Shallowford Presbyterian Youth

So as it turns out, the booming metropolis of Columbia, SC actually has a pretty decent zoo. As the kids piled off the bus, some of them griping and moaning about being at a zoo, (I mean it was only a little rain) we quickly ran into our new friend Boris the grizzly bear and the kids were excited for the rest of the afternoon.




Feeding and maybe even a little french kissing of giraffes, hand feeding lorakeets, a walk-through kangaroo exhibit, birds of all kinds, lions and tigers, elephants playing in the mud. We saw it all. While the rains came and went, it kept most of the other park visitors away so we had much of the place to ourselves in the morning before the entire South Carolina school system showed up at lunchtime when the place turned into something like a cross between Escape from Alcatraz and Zoobreak!


I didn't want to bore you with too many animal pictures but if you want to see the rest of the pictures from the zoo, check out this album:

Columbia Zoo Album

After the zoo it was just a short ride to Beth Shiloh Presbyterian Church in York, SC. Emily's good friends were there to meet us and make us feel at home. After a quick warm up we had an all american dinner of hamburgers, hotdogs and all the fixings. If you're not supposed to swim for 30 minutes after eating, I'm pretty sure some of those kids shouldn't be singing 15 minutes after eating two chili dogs and two hamburgers, but they managed to pull it off.



We sang for around 75 people from the York and  Rock Hill areas and battled through short rehearsal time, the sniffles from our zoo trip, some upset stomachs, and music pages that just wouldn't turn to put on a great show. They even surprised us afterwards with cupcakes and pies, ice cream and other sweets. It's amazing how kids can rally from an upset stomach just in time for cake and ice cream!

Day one was just a short, rainy drive down I-20 to Columbia. Just long enough to need a bathroom stop and have the rookies asking "Are we there yet?" We arrived at Shandon Presbyterian in time for a quick warm up before singing for a precious group of 100 children in the after care program.




They were wonderfully attentive and entertained by the "big kids" that were singing for them. The look on their faces when the choir broke into "This Little Light of Mine" was priceless and some of them even joined in with us. 



After the show we went to meet up with the good people at the Presbyterian Student Center. They shared with the group a little about their ministry and how they help young people to develop their faith once they leave the comfort of their families and home churches. Unfortunately, our walking tour turned into a driving tour of the campus because, yes, it was still raining. We got to see some of the highlights of the USC campus and get a sense for the day in the life of a Gamecock. 
After the tour it was Taco Thursday, then off to the gym to see which thirteen year old boy could produce the most sweat, followed by an intense game of shower roulette. 70 people. 2 showers. You do the math! Tomorrow morning it's off to the world renowned Columbia Zoo on our way to York, SC. Forcast: Rain.

Thanks to everyone for keeping up with our journey over the last two weeks. We had a wonderful trip and it could not have been possible without all of your love and support. Here is a recap video with some of the highlights from our trip. Enjoy.  

Scotland Tour Highlights from Jay York on Vimeo.

 

Yesterday was a great day spent mostly in the home of golf. If you play or have ever played or even watched golf, standing on the fairways at St. Andrews is a pretty magical experience. We started off with great weather for our walking tour of St. Andrews. We saw the University, a few more old castles and cathedrals, and maybe even a toilet that William or Kate used on their first date! (Tori has the picture)

After St. Andrews it was off to the smaller town of Fife for a concert. We arrived with only 5 hours to kill before the show. After rearranging the entire sanctuary, and warming up, the kids got a chance to run around and let off some steam. It was another great concert and we even had some people that heard us in Perth come to another show because they enjoyed it so much. Nice to be famous.

The kids were riding high after the show and sang on the bus the whole way back to the hotel. Today is back to Edinburgh again for a tour of the Old Towne Jail, Edinburgh castle, and a ghost tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday on our way from Inverness to Aberdeen, we decided to take a detour from the four lane motorway where we might accidentally run into the Olympic torch, and instead we took perhaps the narrowest, curviest, hilliest road in all of Scotland. Somehow we only managed to make three people sick in the process, but another ten minutes and I think we could have tipped the scales.

