Montag, 30. Mai 2016

Review of a busy week

Tuesday

German lesson: We met again the guy from Ecuador and spent one hour together to practis 
e speaking German by playing games and drinking tea. Afterwards we invited him for our middayprayer at home and for lunch. Also Silvia a German girl living in Zürich and who already was in Taizé for several times joined us.

Preparing bibles for confirmands: The pastor of Birmensdorf asked us to help the librarian to wrap the bibles in special plastic to protect them. The bibles will be a present for the new confirmads who start their year of lessons for the confirmation next month.

Taize prayer in Schlieren: We were invited by the pastor of the neighbourhood parish named Schlieren to join their evening prayer with Taize songs. We created carpools with 10 people from Birmensdorf and drove to Schlieren. We prayed togehter for one hour and the pastor supported the singing with her guitar play. It was a nice coming together and we had good conversations and a nice finish with some tea and cookies. It was kind of a prayer intership because the week before they came to the Taize prayer in Birmensdorf and the people from Schlieren were happy to show us their new church which they had to build because of more and more church visitors.

Wednesday

Lunch with our pastor in Birmensdorf: We enjoyed the delicious food and his warm welcome in his nice old house. After eating we  prepared  the service in the old people`s home where we helped in the next morning. In between we had very good conversations especially about Taize and about people who inspired him in his life - most important is br. Roger. Many years ago he also has been permanent in Taize and also travelled in dieffernt countries for Taize.

Meeting with an immigrant from Afganistan who lives in Zürich for already 4 years. Maxie met the young guy for a second time to help him with his Engllish which he needs for an apprenticeship. They also talked about his life story and the situation in Afghanistan and in Switzerland, the lifestyle and so on. One sentence which made her thoughtful was: " I think people in Afghanistan are happier in life than in Switzerland, eventhough there is war !"

Helping in the garden of our host family, common prayer in the reformed church of Birmensdorf and helping with "Food Waste"the project of Silvia.

 

Thursday

Praying with the residents of the old people`s home in Birmensdorf: The ecumencial service that takes place once in a month is a beautiful offering for all the old people who are not able to come to church on sunday anymore. For this time the pastor invited us to help in the service which was under the theme of Pentecost. We were reading the lecture and the intercessions. We supported in singing and we passed two ceramical doves to every person that they could touch and whatch it. The biggest challenge for us was to understand the sermon in swiss german :) - we tried our best and we recognized that after three weeks in Switzerland we get more and more into this difficult dialect.
After the last song in the service we gathered around a big table for some coffee. We had good talks with people of this facility and we hope to come back to meet with one or the other person again.


Adventure time at the edge of the forest: We met the youth worker Thomas of the reformed church of Urdorf and together with him and his youth group of around 15 fifth grade kids made a little hike to the  forest of Urdorf. In our luggage we carried some saws, old canvases, an axe, some firewood and a guitar up the hill and soon we found a nice fireplace. Before we searched for more firewood and sticks to make twist bread, we explaned the children a bit about Taize. Together with the guitar play of Marlen we taught them as well two Taize songs and had a nice atmosphere at the fireplace.



We concluded the day with an evening prayer in the reformed church of Birmensdorf and with a tea-time afterwards as it became our tradition. It is amazing that we have this possibility to organise these prayers on many evenings in our week and to share our praying with the people from the parish. It is always a highlight in our daily life here in Birmensdorf.

Friday

Hiking around the lake of Zürich with a beautiful view on the Alpes: We met at 9 o`clock in the morning with an elderly couple from Birmensdorf and two more women who are part of the group which organized our stay in Birmensdorf. Soon we found out that we all are enthusiastic hikers and that we picked the perfect day to make this day trip. We walked alternating through little woods, across fields or through small towns around the lake of Zürich. Great nature!



Prayer with Taize songs in the Krypta of the Grossmünster in Zürich. As in our first week we participated in the Taize prayer and enjoyed the nice meeting afterwords with swiss cheese and other snacks to end the day. Also Silvia joined us and Michael who was permanent aswell and lived several months in the fraternity in Brazil.



 Saturday

Trip with kids of catechesis to a bible museum: By bus and ferry we went to Meersburg (Germany) and visited the bibel museum. It is an interactive museum for kids where they can discover the bible and its stories. All of them printed psalm 23 in the old style of letterpress and felt like Gutenberg.
In the evening we helped working in the garden of our host family and played with their children.

Sunday

Excursion with the parish to Castrisch /Bündner Land: With members of the parish we went in two mini buses to the twin parish of Birmensdorf: Castrisch. After three hours of driving we were invited for coffee and croissants of our hosts. Together we joined the service where we had the chance to listen to Rhaeto-Romance language, which is only spoken in this region. A very well sounding choir enriched the service in this old church in the mountains. For lunch we had a little barbecue (sadly inside because it was raining) and our hosts offered a huge amount of selfmade cakes. When the clouds were gone we visited the region and went to a viewpoint from which we had an amazing view on the mountains and the overwhelming gorge with its rapid river flowing in the middle. Still there are wolfs living in this region!
We were happy that also the Omar from Ecuador joined us for the tour. He had the chance to get to know the parish.

 

 

Monday

Walk with inhabitants of the old people's house: Every Monday some carers and voluteers go for a walk with old people in wheelchairs. They are too weak to walk by themselves so they are happy and thankful to get company and help. It is nice to see how easy you can give some joy to people.

German lesson for refugees: Like last Monday we went to Urdorf and joined the German lesson for some young male refugees. It is amazing to see their entuthiasm and motivation to learn a foreign language in a country where they speak mainly in dialect. This time we worked also in pairs to practise phrases. Again it was a comfortable, nice and relaxed atmosphere.



Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen