April 5, 2009

went to mass at San Frediano with Pat. We had both completely forgotten it was Palm Sunday until we saw a couple of people leaving the church with olive branches, which is apparently what they use here instead of the palm fronds we use. The mass was pretty cool. Obviously we still didn't understand a lot of it, but after the priest read the opening homily, everyone in the church processed outside and around the church courtyard, singing. I don't know if we went to a children's mass or if this church is just more children-oriented, but all the kids at mass led the procession. They also got to go up on the altar for the Our Father and the Sign of Peace. Everyone handing out olive branches and doing the collections were kids, too.

When I came back to my apartment after being in studio most of the day, I heard guitar playing and singing coming from one of the windows facing our little courtyard. Everyone in our apartment building crowded out onto our balconies so we could listen better. Eventually we clapped after one of the songs, and we wound up talking to the girls who were playing. They were really nice and invited us to come to a Spanish club for music and dancing. It was really neat.