Now what?

So WYD was over. And I had a week off, but what to do? I felt like it all came to a screeching halt, and the pilgrims scattered and so did the team, and suddenly the world, which had been spinning faster than I could keep up stopped. And there was time to calm down, chill out, catch up – with friends and on sleep – and it was all just a bit sad. The big event, one that many in Sydney had been preparing for for 3 years, had come and gone, and for the better part of a year I had been swept along as well, and it was so surreal to think that suddenly: that was all.

I had a shred of hope when I woke up Monday morning because we were making our way into the city one last time for an audience with the Pope. Sounds pretty exciting, but it actually disappointed me a bit. We got there a bit later than we should have, and after some security complications, we finally got into the area where about 3 or 4 thousand WYD volunteers had also gathered for the same audience. I was towards the back of the group, so I couldn’t see the stage too well, but that’s ok! The Pope drove around the back on his way up to the stage, so his Popemobile passed pretty close to where I was standing – but you know what happened? When I looked up to catch a glimpse of our Holy Father, all I caught was the sun in my eye! I was blinded and couldn’t see anything! However, my thought is that one day I will be able to see the Holy Father, minus blinding sunlight. Maybe I’ll get to go to the Vatican someday!

That Monday, the task of sorting out my visa once again came to the forefront as I realized I only had two and a half weeks until a plane was set to depart with me on it (unless, of course, I changed my ticket), and so that didn’t give us much time to figure things out! In fact, our director came over that day and explained that things were not looking promising, and it was very likely I would have to go home prematurely. In a frenzy, I spent the next week preparing for departure, as it was looking all too imminent! I was so upset. However, during that time I had off, I came to be ok with the concept, and in fact, at one point, was even looking forward to going home so soon, but obviously God had other plans.

In the meantime, I tried to enjoy my much earned “break”. I would call it more of a recovery period. I saw “The Dark Knight” Batman movie with friends, attended a farewell dinner for two Dominican brothers who had been in Sydney for some time, spoke with friends and family from home, attended a post-WYD French “catechesis” session with a friend, and caught up with a few more friends for Mass and a hot chocolate. In between all this I just tried to relax at home, catching extra sleep and watching a movie or two. On the Friday after WYD they had an “Adios” party at one of the houses where WYD long-term volunteers from overseas and interstate had lived – most of them left shortly after that, so it was one of the last nights the whole group was together. The next day I spent some time with Alana, the girl from Texas, and funny enough, as we were romping through the city we ran into several friends at different points! I don’t think anyone knew what to do with themselves. “You mean we have free time?!” We went through the WYD merchandise store (lots of sales!), had some lunch/dinner, went to Mass and then went on a drive to pick up Rachel from the airport – she had been in Melbourne.

And with that, everyone started making their way back to normal life. The team came back together and come Monday, we had another retreat. It was a bit random, just one week after WYD ended. However, Rachel and I thought it was our last retreat (still no word on the visa at this point!) so there was a big to-do about that at the end of the whole thing…I couldn’t really care less! At that point I was so tired and over it, I just needed even more of a break! Recovery didn’t come soon enough.

However, we got after the retreat that progress had been made with immigration and if I would just fill out a few forms, I could be assured an extension would be granted and no departure would have to be made after all. Of course by this stage, that wasn’t quite the news I was hoping for – it’s funny how quickly my attitude had turned around! A meeting later, the forms were in and a few days after that a bridging visa was granted. It was cause for celebration, but I had (just in case) already organized a farewell party! I changed the date and title so it morphed into a “staying party”, which I had in conjunction with Cecilia’s 25th birthday party – I felt a bit silly that all these messages had been sent out for a farewell, but all are friends and so understanding. I told them not to worry though, we would reschedule the farewell for sometime in December!
It would seem that more was still in store this side of the equator…