Making Breakfast?

We spent our one and only residency outside of Montana (in Idaho) this past week. It was outstanding. The kids were incredibly talented, well behaved and respectful. It was just the change we needed and encouragement to keep us going the next 5 weeks before spring break. I've been writing down funny things that happen during the week and sticking them in my purse as we go along fully intending to write them down in the blog, and as we go I never can seem to find them later. I guess that's someone's way to tell me to force my memory to work harder. I also finished another one of my applications and submitted it. Two down, two to go. Getting ready.
One of the more entertaining was during a teaching session a little girl randomly stops me mid song and says "I know a boy named McAbe (pronounced similar to Macabre but with a short a vowel) who should be an animal." My response was "okay, moving on..." Later that same teaching session I asked "What was your friends name again?" She responded "McAbe. But he's not my friend. He called a a bitch on the bus twice." My only suitable reaction was to look shocked and put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing aloud. Luckily the assistant director covered for me and said "that's not suitable language for rehearsal." I died.
During the same teaching session I was working through a song called "Hula Bula", my least favorite to teach. A lyric in the song goes as follows "they learned to hula from a teacher, learned it after school-a/the teacher made it lots of fun 'cause she was from Missoula!" One of the kids wisely said "you told us you're from Kansas." I responded by singing it through the next time with "they learned to hula from a teacher, learned it after school-a/the teacher made it lots of fun 'cause she was from (deadpan) Kansas." They thought I was a laugh riot. And we all know how much I love that.
We did a workshop about improv and miming with a group of 3-5 graders and during the session we played a game called mime rhyme. Dave said "I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with rat."
A little girl raises her hand and comes up, begins miming opening a jar which doesn't have anything that rhymes with rat involved...
Another kid raises her hand to guess and says "making breakfast?"
Dave's reaction "What?"
It's hilarious to see what children come up with when left to their own devices.
Dave's birthday is tomorrow and I will be making a first ever ice cream cake. Oh lord, I hope it goes well.
I read Burned by Ellen Hopkins this week. I recommend it to anyone looking for a dark story with an unconventional writing style. It was beautiful and I tore through it. I'm behind the times, but I finally saw Milk. I definitely understand why Sean Penn won. And I saw Choke. I don't know why it didn't do well in theatres, it was fantastic! That's all the rambling I have in store for now- until next week.

ahhhh, real monsters

On the theme of mythical creatures (continuing from the mermaid bar last week) and dragons not having outward scars (week before) this week, we have encountered a robot bank, another dragon- norwegian ridgeback (I could tell, Harry Potter 4 style), and a giant. All with homestays or at Into the Woods in Missoula.
Today was the first "day off" that Dave and I have had since... the 3rd of January. Not complaining, but we definitely still worked. Happy flippin' Valentine's day. The plus is there are several TAD teams here and we were able to go out and have a good time with people our age who we know. Down side is we leave in the morning and it's still 6 weeks until spring break, so we have a long stretch to go without any more time free.
I really am enjoying this stretch of the tour, as long and Montananous at it is... and I definitely would enjoy being back on the road again for summers to come, but I am so ready for permanence. And being here with other teams and women my age made me realize how much I miss having a female support system in my life. Touring with a man is definitely right for me, but it has been SO nice to spend time with girls for a little bit. I'm sure Dave feels the same way, opposite spectrum of course.
In other news, to keep myself on track, I have finished one application for summer job outside of MCT-
1. TOMS shoes internship in Santa Monica, CA. Long shot, totally out of my realm of expertise, but I am so interested in how it works and runs that I had to apply.
2. Northwestern Cherubs program as a faculty member (almost finished, have to edit my cover letter)
3. Twin River Theatre Company in New Jersey as a faculty member for their 3-8 grade theatre camp- still working on the cover letter for that one...
4. Director for Noble Fool Theatricals (youth theatre company) for summer or fall production, outside Chicago. This is a brand new option that I have yet to begin my application process for.
5. Stay on the road for the summer, bulk my bonus and get some more americorps financial help.
6. Move to Chicago as soon as I'm off the road.
These are the options I am weighing right now. I hope everything will just fall into place.

"This would be a bustling Metropolis if not for Meth"

Notable moments from this past week
Within the first 15 minutes of being in the town I heard a recap of a failed suicide attempt from a woman to the cashier at the “grocery store” while buying a six pack, a pack of marlbro’s and some chips at approximately 2:00 pm.
Old shrivled man (who we were told would love to take us ice fishing) promptly and rudely denied my barely expelled (and polite) request to take us by telling me “he is not interested” at approximately 2:30 pm.
A formerly live tiger kept in glass case that was apparently a nuisance in some village so it was killed and donated…
16 weeks meat free.
We had some of the most rude, hateful middle school boys in the show, but one didn’t show for rehearsal and another quit three times. The third time we let him.
The bar (there were 2, a church and convenience store) had all men, one old woman with cousin it but blonde and leathery who showed the whole sausage fest of cowboys her tits through the window (Dave and I were THRILLED) and a young cute-ish bartender wearing a terrible yellow tank top in the snowy winter with a denim overall SHORT skirt outfit complete with frills on the almost non-existent skirt part. Wowza.
One of the kids asked us how old we were and a boy said “Dave is 100 and you are 19”
When we said what do you really think? They said “Dave is 42 and you’re 20”
I couldn’t stop laughing.
Switch to the BEST week we could have had ever.
Our family opened the door to us and exclaimed “A REDHEAD!” with joy and excitement. Best start of a week ever.
We made friends and went to a MERMAID bar. Twice.
They took us ice fishing.
They cooked vegetarian meals for me.
I got to play Bunko and ROCKED.
Doug’s parents came over and cooked us sourdough pancakes for breakfast and they were the freaking cutest people ever.
Lynn gave me a free pass to the awesome gym there.
During the audition my favorite quotes from one of the 107 (!) kids that auditioned said “I’maaronilikedinosaurs” and another said “I’m proud I have gum in my pocket”.
I also heard more asian jokes and stereotypes this week than ever. Pretty baller.
1 week until seeing Kyra, Liz, Katie and Caity in Missoula!