Youth Weekend

For the past few months I have been attending our church’s youth meetings every Sunday, like clockwork, in anticipation and preparation for our annual youth weekend. I belong to a German Lutheran church as I am sure I have mentioned before, which my whole posse is also part of. At every meeting we practice playing volleyball, a kak German game called ball-uber-strick, dancing and singing. Every year, all the youth members of German Lutheran churches across the country get together at a designated host church to sing and compete in certain sports.

This year we are all going to a little German congregation called Kirchdorf in Wartburg (don’t laugh), which is near Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu-Natal. This time our pastor’s kids won’t be attending since they are already in Germany. It’s going to be strange not having them there but I guess it will be alright since we have gained several new members this year, including the guys we have been partying with a lot lately. I am sort of looking forward to it, I guess, except that I always feel out, cause I am the only one that doesn’t speak German (this year my brothers aren’t attending either). But at least I am trying to learn the lingo and I understand more now than I have in previous years.

We are leaving today around three this afternoon. It’s a 4-5 hour trip so we should be there at 8 the latest. That’s right on time for the first party of the weekend where the entire youth gets together at the local pub and everyone gets to catch up with old friends. I have met several new people this year so I will be glad to see some of them again.

On Saturday we have to get up at the crack of dawn since some bright spark always rings the breakfast bell (yes, there is definitely a bell) at 6am. Who eats brekkie at 6am? I don’t! Then at 9 we have the opening service where lots of singing takes place (we have practiced, but not enough). First the entire youth sings several songs together, then each town’s youth sings their own song (that we HAVE practiced, and it sounds rather good). After that it’s lunch and then we do some folk dances on the sports fields. This year it’s some kak polka dance, which is actually rather funny. I will report back on how that worked out for me. Haha.

Then we compete against each other in the following sports: volleyball (girls, guys), ball-uber-strick (girls, guys), tug-of-war (guys) and touch rugby (guys). Our girls volleyball team always seems to do well, last year we made the finals so maybe this year we will for once and for all. For some stupid reason, I am my team’s captain this year. I must be one of the worst volleyball players, though, like one of the guys said, I don’t have to have ball skills to be captain, just good leadership skills! Too true. So I guess it’s ok then, I love bossing people around. Ha ha. Once all that is done, even though we are all seriously exhausted after a long day, we have our final party where, surprisingly, a lot of lang-arm dancing is done (ok, actually it is not so surprising after all). Booze is cheap, and so is the music. That usually goes on till the early hours.

Sunday most of us escape home but to date I have never managed to escape as early as I’d prefer, since I can’t drive. There is a service that goes on the whole day, where all our churches’ brass bands get together and play non-stop. So I usually park outside and engage in mindless chatter till our designated driver says it’s time to go home. Expect me to be very very tired next week. If I am lucky, I might even post something. Toodles then!