Day 8: Lauchhammer, Germany

Today was another typical morning at the youth hostel--a European breakfast with tea. The boys had a free morning to play soccer, table tennis, and basketball at the youth hostel once their journals were caught up. It was a good chance for them to expel some excess energy and have fun in the process. Lunch was around 12:30 today and the boys had a local favorite: schnitzel! They LOVED it!!! They all cleared their plates and wanted more!

Around 2:00 we left for Lauchhammer in the bus. The boys had a brief rest period on the way to the church (the bus ride was only an hour). Once we arrived, we took a brief stroll through the park to get to the church and dropped our uniforms off in the dressing room.

The church was rather small but from the get-go we knew it was going to be a well-attended concert because they had already set up the "biergarten" outside! ;) So it must have been well-advertised! The church was PACKED!! They set up extra chairs in the aisle of the church, and the balconies were even flooded with people! It was standing room only--and even then, they had to turn people away. During intermission, Francis was interviewed by a television reporter and the boys were videotaped during the second half for the segment (sorry, I don't have any more information than that...). The boys were unable to shake hands with the concertgoers last night because it was down-pouring rain--its summer showers here in Germany. Actually, it has rained almost every day since we've arrived in Germany. The boys recieved another two standing ovations at the concert tonight--we would have sang another song, but the weather was NOT cooperating with us and we had to walk across the park to get to our dressing room.

Following the concert, we went to a restaurant in 'downtown' Lauchhammer for dinner (courtesy of the village of Lauchhammer, Germany). The boys had another authentic German meal, this time it was chicken--well, and french fries. :) The boys ate like kings and left with full stomachs and a BIG smile. The bus ride home was filled with the boys singing and talking about their day. It was the perfect end to the day. The boys sang wonderfully and knocked the socks off the mayor! He was very impressed with the boy's singing.

All of the staff are so proud of the boys!! They truly are reaping the benefits for their hard work over this past year. We're getting treated like rock stars over here...no joke! It's legit!

Well, until tomorrow...ciao!