Pictures

(post written by Charlie)

Since writing out a relatively detailed description of our lives here in Tres Cantos, I have had a difficult time thinking of blog topics to discuss. People from home often ask us, "So, what's new?".  And the funny thing is, the answer is really nothing. And this isn't to say we don't have things going on. We're really busy most of the time. But our life has settled into a wonderful season of unchanging patterns and rituals. I think this is one of the pleasures of living in Europe for a year, instead of a whirlwind backpacking trip (which certainly would have its advantages as well). Living here allows us to begin to breathe with the culture, instead of seeing from a tinted glass. We see its highs and lows, and we become desensitized to some things while becoming acutely aware of others that a tourist just couldn't see. I'm enjoying this stage of normalcy, and finding pleasure in simple things like walking to basketball practice, making friends with the unemployed Nigerian men who attempt to sell newspapers outside our local grocery store, and laughing most mornings with our neighbour Juan who thinks that wearing a t-shirt when its only 17°C outside is madness. He speaks enough English to laugh and say "Crazy Canadians" at the same time.

Unfortunately for our friends and family, who the readers of this blog are most likely a part of, by me not updating our blog, I have neglected the important task of uploading pictures. So, today, I have three collections to show, and two specifically give a good glimpse into our ministry here.

CCTC Christmas Pageant 2008

One of the yearly joys of many church congregations is the Christmas play by the children. This year, the kids who attend our various "Godly Play" groups, boys groups, and girls groups made up our spectacular cast of Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds and Wisemen. Prepare yourselves for Spanish cuteness and the least organized play of all time (we had one "rehearsal" the week before that lasted 38 minutes).

Christmas Caroling

As an act of love and kindness to bless Seniors, and to help former English camp students practice English, every year we sing Christmas carols in a local Senior's Home. We were scheduled to sing at 11:00am, which was delayed, thankfully, because our rehearsal began at 10:30am the same morning. This included being accompanied by FOUR violinists who received the music they were playing a few minutes before the rehearsal. When I look back on the experience, I don't know if practicing for hours and hours would have helped our group much. I guess they knew what they were doing. Welcome, once again, to Spain.

New Year's in Belgium

It may come as a surprise to some that one of the highlights of our time in Spain has been spent in Belgium, but it is certainly true. My cousin Myrna, her husband Shawn, and their son Hudson played hosts and tour guides of Leuven, Belgium, a wonderful little university town where Erasmus once taught—no biggie. While the sites were spectacular (Bruges was a highlight), the joy was really in our time spent with loved ones, being encouraged, strengthened, and loved up like crazy. It certainly doesn't hurt that Myrna is a wonderful cook, and kept us well fed with delicious meals, wonderful Christmas treats, and spectacular bread, pastries, waffles (Oh my goodness!), and cheeses! One of the best parts of living in Europe when other family members do as well, is the insanely cheap flights that can take you anywhere in about two hours or less. It's like living in Calgary and having family that lives in Edmonton. 

Hopefully you enjoyed this little jaunt with us through or Christmas season (even though it was almost 2 months ago). If I get the chance, I'll be uploading our pictures from our recent Extended Learning Experience with fellow onSiter Eleah from Sweden when we met up in Lisbon, Portugal. Did I mention I love flights that cost nothing?

Edit: I thought I would upload this video that our mentor Tim recorded during the Caroling. Pictures can say a lot, but in this case, a video (particularly the audio) communicates what pictures simply can't.

C is for...

…Café con leche and chorizo

Move aside Starbucks. Step out of the way Second Cup. There’s no room for you here in Spain (unless a tourist is looking for you and in that case, they’re not really here to experience the culture!). Café con leche literally meaning coffee with milk is definitely the drink of choice here. And don’t think that you’re given the choice to add skim, 2% or cream to your coffee. Instead you’re given the option of caliente (hot) or templada (room temperature). In fact, many households are equipped with their very own milk warmer! Costing a mere 1.20€, it’s really the best deal in town. The Spaniards love their coffee break time and we’ve certainly embraced the pastime.

