I´m here!

I´m finally here. After what seems like forever planning and waiting (and running to miss a plane, arriving two hours later than anticipated in Madrid), I am in Spain, settled in an apartment, and ready to pick my cousin Amy up from the airport tomorrow. A cousin of friends of mine in Pamplona, Lynne, picked me up at the airport and brought me to my apartment. I am very thankful to not have needed to take a taxi out to the town. Once at the apartment, she introduced me to Angelita, the widow of one of their church´s pastors, and the woman I will be living with for the next nine months. I could not have asked for something much better. After taking a nap, Angelita showed me around the neighborhood, the buses, supermarket, parks, her daughter´s house, etc. So far she helped me get photos for my transportation pass, has introduced me to millions of people (and I remember the name of maybe 3), and helped me find the bank and anything I need. She had been praying for months for someone to stay with her, and I believe that this is an answer to both of our prayers.

Yesterday the two of us went to the vacation bible school that her church holds at a neighborhood school in Canellejas (closer in to Madrid). The secular school lets the church do this each summer before school starts, and they say that they can sense changes in the kids. I think it is because of this that they let the church use the school year after year. In the evening Angelita´s son and family visited. I think I understood half of the conversation, even though her grandson´s fianceé made an effort to slow down, which is very hard to do). I enjoyed the stories about her grandson when he was small, drawing on the wall with shoe polish (and on the couch, furniture,etc.) and other stories. Imagine this: three children of different heights find the shoe polish, brown and black. Together, they draw according to their height, systematically working down the hallway toward the kitchen, where their grandma cooked, unaware of the mischief. I guess kids have to do some mischief when young so that we all can laugh later. He must have been quite a handful with ¨wonderful¨ ideas.