It's show time! Day 22 & 23 of my #45daysofsummer

I'm still totally buzzing after the concert last night! It was our first one, held in Toral (the small town / village that the camp is in), just a 2 minute walk away. It was incredible, and so much bigger than I expected. It was in a kind of town square courtyard thing and quite a lot of people came out for it (about 100?) But the whole set up was just generally bigger than I thought it would be and was really professional! The songs went really well for the most part (so many lyrics to remember but think I've sorted that ready for tonight!) and we've spent some more time practising today, to tighten it all up for later.

I honestly didn't know much about the camp before I got here, I was simply coming on recommendation, to volunteer and in order learn Spanish while doing so. I suppose I didn't really have any expectations to be able to underestimate it or what it would all be like - other than a hearing from people that everything would be relaxed and potentially disorganised and a that I'll have to learn to be flexible and not freak out she the schedule changes (or worse still when there is no schedule). But it's all been so well organised, with a fixed schedule (that is stuck up in various locations around the site!) and really well put together, well led and generally high quality! And it's all been relaxed at the same time so although I feel challenge linguistically, I feel very comfortable in other areas!

Here are some snaps of the camp to give an idea of what its like!

From the street, the is what the main building looks like - the one we sleep and eat in!

Outside there are grapes growing! (Not ready to eat yet..)

A volleyball court, and a house opposite with more rooms (for families though, rather than dormitories like in the other building). 

The kitchen and dining area.

This is the patio outside the other house (down the street - I always call it 'la otra casa' because I don't know if it has a particular name) which has yet more rooms in, a lounge, conference room, big hall with a stage area.. I took this yesterday during a flash storm we got caught in during our practice. Normally here you'd see the band and choir but when it started chucking it down we made a run for it.. You've never seen musos move so quick to get the equipment out of the rain!!

At the worship night on Thursday in the hall at la otra casa - in case you were wondering what the lyrics were in Spanish for 'Lord You Are Good and Your Mercy Endureth Forever'

Anyway, ahh, I can't wait for tonight! Its the second and final concert and it's at a bigger venue, about 8km away near a river. That's all I know. I'm going to take my nexus though so I can get some pictures, because it's all very impressiveand I wish I'd taken some last night. Someone was (last night) and will be (tonight) videoing / photographing as well as far as I know so hopefully that will end up on Facebook and you can watch some of it!! :)

On a more melancholy note, it's the last day of the Music camp today [sad face] so it's done after the concert this evening and most people are heading .home tomorrow.
It's kind of nice feeling this attached though, because the first two days here were quite tough to be honest; I cried (only a tiny bit) and just felt so overwhelmed by so many things - loneliness, fear, frustration, too much time to think, knowing no one and having little capacity to get to know people.. I wondered a few times whether I'd been a bit too optimistic in booking flights to stay here for four weeks. But actually, I'm loving it! I've made friends, I'm learning so much, I've tried new food and I've had experiences that I would never have had at home. And I've only been here 6 days - there's so much more to come!! I can't wait to see what else God has in store :) I am feeling a little nervous though, and sad.. Because many of the friends I've made here this week are leaving in the morning and new people are coming for the Football and English camp so it feels a bit like starting over again. But we'll see what happens!

Ahlai and Betsie. Ahlai is heading home tomorrow, but Betsie is staying as she is a director at the next camp. She speaks little English but we have a good laugh piecing together conversation and teaching each other our language.

Kathlyn and Eva. Kathlyn is from the States and is fluent in Spanish - its been great being here with her, and she is also in my dorm room so helps me with a lot of vocab etc. but we've also been able to rest our brains and talk in English (only for a short while, honest!). She is heading home tomorrow too, as is Eva who was here for a couple of the previous camps.

Julia is German and speaks a tiny bit more Spanish than me, she's leaving tomorrow to go to Barcelona for two weeks to study Spanish at a language school there! 

Right. Its merienda time (afternoon snack.. Normally a small baguette with chocolate spread.. Mmm..!) And then we've got a bit more chill time before an early dinner (early being 8:30pm haha!) and then it's the show tonight!!!