Practice, Passions, Protests...

Hola!

Well, the first rain in Madrid in over 50 days and a very sudden drop in temperatures, from about 30 to 13 degrees, reminds us of the UK and that it’s about time we posted an update! 7 weeks in and a month since our last post, here are some of the juicier bits of our lives in recent days:

A scary milestone for every parent - your eldest starting school - came and went with remarkably little drama! There has been no sign of the tears and terror we expected on leaving Elizabeth every day in a class full of ‘foreign-speaking’ (& looking!) kids, but instead she comes skipping out of school at the end of most days. We are SO, SO grateful for this answer to prayer, relieving so much stress from Sal & I, and opening the door for Ellie to begin to make friends here. Last night in her bedtime routine she even prayed, ‘Dear God, please help my friend Claudia’ – breakthrough, indeed!

It’s fascinating to watch how she is now processing what she’s hearing on a daily basis. She might not understand any of it yet, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t going to try to copy & reproduce it! It’s hilarious to listen to her talking, playing or asking us questions in ‘spanishy gobbledygook’ with such sincerity on her face. She even sings in it:

As an aside, this was filmed nearly 2 weeks ago in the mountains outside of Madrid. We have started a car-share with Kevin & Ness which allowed us to get out of the city for the first time and see the beautiful sights that are near us. Really stunning – anybody else want to join us here? J

It feels like the ball is beginning to roll now with our team (Kevin, Ness, Dave, Al & Sal). We continue to build relationships with each other which is a really tough call, isn’t it, when that requires meeting up in parks, eating meals together and generally enjoying God in our team times! Kevin’s leading us in digging into the book of Nehemiah to grasp encouraging stuff from God in raising our vision & equipping us to see a church planted in the not too distant future. And then we’re regularly visiting churches together to see what’s out there and begin to network with other leaders. Great stuff!

Being really honest though, the last couple of weeks have been pretty tough. Things that we knew would be hard and a sacrifice are, funnily enough, really hard and a sacrifice! We miss our great family & friends (such as when Sal’s mates are having babies & she can’t be there!). It’s hard work settling into a new job (getting my head round 5 levels instead of 2 as in my last job) & spending hours criss-crossing Madrid each week. And the lingo is a constant source of frustration & fatigue for Sal (who’s being a real star in her determination to learn, even choosing to watch Spanish TV when chilling). Even for little Joseph we’ve noticed in his more challenging behaviour recently, the effects of all the upheaval and perhaps missing his ‘mates’. (Annoyingly there seems to be no such thing as toddler groups here – his staple diet in Plymouth & point of contact & fun with other kids.)

It’s far from all doom & gloom though. We’ve been blessed with lots of opportunities for family fun – Joe here on good form and making me laugh:

And loads of fun experiences that you just don’t get if you don’t leave home! Last Saturday we headed to the train station to find a day-trip out somewhere, only to find the station swamped as around 50,000 teachers from across the province converged in that area to march in a demonstration against education cuts. We were willingly swept along in the crowds and joined in the protest (it’s our kids’ future education!), enjoying the drums, orchestras, banners & friendly mayhem that resulted in main roads being shut down and bemused policemen looking on. The Spanish are passionate protestors!

 A peaceful Sunday afternoon walk by Madrid’s main lake was also pleasantly hijacked as we found a massive triathlon event in full motion, hundreds of hardy Spaniards diving into the lake, cycling by it and then running all over the place in 30 degrees at 2pm. We’d been told Spaniards love their sport, we’ve all seen plenty of sporting titles go their way, now we saw the proof with our own eyes – fanatics! J

A couple of weeks ago we also joined the crowds lining the streets on Spain’s national day, as the troops processed, jets flew overhead and Spanish flags were waved. We can’t yet say that we were proudly waving a flag, but we’re certainly getting insights into Spanish passions & pride and slowly growing an appreciation for these amazing people.

Well, thanks for sticking with me if you’ve read this far – a bit of a marathon! But hopefully it will have helped to inform your thoughts & prayers for us, as we also warmly remember you all.

Hasta luego,

Al, Sal, Ellie & Joe x