Hudson High

Something magical happened in my life yesterday, and I am the most excited to tell you about.

On Sunday, Sarah and I had church and lunch with our director and her family. It was a wonderful day full of great company and wonderful food. I would be perfectly happy to let any Polish mother feed me every day. The weight gain would be beyond worth it. Anyhow, she invited Sarah and I to a choir concert on Wednesday night. One of her friends from America is a Lutheran travel agent, and she coordinated a trip for an American high school choir and they were going to be performing in Ustron, a city a few villages over from Cieszyn. I was very excited about this invitation and the prospect of seeing Americans! Though they weren't MY people per say, they were from my native land, spoke my mother-tongue and were sure to sing to English.

The concert was held in the Lutheran church in Ustron, which is absolutely beautiful. The sanctuary is painted light blue and yellow, and the altar had a wonderful rendition of the Last Supper flanked by statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. The two different choirs that came from Hudson High in Wisconsin, had 96 members total, and of course they wore the stereotypical, ugly black dresses and tuxedos that all American choirs seem to wear. They sang a variety of Christian pieces in both Latin and English, and the music they created was breathtaking. My favorite numbers that they performed were, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and their benediction blessing. In order to sing the benediction the spread out around the church, so that all of the choir members formed a circle around the audience, and then they all held hands and sang. It was a very powerful message and blessing. If this was all my night was, it would have been enough.

However, it was the not the end. At the end of the concert we followed our director up to the front so that she could find her friend. As we waited, we chatted, and the various chaperones around us realized that Sarah and I were speaking perfect, American English, so they started to ask who we were and where we were from. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The group ended up inviting us to dinner at the parish house with the choir. We headed over and were suddenly in a bustling room full of 100 Americans, talking, laughing, and eating. It was a wonderful feeling to hear so much English. As beautiful as the music I had just listened to was, having English surround me was also beautiful. We sat at the chaperones' table and enjoyed wonderful Polish soup, open-faced sandwiches, and cakes as well as great conversation with our new American friends. The energy was electric and I felt energized by sharing my stories and hearing theirs' as well.

Sadly, they had to return to Krakow that night, so they were not able to stay very long. They took all the left over sandwiches for the road, which I thought was wonderful because feeding 96 high school students is not an easy feat I'm sure. We shared wishes for safe travels and blessed experiences with one another, and they loaded onto their two coach buses and drove into the night. We caught a ride back to Cieszyn with our director's pastor.

This night was wonderful for a variety of reasons, but one thing in particular sticks out in my mind. One of the insecurities I have been developing over the past month, is how I am going to handle my transition back to America, back into a country that speaks a language I understand. This is daunting to me and sometimes makes me want to crawl into a hole. However, last night's experience has encouraged me to have faith in ability to cope. My surroundings did not overwhelm and overtake me, but instead it was an almost magical night. I believe that moving home is going to be okay.

Peace,
Colleen