Church Chat

I went to church this morning for the first time in too long.

But the church I went to was not of my current denomination (United Church of Christ), nor of the denomination I was raised in (Catholic...which is sort of like an ethnicity...even if you no longer practice Catholicism, it is still a major part of you. I went to a Catholic Mass in Ramallah, completely in Arabic, and still understood most everything).

But no, this church I attended this morning was the Kaarli Kirik, a Lutheran church, which is the denomination of my mother's family and a church I have attended on many occassions.

But the Lutheran service is far less regularized than a Catholic Mass, and this service was in an Evangelical Lutheran church.

And it was entirely in Estonian.

So it was different.

I learned a couple of things.

First, I do not speak Estonian well enough to know the Lord's Prayer in Estonian.

However, I do speak Estonian well enough to find it quickly in the hymnal so that I could read it while everyone else said it from memory. I also know it well enough to find the Apostle's Creed, which is much harder in my opinion, and even to sing along with the hymns if I already knew the tune. AND to find the hymn not listed on the sign that was added later when they told us the number during the service.

So I will consider it a success.

In other news, it will come as no surprise to either of my Estonian teachers (or probably anyone who has known me more than five minutes) that I speak fluent dog park.

Noostie and I went to the park again today, and today, two children without a dog were playing in the park. The girl was maybe 9, the boy about 5 I'd guess.

I explained to them that Noostie did not understand Estonian (this was necessary because she was completely unresponsive to the boy calling her Koer! over and over.)

I also explained that her name is Noost-IE, not Noost-IK (which is some sort of sponge in Estonian).

The girl finally asked if Noostie understood English. I said yes, and she said, I am studying English (in Estonian). Then she looked at Noostie and said "dog."

Which is exactly the same thing that happened in Jerusalem. Because I speak fluent dog park Hebrew too.