Taize Rotterdam Day 1: The Welcoming

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

This is it!

This is the day which i already expected since months, well 9 months exactly. I remember, after i came home from the wonderful time of preparation and the meeting itself in Manila, i really really want to experience what it feels to be in European Meeting.  To be in the middle of thousands young people, to meet, share, and pray together. Wowh! It's not because the meeting in Manila "only" attended by around 5000 young people, but maybe because i just addicted. Well, i think it's normal since i've met a lot of people who "addicted to Taize-thing".

After seven hours exhausting-coach journey from Manchester to London, plus nine hours another-long-exhausting-coach journey from London to Rotterdam really made me total tired. Well, it's a night bus so either you like it or not, you have to sleep in the bus which is i found out difficult to have a deep-sleep since the bus always stop for border check which is quite unusual. But that's ok because that's my first time to cross the English Channel by a ferry! Dover to Calais, YEAY!

Teamed up with the other British fellows who want to join the meeting as well, our bus arrived in Rotterdam Centraal two hours behind the schedule, which is 4am in the morning. Later we found out that we have to wait until the city of Rotterdam wake up on 6am from their sleep then we can use their transportation service to go to Welcome Point.

Quickly we teamed up with the French pilgrims, we headed to the Welcome Point by the metro. The one of the advantages to travel by group is to help each other, especially in the strange country early in the morning with all the signs in DUTCH. Yeah i just remembered, i'm in the Netherlands already! But with a good teamwork even most of us just have met nine hours ago, we made it to the Welcome Point in some part of Rotterdam. Welcomed by the infamous yellow-Taize-signs and the warm-and-full-of-smile welcome by the volunteers, suddenly i feel like home. Even Brother Matthew who greeted us told me in one point, "ah, you're the Indonesian boy! Come come, we were expecting you". Wowh, it's so Taize! Suddenly i remembered the time when the first time i came to the hill, after a very-very-long 24 hours journey, starving-exhausted-wet,  Brother Jean-Patrick welcomed me with a very warm smile.

The welcoming starts, and it seems we are the first English speakers who came in that day (of course, it's 6am in the morning!) since the volunteers still finding out their shape of how to welcome the pilgrims. But later on, we've got our meal tickets, the amazing MRT card with Taize sign printed on it, work sheet (i've got a circulation team for midday meal distribution), and a very - very wide map of Rotterdam, plus a sheet of how-to-go-to-our-host-church. I found out from our accidentally-British-group, we split up into two host churches. So me and the other fellow British pilgrims finding our way to go to our host church, a place where we will stay for the next five days. Yeay!

This is so much fun! Finding the way to go somewhere in a strange city, with a foreign language in every sign and announcement. The only help is the spelling names on our map and we have to match it because we don't know how to pronounce it correctly. I just keep telling to myself that; i survived in Japan, which they even didn't put Latin alphabet on almost anything! After a metro and a bus, we found out that our church is exactly on the side of the road. I was like, "ooooh it's too easy! i want more challenge!" ;p

After justified by a Taize-sign on the bus stop, we're heading to our host church. In the church, one guy with a camera - turn out to be their priest, greeted us with a very very warm welcome. Then we were being introduced to the other church members, which some of them are organizing the host family for the pilgrims in their parish. Later on, they welcomed us by things which us Britons already craving out since early in the morning; tea, coffee, and biscuits!

My pilgrimage on that day to the bed turns out to be not that easy as i expected before. When my fellow friends one by one already sent to their host family, I have to wait like another two hour until they gave me my host family. One thing  that i like about anything related to Taize is, everyone who participated is really really nice, kind, and warm-hearted so it's way too easy for me to make friends just to begin only with smile and eye contact. Around 12 in the afternoon, finally they sent me and another Slovenian pilgrim to our host family. The son of our family picked us up in the church and showed us the way to his home.

Apparently, our host family is originally from Eritrea. Seems to be that i'm the only person in the world who never heard about that country before. Anyway, he stays with his mother and his younger sister. The children can speak english very good, but not their mother. But it's not a problem since i have a good Tarzan-language. The interesting thing is, when the mother always answering me in Dutch, i found out that there's some of Dutch words which is have exact the same of the pronunciation and the meaning. Interesting!

After a nice conversation of getting know each other with a nice tea and biscuit, finally i can have a proper deep sleep even it's only one hour and a half. Go back to the church and teamed up with the other pilgrims to go to the main venue, Ahoy. Apparently, my host church is not that far to Ahoy, it's only two bus stop and we're there!

This is it! This is the moment when i always watch in the Taize-video (even for hundred times during my time in Manila!) and i always whispering myself that someday i'll be one of them! The moment of thousands of young pilgrims walking together to one direction! And this time i'm really being one of them! In the Taize-videos also showed that in the main venue there must be a giant poster about the European Meeting. But this time, it's on giant screen on the main venue! W.O.W.

Queuing up for the meal distribution, then had my first-simple-meal-package-Taize-style; two breads, cheddars, cold meats, an apple, and a bean-soup in a tin. Had a quick dinner in purpose, i headed to the prayer hall because i want to sit in the front as close as possible to the brothers. So i pick this one nice spot next to the one young seems-to-be nice boy. And quickly we had a very nice conversation, which turns out that he already go to Taize since he was a little kid and this is his first European Meeting because he's just turns out 17 years old and he's very happy for that! Now i regret my self not to ask his contact email/facebook/whatever because he's really nice young boy!

In the middle of our conversation, someone poke me from behind. It turns out to be Br. Jean-Patrick! With a wide surprised-smile he asked me such questions like, "Timo, what are you doing here?? How did you ended up here??" and i was just like "I don't know, you tell me, brother!". Ahahaha! But seems that he's in the middle of something so we had a very quick conversation and catching up each other. After that, i saw Br. Andreas walking across the hall. I ran to him and hugged him! He was like laughing and i said to him, "Brother, i am here!" then he replied "Yes i can see that! So the pilgrimage continues, huh?". Again, he's in the middle of something, well he ALWAYS in the middle of something! So i back to my nice spot and waited for the prayer to begins.

Then the choir leaded up the opening song and suddenly these several thousands young people joined the singing, and i had a goosebumps all over my body. It's...BEAUTIFUL! Especially the moment of silence, WOW around 30.000 young people in silence for 5-8 minutes. Indeed, beautiful!

The prayer continued with a prayer around the cross, as always in every meeting i guess. As i've expected and experienced, many many many people queueing up to pray around the cross. But i'd prefer to stay in my spot and continue to sing. Then until one point i saw this brother going out from the brothers' place and went to the sacristy. Quickly i ran to him until he saw me, but he just ran away from me! Haha! Finally i've got him and i hugged him, my long-lost brother Andre! We had a nice conversation in the sacristy and catching up each other, until i realize this is the time i should go back to my host church to attend the animators meeting.

After had a quick meeting of the animators, i'm going home and i'm really really exhausted. But i had so much fun!