Day 5

The weekend has come upon us, and with it, a strong wind and a light sprinkle of rain. Everyone had their umbrellas up and open, but the wind prevented us from holding them still for much longer than 2 seconds. But before any of this, choir practice and devotions were held in the girls' hostel again and then Pastor Vanderveen gave us our instructions for the day. These instructions were that we would have a free morning to do whatsoever each one of us pleased.

A number of us trapsed into the Starbucks in the mall and had a lovely time guzzling hot drinks and listening to jazz music. It was quite a relaxing time. Somehow, our conversation dropped from normal talk to stuff about ninjas and other weird things. This is when I quote Sam. "Everyone's a ninja at heart."

After our starbucks adventure, everyone wandered around and shopped a little in the mall and around Old Town. It was a great time for most people, but Nathaniel V. was not so lucky. He pulled a cartoon stunt by turning around and smashing into a glass door, squishing his face against it. Meanwhile, on the outside of the mall, Rachel did an imperial march with an umbrella in hand, pretending to be Mary Poppins. She can really pull it off, I must say.

Lunch came around the corner before we realized it, so the small group I was in, consisting of four other people, headed to the food court in the mall and ordered salads from a salad bar. It was very good and and nice to eat fresh vegetables for a change, instead of the usual cooked meats and veggies. Sam took pleasure in making a tower-type structure with the empty dishes, cutlery, and napkins when we had finished eating.

The hostel awaited us yet again as we came to get ready for our next concert. This time it was on a dome type stage in the middle of a park outside. Thankfully, we were under cover, so the rain did not hit us, but this caused only a few people to actually show up to the concert to hear us sing. Occasionally, some people passing by would stop and listen, but most of the time, they steared clear of the wet benches and scurried off to search for a warmer climate elsewhere. The concert went well overall, and one elderly lady applauded and grinned from ear to ear each time a hymn was completed. Mr. Horvath spoke in a loud voice to deliver his words to the people standing or sitting near.

We hopped on the tram of many stops to catch our reservation for dinner at the "dumpling place," but first we visited an old cathedral, which had just held a wedding and was about to have mass. We waited till the bride and groom were safely out of the building before mobbing the beautiful floors of the cathedral. It was breath-taking how ancient and well-preserved everything looked. The moment you take your first steps in, you feel as if you have just passed the portal through time and entered the 18th or 19th century. The priests dress in gowns and hold mass every day.

We stepped back into reality after the amazing experience in the chapel, and we faced the brisk wind and rain yet again. Our umbrellas seemed useless for the situation we were in, but nevertheless, they were at least able to guard us a little bit from the rain.

Upon leaving the tram to head to Old Town, we dispersed and decided we would meet each other in about an hour to go to our dinner reservations. I decided I would race to catch up with Sam and Bethany, who had left to go coat shopping. The coats they had brought were hardly sufficient to hold off the shifting temperatures of the weather. After some trying on and looking around on the part of Bethany and Sam, they finally decided on coats and we headed out to go to dinner, but not before Bethany turned me around and told me she would buy me a scarf.

Dinner was good, but very filling. Not much happened at the dinner table except for lots of talking and laughing and having a jolly old time. Then, a number of the younger members of the group made our way to the good ol' hostel for a night's sleep. Or at least, we thought that's what we'd be doing. But a lot of people were locked out, due to their roommates not having returned yet, which resulted in the chucking of banana pieces into the boy's hostel, in Pastor Vanderveen's 3-story high window. This locked out business ended late at night, in which everyone finally returned and had a good night's rest (or so I hope).

The cathedral we went to.

Standing outside in the damp weather. This is just proof of all I've been saying about the rain.

~Julia, blogger in chief~

Please pray for us as we travel to Gdansk on Monday and pray that more people there would attend our concerts. Thank you!