Choir and "Barcas"

Last week I joined the church choir and went to "Barcas" for the first time. I had been missing singing in a choir, and enjoyed it a lot. I have gone twice now, but I am still getting used to their style of learning music. Although they have music for some of the pieces, a lot of them are learned by listening. This past Sunday, we learned some of "Holy is the Lord." That was the "staff song" at Ligonier (the camp where I worked) last summer, and it was fun to sing something familiar. Barca means boat in Spanish, and Barcas at the church are like small groups. Everyone who is in Barcas meets together and sings a couple songs and then breaks into groups according to age and gender. It was a little bit difficult to follow the small group "lesson." Not only because it was in Spanish, but because there was a girl next to me translating everything into German for her friend. There is a group of German students who live on the church property and volunteer at Alfa and Omega, the school that is connected to the church. Between the German girls and Calvin students, there were more foreigners in my barca than natives. Going to choir and barcas has helped me get more connected in the church, but it is very difficult to get to know Spaniards. There are numerous culture reasons for this, but I have learned that I have to take the initiative to meet people, which is difficult because I am not confident with my Spanish speaking skills!