6 weeks of Sundays: part 1

This past Sunday I was thinking about my last 6 weeks of Sundays.

The last 6 weeks have been... crazy.  I have learned so much I don't even know where to start! I have had adventures, a vacation, worked very hard, and seen big changing in my life and the lives of others.  For a quick overviews sake I will give you "6 weeks of Sunday"

Because I am a practicing Roman Catholic, I try to go to mass on Sunday, though traveling does not always allow this.  So let's walk through these 6 weeks of Sundays...

Sunday, July 7th:
Location:  Andorf, Austria (where I am currently living)
Mass Language: Austrian high German
Attended with:  Katharina and Jacob
Events of the day:  I actually went to mass on Saturday and it was celebrated by "Uncle Max", Katharina's uncle who currently occupies our wonderfully packed house.  He is celebrating 50 years of priesthood this year and is currently on vacation with us.
    So, on Sunday, Katharina, Jacob and I went on an adventure!  We went to lunch at an "Alm" in the Austrian Alps.  We parked the car and walked about half an hour to Katharina's friends Alm.  An Alm is a place where people keep cows during the summer, but also operates as a sort of inn.  These friends have had this Alm a few years, we went to visit!  The food was excellent and it was wonderful to get to spend time with the "Inn Keepers".  Then we continued onto a sports camp about 20 minutes awaz from the Alm, where we heard a paralympian speak about how he got there.  I got to meet Jacob's whole family and many other friends of theirs.  We left very late, after 11 pm McDonalds run, and got home around 1:30 AM to start the week off right.

Sunday, June 30th
Location:  Munich (Olching), Germany
Mass Language:  Germany German
Attended with:  Members of the Kantert Family
Events of the Day:  Up at 6!!  Ahh, why?  To say a sad goodbye to my dear Natalie Way who was off to the airport to catch her flight home.  She went to the airport by train and I went back to bed.  I woke up around 9, and soon after heard the "breakfast bell".  I hurried upstairs to join the Kantert family for a traditional German-Austrian style breakfast of breads and cheeses... and coffee, apparently advertised by George Clooney!  We went to mass around 10someone... it was a lovely and creative family mass.  Afterwards there was a parish picnic, but I was tired and in a lot of pain from my back... I also hadn't packed for the journey ahead.  Claudia, my dear friend, stayed with me and we talked endlessly about many great things.  Tea, close friends, cold days, are wonderful things.
  We had a hurried lunch and made it to the train station with plenty of time.  We'd mapped out my route, so I knew all my connections and had the right tickets.  And thus, I began my journey to my new home in Austria.  It was uneventful for the most part... except that Berti (my massive blue backpack carrying my earthly belongings) broke in Passau!  With one connection to go, he gave up!  So it was a little challenging to carry him around after that, he was pretty massive.  When I reached Andorf, I lugged Berti up and down, thank God for elevators!  And Katharina eventually found me and we headed into my new, quiet life in our Austrian village.

Sunday, June 23rd
Location:  French-Swiss Boarder (began from home in France, had mass in Switzerland)
Mass Language:  French
Attended with:  Pierre Angleys
Events of the Day:  I had arrived in Geneva, from Uganda on the Friday before.  I got up and got organized and headed out the door with Pierre and Terri.  Terri dropped us off at the old, beautiful Catholic Church and continued onto her church just around the corner.  We were a bit early, so Pierre was able to give me an incredible tour of "St. Pauls"... he told me all about the art stlye, the history and the artists who had contributed.  It was pretty cool!  After mass, he showed me the tram stop and I headed into Geneva, and my own public transport nightmare.  I don't speak french or german, and when trying to get where I needed to go, this proved a challenge.  I finally got onto a train headed to the airport, which was mz destination.. but without a ticket.  Oh well.
   I was late to the airport, by a while... and I didn't have Natalie's flight information, which would have been wrong anyways because her flight had been changed.  I was looking around frantically, affraid she may have gone into Geneva already, and imagining how in the world I would find her there!  But then, I spotted her!  It was wonderful to see her... we got money and used 2 heads to get into Geneva.
  We went to Nations, where the United Nations are, and there met up with one of Natalie's Ugandan friends!  We had lunch with him, which was great fun.  Then we journeyed home, including a beautiful walk from the bus stop to the Angley's home.  We had a wonderful afternoon and evening with them, including naps, food, wine, and watching halks pick up food from their garden, it was like National Geo live!  We played a fun game that evening and then headed to be, both decently exhausted but incredibly happy to be together!!

Keep an eye out for part two in the next day or two!