my own little corner
All alone in my own little chair.

I can be whatever I want to be.
I'm a thief in Calcutta I'm a queen in Peru.
I'm a mermaid dancing upon the sea
I'm a huntress on an African safari... it's a dangerous type of sport and yet it's fun
In the night I sally forth to seek my quarry
And I find I forgot to bring my gun.
I am lost in the jungle all alone and unarmed when I meet a lioness in her lair
Then I'm glad to be back in my own little corner,
All alone in my own little chair.

When she several times sings: 'I can be whatever I want to be', it is because she believes she has the will and braveness to pursue anything in life. She never stops working hard. Her dream in life is to be something better, because what she sees herself as now, is not good enough, through her own eyes.

But in the last verse she sing about going forth to battle, but only on the battle field she realizes that she doesn't have a gun..
- Cinderella is brave and ready to do whatever she has to do, to pursue her dreams.. but she is also naive because she goes into that fight completely unarmed. She is a small girl, poor and lonely. These are facts. - But not everything she is. However, when she looks at herself,  this is all she sees.

Suddenly the world seems big, intimidating and scary; she is lost in the jungle. And suddenly Cinderella is glad that she's not really there.
Suddenly her own little corner, back at her stepmother's house in the little forest, is much safer.

In fact, she is scared of the world, because she's never really faced it before. And maybe for a second, she thinks to herself that the world is too big for her to have all her dreams fulfilled.
Everyone around her tells her she's not good enough.
Until the fairy godmother comes along, and invites Cinderella to look into herself and allow herself to wish for her dreams... not just hope.

The story is about how Cinderella learns that there is so much more to her than what she had given herself credit for.

Another thing I really liked about the plot, was that the Prince was not a perfect handsome and charming prince, but someone with a 'human soul' too. In all the original Disney movies the Prince is always made as a perfect figure,which makes the happy ending seem extremely fulfilling. ..But maybe not too realistic.
However, in this musical version of Cinderella, the director had explored in the Prince's character and turned him into a 'normal' person who made mistakes and had struggles too.
- For example, he felt betrayed by his parents for lying to him about ruling the country fairly, when they were really taking land from the poor, in his name.
- He was also nervous and unsure about how to show his love to Cinderella. Even though he was handsome, he wasn't as perfect as his costume implied. And that is something that feels much more relative to real life.

My favorite theme in the musical, is that as we follow the love between Cinderella and the Prince, the story gradually teaches us that Cinderella is good enough the way she is. It takes her a long time to believe that the Prince loves her for who she is, and not what he thinks she is (perhaps a rich princess from a faraway land).
When she believes in this, no one else around her has to pretend they're something better.
Cinderella has always encouraged and believed in other people, seeing the very best in them. All along, she didn't fully see the best in herself, even though she wanted to (in order to survive the daily cruelty she was met by).
By the end of the musical, the different status' and types in the society suddenly has no meaning at all.
They saw that love is true when you trust who you are on the inside, and not what people make you on the outside.

The costumes were amazing. All the ensemble wore corsets and dresses with many layers and fluffy shoulder parts. They all danced ballet in their huge ball room dresses, which was really fascinating to watch.
Cinderella wore 4 costumes throughout the show, whereof 2 of the costume changes took place onstage. The change from a tiny poor-looking dress to an enormous ball room dress was fascinating, and it took about 5 seconds. There were quite a few magic transitions with costumes happening onstage, and they were really clever thought through.

...Unfortunately, I was sitting so close to the stage, that I could see the 'tricks'. Usually I dislike knowing the tricks for the magic happening onstage, because it draws me out of the story - but seeing how quick and smooth they did it, and how they had designed the many layers of the dress for that purpose, was pretty fascinating to witness.
For instance the second layer of the change to Cinderella's ballroom dress was half white and half colored (the colors of her servant's dress).

A funny thing is that one of the performers was a woman I had seen in one of my favorite TV shows, Desperate Housewives. She was playing the evil stepmother.
An even funnier detail is that the original Cinderella in the movie is playing in Desperate Housewives too - approximately 20 years later than her role in the musical.
...Yep everywhere I look, I see Desperate Housewives and so many other TV shows and films that I've watched over the years.

*

As I'm sitting in the bus, I'm listening to the soundtrack of Mamma Mia! I know Phil really wants to see the show. I was not very fond of the staged version, when I saw it back in Copenhagen - and I just think the movie is such a party, that I'd hate to get my hopes too high once again for another stage version.
But being so high from the soundtrack now, I'm considering getting tickets for the show on Broadway next week!

....
.......Oh my gosh! My countdown to Christmas has officially begun. I just put on my first Christmas track of the year, 'Don't save it all for Christmas day', sung by Celine Dion.

Usually I'm really frustrated with shops advertising for the season too early, and people singing Christmas songs months before it's even December. Yes - a great example is you morfar! - My granddad finds every excuse he can to put on Christmas music, eat pork and dance around a tree. Usually he'll arrange a 'pre-Christmas' that all the grandchildren celebrate in the summer holiday.. seeing it's sometimes the only time we're all gathered together.
....But now I'm ready! So let the spices in my tea change, the decorations hang in windows and let the snow fall.

This Christmas will be very different for me.
It'll be the first time in my life that I won't celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December.

I have spoken with my friend Bekah, who lives in Michigan. The tickets to Michigan from New York are not that pricey.. so knowing that the only time we can see each other is Christmas this year or summer next year, I have decided to save up to celebrate my Christmas with her. <3

Since I came to the States, we've spoken to each other on the phone several times. We always end talking for about 2 hours. Every time we talk, we discuss what it'll be like when we finally meet again (after not seeing each other for 7 years, since Malawi). Bekah says she's had dreams of us running into each others arms in the airport and not letting go, while crying with tears of happiness and laughter.
And when I've thought the scene through, it's been something like that too.
All I know is that it'll be very special to see her again.

Love this girl to bits!

I can't wait to write a blog post about what my American Christmas will be like.

- In Celine Dion's Christmas cd, Brahm's lullaby just started playing.. for a second I was tempted to lay my head against the window and fall asleep within a minute!
However, I need to finish a written project on the computer. I am working on the script for the Christmas play. It's turning out fantastic! It'll be so sweet.

I will see if I can get it filmed, so I can share my production with you . :)
I am also aware that I have talked about sharing recordings of my songs from my classes with you. So I will make sure to make an update on my blog with those soon!

I know that you are dying to see more of my work here, and get a glimpse of how I've already developed artistically. I sometimes forget that you don't see that huge progress in me, unless I show it to you with videos, recordings or such.

Wait for part 2 of this post, which soon will be posted!

All my love, Jazzie ;-)
X