Félicitations!

Félicitations aux nouveaux Prêtres: Père Stephen Maria, OP; Père John Marie, OP; Père Michael Augustine, OP; Père Isaiah Mary, OP; et Père Christopher, OP!

Que Dieu vous bénisse maintenant et toujours!

No time to get to the computer....

I had these grand plans of updating the blog every day - letting you all know exactly what's going on over here. However, things here have been so busy, so crazy busy, that I haven't had the chance to get to the computer. Today is the first day that I've sat at home and just relaxed. Honestly, it's rather nice. Just by way of a brief update, here's what's been up...

Today*: We had a private Mass celebrated by my Great-Uncle. The rest of the day will be spent lazing around, sitting by the pool and just haning out. Perfect!

Yesterday*: The Baptismal Site of the Lord and The Dead Sea.

The Day Before Yesterday*: The Wedding -- We were out of house at 9:00 am to go to the salon. We got our hair, nails, and makeup done. Seriously, my ultimate dream. It was so nice. Apart from changing our clothes, we didn't get home till 4:00am. We nearly passed out.

The Day Before That*: The Ancient City of Petra. Amazing.

And before all that were parties galore. Apparently one of my cousins has already posted some pics on Facebook. I'll try and post some photos on here later, hopefully soon.

*Being on vacation and being totally sleep deprived, I've compltely lost track of both the day and the time.

Allemagne

I don't have much time to write now about Germany, but here are a few pictures...

All of us in Rolf's appartment -- Ollie, Petra, me, Ramzi (my brother), Linus, and my mum.

Der Mainzer Dom (ie. the Cathedral in Mainz)
(This year is the 1000th anniversary of this Cathedral.)


Linus
(He climbed into this ancient, broken bell, prented he was a baker and was serving us pretend bread. "It's hot, blow on it." )


Linus, the baker, again.

Linus and Petra

This is an ancient alter piece. It was discovered in burried underneath the Dom in Mainz.

My brother and Rolf Decot. Rolf, is Petra's god-father. He is also a Catholic priest who has in doctorate in Church History. He was the perfect tour guide!

Two Planes, A Train, and Three Countries Later

Ah, we've arrived! Sitting here now chilling with my cousins! It's so nice to be here!

It's strange to think that just two days ago, I was barreling down I-5 headed from Seattle to Portland, listening to American music, seeing English road signs. (NB: I started this post yesterday (the day before?) and am just now catching up.)

Everything here is different. The city, Amman, has grown by leaps and bounds. There are new neighbourhoods, new roads, new bridges... and the biggest change of all... there are now street names, street signs, and addresses. Yes, until just recently, this entire city, and quite frankly, the better part of the Middle East got by without address. How still boggles my mind, but somehow they did it. There seems to be a sense of order -- not the stand-in-a-straight-line-wait-your-turn-kind-of-order that we're used to in the States -- but a smaller, slightly more chaotic sense of order that has befallen the country here. People stop at red lights, they drive the correct way on a one way road, and now use turn signals instead of the horn on their car. It's amazing, really...

Family-wise things are okay. We have a large family, many with boisterous voices and a couple who are hard of hearing. Couple that with the Arab tendancy to speak all at once, one over the other, and a discordant cacophony arises -- one, that quite frankly, gives me a headache. Nonetheless, I still love them and am happy to be visiting here with all of them. My cousins, on the other hand, are fabulous! Certainly it's been an amazing reunion for the older generation -- the Aunts and Uncles -- but it's been a great reunion for us in the younger generation as well. Last night, we had the first in a series of pre-wedding parties. We ate, we drank, we danced, and we laughed... good times were had by all. Here are a couple pictures from the pre-wedding party. (The bride is in pink and the groom is in a checkered shirt.)




More about Germany later...

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

Tomorrow will be my last day in Seattle for a while. After work, I will drive down to Vancouver to meet my family. The next morning, we will hop a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, Germany. There, I will meet my good friend Petra, her boyfriend Olli, and their two year old son Linus. I can't wait. I haven't met "baby" Linus before and it's been two years since I've seen Petra and Olli.

