Day 3 - Fishermans Warf

Grace Cathedral

Day 2 - Santa Cruz Beach

Day 2 - Santa Cruz University

This is the inside of our hotel. It was super nice. I never did go to the pool area, so I don't know what that was like, but the kids didn't complain. The kids all stayed 6 to a room and the adults were 4 to a room. I did get my own bed though so that was a plus.

 

 Even though it was Spring Break, the music instructor at the University trained our students.  He was really funny and I think the kids really learned and appreciated what he had to say.  He did refer to their "Idaho drawl" a few times, but other than that he was pretty impressed.

Group pictures outside the university.  The boy in the yellow behind Jerika was a little silly naughty a few times, so I asked him his name.  I was giving him a hard time and he told me his name was Ben.  Come to find out his name was not Ben, his brothers name, who was also with us, was Ben. I guess he thought I was really going to get him in trouble, silly boy!!

Chaperone picture.  They were taking pictures of the group, so I turned around and snapped a shot of them.  I think Michelle was the only one that was paying attention to me.

The training, you can barely see the professor.  Jerika was against the lockers in a white shirt. Kinda hard to see her, but I wanted the whole room.

Outside the university.  I really wish I would have worn sandals this day.  You will the real reason why on my next post.

Day 1 - China Town

China Town was a lot of fun, but there were a few things there that I wish now I would have bought while I was there.  We were able to wander around for about 2 hours (roughly).  A lot of the places had the same things as other places but there was definately fun stuff to look at. Some of the food places had live birds that you could pick out to eat, I guess they were going for the lobster way of eating (picking them fresh).

This picture is from the inside of a bakery. Some of the girls really had to go to the bathroom and nobody would let them.  There was a public restroom that was on the street corner, but it was totally trashed and unusable. There was a really nice chinese bank on one of the corners, so the girls went in there and were quickly rushed out and told to go check at this bakery. They did have one, but we had to buy something in order for all 6 of them to use it. So, we looked at the stuff they had and the big box of raw eggs just sitting by the door (not refridgerated) and finally bought a roll for sixty cents.  The other items were so scary, they were not in a fridge either and had "meat" and eggs in them and it was the afternoon, so we didn't want to chance it. I am really not even sure if anyone ended up eating the roll, I think they used it to ask a boy to an upcoming dance.  They also have a really funny bathroom story that happened while they were in the bathroom, but if you want to hear that you have to ask Jerika.

Another thing you notice in China town are the FANCY cars everyone drives. Either everyone is in the Chinese mafia or they make A LOT of money on their little trinkety things that they sell.

Doesn't she look thrilled?  At this point I think we were all getting a little tired out.

I wanted at least one picture of the lanterns they had hanging everywhere.

 

 Some of the girls looking for stuff.

Day 1 - Mission Delores

This is the oldest building in San Fran. It was a gorgeous building inside and out. The kids were also able to sing here and some of the other visitors were even video taping them singing.

This is the old cemetary in the back, they said there are over 6,000 people buried there. That tree is the only Redwood tree we saw and they said it was the only one in the city limits.

This was a huge mosaic on the wall outside of the building.

This was the church attached to the mission it had beautiful stained glass windows (but my camera didn't do them justice). It was just amazing how high the ceilings were and the many differences between our church and this one.

The silly girls.

This was at the front and it was carved out of wood, it was so intricate and I wish the woodwork was more visible.

The big front door into the church part of the mission. It was huge and it was fun learning about stuff we had never heard about before.

Day 1 - Chanticleers

I started trying to do the whole day in one post, but it was so many pictures.  So, I decided I am going to blog each stop separately. This was our first stop and it was downtown San Fran. I wish I would have taken a picture of the outside, but this is the inside. The Chanticleers are an acapella singing group of 11 men and they were really good (they have won Grammy Awards). The kids sang for them and then they helped them with ideas and helpful hints about what they could do to sound better.

Then they sang for the kids. We weren't allowed to take pictures of them while they were singing. They were hilarious and I am guessing at least half of them were gay which added to the hilariousness.

This was a big group picture with the Chanticleers, but you really can't see them because they were dispursed throughout the group.  The funniest one was the bald guy on the front row.

 

Jerika duing the group photo (zoomed in).

Musettes singing for their critique.