Catholic church experiences

This is a photo of Our Lady of Succor Catholic Cathedral in Prizren.  Our cultural awareness of how to act in a Kosovar church has evolved with each passing week.  The first week that we were in Kosovo, we went to a Catholic church in Pristina.  We ended up sitting in the front row because all of the other pews had occupants and we thought that other family members might come to join them.  Unfortunately, I hadn't thought about the fact that we couldn't observe the congregation and how they acted from the front row.  When it came time for communion, I was the only individual on the right side of the church who got up to approach the priest...it turns out that in Pristina, the entire left side of the congregations goes to communion followed by the right side (rather than row by row from each side).  The next Sunday, we were in Prizren, and we went early so that we could get a good seat towards the back in an empty pew. Different church, different town.   Frank and I sat on the right side of the church.  As the pews filled up, we realized that Frank was the only man sitting on the right side of the church.  All of the men were in two different sections on the left side of the center aisle.  Only women and children were on the right side.  It hadn't been like that in Pristina since there were nuns in some of the left pews there.   I have no idea if the men on the left were single or if their wives came in with them and went to sit on the right side of the church. There were a few couples towards the back on the left side. As the weeks have gone by, we have slowly got the hang of where to sit although the language remains a mystery since everything is in Albanian.  At least the Catholic Mass is the same regardless of the location of the church.

Interior of Catholic cathedral built in 1870 in Prizren.  

Interior of cathedral has a painting of Mother Teresa.  Mother Teresa's father, who was an ethnic Albanian, was from Prizren, and her mother was from a nearby village.  Muslims and Christians alike in Kosovo honor Mother Teresa.  The main pedestrian mall in the city center of Pristina is named for her.