Coin, Iowa
Feb 13th, 2009 by small
Monday, March 1 – 7 p.m.
Coin United Methodist Church
205 Crook Street
Coin, IA 51636
(712) 583-3334
Click the link below for photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35355241@N05/sets/72157623416662595/show/with/4401804106/
It was great to get to see all my Morningside Choir friends perform last night! You all did such a great job….and you got me out of a day of work so I could come home to visit! Oh how I miss the days of being a Morningside student sometimes! Can’t wait to see you all again when you come back to Sioux City this weekend.
Autumn Knipp:
Our first early morning after a host home and it wasn’t too rough, besides when Liz fell down the stairs in the morning at the host home. Other than that, the early morning went well! We performed at Shenandoah High School and had an impromptu performance at the elementary school. We don’t get to sing for younger audiences much, but it was a joy to see all those children packed in one room to see us sing. We sang many songs, like Daemon Irrepit Calidus (which Watson described as a Halloween Song); we also taught the kids one of our exercises and the actions to it. The little kids singing “London’s Burning, Look Out!” was pretty cute, I must admit. After the elementary school, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Clarinda High School for a more personal performance for the choir members. We performed and had a question-answer session with them, since a lot of them were looking at college and wanted to see what our program had to offer. It was a fun experience for both the high schoolers and us; I think we answered many of their questions, which is always refreshing. After Clarinda, we headed to Coin to set up. We had a good hour break and I decided to catch up on my sleep in the pews with many other choir members.
Practice, practice, practice! Eat, eat, eat! Dinner was fantastic, especially these apple strudel bars that Nick kept gushing about to the entire choir before finding the actual baker and complimenting the begeezus out of her! After all our awards were given out (after Steph checked herself out in her own Drama Queen award), we listened to Megan’s touching senior speech, robed up, and performed in a small church in Coin, Iowa. Many alumni from the choir were present, which was wonderful to see all their faces again! They joined us on stage as we sang All That I Am, a song the College Choir has sung for 15 years strong. Having that unity with our alumni is fantastic and it made tonight an even more special performance. After the concert, we found our host parents, and they were delightful! Their house was even more wonderful! David and Carla have been to Africa SIX TIMES to visit Carla’s sister, so we mostly talked about their African excursions and all the African artifacts in their home. At the end of the day, drinking orange juice out of fancy glasses and listening to all the stories Carla and David had about Africa made me realize how fantastic and unique each family is, having their own life story and knowing someone out there appreciates it more than they may appreciate their own story. I may not find many other families like Carla and David, but I will definitely find more stories that seem to make the homestays just that much more exciting.
Chris Bevill:
The second day of tour was a good day. We left Papillion at 6:45 this morning which was a little ruff getting up so early. I personally was tired and worn out but I got a little nap in on the bus, which I am sure most people did as well. We stopped at a high school in Shenandoah and sang for the whole school. One of the funny things is that a student asked what our favorite song was and a choir member said Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, which turned out to be hilarious. The concert there went great it everyone sang fantastically. We then made a surprise visit to an elementary school. We taught them a warm up that the choir likes to do regularly and they had a great time learning it. Personally I thought it was a riot the kids had such a fun time and I really think that we touched their lives in a positive way. Then it was back on the bus for the choir and away we went. The concert at the church that night was excellent it was another great concert and another great night. Our host and hostess were excellent and I had a great time chatting with them about the farm and where I am headed in life. The day had a satisfying end to it and it was overall wonderful.
Andrew Gerodias:
I awoke early in the morning to enjoy a spectacular breakfast of French toast and apple juice. As early as it was, the guys in our house had quite a bit of energy. We made it to the bus, said farewell to our first host home, and were on our way to the next stop of the day. The agenda for the day was to make stops at two southwestern Iowa high schools and finish off the day with our final concert at a church in Coin, IA. The first stop for the day was the Shenandoah High School to sing for the whole high school. This was quite a surprise to the choir as we thought that we would be only performing to the choir of the school. Overall it was a very good reception and I, for one, was surprised at the respect and control of the audience. We finished with quite a bit of time to spare before lunch. We weren’t sure of what we could do with our free time, but we soon found out that we were going to do a surprise performance. One of the choir members’ mothers taught at the elementary school. She had done a lot for us to perform here in the area, so we decided to make a surprise appearance and perform for her kindergarten choir class. This was a neat performance, but we were in for a surprise as well. After singing our first song the class had to move on to their next class. After they had left, an announcer over the loud speaker told the whole elementary that we were there for a performance. We made our way out of the choir room and lined up in a central lobby. Suddenly the whole elementary was around us. We had kids sitting around in front of us, watching from behind glass dividers on the balcony, and all of them looked so happy. We taught them one of our warm ups with the actions, sang a few songs, and I feel that we really left an impression on those children. After that terrific experience we left for lunch in Shenandoah. I went with a few of the choir members to eat at one of the local Mexican restaurants. I also was able to meet up with my fiancé for lunch which was a nice surprise as well. After lunch, we left for our next stop at Clarinda High School. We performed for the high school choir and answered any questions that they may have had about college and the transition. Again, it was a good performance, but you could tell that the choir was getting tired. We were getting to the fifth performance (sixth if you count the elementary) and we all looked as if we needed a nap. But we had one more performance for the day and each performance is as important as the next. We arrived at the church, unloaded the bus, got settled, and made our way into the main hall for warm ups. Coin is not a large town, in fact you probably wouldn’t notice it if you drove by, and the church was much like the town. It was small, quaint, and had an almost cabin like feel to it. We were set to perform in front of a gorgeous stain glass window (it was more like a wall) on a smaller stage than what we were used to. We made the necessary arrangements to fit on the stage and got ready for dinner. Now, I’m going to state this again, this town is quite small but the potluck that we had there. I was speechless when we had walked into the fellowship hall. It was a lot like a holiday meal for me; ham, potatoes, sweet corn, green bean casserole, roles, and plethora of desserts. No one left the dinner hungry, which was for sure. I should also note that I received my first tour award tonight. On tour we hand out awards for various things such as the Mr. and Mrs. Sunshine award for being cheerful during the day, or the Captain Obvious award for pointing out the obvious. These are only a few of the awards, but I was graciously passed the Gene Ambroson Potty Mouth Award for… using unneeded language during tour. I still deny this fact, but during tour there are no rebuttals about the awards. The performance that night went off without a hitch and it was quite nice to see such a good crowd that night. It was also an added perk so see so many Morningside alums who came to support us. After the concert, we tore down the risers, grabbed our bags and headed out to our next host home. I and one of the other members of the choir went to stay with my soon to be in laws. We had a good time because one of the family cats had kittens. But, I’m not going to bore you with my tales and descriptions of the kittens. Perhaps I’ll write a private blog about the Adventures of Pudge and Boots with the Fur, but that will be for another time.
On behalf of the Shenandoah Elementary students, I want to thank the choir for performing at our school. The choir DID touch the lives of children who may never have the opportunity to hear live music of this quality. Thank-you choir.
You presented a beautiful concert in Coin, with almost a full house. This was a wonderful treat for our seven church family and neighbors. The audience loved your program and will be talking about it for a very long time. Megan’s grandmother will forever remember the big show Nick made about her apple bars. They were a big hit.
Hosting Morningside students is a wonderful adventure. You are so thoughtful and accepting of each new family you meet. It was fun to get to know my daughter’s family away from home. Please come again.