Brothers And Sisters In Christ

Today in chapel we had a group of orphans from Uganda (that's in Africa for those of you who didn't know) come, sing and dance. It was really cool. They did a couple praise songs in English, but most of their songs were in their native tongues. They also did a couple of their tribal dances.
Yesterday, however, was the really cool part. The kids(ten of them ranging from 9 to 13 years of age) were on campus for the sound check in the chapel, so they came to our choir class. That's when we got to see a whole bunch of their tribal dances and songs. We were able to sing for them as well, but that wasn't nearly as interesting. These Kids had so much energy and talent. Sure, they may not have the most classically trained voices, but they sure knew how to play those drums. And they danced and sang (at the same time) with such ease and energy. Not an ounce of fear or nervousness could be seen on their bright smiling faces. It was truly a site to behold.

Delta Kapachino Pi

This last weekend was crazy. It was the weekend of the Western Baptist (operating under the name of Corban) music department retreat. Everyone from the band, choir, jazz band, and orchestra was there at this church in Sisters. We went out on Friday night, practiced Saturday morning and evening, and performed on Sunday. We put on the entire service for the church. I think the coolest part was when the band and orchestra played with the guitar, piano, and vocalists while they lead the singing. It sounded so cool, even beautiful at times. And the band and orchestra parts were arranged by our own Mr. Barsch. He's probably the coolest music teacher I have ever met. He's an amazing pianist, a violist, and I've heard he has absolutly mad skills on the organ.
Last night I was up till 2:00 because I had to finish up some reading and write out my report for my Bible survey class. Then at around 5:15 I was woken up by the Eagles president. He said that it was time for phase two of the Eagles initiation. So I got up, and walked with the rest of them to go get everyone else in the group. Then we went to our meeting spot and we were given certificates that say we are now life long members of the Eagles. Then they said that we each had to take an energy drink/frapachino. But they did say that we didn't have to drink it. Well for any of you who know me, you'll know that I'm not into the energy drink/coffee racket. So I took my frapachino and headed back to bed.
Apearently it is Eagle tradition to get the new guys up in the middle of the night the night before their first American thought and culture exam. And then they supply them with what they need to keep them from going back to sleep before it was time for class. Some of the guys actually bought into it. They drank their energy drink and didn't go back to bed.
Not me, I had been up 'till two already, and I was going to get as much sleep as I could.
Good news, I got 100% on my reading report.
Time for me to head out to dinner. Laters.

Run Forrest, Run!

Hey everyone! I just got back from the beach. We had a beach party and a thing they call 'Ocean Rush'. That's where a bunch of sucker college students line up on the beach and when a person says "GO!" all of them start running for the ocean. Everyone who goes in and gets completely wet gets a free T-shirt. Needless to say, I was one of said 'sucker college students'. Who couldn't use a free T-shirt?
There was also a sand castle building contest. My team built...well, actually we didn't built anything. Really what we did was we uncovered what God had already placed on the beach. That's right, we dug the biggest sand hole in school history. We guesstimated it to be about 15 feet deep. It was pretty sweet. Of course in order to justify it as a 'castle' we also dug around the outside of the rim of the hole to make a wall. then we took the buckets of sand that we hauled up out of the pit and made towers all along the wall. Sadly, we didn't win. The winners received a hundred dollar cash prize. Second got $50, third $25. But, we didn't get any of those. so what if it wasn't the best 'castle'. I am 100% positive we displaced the most sand.
Friday night we had a thing called 'Rush'. At this event we all sat in the bleachers of the gym as a bunch of different groups (called 'Fellowships') tolled us what they were about. Then at the end some one yelled out "RUSH!!!" and everyone in the bleachers 'rushed' down to the fellowship that they wanted to join. There are four brother/sister fellowships. The Panthers and Lambs, the Eagles and Doves, the Saints and Angles, and the Trojans and Pandas. The former in each of the groups listed is the guys part of the group, and the latter is the girls. They do some things together(guys & girls), and some things separate(just guys & just girls). For the most part all the groups are very much the same in that they do service projects, Bible studies, and events. What makes each group different is not only what kind of events and service projects they do, but mostly the overall character of the group. I joined the Eagles because it's more the arts group (musicians, thespians, artisans of varying types). Cool stuff.
Well, to quote Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."