Another thing that we have embraced is their love for all things chorizo. Spanish chorizo is made from coarsely chopped pork and pork fat, seasoned with smoked pimentón (paprika) and salt. It is generally classed as either picante (spicy) or dulce (mild), depending upon the type of smoked paprika used. There are hundreds of regional varieties of Spanish chorizo, both smoked and unsmoked, which may contain garlic, herbs and other ingredients. Chorizo comes in short, long, hard and soft varieties. Some of which are suited to being eaten as an appetizer or tapas, whereas others are better suited to cooking. Leaner varieties are typically better suited to tapas, eaten at room temperature, whereas fattier versions are generally used for cooking. A general rule of thumb is that long, thin chorizos are sweeter and short chorizos are spicy, although this is not always the case. After one grocery trip, we had 5 different kinds of chorizo in our fridge! I know I’m definitely going to miss it when we return back to Canada.

B is for...

... Bears & Bidets!

Well, you might be wondering what these two things could possibly have in common. Allow me to tell you. Should you ever make your way over to Tres Cantos, Calle Siena 65 to be exact, and you needed to use the facilities, both of these things would be waiting your arrival! 

When Charlie and I first arrived in Spain, we were pleasantly greeted by this, uh, cheery bathroom. What the picture fails to show is the teddy bear wastebasket along with the matching toothbrush holder and bathmat. Now, I must make mention that the previous tenants have two young children and so I view it through their eyes. I cannot promise that other bathrooms would offer such cuddly decoration.

What I can promise however, is that every self respecting bathroom in Spain will have a bidet (pronounced buh-day). Houses can often be sold for a higher price with the knowledge that there is a 5-piece bathroom (tub, shower, toilet, sink + bidet) rather than a simple 4 piece. Charlie thinks that it will be a great foot washer come the summer time. I'll have to let you know how that goes. 

A is for...

...A is for Alcampo!

As promised, I'm beginning the "ABC's of living in Spain" where I will be writing about the things that either are so completely Spanish that I feel you all should know about them, or things that strike me as funny, etc. etc. The whole point of this series is to give you a little bit more of a glimpse into our life here in España. So without further ado...

Literally meaning, "to the field", Alcampo is the grocery store where we like to do most of our shopping. It's situated in the next town over in Colmenar Viejo, about a 6 minute drive away. This is definitely a modern grocery store, which sells everything from produce to washing machines. We like their store brand and often find it to be the cheapest around. Produce is also quite cheap which we particularly enjoy. One thing that you won't find in your average Canadian grocery stores are the aisles devoted to jamon legs (See below)

A couple of shots of the inside

So, there you have it! If you happen to visit us, chances are you'll probably be making a trip here! 

A year in reflection...

(post written by Becky)

Happy New Year friends! It was some shame that I realized our last blog entry went all the way back to November 23rd. I'm sorry! We have been bad bloggers and will endeavor to do better in 2009. Whenever I'm out and about there are things that will come up and I say to myself "Oh, I should blog about that when I get back home" and then it always leaves my mind. One of the things that keeps me going back to other people's blogs are the regularity in which they update and so I am inspired to be more consistent at letting you know what's going on in our lives. One of the idea that I had was to do a series entitled "The ABC's of living in Spain" in which I will write about things that you might not normally expect a

nd might enlighten you about what living here looks like. Be on the look out! 

It's crazy to think that 2009 is well underway. 2008 went by really quickly and will not be a year that I forget easily. Reflecting back on it, so many things happened that were great and not so great. I had the opportunity to lead a team to Quito, Ecuador for 10 days, learned 

what strength looks like through family members fighting cancer and kicking its butt, moved out of the first home that Charlie and I had as a married couple and had the privilege of watching dear friends and family members get married. 

[ I have tried to upload photos for a while and have been thwarted each time. They will have to wait]

And let us not forget moving to Spain in September! It was a year of challenges and joys and one that I will take away many valuably lessons learned.

