Lesson #7

SIGN LANGUAGE CAN SOMETIMES WORK IN ANOTHER CULTURE!

Cooking (and buying groceries for that matter) in another culture with different products can be a challenge.... but I thought - surely I can make Taco Salad.....

So after finding all my normal ingredients - I still needed one thing.  Thousand Island salad dressing.  I personally don't usually like Thousand Island - but mixed in Taco Salad it is REALLY the secret special ingredient.

So I wondered....can I find Thousand Island or something comparable here in Spain?  After searching the store for salad dressings and finding nothing....  I decided to ask a worker for help....

Now remember - I don't speak Spanish.... yet....  :)

So I approached a black gentleman that worked there ( for some reason I thought I had a better chance of him knowing English since he didn't look Spanish!)....  I asked him if he spoke English....

He replied... "no....français?" in a totally french accent... letting me know he speaks French.  He went on to motion that he also spoke a little "espanol"....

So.... me.... knowing a FEW Spanish words.....and being clever (at least I thought) with motions - pretended I was holding a big salad bowl and said, "ensalada" (to communicate - ok here is the big salad).... then I pretended I was taking the lid off of a bottle of dressing and pouring it on the salad....

:)

He said "oh!".....and took me the 3 aisles over to a little jar of chopped carrots and something......the jar said "ensalada"
I said, "ummm.....no"

He then took me to the next aisle and showed me another jar of something strange looking....which also said "ensalada"
I said "ummmm....no"

Then he asked me, "salsa?"  To which I just shrugged..... (I am thinking - no way - not salsa!  ...but thought it best to just act like I had no idea)....

And.... VICTORY!!!!!  Apparently the Spanish word for Dressing is SALSA!!!!! As soon as we entered the correct aisle - I said, "Si, si!"  "Gracias"!

I think I may have entertained him for a bit.  I was just happy to learn a new word and how to find dresssing....I mean....."salsa!"

And yes - there is something here "similar" to Thousand Island!

Lesson #6

ROUNDABOUTS

You know those "circles" that serve as intersections in some cities?

Well, there are about 95% LESS stop lights in Alcala de Heneres (our city right outside Madrid) than in any small city in the US!

That is because EVERY intersection is a roundabout - not a stoplight.

Now, this can be very intimidating at first.  You are always entering a double lane circle at every intersection - and traffic never stops moving.  And people drive FAST here in Spain.  VERY fast.

However, now that I have learned the system a little - I am finding the beauty in it.  We drove home from IMM the other day - which is about a 15/20 minute drive from where we live.... and we NEVER came to a complete STOP.  You just FLOW through every intersection.  After we got home and I realized we never stopped....I was like....there may just be something to this circle thing....  

:)

Lesson #5

DON'T USE THE DRYER!

Even though there is a dryer in this house, the previous missionary that was staying here informed us that we probably shouldn't use it. Apparently electricity is MUCHO EXPENSIVE here in Spain - and that a dryer uses a LOT.

It seems everyone here uses these drying racks.....so this is now our new way of drying our clothes.  I do hate how I have to iron everything now b/c it does dry wrinkled.  However, I am thankful that at least we have a washer and don't have to wash our clothes in the RIVER!  :)

Lesson #4

ELECTRICITY IN SPAIN

One of the very first things that we learned here....

is that you can only run 3 appliances in your house at once without tripping the breakers.

That 3 INCLUDES your fridge.    !!!!!

It was probably the 2nd or 3rd day we were here.....  we were washing a load of clothes, and I was baking a pizza in the oven for the girls...

I had just gotten out of the shower - and I went upstairs to blow dry my hair.  The blow dryer worked for about 3.5 seconds.  Then....nothing.

A few minutes later Brad informs me that the fridge has shut off.

He went and tinkered with the breaker in the basement until things came back on.  However, I learned that I can NOT blow dry my hair, wash clothes, and use the oven at the same time.

BUMMER.  :(

Now we know to mentally ask ourselves before doing anything....am I using any other electrical appliance right now???

Lesson #3

The microwave here is DIFFERENT!  :)

I decided we would have baked sweet potatoes with dinner one night.  Usually I just microwave them for about 8-10 minutes.

I had to try to figure out how to use this microwave....

