Big and Scary.

Saturday
Friday evening Kelsi and I stayed with a lovely young couple in Katwijk aan Zee. We arrived at their home quite late, so we were told we would meet the children in the morning. We of course had to stay up awhile to talk with the host parents and have some goodies before bed. The husband was an interesting character, telling us that his wife was the quiet one...while he, he was the "bee-tchie one." Kels and I didn't really know what to say to that one!
Tim (7) and Iris (4) were up in the morning. And what a morning it was. The dad had to put Tim over his shoulder and carry him kicking and screaming to the breakfast table. Once he was let loose on his chair, he jumped up from it and ran as fast as he could, crying and screaming up the stairs..."Nay nay nay!" Apparently American girls and their strange language are very scary. His sister Iris, completely ignored us. Oh well. Maybe there's a reason Kelsi and I have never been placed in a host home with young children? Last year on tour we were stuck with old people for the entire trip...so we were excited to finally get kids. Hopefully we'll have better luck next time :)
After our morning adventure with the tantrum-throwing kids, the tour bus brough us to Haarlem. While in Haarlem we were able to visit St. Bravo's Kerk with its famous organ, played by both the young Mozart and Handel. We also walked down the road a bit to see Corrie Ten Boom's house, which was exciting for many of us...especially after reading her book "The Hiding Place" when we were young.
We then traveled to Enkhuizen, an old fishing port, where we visited the Zuiderzee Museum...an outdoor museum...sort of like a "living history" type of museum, where you can explore restored buildings, participate in old-fashioned activities, and learn what fishing ports were like in Holland "back in the day" (1880-1932).
After lunch we climbed back on the bus for our drive to Frylan. We arrived in Dokkum, Frylan at around 4:30, where we rehearsed at the Fontein Kerk for our 8:00pm concert with another choir (the Cantatrix) and a band. After supper, I went outside for a bit to review my music. As I was walking back into the church I ran into a couple, also entering the church. They looked at me in such a strange way. So, I asked them if they needed any help. And they looked at me. And then they said, "What is your name?" I was kind of taken aback, so I began saying "Allis...and they finished it for me, Ällison Wesselius!!!" It was Dad's "favorite"cousin Henny and her husband. Because of circumstances that had come up they weren't going to be able to stay in Dokkum for the concert, but they had driven 20km...just to tell me that they weren't going to be there! It was very cute. So we talked for about 10-15 minutes before they had to leave and I had to change into my "lovely"choir uniform. The concert lasted for 3.5 hours. 8-11:30pm. It was exhaustingly long. Kelsi and I met our host parents afterwards, Henk and Geertje, who brought us home to their kids 20-year old daughter Marianne and her 21-year old boyfriend Root; and 18-year old son Rico. Their son Jeroen was away at a soccer tournament.