We had a wonderful holiday in Leuven, Belgium with Charlie's cousins and just loved every minute of exploring this wonderful country while spending time with family. We had a blast hanging out with their 2 1/2 year old son and simply taking some time off. We came back to Spain refreshed and ready to face the new year. Until then, I think Charlie wants to post some pictures of our time in Belgium so I will leave you with his post. 

Our Lives, From Sunday to Sunday

(post written by Charlie)

Extreme infirmity struck our home with vengeance this week, and although I spent more time at home than normal, I find myself writing this update much later than originally anticipated. Becky's sickness took hold in her stomach on Saturday night, and felt sympathy pains with our dear brother Spencer whose recent chemotherapy has rendered him rather nauseous as well. On Monday evening, I was stricken with a life-threatening head cold that nearly incapacitated me entirely, and the fact that I have the strength to type right now is a blessing, to be sure. Perhaps it was simply by providence that I didn't update until now because I now have photos that will bind all of our day to day activities together.

NOTE: Only keep reading if you really care about our day to day events, as this entry is extremely long and could take you the rest of your life.

Sunday #1:

Sundays are not all the same for us, which is why I will write about them separately.  The first and third Sundays of the month are "church" Sundays, or Sundays where our little collection folks who love Jesus, or who might want to know more about Jesus gather under the banner of la "Communidad Cristiana de Tres Cantos" and commonly referred to as CCTC. The term church in Spain is inseparable from the Catholic church, so to be referred to as a church would be quite misleading, as we are not in the Spanish sense, a church. Although the entire service, from the music to the Sermon is in Spanish, many of our congregants speak English which is makes conversation natural and enjoyable. Timothy Wendel, our mentor, pastors the church and is our regular preacher. As our Spanish continues to improve, so does our ability to enter into the services and participate with our minds and hearts. Including Canadian, American, Dutch, and Argentinean Christian workers, we average about 30 people in attendance.  Without the aforementioned groups, about 10-15. There are twice that many who rotate in and out, but regular attendance is not a priority for many.

Monday:

Our day-off...sort of. Although nothing is scheduled for Mondays, it is often not without work of some kind—Becky still has classes and I have lots of computer work that I do for various events and classes we're involved in. We also use this day to fulfill cultural requirements that Becky has for onSite History and Culture. Last Monday we spent the day in Toledo, which is probably the most important city in Spain's history, and used the day to get to know some Campus Crusade teammates of ours, Fanny and Mariano Pineda from Argentina.  I haven't even begun to sift through the photos from Toledo yet, but uploading them might make some of our readers extremely jealous, and I would not want to bring that side of them out.

Tuesday:

Our day begins with our Tres Cantos team's weekly meeting. We gather to pray, to plan events, like the past week's Thanksgiving Extravaganza, and to gauge the needs and hopes of our members as we look to be salt and light in a city with very little of either. There are six of us who gather: Tim and Melanie Wendel, Fanny and Mariano Pineda, and the Buhlers. We often stay for lunch and hang out with the four rambunctious Wendel kids, Timothy (11), Nathanael (9), Elijah (7) and Olivia (5). Tuesday afternoons (and Thursdays), Tim and I reach out into the community by coaching the school basketball team where his kids attend and its a great way of meeting kids and parents, some of whom are connected to the church in various ways.  At this time, Becky tutors one of her two English students for an hour and half. In the evening, Becky and I meet back up and make our way down to Chamartín Evangelical Church in Madrid where we teach a conversational English class for people in the community with emphasis on world events, life stories, and spiritual matters. It's a non-threatening way to bring those wary of any Christian involvement into a church and begin dialogue. All but one of our students are retired and this is one of our favourite times of the week. We feel as though we learn as much from them, as they do from us, and feel blessed to have this weekly encounter. Although Tuesday is a long day, 12-13 hours, it's a rich one as well.