Petra and I have known each other for what seems like forever. We met when she was an exchange student at my high school -- yep, ages ago! And now, in a few days, we will celebrate 4th of July together for the 3rd time. The last time we celebrated 4th of July together was back when we were 19. I was spending the summer in Germany with Petra and her family. She and I were hell-bent on introducing her (who eventually also became my) friends to American traditions. The most important thing on our docket was to make one of those silly American Flag Cakes. (Surely, you know the ones I am talking about -- whipped cream atop of a rectangular sponge cake, decorated with berries to look like the American Flag.) Ah yes... but there was no Cool Whip to be found in Germany so we tried to make our own. (Big mistake!) And the berries we needed were scarce to come by that time of year. All in all it was a big mess and less than successful, but we were proud of our attempt to bring American traditions to German soil.

Truth be told, we were less than successful in other American traditions as well. We had this brilliant idea of taking our friends camping and introducing them to S'mores. Well, there were no graham crackers in Germany (so we substituted biscuits) and the only "marshmellows" we could come by were akin to Peeps, shaped like peanuts or strawberries, and flavoured to suit. Gross. The only redeeming quality was the Swiss chocolate that we were using.

This 4th of July we hope to be more successfull.

Though honestly, we will likely be too busy running around Mainz, exploring the cobble-stoned downtown streets, drinking a caffe au lait in front of one of the many fountains and being entertained by the multitude of street performers. It will certainly be a welcome change from sitting on a cramped plane for hours on end! :) And when we get bored of downtown Mainz, there is always St. Stephen's Church and the Chagall windows to explore. St. Stephen's is the only German church for which the famed Jewish artist, Marc Chagall, made stained glass windows. They are breath-taking. And truly, there is nothing like sitting in the pews of St. Stephen's listening to organ-music and gazing at the sunlight filtering through the Chagall windows. I can't wait.

So, that, in itself would be enough of a trip, but after our day in Germany, we will hop a back on a plane and head to Amman, Jordan, for my cousin's wedding. There are four parties preceeding the wedding. (And yes, you need a different cocktail dress for each one.) So, we will be busy from the moment we land. We have family flying in from literally all over the world (Canada, the US, Spain, and Australia) for this wedding, so it's going to be a massive family-reunion as well.

After the wedding in Amman, the plans haven't quite been set... there's talk of the entire famly going to Sharm El-Sheikh for a few days and there's also talk of going to Jerusalem and Ramallah in Palestine. Personally, I'm not too excited about the prospect of Sharm El-Sheikh. Afterall, I could go lie out on a beach anywhere (even here in the Pac NW if I'm willing to brave the cold). Jerusalem and Ramallah have so much more to offer... and I've spent so much time with my Auntie and Uncle in Ramallah that it feels like "home". Besides, take a look at this garden... who wouldn't want to spend time there?

The front yard at "home" in Ramallah.

It's not my choice, though, so we'll see where we end up... either way, it will be fun. I will do my best to blog while traveling and will hopefully be able to upload pictures, too!

"Next Year in Jerusalem"

Tonight is the Jewish Feast of Passover. Traditionally, this day hasn't meant much to me apart from signifying that the end of Lent is at hand. Generally, Passover has meant the countdown to chocolate again. Three years ago, however, I found myself in Palestine for Holy Week (2006). My former co-worker who lives in Jerusalem invited me to spend Passover and Seder dinner with her and her family. I had never before experienced such an event. It was beautiful and humbling. I could think only of Christ celebrating Passover with his disciples.

Seder was at my friend's parent's home -- Her parents, a lovely, elderly Ashkanazi couple welcomed me into their home with open arms, literally. Her mother embraced me, kissed me on the cheek, and exclaimed, "Welcome!" The dinner was beautiful. I wish I had taken more pictures during the ceremony. Being a "shy" guest, however, I mistakenly assumed that it would be rude to photograph the dinner. I only dared to ask for photo afterwards (below) and then found out that it would have been not only fine, but flattering to take photos. Next time...
Here is a photo of the traditional plate served with traditional food and way too sweet wine. There are bitters and salt to signify the bitter times and tears the Jewish people have wept. There is sweet stuff, too, to signify the the good times. I wish I could remember the significance of the other stuff, but it was all very meaningful.

