STRETKO v Dubline

Po konferencii v Severnom Irsku - dalsia nova a pekna skusenost - ludkovia (Slovaci) v Dubline!! Cloveku je hned veselsie okolo srdca, ked par spriaznenych dusi postretne! Ej veru tak je! Dokonca aj nedele su potom akymsi cinom slnecnejsie, coz je dobre hlavne pre kohosi ako som ja... "svieti slnko, hm, fajn, pojdem do mesta" versus "hm, dnes prsi, do mesta sa nejde..." :-)

V nedelu 22. juna som bola prvykrat na slovenskej sv. Omsi. O tyzden nato, na Sv. Petra a Pavla, opat. Tieto fotky su z 29. juna (by the way, den finale UEFA, Spanielsko - Nemecko :-))

"Su Slovenky ako skala dokonale" - vsak?

ladies christian conference -B/W NORTH and SOUTH

my SHORTEST EVER visit to the UK - DoWnPaTrIcK

June 19th 2008, Thursday. Allarm gone off at 5:30am (I was wishing for more sleep as it wasn't long before that I went to bed that night - sorry - morning), quick shower, quick cup of tea, some food prep done for my trip and then - gone to the bus station, heading to the airport. Aircoach was actually pretty much on time, only have waited for 10 minutes, and I made in to he airport in perfect time - even 5 minutes before our scheduled appointment with my 2 priest-friends at 7:30am. And this is how our day started. Journey was lovely, as was the morning and - we had "brilliant" time!! :-)

Vo stvrtok 19. juna som bola na mojej najkratsej (doteraz) navsteve v Spojenom Kralovstve - v Severnom Irsku. Den sa zacal skoro (o pol siestej rano - joj, ako sami este chcelo pospat, lebo do postele som sla az okolo pol druhej - sa mi nechcelo spat...), ale stalo to za to - o pol osmej som uz bola na letisku, kde sme mali zraz - Erik, otec John a ja - a kratko po pol osmej sme uz frcali dialnicou M1 hore smerom na sever, do mesta zvaneho Downpatrick, kde je pochovany Sv. Patrik. Den bol krasny uz od rana :-)

Arrived to Downpartick, Co. Down, having realized only shortly beforehand that we, indeed, were in Nothern Ireland already. 't was a nice "wee" surprise, as I have never been to NI before, nor was Fr. John, so - that was cool... Country side, roads and even villages and little towns were "brilliant". Or shall I just say - lovely?

The three of us, on our way up thill, to visit the graveyard.

Once in Downpatrick, we parked by St. Patrick's Centre, had a cup of tea and a nice wee breakfast in their Caffee, and then went on for a nice wee tour - following in St. Patrick's footsteps, listening to the story of his life, and enjoying a very well done A/V presentation and a very interesting i-max movie about his legacy. I-max was cool... Or, shall I say "brilliant"?? :-) Afterwards we went up this nice wee hill, to visit St. Patrick's grave, and to pray for our close onew, and also for the whole of Ireland (who did so well in that recent referendum I mentioned a few entries before). The sun was up and high, the skies were up and blue and we were up and happy (or at least so was I!!) to be there...

Ked sme dosli, zaparkovali sme pri Centre Sv. Patrika, naranajkovali sa v jeho kaviarnicke, a vybrali sme sa na "turu" po jeho slapajach - audiovizualna vyprava do minulosti a musim podotknut ze to bolo velmi dobre spracovane... Sranda - boli sme aj na mini filme - I-MAX (trojdimenzionalne prevedenie), ktore malo predstavit dedicstvo Sv. Patrika v Irsku. Citili sme sa akoby sme leteli helikopterou ponad jazera a hory (ci mini-hory) Irska, a ono to tak aj skutocne vyzeralo - normalne sami aj hlava sem-tam zakrutila... Bolo to super!

St. Patrick's Grave stone. Very simple. Quite big. Nahrobny kamen na hrobe Sv. Patrka. Jednoduchy. A poriadne tazky...

This is me (obviously...), with behind a Church of Ireland (C of I) church by which there is St. Patrick's grave. Lovely weather, was it? Toto som ja na ulici s v pozadi kostolom (neviem ktoreho svateho - bola to Irska cirkev, neviem ci ich pomenuvaju - myslim ze ano ale nemala som sa ako dozvediet ze ako sa volala)

The Saul Church, C of I now. Saulov Kostol - jedno z miest o ktorych sa domnievaju ze tam Patrik pristal (nedaleko je zaliv) ked prisiel evanjelizovat Irsko.
By the Saul Church, with countryside around and a sea-shore behind. V pozadi (len velmi malinko) zaliv kde mala pristat lod so Sv. Patrikom ked prisiel na misiu na ostrov.

