Hunt of the Muffin

Last Sunday I decided I really wanted a muffin before church.

I spent about 45 minutes on Google, trying to determine what Charlottesville bakeries/cafes were open on a Sunday, and then finding one open at 10 AM was a tough job indeed. Luckily the church I was going to was downtown, and there are a lot of cafes in that general direction.

The first one was a cafe I'd been wanting to try out anyway, though apparently it moved about two blocks down the street from when I'd last seen it, this past summer.
It was in fact open. That was good.
So I go inside, and I look confused. When I asked the one employee if he had any muffins, he said no, they only get their muffins in on Mondays through Saturdays (wait, they don't bake them themselves? Hmmm, dodgy...) and sometimes leftover ones are half-price, but there are none today.

Employee started picking up the wrapped items on the counter. "But, we have a croissant, some... umm... carrot cake, paninis.... Cupcakes! Those are muffin-shaped!"

Poor boy.


I found my muffins on the third try. They were okay, the cinnamon-swirl one would have been amazing but the outside was a little stale. It definitely satisfied my muffin craving though, and the blueberry was spectacular.

I found a new church that I like a lot better and I think I'll keep going to. It's a bit smaller, of the two narrow sets of pews variety, but I liked the pastor and the atmosphere, so perhaps it's worth the drive downtown every Sunday.

RC

Most churches seem to have two Sunday services, typically one at 11 and one around 6 or 7 PM. That varies of course. The Brits, generally speaking, are not very religious compared to what I've seen in the States.

I found an RC church much closer to my dorm, a matter of 10 minutes versus 25 minutes away.

With universalized rites, of course very little is different... there are more differences between churches within a parish than between the churches of countries. But there are a few things.
-There are two lines in the Creed that are completely unintelligible to me, and I have no idea what they're saying even though I know what it's about. The changes are towards the end, so I always forget to watch out.
-"AHH-men" instead of "EH-men"
-Mostly the pacing of sentences is different. Same Lord's Prayer, but with different pauses for breathing. The responses, like "Thanks be to God", are said much faster. Same readings, but emphiasis on different words---and I think they use a different Bible translation.

It's quite amazing how subtle changes in rites can be simultaneously comforting and familiar, and yet make a world of difference.