Belgium - Mission Preparation

Last Saturday I got up super-early to go to Belgium for mission preparation. I was met at the airport by my dear friend Leen, who did the ESM with me many years ago. She is one of the coordinators of the mission that we will do in three weeks.

We went straight to the Emmanuel Community Seminary in Brussels for Mass. Then stayed for lunch as special guests for Fr Mark's birthday. It was crazy-fun, because not only is he hilarious, but so were the others at our table - Jill Ann and Kit. I was the only sane person there!

Jill Ann, Fr Mark, Hele, Leen, Kit

Then we drove for quite a while to get to Peter's house for another meeting. (He is the other mission coordinator). We spent a few hours planning the mission together. After a quick dinner we drove for an hour and a half to the city of Diest where the mission will take place. We met with the parish priest and he showed us around the city. We visited most of the locations where mission events will take place. I was pretty tired by this stage, and ready for the journey home. But the priest had one last place to show us - the pub. So I was convinceed to try the local beer...twice. We got to sleep pretty late, but it was a great night.

Peter, Florence, Fr Marc, Hele

Then next day we drove to Leuven, which is a university town. We met with an American priest there who will welcome us all for two days during the mission. We will have some different events aimed at young students during the mission. After a delicious lunch (and more beer) the priest drove me to the airport for my flight back to Rome.

I went straight back to the ESM to participate in the last part of the French Cultural evening.  Needless to say, I was a bit sleepy by the end of it all.

Donna and the Concert

It would be putting it mildly to say that we don't get out much. I know we seem to be gallivanting around Europe, but when we are in Rome, our social life is not very....full. So I am very proud to say that we went to a concert the other night.

It all began about four years ago. When we heard that we would be living in Italy, Donna lent us a CD of an Italian pop singer (Cesare Cremonini). I really really liked it. Kev tolerated it without too much complaining. So, just before we left Australia, I asked Donna if she would come and visit us if Cesare were to give a concert in Rome. Donna doesn't remember anything about this, but I can assure you that she said yes.

A few months ago, I found that he was touring Italy. Needless to say, I invited Donna to come with me. I am extremely happy to say that, after initially saying no...not possible....that's crazy....she said yes!!!!

So last Tuesday, Kev, Donna, Lou and Alvise (my Italian teacher - also a fan) went to the concert. We were pleased to find that we weren't the only old people. Thankfully most of the people were young teenagers though which meant that they were quite short. So we could easily see over their heads and get a good view of the stage.

The concert was fantastic. Cesare is a good singer, pianist and performer. But the best thing about the whole night was watching Donna get into it. She was quite excited!

 Donna, modelling her new t-shrit. I believe that her husband is very pleased about the purchase!

Hele and Donna having a great time! 

Kev, unable to hide his excitement 

Cesare Cremonini 

The concert lasted two and half hours. It was so much fun. In Australia, it would be common to see a hot-dog stand outside the venue. In Italy, it was a guy selling doughnuts!

Typical after-concert snack.

We were very thankful to Alvise for driving us home afterwards, because the concert finished after the last train. We all had a great time. Even Kev liked it, although he said if would have been better if we were sitting down. I quite agree.I'll say it again, we are no spring chickens!

Donna and the Walk

We were so happy to welcome Donna to Rome for a week.

Fr Rafael and I met her at the airport last Friday. The two of them did the ESM together fourteen years ago. It was the first year of the ESM in Rome.

After having a bit of tea and cake together and our apartment, we went to  pray the Rosary on St Peter's Square. (see top-right of this blog). Then she joined us for the rest of the usual Friday programme. Luckily jetlag was not really a problem so she managed to stay up until after dinner.


The next morning we met the ESM at St Peter's for the annual Pilgrimage of the Seven Churches. It began with Mass in front of the tomb of St Peter at 7:00am.

Church 1 - St Peter's Basilica

Church 2 - St Paul's Outside the Walls

Way of the Seven Churches 

(we knew we were on the right track!)