I spent the night at my friend's house in Jerusalem and awoke early to go to Holy Thursday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which houses the tomb of Christ. Holy Thursday Mass at the tomb of Christ was singularily the most spiritually amazing moment of my life at that time. (I thought nothing could top it, but Good Friday prayers at Golgotha the next day and Fr. Tom's last Mass both proved to be more spiritually emotional and moving.) The entire Mass was in Latin, and there weren't nearly enough prayer books to go around. I found myself looking over the shoulder of a German monk by the name of Gregor (he was on sabbatical in Jerusalem), reading his prayer book in German and trying to translate in my mind to sort out what, exactly, was going on. It certainly was a challenge and more than tested my German comprehension. My meager German however, was enough to help me follow the Mass -- all 3 1/2 hours of it. It was beautiful!

The (now-former) Archbishop of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah carrying the Blessed Sacrament and leading the procession three times around Christ's tomb.

The crowd at Holy Thursday Mass. There were so many people and it was so hot, and yet we all lit candles...

Good Friday the next morning was upstairs in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Golgotha. I gathered with the crowd outside waiting for the church doors to open. There, I met a young priest who was late for getting in line to process in with his fellow brothers. He said to me (in Arabic), "You seem like a nice girl. Space is limited upstairs [at Golgotha]. Make sure you hit, kick, shove -- do whatever you need to do to get upstairs." Ha! His comment totally cracked me up, but he was serious. And as soon as the doors were opened, I understood what he meant. Fortunately, I've had years of soccer experience, so I knew how to throw an elbow or two to get to the front of the crowd.

The start of the procession into the church. The Fransciscans were first.

My Great-Uncle processing in with the other Latin Patriarchate priests.

Upstairs at Golgotha. This was the best (and only) picture I could get. It was sooooo crowded I could barely raise my arm to snap a pic. This was the Archbishop walking by with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance.

After the services upstairs in Golgotha, everyone, lead by the Archbishop moved downstairs to process around the tomb of Christ again. You'll notice that the Latin Patriarchate priests actually changed their vestments between the prayers upstairs and the prayers downstairs. After this ceremony, I actually met Gregor's (the German monk from Holy Thursday) parents. (Random, I know, but this seems to be the story of my life.) They later introduced me to Gregor, so I was able to thank him for letting me look over his shoulder during Holy Thursday Mass.

The Latin Patriarchate priests gathering for the prayers downstairs.

Another procession around the tomb of Christ.

My Great-Uncle again. ;)

After all the ceremonies, I spent some time hanging out with this guy, Hanna (Arabic for John).
Hanna's job is to preceed the Archbishop and walk around metronomicaly hit this large metal pole on the ground. It is super-heavy and makes a loud thud. (I tried it.) Hanna escorted me through the crowds back to the Latin Patriarchate house to hang out for a bit before heading out for the Via Dolorosa. Amazing! No pictures, and I didn't even get to complete all the stations. Next time, fore sure... And as they say at Seder, "Next year in Jerusalem".

Vive les Octapeds!

I just stole this video from Alex over at Vitus Speaks. It's French, fabulously entertaining, and... stars a couple of love-struck octopuses! Is there anything better than that?!

And of course, I would be remiss to not to use this chance to encourage you all to support our team, The Octapeds for Langerhans. We'll be walking in support of our friend, Dr. Becky Houck on March 8th, in Santa Monica, CA, as we raise money for the Lustgarten Foundation, a non-profit that sponsors pancreatic cancer research and supports people suffering from pancreatic cancer. Of course, if you'll be in the area, we'd love for you to join our team!

And now, without further ado... Oktapodi!