Days 8 & 9, "The days I forgot to write"

I didn't write anything in Lyon so these two days are being postdated and combined. We left Taize on the 31st of May, or Day 8. In the morning I had my last meal in silence (sans chocolate) and then the Eucharist. At the service there were probably close to 2,000 folks there (people flocked in since it was Pentecost) and it took less than an hour and a half (a full service and 2,000ish communed in an hour and a half!). The service was beautiful.
For our trip to Lyon we chartered a bus to pick us up and drop us off at the hotel. The bus was a full on Peter Pan sized bus and there were nine of us, it was quite ridiculous to say the least. When we got to Lyon we discovered it is much like Boston in that we could see our hotel but could not figure out how to get there. The bus also almost got stuck taking a turn. We made it though and checked into our rooms freshened up and then went out to eat. The meal was alright, I remember enjoying it last time more last time I came. I had salmon as an appetizer, and lamb and potatoes as the main dish (the lamb just melted off the bone, it was great), a cheese I didn't particularly enjoy and rum cake I could barely finish.
The next day I stayed around the hotel and train station area, venturing out for crepes and coffee. Later that night there was a showing of Serenity in my room which was enjoyable winding down with some folks that way. It was a nice relaxing day to recuperate and get ready for the next stage of my trip.

Day 7, "The day I laughed at the French concept of 'river'"

I am really digging this silence. I think I need to institute some time for it on a regular basis. Today was the same schedule as yesterday, morning prayer, breakfast, bible introduction, Greek, noonday prayer, lunch, finish Greek, explore France, read theology, dinner, evening prayer. It's a pretty good schedule I think.
Today on my exploration I went in search of a river. I found it and it's more of a stream. I continued on though and walked through some woods for a while. It was really exciting just wandering down this path in the middle of a foreign country, having barely any clue where I was or where I was going and having no one know where I was. At points there was no sights or sounds of humanity except the path I was walking on, made me think about walking out of the woods into the past before modern civilization began to be such a distraction.
I finished Dean Markham's book today, it was alright, I guess it was pretty good as an introduction. I want to read McGrath's though, it seems more in depth. I guess next I'm onto Church History. I'm getting really excited about my calling. I feel it's been a while since that has happened. School seems to drain the passion right out of me. Being here and seeing all these people form all over worshiping together is so revitalizing though. It is an exciting time to be in the church and I'm psyched to be able to devote my all to it.
On a completely unrelated note I was thinking about RIPUL earlier and can't wait to get home and go watch some ultimate games. I miss hanging out with the the guys and with RIUT & post-RIUT folk. I am glad to be away and be doing what I'm doing but I certainly miss that.
I'm sitting on the back porch of the silent house right now with this amazing view of some hills & French country side houses and it's dusk so there are a bunch of bats flying around in front of me. It's quite breathtaking.

Day 6, "The day I giggled"

Today was my first full day of silence, it was great. I almost slept through church though, luckily I heard my neighbor getting ready to leave ten minutes before it began. The morning bible introduction is much better than the one I had been in while still talking. It's a brother reading through maybe five or six verses and talking about them. We're looking at John and his presentation of the Holy Spirit. Today the brother talked about keeping Jesus' commandments, keeping his word, as being creative and not necessarily following a set strict of words.
After lunch I walked out to the train tracks. It was maybe twenty to twenty-five minutes each way. On the way out I only saw one car after I left the road at the bottom of Taize. At times it was like I was the only person alive. The area is so beautiful. Tomorrow I may try walking in another direction.
After I got back I read a good chunk of Dean Markham's book. It's pretty good so far, easy to follow and he puts everything down pretty clearly.
One of the things I have liked about the silence is the clarity it has brought in recognizing the beauty of God's creation and my place in it. Walking along the little road I was giggling at how amazing the world is and how awesome it is that I am going to spend my life working with God's people at recognizing the joy of God's creation.
If I come next year I think it might be good to do a whole week in silence. THere is so much to do here when you're being silent and two days is not enough. Plus it would give me a great opportunity to get my head on straight before being ordained (God willing, the people consenting & the creek don't rise). At the same time that'd be a week of missing out on the community. Both the Taize international community as well as the pilgrims from RI. I have a year to think about it though and it's not even certain I'll be here next year.

Day 5, "The day I stopped talking"

Today was one of those days that seems both very long and yet very short. I was exhausted all morning. I stayed awake through everything (with the exception of a slight doze off for a couple seconds at morning prayer) but it was rough. I took a nap after lunch and woke up just in time for work projects but felt awful beginning them. Today Laura, Raechel and I worked with the same guy I've been working with all week (also found out his name, Hauke) and we checked a bunch of the unassembled tents to see if they needed to be cleaned or repaired (most needed at least one, a bunch needed both). We did this as an effort to begin organizing the storage shed they're kept in. By the end of this I felt much better and fully wake and time has flown by since then.
After that there was a meeting for people thinking about spending the final days here in silence and then a meeting for all the Americans (there's about 20 of us, maybe a few less). I decided to spend the final few days in silence so after dinner I moved all my stuff down to the silent house (it's much nicer than the dorms). Before I did that one of the American girls we met at the American meeting ate dinner with a bunch of the RI group. We talked for a while afterwards and she seemed pretty cool. I realized that she's the first person outside of the the RI group, work group and small group that I've had an actual conversation with.
After evening prayer I came back and settled into the silent house and then walked over to the silent church and took some pictures.

