Dublin - Mission Preparation

I had to pop over to Dublin on the weekend to prepare for the missions that we will do in June. I left on Sunday morning and arrived there in the afternoon. I was so pleasantly suprised to see blue sky and the sun shining. Every other time that I have been to Dublin it has been in winter, so the weather was always miserable. This was wonderful.

I managed to get the last moments of the monthly Community Weekend, so I saw many people that I know. In a strange way, it felt like I was at a Community Day in Australia - the Irish are more like the Aussies than the Italians are!

Then we had a meeting about the missions that lasted a few hours. We all felt that we weren't getting anywhere, but then everything just came together. So we rewarded ourselves by a nice dinner at an American Diner. Don't get me wrong...we eat so well in Italy and the food is delicious. But sometimes you just want a hamburger and chips!

Fr Conlith, Paul, Ed, Fiona, Linda

The following day, Linda and I met with the priests at the two parishes where we will be on mission. Both of the priests have hosted the ESM for missions before, so we didn't have to explain what we are on about. It was great.

We finished our meeting at the corner pub and had some guiness - afterall, it was a feast day.

I had to get up at 5am the following day to get my flight back to Rome. I was impressed with the airport food.....

Full Irish breakfast!!!

The flight home was good. When I got to Rome, I needed to go straight to work because there is soooooo much to do at the moment.

Paris again....

Kev and I are members of the Advisory Committee of the Emmanuel Community, and so were invited to attend a meeting in Paris. As we had both been sick in the last weeks, we weren't sure if we would go or not, right up until the last minute. We decided that we would make it, but felt that we should email our hosts and let them know that we were coughing really really loudly during the nights, and perhaps it would be best if we stayed at a hotel.  When we landed in Paris, I checked me phone and there was a message from our hosts. Due to some miscommunication, our suggestion was accepted, so at 8:30pm we needed to find somewhere to stay. We went to the information booth at the airport and they found us a hotel near the airport. A fifteen minute ride in the shuttle bus had us at a hotel, and in bed by about 9:30pm.  Luckily our coughs weren't too bad.

The next morning we woke to find that Kev had lost his voice. We had a nice little breaky down in the dining room, then caught the bus back to the airport. From there we caught the metro to the Meeting. As we were chaning trains we saw someone that we know. This spun us out because the metro system is so huge, that the chances of bumping into someone are so small.

The meeting lasted for two days. It was very interesting. We heard about the process of voting for new members of the Council of the Community and the Moderator, which will take place in August. As members of the Advisory Committee, we will be able to vote.

We also had a meeting with the Moderator and the people in charge of the Youth of the Community, and the guy in charge of the European countries. It was good to be able to discuss our mission and to explain some of the difficulties. Then we prayed together. It was also good to hear words of thanks for the work that we are doing.

We came back to Rome on Sunday evening, feeling pretty tired but not as sick as we had been.

More traipsing about

A few weeks ago I went to Paris for a meeting about the next World Youth Day which will take place in Rio next year. We decided that it would be nice if Kev came along to keep me company so that we could then have a nice weekend together. So we went to Paris on the Thursday night, and the meeting was on Friday. We stayed with our friends Claire and Damian (the previous directors ot the ESM). They are such a lovely family, and their two kids are very cute. Their house is very nice too.

Hele and Kev at Claire and Damian's house

We had planned to go to Lyon on Saturday morning and spend two days there. It is meant to be a really nice city, and we have only seen the airport and train station. Unfortunately we didn't know that Saturday was the first day of school holidays, so there were no trains or planes from Paris to Lyon on the day we needed. Luckily we were able to cancel our hotel reservation without incurring any fees, and luckily Claire and Damian said we could stay at their house for the weekend, even though they were going away.

So Kev and I had a lovely weekend in Paris. We wandered around the city.....

Kev in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame

Then had a super lunch. I was so happy to find a place that had snails on the menu!

Mmmm yummy snails

Then I insisted that we walk around the Eiffel Tower at night, because I like all the funky lights. It was kinda pretty really. Good on 'em.

Kev in front of the Eiffel Tower

Hele and Kev blocking the view of the Eiffel Tower

We went back to our friends place and were so pleased to find amongst their wonderful dvd collection.....every season of 24. So we were able to take up where we had left off.

The next day we caught the train to Paray le Monial. We had a Directors Meeting on the Monday. Then our students arrived on the Tuesday for a retreat with the other ESMs of Paray and Altotting. On the weekend, we were joined by about 1400 young people for the Winter Youth Forum. So, we were kept pretty busy.

We returned to Rome on Monday, stopping at Ars on the way. It was the first time that I had been there. It was nice, but apart from Cure of Ars stuff, nothing to do or see.