Obviously - I knew it couldn't be the "JetDefrost" option that we needed.....so I used the "AutoCrisp" feature....ASSUMING that was normal cook....

The next time I turned around the kitchen was filled with SMOKE and it was coming from the MICROWAVE!  I don't think these houses have smoke detectors - or I'm sure they would have been wailing....

Brad came to help - and as soon as I opened the microwave - SMOKE came POURING out!  The sweet potatoes had only been in there for like a minute and a half!  So he opened the patio door and threw them outside smoking and all so that they would stop smoking up the kitchen.  

I guess we looked like a couple of crazies to anybody who may have happened to see us tossing smoking sweet potatoes out of the kitchen followed by fanning the smoke out!

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I have since figured out that if you don't select defrost or autocrisp - the microwave automatically operates on "normal" mode.  

Lesson Learned.

Lesson #2

ALWAYS KEEP TISSUES IN YOUR PURSE!

The next lesson learned is strangely related to the first!  After going into a couple of different grocery stores/shopping centers....and of course needing to make a pit stop (I'm pregnant so these stops are frequent!) - I have found the toilet paper dispensers are EMPTY 99.9% of the time!  So I learned quickly to KEEP tissues in my purse at all times!

Lessons Learned

As promised - I am FINALLY trying to share some blog posts that fill you in on a few of our first cultural lessons!  We have been so BUSY with residency appointments - that I haven't had the time or energy to even think about updating the blog.

However, for the next week I plan to share at least one "lesson" learned each day on the blog.

FIRST LESSON LEARNED:

1.  How to work the toilets in Spain!

One of the first things that we learned upon arriving here in Spain - is that every toilet is different in the method of flushing....

This is one of the toilets in the house where we are staying.  Most toilets here have a button in the top of the toilet that you push to flush - however ours have knobs that you PULL up to flush!

This one is from a shopping center.....note the big silver button on the wall to flush.....

but mostly I was cracked up at where they put the seat to strap your baby in while you go to the bathroom....I have never seen one this HIGH!!!!  :)

Update after 3 1/2 weeks!

OK - so we MUST have the record for new missionaries making the most trips into downtown Madrid during their first 3 weeks!  Everyone has to do the government/residency appointments - but we have also had an appointment to get established with an OB (baby doctor) AND an ultrasound since we got here!

Whew!  Sorry I have been too exhausted and overwhelmed to update until now.  We just haven't been home!

So - we are OFFICIAL now!  We were able to get fingerprinted at the police station on Thursday and that was our FINAL residency appointment (we think anyway).  That was a crazy place.  We are so thankful for Silvia - she works for IMM and is also an attorney.  She accompanied us to all of our visits and and pushed through to help it all get completed.  She was also our translator....so that was HELPFUL!  :)

And in case you have not heard - we had our ultrasound Friday...... and the ultrasound tech did know a little English.  She said 2 very important words:

"HE'S PERFECT".    So that told us 2 things!  1)  IT'S A BOY!!!!   and 2)  He is healthy!

It is unbelievable how much I have "grown" since being here!  It's like once I finally stopped throwing up - my belly just POPPED out there!  I have only had about 3-4 sick days since we have been here - so I feel very blessed!

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The girls LOVE their new school!  The classes are very small and the teachers have such a heart and understanding of what missionary kids face.  Transition.  And lots of it.

Because of all of the appointments we have had - we have not started house hunting yet.  However - THIS week it all begins!  House hunting, language study, car hunting...... so the "being busy" is not even close to being over.  But it will be so wonderful to feel "settled" once we find our own home and can move in!

PRAYER NEEDS:

1.  Everything we own is on a boat being shipped to us.  It was determined to be cheaper to ship a container with our household goods than to try and refurnish a home here. Please pray that our belongings arrive SAFELY!   :)

2. PLEASE pray that God will open up the right door for the perfect home that he has for us here.  We want to feel settled and at peace in the home we end up in.  Pray for favor with landlords, good rental prices, and a quick process!

3.  PLEASE pray for Macy.  As I have mentioned before - since she has been in a new school every year - she has some "gaps" from the change in curriculums.  We are praying for God to help her to catch up and learn everything she needs to know!  And that God will give her a LOVE for learning and knowledge so that this will not be so hard!  We are also praying that God will help her to CONCENTRATE and keep her FOCUS as she tackles so many new topics in order to catch up.

