Catching Up a Bit

We've been busy!  And, at the end of the day, I'm not always feeling up to writing a blog post.  It dawned on me, however, that an e-mail I sent on Sunday to a good friend in Baltimore provides a pretty good summary of last week.  I don't think she'll mind if I share part of that e-mail here:

We had quite a week here, full of good experiences as well as bumps in the road of community life.  Despite our occasional moments of misunderstanding or community fatigue, I think we are growing together in such a way that we are forming more connections with people in Aschaffenburg and finding more meaning in our work.

Talking about "solidarity" with students at a local school

On Monday, for example, a couple younger guys came to our evening prayer, and, afterwards, one of them asked if we would like some tea from Taize.  I was little confused, and figured that he had managed to get his hands on some of the powdered tea served at Taize and that he wanted to give us a box of it.  Instead, he pulled two thermoses out of his backpack along with a bunch of bowls for drinking (this is also something they use in Taize--don't ask me why they don't use cups).  It  was amazing!  And great timing, as we were feeling a little discouraged by how few young people were joining us for our prayers.

Today, an older couple from Franziska's home parish took us out for lunch and a pilgrimage through local villages and village churches.  A few other people came along, including another older couple that went to Taize when they were younger and who now attend our evening prayer almost every night.  At each village church, we stopped to sing some Taize songs and learn a bit about the history and art of the church.  I spent the whole day feeling so grateful for Crysta and Robert's hospitality and so happy to be out in the countryside.

Our hosts (and me!) on our trip through the countryside

Another cool connection that has come out of our time here is with a Franciscan community of priests and sisters from Italy.  Being from Italy, their hospitality is very Italian, as in feeding us pasta and homemade pizza after evening prayer last Tuesday, at 9 pm.  There was also wine, chicken, and dessert (my roommate was like "If this is Lent, what does the rest of the year look like?").  Communication with the Franciscans is really crazy.  They all speak Italian and, in theory, German.  But a couple also speak French and a little English.  And three of my community members speak German and English, but one speaks only French and English.  And no one speaks Spanish (although Lena is learning).  But sometimes it's better for me to speak Spanish and try to understand people speaking to me in Italian, that is, until I get distracted by the people at the end of the table speaking French and the people across the room speaking German and Italian.  It's then that I feel like my brain is melting into alphabet soup.  To top things off, some of the members of this community know a guy from Italy that used to attend young adult prayer services when he was a student in Baltimore. Even crazier is the fact that he will come visit Aschaffenburg in a few weeks. This level of interconnection boggles my mind!

Homemade pizza and homemade beer with the Franciscans

And that, in summary, touches on something that a lot of people experience in connection with the Taize: the level of connection in that place is surprising and wonderful.  May we continue to be surprised by the joy of meeting new people, seeing old friends, and growing in relationship with God.

Walking back from Cafe Oase--with leftover pasta!