Church 3 - St Sebastian

Church 4 - St John Lateran

Stripey girls - Petra, Donna and Anne

 Church 5 - Holy Cross

Church 6 - St Lawrence

Church 7 - Santa Maria Maggiore

The whole thing took twelve hours. It was really wonderful. But we are no spring chickens so we were exhausted. Kev and I took a taxi with Donna and Lou to a restaurant near our place for yummy dinner. Then we hobbled home to bed.

Valencia

We were invited to give a presentation of the ESM at the Congress for the New Evangelisation in Valencia. The Congress was organised by the Bishops Conference of Spain, specifically for the youth apostolate.

We arrived on Thursday morning. While we were waiting at the airport for someone to collect us, we met up with a group of Italian girls who were also coming for the Congress. They recognised us from a WYD meeting in Rome earlier in the year. After waiting at the airport for a long time, we decided to catch public transport into the city...we were staying at the same place.

 Kev and the girls from the Jeunesse Lumiere Community

Kev and I, and many of the participants for the Congress were staying at the youth hostel. This brought back memories....noise, noise, noise...all night. But it was fun. At least we had our own room!

We met up with Miguel. He is a Spanish guy who did the ESM some years ago. After registering for the Congress, we planned to go over the presentation together but ended up having beer and tapas instead. Then we headed off to the opening of the Congress. It finished quite late so we decided to call it a night.

We gave our presentation the next day. We think it went quite well. (We have already received an email from one of the participants, wanting to apply for the School next year). It was a relief to have it finished because then we could just enjoy the rest of the events. It was fun hanging out with Miguel because, well, he is mad.

 Hele, Kev and Miguel in Valencia

We just love Valencia. It is really pretty. We loved wandering around the shops and eating and drinking...in moderation, or course.

 Piazza, Cathedral, and Basilica

Lots of fancy buildings

We really got into the tapas (various appetisers). Most nights we went to a tapas bar and tried out lots of different yummy stuff. They had cute little mini hamburgers.

Wine and tapas

We went to a restaurant for lunch on the last day. It was a 15 euro menu and it was superb  We had a delicious homemade ravioli for the first course. It was the best that I have ever had. Then I had stuffed capsicum for my main. The presentation was delightful and it tasted great. Kev had a slab of steak. It was a very exciting experience. We had wine, coffee and dessert. What a bargain!

 Yummy yummy yummy

It was a pretty busy five days but we really enjoyed it. We had to leave the hostel at 5:30am on Monday morning to get our flight back to Rome. We are starting to feel quite old and tired these days.

Wedding in Paris

Kev and I went to Paris on the morning of Saturday 27th October for another wedding. We knew both the bride and the groom. Marie was a student at the ESM during the year that we arrived in Rome, and Louis used to be the youth leader for the U.K.

We left Rome really early. Once we arrived in Paris, we caught some trains that got us to the church just as Marie was about to walk down the aisle. The wedding was really lovely.

Marie and Louis

After the wedding we said hello to some friends outside the church. We noticed that one guy was holding car keys so we gave him the honour of driving us to the reception. This was just as well, because we didn't realise how far it was - it was in the country.

We caught up with many of the other ESM students who were in the same year group as Marie. The reception was great. Many things were different to the traditional Aussie reception. Instead of having an M.C. announce the bride and groom, music starts blaring through the room and everyone waves their serviette in the air cheering.

David, Basia, Raphael, Fr Benoit, Kev, Jess

Hele and Kev

Hele, Kev, Kit, Hannelore...being normal

The gang

We got pretty tired as we had been up since very early. We hadn't worked out where we were staying for the night, but hoped that someone had taken care of it for us. We spoke with Louis' mum who said there was a room for us in one of the houses on the same premises. So we snuck away at about 1:00am and went to sleep. We couldn't really see anything as it was pitch black. The next morning we noticed what a great place it was.

Our accommodation

Louis' mum and dad came at 8:00am to bring breakfast for us and all the other people who were staying in the house. They also kindly drove us to the train station back in Paris. From there we went to the airport and flew back to Rome in time for Mass at St Peter's. Twas a great weekend.