Hello from Canterbury - The Kings School

....so I said internet was hard to come by.....well, we are now in Canterbury England staying at the dorms of The Kings School.....we arrived yesterday and the children have been rehearsing with Dr. David Flood. He is the choir director for the Canterbury Boys' Choir and is INCREDIBLE!   Originally, our choir was planning to take place in a choir festival here in Canterbury ....but due to hard times, the festival was cancelled and our trip had already been planned....so instead of cancelling the trip, our choir director quickly scheduled 3 days worth of intense time with Dr. Flood and it is unbelievable to see what he's doing with the children. (You should google him 'Dr. David Flood Canterbury')

I went to the afternoon practice today for about 30 minutes....teared up at least 5 times and had chills pretty much the entire time. To realize the opportunity that they are getting....in such a beautiful place...it's so great. Dr. Flood is energetic, knows them all by name, and is pushing their talent to the max and they sound beautiful.

I have more pictures but am not able to load from this school computer that is on again, off again. The weather is incredible here....it's been about 65-70 degrees and we are in jeans and long sleeves. Tonight we sat out in the cloister (kind of a courtyard area) with cheese, bread, fruit and wine while the children played tag throughout the grounds. We are all required to wear security bracelets because we are on the Canterbury Cathedral grounds so the children are safe and can have the run of the place.....It stayed light outside until about 10:30....barely, but enough for us to stay out and enjoy the night.

The children will perform a concert tonight in the Canterbury Cathedral....looking forward to it!

We head to Venice on Wednesday and I will just have to see what's there in terms of internet access. Until then, keep us in your prayers for safe travels and good times. Come Wednesday, there will be a total of 84 people on this trip.....the 'changed voices' boys will join us as well as some older girls. Until next time....

An update to this post - the concert in the Cathedral actually turned out to be a private rehearsal with Dr. Flood in the Cathedral - he let them sing right on the compass rose which is an acoustic sweet spot of the church.......beautiful.  They then moved into the choir seats and sang for about an hour.  He turned all the lights out and got them to sing in the dark....like it used to be....then he took them up into the old choir room where he rehearses his boys' choir and then he let them sit in the arch bishop's chair.  What we are getting to experience first hand is so great....I'm sure they don't realize it yet.

The castle-like picture is the entrance to our dorm area at sunset....