Sunday, July 22, 2012

AUERBACH PART 2




Just like last week, this Sunday began at church. This time is was in a small village outside of Auerbach, where an outdoor service was held, and our choir sang. It was a very special event as the Archbishop of northern Germany was in attendance. He spoke with the choir and was very kind and excited to hear from all of us.

Following the service, the students of Westwood boarded the bus en route for another town nearby. Here, there were a number of groups participating in the internation youth music festival. Groups from Germany, China, and Brazil performed throughout the day, which remained sunny for the most part. The Brazilian group in particular caught out attention as they brought an orchestra with strings and wind instruments. Most of the band members went without sheet music! There were multiple food stands set up around the festival, with schniztel, pizza, desserts, and much more. The sun made for fun times, as students played frisbee, soccer and hackey sac, sat at the tables, spoke with locals, or just enjoyed the music.

All three of our groups performed today, and each did a great job impressing the crowd. Wind emsemble was up first, and kicked the performances into high gear. After a few other groups, our choir stepped in and set the mood with another great rendition of U2's "Beautiful Day". The funk band wrapped up the day's event with a killer set of hits. The musicians powered through some fatigue, but pleased the crowd when they came back for their encour to perform "Baby Popcorn" (yes...the combination of "Popcorn" and Justin Bieber's "Baby").

After the concerts, students attended dinner and "disco" at the school in Auerbach. A great time was had by all, and everbody is looking forward to another great day tomorrow with the new friends we have all made. It was so interesting to see how the trip has shifted dynamics. Everything in the first part of the trip was about seeing the destination, and now it has become about the people we are with. What a pleasure! Thank you, Auerbach!