Day 4, "The day I saw a lizard"

I slept in today, I woke up a little before 8. I also was able to stay awake at morning prayer, mostly at noonday prayer (I may have dozed off for less than five seconds) and evening prayer, I even stayed awake for all of the large bible study group. In the small group section we discussed the topic and then one of the members who had just finished reading the bible in 79 days asked me and the group (she wanted to hear what everyone though but was especially interested in my answers since it came out I'm a seminarian) questions about it and I was able to answer them all fairly well.
For work projects we sorted recycling, it was kind of gross digging through the bags (fortunately most only contained recycling, although some had actual trash in them). Afterwards we sat around having tea and snacks and it came out that I was going to be a priest (God willing, the people consenting and the creek don't rise) and one of the permanents in charge of our work group couldn't get his mind around that because of that tattoos.
After Oyak Ian, Raechel and I walked down to the silent church. Iw as hoping to take pictures but there was someone there so I was only able to get some of the outside. It's so amazing in there, the silence is so palpable.
I'm thinking about spending the last two days in silence. It seems like it could be great but I'll be removed from the community somewhat, which is a big draw. I think it won't be so bad though, mainly the people I've gotten to know came on the trip from RI or are leaving tomorrow anyway. There's a meeting about it tomorrow so I'll decide then.
Also, I saw a lizard when I was walking to get some caffeine today. It was pretty small but pretty cool.

Day 3, "The day a nun gave me cake"

I still haven't gotten past the point where I fall asleep everytime I stop and sit down, which makes chapel difficult, hopefully this will change soon.
Overall today was pretty good. The morning bible study groups are a bit of a disappointment in the large groups. The brother is just reading and rephrasing the sermon on the mount. The small group part is going well though.
Work projects are alright, I've been setting up big tents that don't seem to want to go up easily. Today we put one up in the sister's yard so a sister came out and brought us some delicious browning/cake thing coated in coconut.
I still haven't made it to the source or the silent church yet. I've heard the source is basically a make out spot for all the German teenagers here, which is really frustrating. The weather was chilly and somewhat rainy today so I didn't venture out to the Silent Church, maybe tomorrow.

Day 2, "The day the mountains and the sky were the same color"

Today was a good but tiring day. I woke up whenever anyone in the room would get up so the first thing I remember is waking up and looking out the window seeing the gray outline of the mountains against the gray morning sky, it was amazing.
Morning then consisted of chapel, breakfast and then group meetings. My small group is pretty cool. It was a little awkward until we moved slightly off topic talking about the context we each come from (we were talking about the beatitudes and this came up sort of through talking about being blessed when we are persecuted for Jesus' sake, so we talked about how we express our faith in different parts of our lives). After that the group just started to flow.
Then there was noonday prayers followed by lunch. After lunch was work, today we put up a tent, afterwards we had tea and cookies and a Swedish kid in the group informed us all about Rhode Island Sauce (lots of people form Europe knew what it was, not one of the four Rhode Islanders did, it's a gross sounding sauce they put on burgers).
After that I had a long conversation with Patrick about ordained ministry, my call and the diocese, it was really nice.
After evening chapel we hung out at Oyak for a while, had some beer and chocolate. Everyone was still exhausted from travel and jet lag so it was an early night

Traveling & Day 1, "The day the bus never came"

We left Logan at 7pm and finally got to Taize at about the same time the next day local time. A bust was supposed to bring us from Lyon Airport to Taize so we'd arrive at around 1pm but it never showed and we had to take a shuttle to a train station to a bust station so we could bus to Taize arriving six hours behind schedule. We got there though and that's what matters.
After arriving I felt awful until I took a shower and brushed my teeth. After that I felt great and almost made it through all of evening prayer without falling asleep. Starting tomorrow I'll be a contact person for one of the small break away groups from the larger bible study groups and I will work in the afternoons doing 'practical jobs' (assembling tents and such).

Ready, Steady, Go

Well, we are meeting at the bus station in two hours and are taking off in about six hours. Look for pictures and updates sometime after June 2nd. Until then be well.

Middler year, check.

As of roughly an hour ago I have completed everything for this year. I am now a rising senior. Overall I am very unimpressed with my work this semester. There was just something about this semester that sucked the motivation out of me. Hopefully after a summer off I'll be able to come back to school recharged and finish out the year without having that happen again.

One Week

One week from today I will be on a plane headed to France and a little over a week after that it'll be off to London for 3 weeks. I'll be spending a week at Taize, a monastery in southern France, and then I'll be heading up to Canterbury Cathedral to take classes on Anglican Pilgrimage for just over two weeks. After all that I'll be spending five days in London. I'm really excited for it all, but I'm not quite ready to leave the country for a month. But with exams and final papers and packing up/moving out of VA I'll have about a day to get ready before I leave, so it all should work out...