Another First: Mass auf Deutsch

Well, as the title reads, today Matthew and I went to our first German Mass--at St. Hedwig's Kathedrale, the oldest Catholic church in Berlin--and it was a fascinating experience. Actually, I got the chance to go to Confession in German, which only made things more interesting lol! The Mass was intense, partially because there was no missalette with an order of the Mass in it and because we were constantly flipping through the songbooks trying to figure out where everyone else was (they made no announcements about page numbers, but they had this number board, which was confusing and impossible for visitors, or at least us, to follow). Also, there was a nice but very tall German man to my right, who sang loudly and harshly as he towered over me. But to cap off the intensity, at the end of Mass, the organ began to play, and it was none other than a Bach piece in G minor... Matthew and I looked at each other and tried to contain our laughter. It was perfect, and so, so German. :)

I didn't take this picture, and St. Hedwig's currently has some construction site in front, but with its large, circular design, this is the cathedral where we went to Mass.

We went to an evening Mass, but beforehand Matthew and I had gone to our favorite store, Kaufland, again, in order to buy groceries through Wednesday. After that, I grabbed an Imbiss (snack) from the bakery and deli area of the store, which I ate there. I had my second Boulette, a hamburger patty, with mustard and potato salad--along with Currywurst and Döner Kebabs, Boulette are a very common Berliner treat. So, other than grocery shopping and Mass, we just hung out, and then about three hours ago we met up with everyone else in our group to sit around and chat.

The group is now back out at the Karneval der Kulturen, but I, completely exhausted and hoping to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the FUBiS orientation tomorrow, decided to stay in, make a blog post, and then go to sleep.

Bis morgen

-Monika