Okay, Maybe I Don't *Totally* Fail At Life - Editied Version

I went.

I saw.

I sneezed.

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....

Um...apparently all the incense gives me a headache and sneezies.

Other than that, no disasters! :)

Unfortunately, the entire service was in Serbian(?) Slavonic(?) - not English. So I understood *nothing*.

The people were polite, no one stared, that I noticed. I didn't trip any old ladies accidentally, or trip over my own feet and take down an icon or anything.

Communion...I sort of didn't even realized it had happened, because only four people received. This is in retrospect. Now that I think about it, the thing at the very end, where everyone went up and took a piece of bread from a bowl and the priest blessed them (I think, again, not in English) was likely *not* Communion, as I assumed at the time, but just people taking blessed bread and getting a blessing. So...I could have gone up? But I thought it was the actual Communion, so I didn't.

It's a very small church. Very small. It was kind of weird not being crushed into a pew, but nice.

*Because* of the headache, I didn't hang around for the coffee hour. Plus, I don't drink coffee.

So. A success, all in all.

I enjoyed the service, it was very interesting. Just from what I've read and listened to (Ancient Faith Radio, for the win) I had a general idea of what was going on, generally. Still, understanding the language would have helped. :)

Oh, also, the Ukranian Catholic Church is right on the other corner from the Serbian Orthodox Church. *So* glad I got there early, because the church I drove by on Friday was actually the Ukranian church! I got there, and there was a fire truck and ambulance in the parking lot, and I circled, and realized that the church didn't quite look right, and then I saw the right church across the street!

Hah!

Edited to include stuff I left out earlier: I really left a lot out. Like, I thought it was neat that the church was set up with half chairs, half empty space. So the people who wanted to, and could, stand through the whole service had space. And those of us who wanted to be able to sit could do so out of their way. And how, even though it wound up being an hour and a half long, with most of it standing, you don't really realize it. How nice it was that no one was talking under/over the priest or the choir. No musical instruments! The whole service was chanted! The priest had a lovely, strong voice which was pleasant to listen to, even not knowing what was being said. Everyone was dressed nicely! Most of the men were wearing suits! Not a single tank top or pair of blue jeans! No flip flops either! 99% of the women wore skirts, and the ones who didn't were wearing nice slacks. The two women who received Communion covered their hair!