Day 2 and 3!

Ok! I am on the bus, and as promised, I’m gonna tell stories from yesterday.

First of all, the First United Methodist Church we sang at was absolutely breathtaking. Gainsville Georgia was in some ways, a no man’s land. But with the rolling hills, and beautiful weather it was wonderful.

We had a rehearsal in the afternoon, and instead of going around the lake outside and hanging out outside before dinner, Kirstie, Jay, Charlie, Aaron, Ben and I went down to where the youth group was, and led worship for them. That sounds like a really sweet and wonderful little thing to do, especially since so many of the 6 of us are worship arts majors. But we were so confused about what we were supposed to even do. We had a practice last week, because we were told we were requested…. They were supposedly getting home from a retreat and asked that some of the college students lead worship for about 15 minutes or so. We went down to the youth room (in our tuxes and long black choir dresses…) and were confused as to why there was already a youth band practicing. Anyway, they ended up leaving and we did a little bit of what one may or may not consider a sound check, and waited around awkwardly, because we didn’t even know the context of the night, or if they even were getting back from a retreat. Jay and I tried to socialize with some of the kids, and we asked how the retreat was, and they said they didn’t go on a retreat. Turned out that only the 6th graders did.

So, we joked around with each other from the choir, and prayed together, and went and sat with some of the youth. We led worship, and were blessed by it, and the youth. Even though we were really confused and had next to no direction for the entire thing, we all agreed once it actually comes time to worship with our music, it doesn’t even matter anymore, and it’s just a beautiful time.

Our concert went really well, but there are a few stories to tell from the performance. First off, Lloyd almost passed out. He stands next to me. In between Trina and I actually, in our scrambled (Alto tenor, soprano bass) formation. I saw him hold on to Nathanael in from of me, and thought it was funny. I thought he was just doing it to be silly or something. Think about it… Nathanael was in the front row. He couldn’t react. He couldn’t laugh. We were perfrming. I though Lloyd was just messing with Nate, Then after the performance, Trina told me how he had held onto her hand cause he thought he was gonna go down. And not down to the river to pray (it’s one of our songs in the program…). Another funny story was that during Credo, Trina got smacked in the head by Spencer when we were clapping during the end portion. That is just good fun. A most funny thing to have occurred.

Ok, before you think, “Ok wow, Shai way to be a lady…” about what I’m about to say… please try to see the humor in this. Because it really is simply hilarious, and though embarrassing for someone, it was so funny. In between songs, there is always a sweet, and almost intense silence before Jake blows the pitch pipe for our next pitch. It’s not usually awkward. It’s just a moment of anticipation, mixed with the emotion yet lingering from the previous piece. It’s part of the performance really. As one of our songs says, “Silence more lovely than music,” so is the space in between songs. Sometimes. Well, you may have guessed it, but someone uh, shall we say… let one go… in this moment. This lovely moment before our next song. To be honest, I heard, and then thought “Wow that would be funny if that really just happened.” And then the next thought was “That is thee funniest thing that could possibly happen in a moment like this.” And as it turns out, what I though may or may not have happened, did indeed occur. No one has confessed, but we’re all pretty sure it really did in fact, happen.

So. That might have been a little bit of a round about description, but it was hilarious.

So! That was the performance. Soon we were gathered up to our host family, and Trina, Kirstie, Olivia (A my gluten free buddy!), Gina and I put our stuff in the cars and drove through the rolling hills in Gainsville GA, to a MASSIVE house out in the country. I guess I just expect the houses we stay in to be, Oh I dunno, normal? Rich southern families don’t come to mind when I think of a choir tour and staying with a few families from a few churches. Well, this family certainly seemed to have money. We had 3 rooms to choose from to serve the five of us. Each with a queen or king size bed, and a bathroom attached to it. Kirstie and I took the king size, and Trina took a queen to herself, and Liv and Gina took the other queen. We all gathered in each other’s rooms and talked and laughed and told stories. Ahhh, I will never grow up, I am telling you right now. I will have slumber parties for the rest of my life.

When we first got settled into our rooms, we all sat around the bar table in the kitchen and ate ice cream with a ton of fresh, amazing fruit. Kathy, our host mom, bought gluten free bagels for Liv and I too. Which was amazingly exciting.

We got into some awesome conversations. We talked about the guys in our lives, or the lack thereof :P We relived the funny experiences of the day, or dreamed out loud. We were such girls. We took turns taking showers, and teased each other, borrowed each other’s razors and soap. It was just a really cute and fun night. Kirstie and I retreated to our king sized bed, and opened the window to look outside. The weather was incredible. So pure, and clean and cool. The hills, the far off lights of the other houses in the distance… it was just so pretty. We closed the window though, because the dog started barking obnoxiously. Pretty sure he had heard us open the window or something. Anyway, morning came too soon, and I remember vaguely in my waking dream mistaking my alarm as something in my dream. It was my alarm though, sadly. And I had to awaken to greet the morning, though the sun had yet to rise.

We ate breakfast, and headed back to the church to leave in the bus around 7:30 am. I slept on the bus till 11:30. It was somewhat painful, but felt more like one hour than four, so I guess all in all it wasn’t so bad!

We just crossed the border into Florida, and the weather is just unbearably beautiful. Trina and I walked around during our lunch stop, and I told her that weather like this just makes me want to be in love. Weather like this is too beautiful to be single in. She laughed at how hopelessly romantic I am, and we boarded the bus once again.

We’re watching O Brother Where Art Thou right now, and it’s funny, because this movie was the theme of As You Like It, a Shakespeare play I was in my junior year of high school. I sang Down to the Rover to Pray, and it became somewhat of a theme song for the cast and crew, even the year after when we were doing Romeo and Juliet. And now it’s somewhat of the same for the choir right now, since we’re doing Down to the River. And wouldn’t ya know it, I get to sing the solo for the soprano sometimes? There are usually about 3 or 4 soloist selected for each solo, and it depends on the formations we’re in , and who’s in good voice during each performance for who sings it. Anyway, it’s just funny that this movie is yet again, meaningful in some way.

Ok! I think I’ve covered about everything since yesterday. We’ve got a performance tonight in central Florida, so much more yet to happen today! Ta ta for now.