Easter Anecdotes

As I mentioned I spent Holy Week and Easter in Bratislava visiting other American teachers and getting a healthy dose of English. Here are some stories and reflections from my holiday.

English Liturgy
Over the six days I was in Bratislava I attended worship four different times. The first time was in Slovak and was a service held by the Lutheran school there to celebrate Easter. The final three times were to celebrate and mark the death and glorious resurrection of Christ. I didn't cry as much as I thought I would. Okay let me rephrase that, I saved ALL of my crying for Easter Sunday when I lost it. On Easter Sunday I was asked to help with some of the ushering duties. It was beyond cool to be needed in that way. One of the challenges of this year has been being so disconnected from the church. Yes I am a missionary, but my main purpose here is to teach. The church here has not intentionally welcomed me and although I attend church every week, I am not able to participate in any formal way. (However, the church service is very different and not many people other than the pastor do anything during the service.) So to pass out hymnals and say, "Good morning! Happy Easter!" gave me a real purpose in the church and reminded how important serving in this outlet is. I am called to serve the church in a formal, ordained way. I know this in my heart, in my soul, in my gut, in my liver, in all that I am I know this. And for these fifteen minutes when I was passing out hymnals, I remembered in a shocking and powerful way. And I was singing in English. And I missed my family and boyfriend. So I cried. A lot. It was glorious.

A Two-Buffet Day
Eating on Easter was amazing. The church had organized an Easter brunch, so the members (and guests who knew about it) all brought something to share to have this potluck. Now I eat well in Poland. I really do. However, cooking for two people is a simpler undertaking and usually does not include the variety of food that was available to me. There were quiches, and egg strata, and muffins and breads, noodle dishes, and salads, and desserts. It was amazing. I think went back for thirds. AND THEN, for dinner, Taryn and Christoph (Taryn is the pastoral intern at the church, Christoph is her husband, they are students at PHILLY. . .like me!) invited all of the teachers up for a Easter BBQ. Again, we all brought something to share, and I was blessed with another buffet. We laughed and ate, shared family traditions and laughed some more. Though I shouldn't have two-buffets every day, it was the perfect way to eat on Easter. After all, calories don't count on Easter.

Walking to Austria
I learned through one of my conversations that it is possible to walk to Austria and Hungary from Blava. I love walking across international borders. I do this regularly between Poland and Czech, and it still has not gotten old. From Blava the walk to Austria is about 7ish miles round trip, and the walk to Hungary is 17 miles one way. I cannot walk 17 miles in one day. So I announced on Saturday that I wanted to walk to Austria. So we did. I went with three of the teachers from Tisovec. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time talking, enjoying "the nature" and taking some random pictures. Unfortunately I didn't bring my sneakers, and the zipper on my boots broke, so I had to wear my ballet flats. I have some blisters, but it was totally worth it because I WALKED to Austria. The coolest part of the whole thing was when someone called my phone (which doesn't happen that often anyhow, so even getting a phone call was exciting), and I got to say that I wouldn't be able to help because I was walking to Austria. It was beyond cool.

Other Things of Note:
-I reconnected with a dear friend from college who is living in Blava now.
-I decorated Easter Eggs the American way.
-I ate street food with Meghan and went back to Italy in my mind.
-I browsed an English book store with Sarah.
-I went shopping at H&M.
-I felt out of place and I felt like I belonged.

It was an up-down, mish-mash wonderful, enlightening break.

From all of this excitement I got a little cold, so I decided to cut the trip short and came home on Monday night instead of Tuesday afternoon. I slept a lot in my own couch-bed and feel better for it. School starts again tomorrow, and I am not excited. But I am optimistic that it will be a good day despite my lack of enthusiasm. I trust that once I see my students I will fall in love again and it will be good. After all, it's April. Less than three months left. There's no quitting or letting up now. It will be good.

Blessings,
Colleen