Sunday, June 13, 2010

Our Travel

Before our long journey could even begin, Fr. Mitchel and I had to make our way to New York. We spent an afternoon and evening in the Big Apple.

First, we went to the Cathedral of St. Patrick to concelebrate a Mass at 5:30. It is a beautiful cathedral, and I was so excited to be celebrating one of my first Masses there...only to have the main celebrant accidentally consume all of the precious Blood before Fr. Mitchel or I could. So, within the first two weeks of my priesthood, I celebrated an invalid Mass. Fr. Mitchel said this was his first invalid Mass in six years of priesthood. I guess I'm progressing through my priesthood more rapidly than usual.

That night we got to hang out with my awesome friends in New York: Michelle, Jeff, and Hilary. Fr. Mitchel and I had New York pizza and cheesecake with them and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We stayed at a hotel near the airport, which hadn't been updated since at least the 70s. I now have more compassion for my family and friends who I forced to stay at the Ramada Inn for my ordination weekend.

The flight to Dubai was lloonnnggg. Okay, it was just twelve hours, but I can't sleep on planes, so I was conscious all twelve hours. I did get to eat every two hours and watch a few movies, which helped pass the time, increase my weight, and dry out my eyes.

We were in Dubai for only two hours, but we had to get onto the tarmac, and it was quite hot. I looked for the world's tallest building, but the haze was so bad that I couldn't see it. We'll try to get there on our way back, because we have an eighteen hour layover.

Finally, we got on another plane for eight hours to South Africa. Again, I didn't sleep, but I did eat. Emirates is a good way to fly, if you have a long way to go.

After about 24 hours of travel, we arrived in South Africa right as the first game of the World Cup was being played between Mexico and South Africa. We were surprised that there were actually South Africans working, though I'm sure they were upset about missing the game. The South African team scored while we were in the airport, and the whole place erupted with joy.

Daniel Andrew, the paterfamilia of our host family, picked us up and took us back to their. I will tell you more about our awesome hosts later.

Next: the U.S.'s first game. I promise pictures soon.

God Bless,

Fr. Scott

2 comments:

  1. I literally breathed a sigh of relief when I read that they fed you pizza in New York. As it is, I kind of feel like a bad friend for not requiring you to eat a bagel while you were there, too.

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  2. really, invalid? Just because not all priests consumed both species? Seems like that would just be illicit...but I'm no theologian...

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