July 6: Old Friends and New Friends

Today we took a tour and learned more about the culture and history of Croatia. Our tour guide took us on a walking Tour of a few new neighborhoods of Zagreb: Upper Town, also called Gradec, and one called Kaptol. In Kaptol we had the opportunity to go into the Zagreb Cathedral. It was huge and beautiful. We sang "Indodana" inside and everyone else was silent; it was amazing.

In the Old Town of Zagreb

Street art portraying famous Croatians such as Slavoljub Eduard Penkala who invented the pen!

Sarah and Enahm with beautiful Zagreb behind

Kristen and Meredith on our restaurant's patio

After the tour we did two activities that initiated the “water works”. One where everybody stood in an outward-facing circle and one family group would be in the middle and tap people. You tapped someone if the thing that the leader said applied to them. For instance: "tap somebody who you respect." and the family group in the center of the circle would go and anonymously tap people. The other activity was to write notes to all the members of the choir on sheets of paper with their name on it. At the end everybody collected their sheet of paper and read the notes! The seniors also received their Boston City Singers pencil cases (the traditional going away gift to every graduating class). This was especially sad because this was Caleo's last day with the choir.

Saying an emotional goodbye to Caleo and a goodbye (of sorts) to the other seniors. But don't worry, the rest will be there for the remainder of the tour.

Next was a workshop that we did with another choir/traditional music and dance group called Kud “KLAS”. They shared their culture and music with us and used a variety of instruments that sounded great. They were so friendly and kind and taught us many different dances. So fun!

A performance by the young children of Kud "Klas"

Enahm with members of the Kud "Klas" band

We sang  Nelson Mandela, Wairua Tapu, and Ay Cosita Linda. The concert was great and we finished with a collaborative piece that Kud "Klas" taught us earlier: "Podsused", which is about their town.

Celebratory dancing together after the concert.

What made it even more memorable was the emotion of Caleo's final concert. He is leaving to go start college at Northeastern University. Best of luck to him going forward!

-Siveny and Somachi

Singer of the Day: Sophie; for great active listening skills, asking interesting questions to our tour guide, and being a very engaged singer all day!