4.  Pray for this baby to be safe and healthy.  Pray that God will protect him through every part of development and for a safe delivery.

5.  Pray that we will be able to find a DEPENDABLE car for a good price quickly!  We know God can go before us and direct us!

6.  Pray for our language learning to be anointed and swift!  Pray for miraculous understanding!

7.  Pray for our team at IMM as we work on important media projects.  We need God's anointing and favor!

Powerful Video

PLEASE check out this link!  You can use this powerful video to show your church this Sunday!

A perfect time to use it would be if your church is participating in a Super Bowl Party/Fellowship!  It was designed to show your church during halftime -but could be used as a stand alone too!

You never know whose heart God might stir towards adoption!  Our own hearts were stirred years ago -and now our little Mia's life has been changed!

Instead of growing up in an orphanage in China - she is growing up in a Godly Christian home - learning and loving Jesus!  And now is a Missionary Kid!  How cool is that?!  :)

http://www.adoptionjourney.com/share/dungyhalftime/

Jet Lag can be Brutal!

We have been on the ground in Spain for 7 days now!  Jet lag has been very hard for us to conquer!  Adjusting to the 7 hour time difference with 2 children.....  :)

Allergies hit me hard....and combined with a day of hard morning sickness it made my first week a little more exhausting that what it should be.... Whew!

HOWEVER - last night we all went to bed BEFORE midnight AND slept through the night!  That is PROGRESS!!

So, during our first week:

• We were hosted for dinner in home or at IMM for our first 3 nights by different team members.  That was an incredible blessing!  It also kept us "up" until the appropriate times to go to bed!  We also appreciate their immediate investment into relationships with us! They haven't just left us in a new city/country to fend for ourselves! 
• Our "temporary" house was stocked with a couple of days worth of groceries when we first arrived!  Our directors are making sure we are taken care of!  We so appreciate them!
• We are staying in the home of a missionary who is currently in the states itinerating....so we have a house to stay in by ourselves until we can find one.  We are so grateful!
• We were borrowing a van from one of our fellow missionaries that is at home in the states - HOWEVER the battery had gotten low - and after jumping it - the alarm reacted as if it had been stolen!  Every time you cranked it the alarm would go off for at least 30 seconds!  And some days it would not even crank!  Grrrrrr!!!   So our directors traded with us and we are driving their car for now!  It wouldn't be best if we got stopped for driving a car with an alarm going off - and we do NOT speak Spanish (yet) nor do we have a Spanish driver's license (yet)!
• Macy & Mia started school TODAY!  They were SO excited!  We absolutely LOVE the school here!  Their heart and their vision is to invest in and mentor missionary kids living in Spain!  They understand all that missionary families go through with transition and changing cultures....we are beyond thrilled to be a part of the ECA family! (Evangel Christian Academy)
• Every day we are on the run trying to get our paperwork filed here in Spain....apparently everything can take LONGER here!  Business hours everywhere are ONLY 9-2!  So we can only complete about one appointment each day!  
• We hope to start tutoring next week for Spanish.  Then in March we will enroll in a full quarter of language school.

February Prayer Needs!!! On the field!

PRAYER NEEDS:

1.  Pray that our paperwork can proceed QUICKLY (Ha! that is funny on Spain time!).  Nevertheless - we pray God will help us!  We can not rent a house or buy a car until it is finished!

2.  Pray that we find the perfect home that God has for us.  We hope to start looking at houses next week.  Pray for favor with landlords, good rental prices, and that God will help us to find exactly what we need!

3.  Pray for the girls adjustment to school.  They both have to "catch up" in some areas and will have to work extra hard.  Pray that they will "want" to catch up and work hard!  :)

4.  Pray for our language learning to come SWIFTLY!

5. Pray for this new baby on the way!  I am halfway through this pregnancy already!  We are praying for a healthy baby, safe and easy delivery, and God's help through another transition!  

6.  Pray that we will be able to find a DEPENDABLE car for a good price quickly!  We know God can go before us and direct us!

7.  Pray for our work at IMM!  Our team is working on some incredible projects in media - and we pray God's anointing and favor upon each one!  Pray that we can master the language quickly so that we can be even more of a help to the work we are called to do!