A sad homecoming and some photos.

Sorry to have taken a long time to post anything again. Sadly I had to quickly come home from Poland when I heard that my dad was very near death. I knew that he was very ill and had visited with my family just before I left but we did not expect the end so quickly. I was with him just before he died talked over the funeral arrangements with with my sister and brother in law just afterwards.

So that's the sad homecoming - now the photos. A number of people complained that I did not have any photos in my first post so here are some.

Monastery Chapel

In the attic. I find it a very warm space because of the wood interior

which seems very popular in Poland

My Language School.

A small school and for that reason has a nice family feel.

My Local Train Station.

The Language School is 4 stops / 14 minutes away.

My Room in the Monastery.

Behind the balcony guarded by Blessed John Paul II. The Polish says - I am with you.

First Impressions.

As usual I left the packing far too late and had to rush around at the last minute in a even greater panic than usual when I realised that the case was too heavy. I made a lot of last minute decisons about what to bring, some of which now seem very eccentric!

There are ten priests in this Community of varying ages. Ironically I have had very little contact with the Hospital Chaplain who was supposed to look after me but the others have been very welcoming. We communicate mostly in Polish although there is one priest who speaks very good English. Another older priest speaks to me in a mixture of Polish, English and German. The first two are fine but sadly I don't speak German! They seem to take the fact that I am married in their stride. It is good to concelebrate mass with other priests every morning.

The Community urge me to watch Polish TV to help my understanding. I have watched two programmes on a Catholic Station. In both of them unsmiling priests in cassocks asked a distinguished guest serious questions about Polish culture and identity. I was fascinated but also a bit scared.

There are three students in my language class, the others are from Holland and France. In contrast to our custom in my Birmingham Class we speak only in Polish whuich is a good thing but very tiring.

There are still flags and pictures around from the beatification of John Paul II including a large banner on the balcony outside my room. This would be disturbing for anyone who is not an admirer of his. Fortunately I am!