All this took us to Balmoral Castle which is the Royal Families version of Camp David. It was an impressive compound with wonderful gardens, river walks, stables, etc. We couldn't see too much of the inside but we did walk through the ballroom, and see some of the queens former dresses. As we arrived, two rather official looking helicopters flew overhead. Come to find out, Prince Charles and Camilla arrived just as we did in preparation for the Olympic torch ceremony at the castle. Needless to say, we left just before the torch arrived.

 

After Balmoral, it was off to Aberdeen and Dyce Parish for a concert, dinner, and ceilidh. In one of the smaller spaces we have sung in, the choir did great. Despite making some adaptations and changes to accommodate the space, the almost capacity crowd loved every minute of it. Afterwards, we were treated to another ceilidh. This time was slightly different than the first, but they did a wonderful job of teaching all of the dances and everyone had a great time. If nothing else, it was a chance for some of our newly budding romances to have an excuse to dance with each other (no I will not give any names)!

This morning was our earliest yet so we would have plenty of time to get to Edinburgh in time to eat and shop before singing at St. Giles cathedral. We spent a couple hours on the Royal Mile and I am pretty sure that every ATM on the street ran out of money. The good news is, if our hotel goes up in flames tonight, I think we have enough wool and cashmere scarves to tie together and get everyone out safely.

There are certain places that are just made for singing. St Giles is definitely one of them. It was so incredible special to see and hear our kids singing in such a spectacular space, to see Emily and Claire get to conduct, to hear the way the sound lingers, etc. There were lots of people in and out as we sang, and I think we even developed some real fans during our 30 minute performance. Surely something that they will not soon forget.



After singing it was back to Dundee to the hotel for the night. Admittedly, I think we are all at least partly excited to be in a hotel tonight to catch up on our rest. Visiting each night with our host families has been so meaningful, but it's nice to turn the switch off and relax for a couple nights. For even more of a taste of home, the kids had KFC and McDonalds right across from the hotel tonight and as I write many of them are next door at the movie theater during their free time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow it's off for a tour of St. Andrews and an evening concert in Fife.

 

Don't really have any earth shattering news to report today. We sang in worship this morning, went out to explore Inverness a little more, and then had a concert and a BBQ tonight. Another full house for the show, and the youth were able to blow off some steam tonight at the BBQ so it was another good day.

Tomorrow we are off to Aberdeen by way of, you guessed it, another castle.

Tonight, I go to bed before 1:30 for the first time on the trip! We'll have more pictures tomorrow.

 

Another great day yesterday. We boarded the bus bright and early for our longest bus ride of the tour so far at just over two hours time to Inverness. As we made our way closer and closer to Inverness, the fog and rain started to roll in and we just knew that these were going to make for ideal Nessy spotting conditions on Loch Ness. We met up with the Wikle and Thatcher families and boarded the boat for our short cruise over to Urqhart castle and back.

Several of the kids are still convinced that they saw "something" amidst the white caps and shadows. We didn't manage to get any pictures of her, but we did get some great shots of the youth.

Aside from running on castle walls, throwing the frisbee on the grass, and swimming in the frigid lake, we almost managed to stay out of trouble at the castle this time. Boys will be boys. After our tours, it was off to Crown Church. This is a wonderful church who has hosted us before so we knew what to look forward to. After dinner in our host homes, we gathered back at the church for a Ceilidh.

We listened to them sing, and recite poetry, watched them do some of the more difficult traditional dances, and then they taught us many of the familiar group dances. After about thirty minutes the awkward, middle school dance, boys on one side girls on the other, I don't dance feeling had disappeared and everyone covered the dance floor. It was a wonderful celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Today we sing in worship, tour the streets of Inverness during the day and then come back for a concert and BBQ tonight.