Here's to Firsts!

Church Building in Madrid

Getting rid of some jitters, while waiting for the bus.


Brett's ready to join the Spanish working world.

*Pictures, but no spell check, sorry!

1st Day of Church -We drove around for long time, looking for the church building. We finally stumbled upon it, but it definitely was not where the Google directions said it was. It's a Spanish speaking ward. Apparently there aren't English wards or branches in Madrid.
Whispering during Sacrament meeting:
Addie: "Are my teachers going to speak Spanish?"
Me: "Yes."
Addie: "We need to get back in the car and keep driving."
Me (not knowing if this was going to be our permanent ward, or if there was an English branch): "Go tell Daddy."
Addie: "Dad, we need to turn around."
Brett: Chuckle.
Right before the meeting ended she asked "Mom, what does 'No hablo Espanol' mean?"
Me: "I don't speak Spanish."
Addie: "Okay." (Apparently she had come to terms with it and was preparing to conquer her new ward).
At the end of the meeting the kids got up looking a little uneasy, except for Gavin. He gets up and nonchalantly asks, "Where's my class?" A little language barrier doesn't bother him. I am amazed at how resilient and adaptable kids are. We explain to them that their teachers will probably speak Spanish, they need to be reverent, and just try to keep their ears open for Spanish words that are familiar to them. All but Cohen (who was brought back to us in tears after a couple of minutes) seemed content by the end with our new Sunday environment. Luckily, wherever you go, the church is still the same even if it's in another language. There is one other American family in the ward. They have 4 boys near our kids' ages. Because it's a small ward, Primary classes are combined and so each of them have 1 other English speaker in their class. I'm also amazed that they didn't seem bothered or uncomfortable by all the cheek and face touching that was going on by all the women adoring them -especially Cohen and his blonde hair. I've been so nervous over how the kids are going to react to each situation. I 've given little thought to how I feel about it all -which is a good thing.
My take on church? I better find my lesson manuals because I'm not getting much out of what's being taught. I did sit next to one of the sister missionaries during Relief Society and she interpretted somewhat for me. Though I never really excelled playing the piano and haven't played in the last 10 years (other than the rare tickling of the ivory on the infrequent trips to my parents), I'm thinking I may have to work on my skills. There isn't a pianist for Relief Society, and our humble ward has not learned to read music. Seriously, you leave with a headache. It took me at least half the song to figure out what they were singing (I didn't have a hymn book). I guess it's typical South American style as Brett said it was the same on his mission. Most of the ward is from South America, with just a couple Spaniards.

1st Day of School- Gavin, Eli, and Adalie were so excited to go to school -and ride the bus (the short bus). They were still excited when they got home, so that's a good sign. It seems the school does quite well making new students feel welcome, which I guess is due to the constant flow of new students paying handsome amounts.

!st Day of Work- Brett was situated at work in a little cubicle with no phone or office supplies, just someone else's files all over the desk. He didn't get any sort of orientation or anything, he's just supposed to do his thing I guess. Brett left the office at 7:30 pm and still many were there working, so we're not sure what hours are expected from him. With the walk and train ride it takes about an hour to get home, so he didn't get home until about 8:30.

My 1st Day -We needed some groceries so I opted for the shorter route, but more awkward. Push stroller with no steering capabilities (donated to us by our landlord) over broken sidewalk tiles until sidewalk ends, plow through weeds and dirt mounds under overpass (cars flying by), up a hill (paved), down a steep incline (on some steep unofficial cement rubble stairs)-cactus on each side, up the train station stairs, across the tracks (above on bridge), across 3 busy streets and parking lot, and tada! Time to grocery shop. Buy what I think I can handle carrying home, even though it means I'll have to make another trek tomorrow. Cohen now asleep in stroller. Very bad because I was making him get out and walk when maneuvering the stairs. Feeling faint and realizing I hadn't eaten all day (about 2 pm now). Smell good warm smells at train station so stop in and buy Empanada (they were great in Argentina). Not so good here. One big, cold, pocket of meat wrapped in very hard, stale bread. It was freezing outside, so I was really looking forward to something warm. Also, with my meat issues, it was less than appealing. But it was gone in a matter of minutes -like I said, I was hungry. I took a breather to eat on the train station bench and figure out a strategy for getting sleeping Cohen, stroller, and groceries up the afore mentioned steep incline. I sat there long enough that a couple trains came by and woke Cohen, so problem solved. My next issue after picking the kids up at the bus stop at 4:15, was dinner. Yes, I just went to the grocery store, but that was for the few items I could carry (school lunches), and we don't have an oven or microwave here. I called the Hotel front desk to order pizza (they don't speak English), transferred me to Telepizza, on hold until they found someone who spoke English, told them I wanted to order pizza, "No". I Was denied again a few times, and finally they told me that I had to try back at 8pm. Now, I knew that lunch is from 1:30 - 4:30ish, and dinner from 8-midnight, but pizza is supposed to be round the clock, especially when it is the only thing listed on our 24 hour room service menu. I can't wait that long, since the kids are sleep deprived as it is, and have another long day at school tomorrow. I physically went to the front desk this time so I could point at the menu and have her call (thinking in her Spanish she could coerse them to give us the pizza). She called them and I never heard back so assumed we were good to go. 7, 7:30, 8 pm still no pizza, so I call front desk. She had just gotten off the phone with them and it was just going to be another 40 min. Really? Brett gets home at 8:30, no pizza. Front desk calls letting us know they can't find the delivery guy but our pizza is ready and waiting. Great, so 3+ hours after we wanted it, we'll get cold pizza. Nice. Poor, hungry, exhausted kids, that didn't go to bed until after 10pm. Good thing they're resilient.