Msza w Niedziela

So for those of you who are like me and don't read Polish, the title reads: Mass on Sunday.  While I'm know to do random things, I didn't decide to start writing in Polish on a whim.  Instead, I decided to go to to Polish Mass on a whim!  Doug was out of town this weekend and I wanted to make sure that I went to a church that would be handing out Epiphany chalk (If you haven't heard of the tradition, read the first few paragraphs of this link: http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2012/01/blessing-of-epiphany-chalk.html).  What better way to do that then by going to a Polish Parish!  It is a mainly Polish tradition after all.  Anyways, when I say Polish, I mean really Polish.  Our Lady of Poland in Silver Spring doesn't offer any English Masses, just Polish and Latin.  When I called the office to get a list of the Masses, the man answered in Polish and it was a bit of a struggle as he used what little English he knew, and I used what little Polish I knew to get the information.

The next morning I headed out for noon Mass.  The two key phrases that I figured would come in the most handy:

Trochę rozumiem po polsku - I only understand a little Polish.

Czy mówisz po angielsku? - Do you speak English?

As soon as I was walking from my car to the church, my little Polish came in handy as I was greeted by an older married couple.

Man - Dzień dobry
Me - (OoOoOo!!!  I know that one!!!)  Dzień dobry, Jak się masz?
Man - Dobrze (and then continues to rattle off something that I don't understand)
Me - Ummmm . . . Nie rozumiem po polsku.  Czy pan mówisz po angielsku?

Thank goodness he spoke English.  After scaring me by telling me that the noon Mass was in Latin (ended up being a joke), I sat with my newly met friend Mark and his wife Judy.  I was able to follow along pretty well with the Polish missal, but I am now 100% sure that reading Polish is WAY harder than listening and speaking.  Probably because I never learned the Polish alphabet . . . Anyways, Mass went smoothly and I understood TWO WHOLE WORDS from the homily!!  (bardzo dobre - very good)

At the end of Mass I got my little bag of chalk, and pieces of the three gifts that had been blessed during Mass.  Mark and Judy invited me to the Christmas lunch that the church was putting on.  It was packed!  There was a chorus of people exclaiming "przepraszam!" (excuse me) in order to be able to move around.  When we found our table, there was a live Nativity scene made up of the children of the parish.

 They did an hour long presentation with stories and songs (all in Polish).  I caught a few words, and recognized a couple Christmas carols that we used to sing at my Grandma's church.  There was also a basket of opłatki (Christmas wafers) on each table.  Each person received a wafer and then went up to other people to share a piece of it.  When someone broke off a piece of your wafer, you're supposed to give them your well wishes for the New Year.  My Polish was not really up for the task so I would receive well wishes from others with a hardy "Dziękuję!" (Thank you) and then get strange looks when I offered them a meek "All the best this year" in English.

Afterwards it was time to eat!  Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a picky eater, and Polish food is either extremely delicious (like pączki and kolachkes) or pretty exotic.  This lunch has a mix of both.  The pierogi (potato dumplings) were quite yummy.  The barszcz-ish drink (it's like a hot beet soup, only it was in a cup rather than a bowl) took some getting used to.

The people at our table were really nice.  A couple of them, including Mark, work at the same university as Doug.  There was another couple after my own heart because the husband is from Poland and the wife is from Lima, Peru!  My brain was so mad at me because I kept making it switch between English, Polish, and Spanish!

After lunch, a few of the children led us in a few more Christmas carols (I sort of knew one of them!) and then it was time to head out.

A few hours later I picked Doug up from the metro station and we took a few minutes to write the Epiphany blessing over our doors.

All of the wooden door frames are painted over white, so we had to come up with a few creative places to write so that it could be seen.

It was definitely a day worth remembering and hopefully I can convince Doug to go back with me every now and then!