Sunday morning a guy from the Almaty branch of Rebeca's church picked us up and drove us to church (NOT the church in the picture!) She is some sort of Evangelical Christian, and, amazingly, the Catholic church is literally next door! I had planned on attending the 10 am Catholic Mass, and being only perhaps a half hour late to the 11 am service next door, but there was no 10 am Mass today. As far as I could tell, this was because it was Palm Sunday, and Mass was at noon. I was, luckily, not the only person who showed up at 10 am, confused.
So I attended the first part of Rebeca's church service, which was just singing. A translator was provided for us--we were given headsets to listen to her translation--so I felt a bit guilty that I was leaving before the preacher came on. I was told that he'd get upset if I left during his sermon, so I snuck out before he got started.
Palm Sunday service was starting outside, and I noticed that there were people selling some kind of sticks, and people were holding these instead of palm branches. I ended up paying 100 Tenge for a bundle of these things--long sticks with little fuzz-balls on them. My mom recognized them as "pussy willows," common in colder regions such as Montana where she's from.
The church was larger than the one in Astana, and Mass was crowded. There was a second floor from which people could look down on the service; this seemed to be a good place for children. (Sophia was not with me, she was attending the children's group at Rebeca's church.)
I sat down at a pew in the last row, and immediately felt guilty as I noticed that I couldn't see another young person sitting. Maybe it's because there just weren't too many young people here, but I suddenly felt rude for taking up a seat when I'm young and healthy and the church was so crowded--there were more people standing than sitting. I found the opportunity to right this when an elderly woman at the end of our small pew got up, and an elderly man sat down. A few minutes later, she returned, and the only way to make room for her was for everyone to scoot down. On my right was a rather old lady, and she would have to stand for this to work. So I insisted I switch spaces with her. Because our pew was smaller than the one in front of us, I still had a kneeler, but I didn't have to spend the entire service worrying about how rude I was for having a seat while much older people had to stand.
Sidenote: Older people, especially women, are very much respected in this culture, at least when it comes to seats. Almost everyone gives up their seats on the bus for older people (who usually politely protest and then sit down with a gracious "thank you") and younger people are frequently asked by other passengers to give up their seats for older people.
During Mass, I noticed the use of the word for "Sunday" far too frequently (even for a Mass on Palm Sunday). Later on, I learned that "Vosskress" means "He is risen" and "Vosskressenye" means "Sunday" or, "He-is-risen Day." (And "vosskress" really just means "is risen", the subject is taken to be understood.)
After Mass, I returned to the other church to learn that Sophia had had quite a pleasant two hours. Some people from the church were very much interested in showing us their city, and so we went to Panfilov Park.
This year Palm Sunday fell on the same day for Catholics and Orthodox Christians, which is a rare occurrence. In front of the (relatively) famous Zenkov Cathedral (see picture above) were plenty of people selling pussy willows for Palm Sundays. There were also beggars.
No one else was very much interested in seeing the inside of the church, and so I went in alone, while someone from the church took Sophia & Alison to a play area. It was very, very ornate. Okay, ornate is an understatement. It was gold and full of paintings and statues. There was a small area near the front to purchase items; most people were buying candles and then placing them in front of a statue or icon and then praying. Priests were wandering around, one priest was sprinkling holy water on people's pussy willow branches. Since I had missed this blessing at the Catholic church, I had mine blessed here.
It was very beautiful and it would be nice to one day attend a service here. Very elaborate, very solemn. Lots of people blessing themselves over and over. Lots of places to pray before a stature or icon. A large painting of people going to hell on one side and on the other, going to heaven. And no one else was taking pictures, so I didn't dare.
Outside, I rejoined the others and we walked on to a large monument to World War II. A statue of a bunch of soldiers coming out from the center. A caption that said something about Moscow being great but still needing protection from its soldiers.
After that, we headed in the direction of home and stopped to eat at a cafe nearby. We shared half a duck and half a chicken, and, while the chicken was moist and delicious, I must say I was disappointed with the duck. It was dry, a tad cold, and just not very yummy. I noticed that no one ate much of it.
Then we got a call from Alexey, who was going to drive us to the airport, asking where we were. My brother's cell phone, on which we were relying for time, had stopped working, and we were late! We rushed to pay the bill, run back to the apartment, pack, and get in the van. Luckily, we still made it in time for the flight.
The flight was short and uneventful, and we bid a sad farewell to Almaty. We could see the mountains from the airplane. Good-bye, beautiful mountains! We'll return soon!
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