Christmas Program + (Mis)Adventures (12.-13. Dec.)

This weekend is definitely going down as one of my most memorable weekends in my entire life.

Allow me to explain . . .

I had no classes to teach on Friday, but still had a lot of things to do. By the time the evening came, I was burnt out (as usual on Fridays); but alas, I had to practice with the other people for the Christmas program we had the following Saturday evening.

When we were finally all together and ready to begin, we found out that there were a few people who were going to spend the night there. We were making too much noise for them and one of them was upset about it. So basically, we were kicked out of the church. Therefore, we went to the girls' new apartment (just across the main street from the school/church) to practice.
These girls live on the 10th floor. We were 5 girls and 2 men. The elevator was small, but we thought we could fit all 7 of us in there, even though we saw the limit was 6 people and 450 kg. We managed to get everyone in. We even made it up to the 10th floor. Then it happened.

The elevator got stuck.
With 7 adults of various sizes cramped inside like sardines.
Oh, and 2 had to use the bathroom.

A call and 15-minutes of too much coziness later, we all scrambled out of the elevator. The 2 who needed to use the bathroom, successfully made it to the bathroom and relieved themselves in peace.

We were able to practice without too many (awkward) interruptions.

We even took the elevator down without any problems. We were 5 by then.

***

Sabbath came and went. We made the last-minute preparations and got some refreshments--with LOADS of help from church members and the 2 Dutchmen who were our Polish Lesson classmates. Thank you Willy & Gerhard!

Anja making sure all is well.

By the time the show was over and people went down for refreshments, there were even more snacks!


Now, scenes from the show, made possible by Patryk (the same guy we met on the train to Warszawa. We invited him last-minute and he came!). Thank you so much for the pictures! They were excellent!

Starting with "Do You See What I See?"

Anja's solo auf Deutsch.

We did a skit. There was a guy in the waiting room of a doctor's office. Every time someone of one ailment or another came into the waiting room and sat beside him, he'd catch whatever it was that person had, whereas the sick person left cured of whatever he/she had.

Poor Kuba had accumulated coughing, sneezing, muscle spasms, and screaming before the final patient came: a pregnant woman. He decided it was time for him to bolt out as fast as he could, before he became pregnant.

Me contaminating Kuba with screaming.

Don't know if she was crying, laughing, suffering pain, or all 3.

"White Winter Hymnal", inspired by Pentatonix. (yet much simpler, of course)

"Stille Nacht", "Silent Night", and "Cicha Noc"

"Little Drummer Boy" (I was the base/drum)

"Do Ray Mi": Leya's got "Me, a name I call myself"

Rebecca: "Fa--a long long way to run"

Anja: "Sew-- a needle pulling thread"

All: "Tea--a drink with jam and bread"

Repeat, line up, split, "La--a note to follow 'Sew'"

"Do-Ray-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti-DOOOOOO!"

L - R: Kuba, Danielle, Monika, & yours truly

Crew + friends

I'm so glad everyone who went enjoyed it. Thank you all for coming and making it fun!

***

Ah Sunday . . .
We had an encore of our Christmas program in the prison we visited when we went to Camp Zatonie. It was +/-2 hrs. away. We were scheduled to perform @ 10 am. We left Kołobrzeg around 7 am, so we could have time to get through security, set-up, and do some last-minute fine-tuning.
In order to be allowed in, you need to bring your ID (passport if you're foreign). We went in a car and a van. One girl in the van discovered she forgot her passport--30 min. into the trip. There was no time to go back and get it. She called the driver of the van (Tom) to let him know. He called the prison to let them know the situation. We all thought she'd have to wait in the car til we came out.

We arrived to the prison and they checked our IDs. The guards who checked our IDs were the same who checked our IDs last time, so they remembered her--and let her in. We've never seen anyone so happy to be in prison.

The prison gate

We had our performance. The prisoners seemed to enjoy it. The warden invited us for tea/coffee, snacks, and a chat. About 3.5 hours after we arrived, we left the prison, on our way back to Kołobrzeg. Those in the car went back the way they came, whereas our van driver decided to take a short-cut . . .

The result of taking the "short-cut" on a rainy day.

So there we were, 6 women and 2 men with a van stuck in the mud, by a field, in the middle of nowhere.

Some of us where highly unimpressed. Especially the other guy (Kuba). He didn't finish saying, "I'm the only other man in this van. I don't want to push it if it gets stuck in the mud!" when his prophecy was fulfilled.

Kuba checking out the damage, while Tom stays in the driver's seat.

Leya, her mother and 2 aunts assessing the damage.

About 15 minutes, countless intents, and the help of GOD via 2 kind strangers later, we got unstuck. However, we weren't out of the woods yet--kinda literally too.

We came across 2 large puddles on the same path. Kuba checked them and we were able to cross without any problems. Eventually, we were all able to make it safe and sound to our respective homes.
I hope Tom learned the lesson of not taking short-cuts, especially on rainy days . . .

So to recap, we were kicked out of church, stuck in an elevator, performed a nice program twice, allowed to enter prison, and stuck in the road in the middle of nowhere--all this past weekend.

Fun times indeed!