seriously though, it was fun. and cold. and wet. and tired. when the sun came up, at about 8:00AM (a beautiful sight to me), i began to see dark squares flying all over the place, i was so tired my eyes couldn't properly function for about 10 -15 minutes. or maybe it was an hour. i don't really know.
but, lets start at the beginning.
so, when we got there, it was dusty, crowded, hot, and litter was everywhere. there was very little grass, but there was some kind of itchy hay everywhere.
it sort of made me think of a refugee camp after some kind of huge disaster. a very big disaster, seeing as many different countries flags were waving, everywhere in sight. i wasn't the only one to think that, many news shows and people we talked to said the same thing.
we trudged through the crowds, seeing the sights, cheering when we heard songs, chanting the chants, etc, for what seemed like simultaneously an hour, and no time at all. we found our area, D2, and found some of the other brisbanians who had also got in. they'd made a little makeshift tent type thing. it was pretty cool.
while we were walking, we could see the dust going up high in the air, seeming to bump into a giant, dark cloud. it filled up half the sky. and, as everyone knows, dust + clouds = rain. if that cloud wasn't going to rain before, it sure was going to rain now. it was very hot, so i kind of marvelled at that awesome natural mechanic: when large crowds gather, dust is sure to rise, and the temperature with it. when enough dust rises, its more likely to rain, lowering the temperature. the large crowd, unless shaken by the weather, is no longer hot. how amazing and awe inspiring is that? (i probably didn't explain that very well, but i think you know what i mean)
ok, a lot of stuff happened, and i'm spending too long explaining every little thing.
we set up our sleeping bags and mattresses and stuff. i had to set up a bit away from everyone else, near some guys from western australia. i set up, put my bags down there, and went away for a bit, came back to find my sleeping bag and mattress moved, and where i had put them, was a huge, angry colony of ants.
the guys there were cool, laughing as they said that i had to brush up on my bush skills, cityboy. they hadn't noticed the ant colony either, as it had been covered by the hay. i tried to get the ants out of my sleeping bag and off my mattress, moved it somewhere else (checking for ants) and stayed there for a bit.
before the main events of that night, adoration, a speech by the pope etc, i talked to a few columbians, traded stuff, you know, staple vigil stuff.
ok, now, the storm. it got windy all of a sudden, my sleeping bag/mattress got blown away a few times, i weighed it down with some stones, and went to help others who had tarps, brisbanians makeshft tent (made out of beach towels, string, walking sticks and a pilgrim pole) and making sure a few of the new vigil-friends i'd made were alright. the sky was pretty dark, if i was inside it would have been a beuatiful sort of dark, but outside, it could only be seen with the eyes of someone surveying danger on the horizon.
lightning raged across the sky quite a few times. someone said, i don't think they were catholic, now i think of it, that god had sent the storm as punishment for worshipping the pope instead of god. i thought that was stupid, despite a large part of the crowd shouting for the pope to stop the storm. that was a bit weird. there was a woman on the stage, or perhaps that was the english translator, asking us to pray to stop the storm. it seemed a bit like an idea of some cheap magic "ok, if we all pray, maybe the storm will stop! 1, 2, 3!"
anyway, it didn't stop, not for a while, although it was very short lived, about 5-10 minutes. i managed to get some shelter with the group from western australia. i was, shivering and freezing and soaking, it wasn't good.
before the storm, it was hot. then it was freezing after the storm, then it was lukewarm, a nice temperature. we did adoration, talked, traded with people a bit, went to the toil- well, you get the idea.
when i decided to go to sleep, i went to my sleeping bag/mattress, and took the rocks off, i'd put on to keep it down from the wind. the first one crumbled in my hands. they were actually dirt-clay clumps, and they 'melted' all over my sleeping bag. i slapped most of it off, and slipped into my sleeping bag. i found myself waist deep in water. most people i had been talking to said their beds had dried very quickly, and i hoped mine had done the same. i was wrong.
i think i slept, but i'm not really sure. after a while, i couldn't stand it any more, and got out. the days were hot, and so was the first half of night. but the 2nd half was freezing. standing in a freezing cold paddock, soaking wet and in summer clothes, it was pretty uncomfortable. i stood there, trying to think of what to do for a very long time, i don't know how long. after a while, i asked a woman in a wheelchair what the time was. she said in a very thick US accent 'uh... its about ay qwarter payst four.'
i thought that group had been columbian, so i was kind of surprised to hear an american accent 'are you american?' i asked. she said no, she is columbian. i told her she spoke very good english.
i decided to get a nice hot coffee. i walked down there, talked to two amrican girls (i don't remember which state, but its famous for its paranormal activity)
and got a coffee. but you could only get an iced coffee. i got it anyway. i wandered around for a bit, heard news about stuff damaged by the storm, about 3 people injured (apparently six were injured in all, an more passed out due to the heat of the day)
i went back to D2, and waited for the sun to rise. a french guy came up to me, he only spoke french, so i didn't understand a lot of what he was saying. i asked if he spoke spanish or english, he said no. i think he was looking for some bags, or a sleeping bag.
then this columbian guy and his girlfriend come in. apparently they'd snuck in, with a group from brazil. they were pretty interesting. he'd been training to be a priest, but ended up not, because he um, like girls too much. his girlfriend asked if she could borrow my sleeping bag, she was cold. i explained it was wet, so it was a bit unusable at the moment. she found another sleeping bag, from some girls who'd left about half an hour before. they were pretty surprised when they came back, but very forgiving.
as always, there is a lot, a lot more. as i write this, more is coming back, and its difficult to believe all this happened in so short a time. WYD, or any event of such magnitude, or even just going to another country, or a new place, with friends and meeting new people, is an experience that words can't describe.
i don't know if i'll do another of these. i can't do it justice. it is good to remember everything, though.
heres a riddle. the answer? tune in next time! or look it up.
some will use me, while others will not,
some have remebered, while others forgot.
for profit or gain, i'm used expertly,
i can't be picked off the ground, or tossed into the sea.
only gained through patience and time,
can you, unravel my rhyme?
No comments:
Post a Comment