San Francisco

After an All American breakfast in Denny's Diner we enjoyed a leisurely walk around the local streets, looking at some of the well known sites; Alacatraz, Fisherman's Grotto and the iconic sign at Fisherman's Wharf. The students move easily as a group and walking/ sight seeing is most enjoyable - we are slowly retraining ourselves to walk on the right and are grateful for the pedestrian lights to help us cross the streets.

Following our early morning stroll, we prepared for our first performance on Fisherman's Wharf. The students looked smart in their red singlets and Union Jack leggings, attracting lots of interest and questions as they warmed up on the Wharf. The performance was great and the students danced so well, even with people walking through their stage and a wannabe dancing toddler who also wanted to share the stage. The weather was unbelievable, it couldn't have been more perfect, and we felt so blessed by this. 

At the conclusion of our performance we wandered around Fisherman's Wharf, admiring the beauty of the boardwalk and interesting buildings. Watching the sea lions was such fun too as they barked at each other and pushed each other off the floating piers. 

We experienced some frustrations with the trams in the afternoon, but finally got to experience this unique form of transport en route to the Contemporary Dance class across town at Alonzo Lines Dance Studio. Kai, our teacher, was amazing and received spontaneous bouts of applause from our students as they watched her demonstrate turns and jumps in the short routine the students learnt. It was an intense workshop and it was great to see the students stretched and learning new moves and dance terminology, as well as thinking about how their eyes, hands and heads also 'danced' the moves. 

We enjoyed a walk back to Union Square and a visit to Macy's before walking on to China Town for a banquet dinner. At dinner we reflected on our day and more people shared 'firsts' and favourite memories. Maddison's first was eating broccoli at dinner, she even went back for a second serve! Dancing on Pier 39 was definitely a highlight for the students, as well as seeing all the street performances and buskers on our walk back to the hotel. Miss Clarksmith's highlight was the students and particularly how responsible and polite they have been. 

On all of our walks, the students have been quite confronted and concerned by the level of homelessness which is so evident all around us. At the end of our dinner, Jackie suggested we take our leftovers and deliver a meal to some of the homeless people we'd walked past on the way to dinner. It was a lovely idea and the recipients were so thankful for the kindness and compassion our students showed.

We are definitely aware of and thankful for the way God has provided for us in so many ways over the last few days.