Travelling to Croatia

I would like to try and share my experience of the European Taize meeting in Zagreb, Croatia. First I should explain a little bit about Taize. It is a small town you can find in South western France, an ecumenical Christian community that welcomes young people from around the world for week long retreats and third a type of prayer that consists of a few lines that are sung and repeated a little bit like Gregorian chants. The European meeting is an annual event organized in different cities across Europe for the New Year. This year was the 29th meeting and from what I understand there were about 40.000 young people in attendance. I travelled with a small group of 14 from various regions of Spain that I got in touch with by e-mailing some of the contact names on Taize website. The group met up in airport in Madrid and train station in Venice and we travelled together on the overnight train to be in Zagreb between December 28th to January 1st. Arriving in Zagreb we were assigned to different host parishes, given volunteer tasks and brought to host families around the city where we could stay. There was a busy schedule planned for the five days of the meeting that included prayers (morning, noon and evening), parish activities in the morning and a variety of workshops in the afternoon. Breakfast was prepared by the family and lunch and supper were served assembly line style in plastic bags with various items that usually included a heated can of stew, a bun and fruit. Most of the activities took place on in buildings on exhibition grounds, involved sitting on the ground and travelling in jam packed trams and buses. My volunteer task was to help direct an overwhelming number of people into the dining hall during the two hour supper time. The weather was cooler than Spain, but not that bad considering the season. One morning I caught a glimpse of snow, but I was warm with my Basque friend’s jacket. The trip itself was another type of pilgrimage, described in my program as a pilgrimage of trust on earth. For me it was a new experience and challenge to travel with a group.

That is a basic overview of the logistics of the event that was quite well prepared for that number of people. My previous Taize experiences have been limited to prayer nights and weekends in Ottawa. I think there were only about 200 people at the Ottawa weekend meeting last year. It will probably be different this year as there are plans for a Canada wide meeting in Montreal in April 2007.

Before I start a novel, the three main things I got out of the experience was first the amazing welcome the families and city of Zagreb gave us, the personal learning experience I had travelling with a group and a very good small group discussion I had in a workshop on how to discover God´s call. There is a saying that Zagreb gives you its heart because it would like you to return. This is represented by small heart biscuits that are popular souvenirs from the city and by the generosity of the people living there. I heard many incredible stories and one that I experienced is when my roommate and I were lost one night we were guided by an older gentleman who insisted on buying us some sweets before leaving us at the house.

Travelling with the Spanish group I got see my impatient side when things weren’t very organized. Learning about yourself through other people is both challenging and rewarding. Our return travel ended up different than planned. Arriving in Venice I learned the return train tickets from Zagreb had not yet been purchased and there were not any left. After a few days at the meeting we eventually found an Italian group with space in their bus to help us out.

Thirdly I had a very good experience with a small group in one of the workshops. For once I was an active participant in the discussions and it was reassuring to talk with people with similar fears and questions. I don´t think we necessarily found any big answers, but I had a sense of peace talking about how life and faith are not simple. It´s more about moving forward with small steps not knowing all the answers, learning from challenges and aiming to be closer to God. My new year´s resolution is to try and be happy with where I am at and reflect on what I have learned through my travels.