I misspelled on my calendar, my bad.
Tonight at 7pm, I start catechism. I am kind of stoked. I mean, I am excited to learn about the Orthodox faith, so maybe I don't feel like such an outsider when I go to church with A. This whole converting thing is what makes all of this seem for real to me. But anyway. The Orthodox faith is partially similar to Catholicism - which is what my family is - and the other part of it is totally foreign, and ...looking for a nice word to say weird...I don't know. I mean, I know Catholicism is weird to people who don't know how it goes - so I am trying to keep an open mind and let myself get used to it. As it goes, I am particularly frazzled because of Lent. In the Catholic church, when Lent comes around you just pick something you want to give up, and try really hard not to have it for the 40 days ( The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.) ((And yes, I know it is sad, but I had to look that up in wikipedia.)) But yeah, I try at first, but I am lucky if I last a week. So in short, it is nothing that I took all that seriously. Lent was just a time to chow down on Cadbury Eggs until Easter.
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Lent in Orthodoxy is bigtime. They fast for 40 days (actually it is 49 this year, but who's counting?) So that means A and I are sort of vegans. No Meat, Fish, Dairy, Oil. (Some days you can have oil) We can eat shellfish though, so that is something. Actually, I love shrimp a lot, and once I said to my bestie Kat that I wish I could eat shrimp everyday. She said that I was an adult and I could if I wanted to, to which I replied yeah, but it would get expensive and I might get mercury poisoning over time, so it isn't feasible. But looks like my dreams are somewhat coming true. lol. But yeah, this time in the Church is very serious and like spiritually cleansing I think. So I guess during this time, Fr. S thought it is the perfect time to convert myself and a few other interested parties into Orthodoxy.
The weird thing happened yesterday, which when I think more about it, is kind of nice I suppose, but man. I was given zero warning about what the Forgiveness Sunday vespers was all about. We had the church service, and then we had to line up and ask forgiveness of everyone in the church. Individually. And kiss them on the cheek. A threw this at me as a 'by the way...' as we were lining up. Had I mentally perpared a bit, I think things would have gone better, but I was like in panic mode supreme. I don't have social anxiety to the point where I need a therapist or anything - but I am not a big fan of getting in personal space of those I don't know. And I definitely am not a happy camper when I am put in a situation of impending uncomfortableness. A made a fair point that noone really likes kissing strangers and stuff, but the meaning behind it is nice, so we should focus on that. So I was a trooper, and I asked/gave forgiveness to 60 or so different strangers while my face was hot and my palms were sweating profusely. A assured me that Forgiveness Sunday is as weird as it gets, but I don't know if I can trust him now, lol. A is going to come with me tonight for the first class so it will be a little less scary.
The Forgiveness Sunday is the kickoff of the Great Lent fast, and I usually will go veg with A during this time to show solidarity. But I imagine Fr. S will think it is a good idea to participate. I mean, this is going to be my life now, so may as well get it going. I went through a vegetarian/vegan stage in college, so I totally am not worried about not sticking with it. But yeah, besides the church incident yesterday, I am mostly excited about the process and looking forward to all I will be learning during catechism and also during this Lenten season. Only 48 more days until Cadbury Eggs! ;)
Orthodox Lent has its own Wikioedia page if you are interested in reading more!
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