Meetings, meetings, meetings....fun

Last week Kev and I went back to Paray le Monial, after only three weeks since the last time we were there. It was an intense week. Firstly we had a meeting with the Directors of the other two European ESMs. The following two days we had meetings with the International Youth Team for the Emmanuel Community. Then we had two days of formation for the Teams of the ESMs. Then we were given a retreat. 

Although we were kept very busy, it was a really enjoyable time.  It was also broken up by some times of hanging out.

We had a BBQ at Olivier and Xrystilla's house.  After dinner some of us gathered around the fire and sang along as Kev played Metallica and Gun's 'n Roses songs on the guitar. I was surprised at how many of the Europeans knew the words.

Sing-a-long in Paray

We also tested out the new bowling alley in Paray.  I wasn't as hopeless as I thought I would be.  Kev was the winner. 

Kev getting his body into bowling

We went home via Milan. We had a meeting with members of the Emmanuel Community there about the possibility of working together on some missions in the future. 

Cathedral in Milan

Now we are home again, and have just welcomed our new students for the year!

Dublin

I popped over to Dublin for two days to do some preparation work for an upcoming mission. I had sworn that I would never use Ryanair again, but there was no alternative. The night before I left, I spent about half an hour trying to pack my bag so that it would weigh less than 10kg. They are ruthless about the luggage restrictions, so I had to be precise. Ryanair are the only airline that I know of that only allow you to bring one carry-on bag.  All the others allow one bag plus a handbag or laptop.  So I had to put absolutely everything into one bag. This isn't easy because my laptop weighs 5kg and my suitcase weighs 3kg, so I only had 2kg for clothes and stuff. I ended up using a backpack instead, which didn't weigh as much.

As a side note, while on the trip I came up with the idea of sewing some really large pockets on the inside of a coat. I will call it my 'cheap flight jacket' and put all the bulky items in the pockets when I travel: books, camera, laptop charger, bible, etc. Then I can walk onto the plane wearing the jacket and carrying ONE bag with me. I can't wait to make it.  Then I will win....mu ha ha ha......

Back to my story, I left Rome on Monday morning, and returned on Wednesday morning - so it was a quick trip. I got to catch up with several members of the Emmanuel Community -luckily they will be able to do a lot of the ground-work for the mission. After having a nice pub lunch and several cups of tea (we can't get good tea in Italy) I went for a drive with Linda, Paul and Conlith. We drove north for about two hours to a hotel for a meeting with Ed and Fiona who live in Belfast - it was the half-way point.

The next day we had a few more meetings about different aspects of the mission. We checked out the area around the church where we will have one of the missions. Here is the local pub - very religious.....!

Helen and Linda

The meetings all went really well - much better than expected. The Irish are such a good bunch, so it was an enjoyable trip. I had to get up at 4:30am on Wednesday, in order to get to the airport in time for my cheap flight. I was pretty tired when I got back, but pleased that it had been a successful trip.

Out in Style!

Last week Kev and I went all the way to the other side of the city to catch up with some friends. This was very exciting, not only because they are particularly good friends, but because we don't get out very often.

The occasion was Louisa's visit to Rome. We planned to meet up with her at Domus Australia, which is a new hotel in Rome. The rector of the hotel is Fr Denton who is also a very good friend of ours.

We started with Mass at 6ish pm in the church which is attached to the hotel. Then we mozied on over to the restaurant which is also attached to the hotel. The food was great. So was the wine! (Kev and I are not used to spending more than 2 or 3 bucks on a bottle of wine, so this was a real treat!) The service was top-notch too. It was very fancy indeed.


Hele, Kev, Louisa, Fr Denton


It was good to have some ripper Aussie company for the evening. Oh....how we laughed! It was thoroughly enjoyable.

(we gotta get out more)