Basilica and Shrine of St. John Vianney

When we got back to Rome, I was feeling a bit crook. The following morning I felt terrible. I had a really bad cough - worse than I have ever had. I stayed home for four days. Then I decided to go to the doctor (which means waiting at the emergency part at the hospital). After four hours of tests and waiting and more tests, I found that I have bronchitis. After two weeks I am still coughing, but have managed to drag myself into work for a few hours here and there. Nearly half of the students are sick too, and now Kev has a cold. Please keep us in your prayers.

Lauretta's wedding

On Saturday, Kev and I went to our friend Lauretta's wedding. It was our first Italian wedding.

The lovely bride organised for a bus to pick up some of her guests...very thoughtful indeed! The service was to begin at 11:00am. We got to the Domus at 7:30am and waited with some other friends for the bus to arrive. In true Italian form, it arrived at 8:30am. I suppose that it had to manage with  driving in bad conditions, after another snow storm the night before.  The bus drove us all over the place, stopping occasionaly to pick up other guests. After two hours, we passed Termini train station, which is about one hour walk from where we started. Then at 11:30am, we picked up the groom. The bus remained stationary while he greeted every single person on the bus - most of whom he hadn't met before. Then he got into a car which drove in front of the bus. We got to the church at 12:10pm. We knew that we wouldn't miss much, because we were with the groom and half of the guests. The dear bride waited in a car outside the church until we arrived.

Lauretta and Pino

After the wedding, we were invited to a buffet at a nearby restaurant. We thought it would be very simple, as the close family and friends were invited to the reception afterwards.  We were so surprised as it was such a swell affair. We ate such delicious food, and had an ample amount of beverages.

Carly at the reception

 Bernard, Simon, Carly, Kev

Claire, Bernard, Simon, Kev, Hele, Carly

Hele and Kev in a casual pose

 Hele and Kev in the snow - yay!

Then the snow ball fights began. It was great fun. It didn't matter that we were all dressed up.  It was a sight to see.

More snow

The snow continued to fall lightly all afternoon and through the night.

Kev in St Peter's Square - before the heavy snowfall



Hele and Kev in St Peter's Square

I was delighted to wake up on Saturday morning to look out my window and see everything covered in a thick blanket of snow. People were out on the streets playing, throwing snowballs and building snowmen.  It was such fun!

In front of our apartment

Around the corner from our place

Today there are still remains of the snow but it is mostly just ice. There are still some good patches of snow that can be used for emergency snowball fights though!

 

 

Domus Aurelia - ESM

Snow

After a week and a half in beautiful summery Australia, I am now experiencing cold wintry Rome.

Last week I was at the beach, now I am in the snow!!

It started of slowly....

Then got a bit heavier....

It started to leave a beautiful white blanket....

Then the snow fights began!

It was great because it started snowing at one of the few times when the students had free time on the schedule. They started throwing snowballs at each other, from one balcony to the other. They also took delight in being able to throw projectiles at the directors of the School!



Australia

I just returned from a lovely trip to Australia. It was part work, part holiday.

My purpose for going, was to attend the National Retreat of the Emmanuel Community which took place in Dromana (Mornington Peninsula). In this way, I could have several meetings regarding Emmanuel Youth, without having to travel all over the country.

I left Rome on a Monday night and arrived bright and early on the following Wednesday. I was greeted at the airport by my brother Alex and my two darling nephews, Mikey and Timmy. I enjoyed a couple of relaxing days at mum and dads. One afternoon I had the pleasure of a visit from three of mum's sisters, who never fail to entertain.

Then on the weekend I went to the retreat. Apart from the meetings, I was able to get a lot out of the times of prayer and the wonderful talks. To read about the weekend and to see pictures, check out this article written by my friend Fiona Basile. It was also wonderful to catch up with so many of my dear friends. It was so hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the weekend. I bawled and bawled.

I spent the following week at mum and dads, and basically went no where but Mass and the beach. I was in much need of a holiday as we really haven't stopped since WYD in Madrid last August.

On January 26th, we celebrated Australia Day in true fashion, by having a barbeque in the backyard. It was not the same without Kev, but Paul did a fabo job of cooking up the meat.

Dad and Paul preparing the Australia Day lunch

Me, Mum, dad, Paul, Alex, Steph, Mikey, Timmy, Dave and Jennifer

I hadn't seen most of dad's side of the family in a while, so we invited them to afternoon tea. It was splendid fun.

Hele, Penny, Steph, Alex

 Penny, Hele, Nina

Hele, Nick, Rachel

The whole clan

Mum and Hele

Dad, Steph, Paul

I had such a nice time in warm, sunny Australia with temperatures in the 30s. But, I missed my Kev, and the mission called, so I returned to Rome.