It started off with me sleeping through two alarms, and waking up less than half an hour before we were supposed to leave for mass. Apparently I wasn't the only one who over slept 'cause I was the first one up and ready to go. We walked to the cathedral at 7:30am in the brisk but very pleasant fresh air. There were tons of people there! Inside the cathedral was packed from wall to wall, and people were more than 10 deep surrounding the whole cathedral! I was very surprised to see so many people there, but then again, it's the most celebrated christian holiday in Lithuania, so I shouldn't have been too surprised. I wore gauchos today 'cause I wasn't about to wear jeans to church on Easter (even though that's what most people were wearing), so by the time the service ended a little after 9am, I was a little chilly.
We came back here for breakfast, which was more like an early lunch. Before eating we each chose a hard boiled egg (from the ones Jovita and I had decorated on Saturday) and then hit the ends of the eggs together. The person whose egg is the last to break (or the ends never break) is the winner.
I went to the pentecostal church I've been attending for the service t 11am. It was a full house there too, but there were still a few empty seats, not at all like the catholic church. We sang for the first half an hour, and then for the next 50 minutes people gave short performances related to Easter. The sermon was one of the shortest I've heard there, and after that there were several prayers, and they recognized the pastors' 15 years of service to that church. My host family picked me up at 1pm, so I couldn't stay for the tea time after the service.
We spent the afternoon in Kediniai with Jovita's extended family. They were all very nice to me, and amazed at how much I could understand of what was going on and what conversations were about. There were about 10 relatives who showed up that I hadn't yet met, and three of them were kids!! After eating a meal almost everyone went outside and played the egg game. You roll an egg down a slope, and if it hits another egg, you get both eggs. The goal is to collect all of the eggs. It was fun! I ended up playing for about 2 hours!! The last hour or so was with the kids, and the rules kept changing. We finally had to stop because the eggs were getting very cracked, and pieces of hard boiled egg were all over the ground.
Jovita's sister's family came to Panevezys last night to visit other family, so they gave Jokubas and me a ride back to the house.
It was a good day!
I slept OK last night, but not long enough. Today I'm finishing up things I wanted to do over the break. It's a gorgeous day, so I've been outside, and shortly I'll go back out there to just relax and read!!
Tomorrow it's back to school.
I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend!! I'd love to hear all about what you did!
Love and Hugs,
Naomi
5 comments:
We played the egg roll game here, too (and will for the next week!). Have you found the painted wooden eggs? That's what we use. They've lasted for years! Maybe you can come over this summer and play with us. We promise not to change the rules.
-Ruth Anne
Yep, I bought a bunch of the painted wooden eggs!!
How fun! I'm so happy you got to be apart of what sounds like some fun traditions! How were the eggs decorated? like painted, or Ukrainian style with wax and dye and such. or American style with stickers and junk :P. hehe
I hope going back to school was fun!
The next time I go to school I'll be going for one of my midterms. ewwww. Wish me luck!
xoxo
oh yeah -- remember to keep us updated with choir updates kk?
tata!
We decorated eggs with onion skins, flowers, and strong dye. Most of them turned out very nice!
so did the onion skins and flowers serve as a dye then?
Anyway, I can't wait to talk to you soon now that my midterms are OVER!!!!!
Post a Comment