Budapest!

March 19, 2013

Budapest!

Last Wednesday, 7 choir kiddos and 8 orchestra members left BFA and flew to Budapest, Hungary for the ACSI Honors Choir & String Ensemble. The kids had to audition back in the fall and then spent time this semester learning 10 songs to perform at the St. Istvan Cathedral in Budapest as well as at ICSB (International Christian School in Budapest). We gathered with several other Christian schools from around Europe and it was really exciting to meet and get to know other choral directors.

On Saturday, we had a few hours in the city and got to go to the top of the Citadel and see the view from below. Budapest is a beautiful place and although we didn't spend much time in the city, it definitely gave me reasons to want to go back. I've been reading a book called Stasiland about life behind the Berlin Wall and Communism, so it was interesting to be in a city that was once Communist led. We even passed by a park that has the old statues of the Communist era up as a reminder to never let that happen again.

On Sunday, the kids performed two concerts (St. Istvan and ICSB). When we got to St. Istvan I reminded my kids to remember this because not everyone in their lifetime gets to sing at the National Church in Budapest! At the end of the night we had a banquet at the school. It was fun to watch my choir kiddos interact with other MKs and TCKs and see just how much they "get" each other. By the time we left, most of them were saying things like, "I don't want to go back to school! I want to stay here forever!"

We got home last night and I am now unpacking from one trip and gearing up for another on Thursday (M-Trip to Central Asia with 15 kiddos!). It was such a great experience and I'm so glad I got to go and have this time learning from other choral directors and watching my kids shine!