Afterwards a short de-tour to visit a Saul Church, one of many places St. Patrick is supposed to have arrived when returning to evangelize the island of Ireland many many years ago. Afterwards we took off, had a lovely wee lunch in a town of.... hm, I forget, and returned to Dublin later in the afternoon. Went down town, had a pint of beer and a hint of song in a wee pub in Temple Bar area, and then a bite of hot chicken wings in yet another pub, before we said our good byes and returned to our dwellign places - me to my wee little cottage and my friends to their wee little B&B, from where they were to leave the following morning.
And THAT was my shortest ever visit to the United Kingdom (and Northern Ireland as such), but - one more time - quantity was not what made it so special and so great (and so "brilliant" again :-). It was the company of friends and of Saints instead...

ERIK in town :-)

Ahaho - kamarata mojho!!! Toto je (ako je mnohym zname, z cias mojich rimskych studii) Erik, spoluziak z Gregoriany, na navsteve v Irsku - Dubline... No super!!! Posledny krat co sme sa videli bolo v Rime, v roku 2004, cize pred 4mi rokmi... Vobec sa nezmenil (navonok - len trochu kratsie vlasy ma - a ani zvnutra - stary "dobry Erik cislo 2" :-))

Stretli sme sa v stredu 18-ho juna, zasli na veceru do talianskej resticocky, porozpravali, podelili sa, a naspat sa vybrali, pretoze na nasledujuce rano - toho 19ho juna - nas cakal vylet k hrobu Sv. Patrika...

Som velmi rada ze sme sa stretli.

Clovek nema vela priatelov, a ani ja nie som vynimka, ale tycho ktorych ma si ceni nad zlato. A tak aj ja.

Time is a healer, they say (and I am very happy about it and give testimony to it, too - yes, with time all bad and sad things fade, and only good memories stay), and everything changes and passes. Except - friendships. Well, I say, it is true. And proven.

Wednesday 18th of June 2008 I had a pleasure of meeting an old friend of mine, from times long gone (times of studies, back in Rome, in the 90s of the last century... sounds almost "ancient" indeed!!!), (Fr.) Erik from Arkansas. Who would have ever guessed that Dublin will be the place where we once meet... Noone probably. Well, we did and I am so very happy about it!

Short it might have been, but quality, as you all will well know, is not dependend on quantity, and this reunion of two classmates from two very different parts of the world, was a perfect proof of it!

Took a short walk, got a big old Italian dinner, had a good old chat and it was just so good. God is good, you know? He is. For letting us meet his special people. For giving us his little big gifts. For making our rainy days brighter and warmer and more human (and divine!)

LISBON TREATY - non-treaty...

Before I forget - there was a REFERENDUM over here in Ireland, just a week ago (June 12th 2008) regarding this "famous" Lisbon Treaty (a.k.a. "European Constitution under-cover" I'd call it, as it is nothing else but "it"!), AND - surprisingly (or maybe not all that surprisingly after all???) it's outcome was a large "NO" - the Irish decided against it (just as, 2 years ago, though it held different name then... did the French and the Dutch, too).
Is it not strange - religious belief in ressurection is often (and more and more) looked down upon and ridiculed, and wanted to be put out of people's minds (or at least out of public affairs etc.) and/but - here we go (went) once again - "it was dead but it rose again" or something like that could be said about the Constitution really. Or??
Post-Lisbon-Treaty atmosphere here in Ireland (or better, in Europe?) is... really only a "pre-something-else-Treaty", I suppose. And, as they said on TV this morning - the Irish will be asked to vote until they will have said "yes" to it... not fair! Not fair at all...
And so - though all this could be just a poor attempt of mine to "comment" on what was/is going on around here, it surely is to mark this event and to retain it (just in case, you know, for in "2-3-years-time-campaign" [or maybe even sooner?]). Hence - the picture (for, "seeing" they say, "is believing" - - - )

Hovorim ze predtym ako na to uplne zabudnem (a predtym ako budu vsetky putace odstranene z ulic) so este chcela, hoci neskor, "zdokumentovat" to co sa tu - v Irsku - udialo minuly tyzden - 12. juna 2008. Referendum o Lisbonskej zmluve. Jedine na uzemi statov EU. Iri sa rozhodli a vyslovili proti (kiezby sme boli mali tu isu moznost aj my na Slovensku - hoci - ktohovie ako by to bolo byvalo dopadlo tam, vsakze ano? Mozno by som sa musela aj hambit...). Akokolvek - tu to je, fotka to potvrdzuje a ked sa opat bude niekedy hovorit o ratifikacii davno zosnulej (tak sme si mysleli, ale - treba byt pragmaticki - preco by eurposki politici mali drzat slovo a dohody, ked to miestni politici nerobia, alebo len velmi zriedka) a predivne z popola sa pozdvihnuvsej Europskej Ustave alias Lisabonskej zmluve alias - "na mene nezalezi, a ani na veku" - tak sa budem mat na co pozriet a povedat si - nie nesnivas, je to opat - tu...
Ahojte doma!!!

fare well AND baby shower PARTY

On Saturday, June 14th, there was a party time at Dal Riada Centre... Yeah... Sam and Rita are to have their first baby on August 4th, and Liz and Cheska are about to return to their home countries - Liz to the USA, and Cheska to Philippines. So, to celebrate the coming and going, Anne-Maree and Rachel (they are just so great!!!) organized this fare well and welcome party. I was struggling with a slight headache in the morning, but then managed to go, and I don't regret it. It was simply - FUN!!!

V Sobotu 14. juna sme mali v Centre taku mini-party. Bolo to pre Ritu a Sama, a ich babo (ma sa narodit 4. augusta) no a potom pre dalsie dve slecny - Liz a Chesku - ktore z Dublina odchadzaju a vracaju sa domov - jedna do USA (Liz) a druha na Filipiny (Cheska). Rachel a Anne-Maree to vsetko pekne zorganizovali, a my ostatni sme sa pekne pozabavali. Bola sranda, mini kvizy a preteky v prebalovani (kedze nebolo novorodenca, prebaloval sa maco - mozno nic strasneho, nuz tak, prebaloval sa maco ale - poslepiacky), alebo v odhade obvodu Ritinho bruska (nas tim absolutne prehral, odhadli sme ju na asi 15o cm obvodu, coz je ozaj trosku privela... Ale - som pocuvala co ames hovoril a on uz ma synatora, tak sme sa spolahli ze ma v tom prehlad). Je tu par fotiek, tak si ich pokukajte. Ahoooooj!

From R to L: Lucia (me!), Cheska, Sam, Rita, Rachel with little Marian, Anne-Maree, Liz with little Andrew, and James with Wendy. Nice gang, are we? Here the mama Rachel with her firstborn Marian, and auntie Liz with her nephew, little...
And here a proud father, James with his firsborn son, little who? Little Andrew :-)

:-) navsteva

V nedelu 8. juna (tiez na Medarda) priletela do Dublina kolegyna mojej sestry Palky Janka K. Bola som po nu na letisku a potom som ju nasadila na bus do jedneho juhoirskeho mestecka. Pobudla tam tyzden a v piatok 13. juna sa vratila do Dublina, odkial mala rano v sobotu (let o 5:55am, t.j. na letisku trebalo byt dve hodinky dopredu) odletiet domov na Slovensko.

Bola to kratka navsteva, ale bola som rada, pretoze aj malo je viac ako nic, a kazdy zavan domova mi tu len dobre padne. A Janka je rapotacka, tak aj to bolo dobre, lebo sme si pokvakali :-)

Takze - tu je par fotiek...

I had a visitor from home. My sister's coleague from work, Janka K. Did not stay long, but I had a good time anyway, as any visit and any kind word in my mother language is appreciated in this foreign country. All who experienced it, will understand...

STRETKO neSTreTKo :-)

No tak - v nedelu 8. juna (na Medarda... ale ziadna kvapka nekvapkala, tak tu hadam budeme mat nadalej pekne a slnecno - aspon teda v ramci moznosti) som sa konecne primala k tomu aby som skocila pozriet na slovensku Omsu... Nuz, hej, primat som sa primala, a l e - ona bola omsicka prave v tuto nedelu presunuta na 3pm (zo zvycajnej 5pm) - no s k o d a, nie?
Akokolvek, nebolo to vsetko "nadarmo", pretoze som stretla zopar kon-slovakov, a po omsicke u karmelitanov som bola na mini veceri s kamaratkou Zuzanou (ktora je tu v Irsku uz zopar peknych rokov) - bolo dobre a som rada... Tak teda - zatial sa majte, a do skoreho "citania"!