Wednesday:

A slightly lighter day begins with Spanish lessons in the morning at home with our tutor Iñigo (like Iñigo Montoya from Princess Bride fame). Our Spanish has improved dramatically in a short time and I give most of the credit to Iñigo. He is funny, engaging, and I think comes more for the coffee than to teach us, but we learn nonetheless. Wednesday afternoon is spent working on projects that change continually. We work for one boss, but two separate entities. The first, as you know is CCTC, our church, and the second is "Global Ventures". An NGO with no Christian affiliation, Global Ventures is our link to the community. The big "event" for Global Ventures is a non-Christian summer camp that provides two weeks of intensive English for Elementary students. The effectiveness of this starts with the volunteers, all believing Americans, Canadians, or Brits who stay in the homes of the families whose kids go to camp. They are able to live their faith, answer questions very honestly, and have lead to these families entering into our churches, kids' groups and youth groups. I have already done a large amount of design work (most of which was re-design work) and Wednesdays are a great day for me to get a lot done. To say that they needed help in the over all "fit and finish" of the info and marketing they were sending out is a slight understatement, and I have enjoyed bringing them into the 21st century. On Wednesday evenings, Becky attends a weekly women's study and has already wowed them twice with her cooking—apparently all of Tres Cantos thinks she's the most spectacular cook they've ever seen. Last week she made a Carrot Soup with nutmeg and honey and topped it with a healthy dollop Crème Fraîche. I can understand why they think she's so amazing.

Thursday:

Thursday mornings are generally useful for catching up on sleep (Spaniards go to bed SO LATE!). In the early afternoon, I tutor Augustin in English (he has no idea how awesome his name is) and we spend half of our time playing English, and the other half hanging out and playing ping pong. Timothy Wendel (Jr.) often comes along and we have a really great time hanging out, studying, going to McDonalds, and playing games. He recently had his First Communion at one of the local Catholic churches, which means that his family no longer needs to attend because "he's in". He comes to our Friday night boys' group and I feel is soaking a lot up this year. Thursdays are another basketball coaching day as well.

Friday:

Iñigo joins us again on Friday morning and Becky tutors an advanced English student in the afternoon. I benefited this week as the lesson was in reading an English cookbook and Becky brought Naiara home to bake cookies. Friday nights begin with Godly Play (a Sunday School curriculum that works better on Fridays because we have people to help). Becky helps here and really loves this time with the kids. After this, four junior high girls gather at the Wendels' for "youth group" and 8-10 junior high boys at our CCTC location meet for our "youth group". The girls at a different social level than the boys, and keeping them separate is good for everyone involved. Many of the boys who come met us through basketball or English camp, and we are seeing fruit from years of hard labour. Friday nights are the result of others spending years and years and years breaking down walls of Spanish families through servanthood, friendship, and love, and it's a privilege to enter the scene when we are.

Saturday:

Saturday often begins with Churros, and ends with Chorizo. Our mornings are often ours to do with what we please, and in the afternoon, I play on a community basketball team with Tim Wendel (Sr.). It's a great way to get to know some guys our own age and to continually be involved in the community which we have been called to serve. If we don't have a Global Ventures event, Becky and I often spend the evening eating cured chorizo, popcorn, and hard, aged sheep's cheese called manchego, and watching a movie or the previous week's episode of The Office. Often this is followed by a few episodes of the West Wing, an addiction which we attempted to break before coming to Spain, but which we were totally unable to do. If we do have a Global Ventures event, which we did last night, the whole day is often devoted to preparation and execution of this event. Last night, we participated in the annual American 

Thanksgiving Night held at the Casa de la Cultura and it was a blast. Please check out the photos for more info. For me, the highlight of the event was watching parents and kids interact in the activities together—Spanish parents are often quite distant from the kids and to provide an opportunity for parents and kids to spend time together felt great. Even though it was an "English" event, Thanksgiving is kind of our bread and butter event, in that the holiday provides us the opportunity to talk about gratitude to God for the blessings he provides. It will be exciting to see how some of the seeds planted last night might have longer lasting effects.

Sunday #2:

And finally, Sunday, again. The 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month are for a Couples Study called Amor y Respeto, or Love and Respect. Many of you may have done this study in your own churches. The couples that come, many of whom are not believers, receive very Christian perspectives on how to love one another and their families better, in a country with a higher divorce rate than almost anywhere else in the world. Becky and I don't attend this group, but instead provide child care, which helps some couples come who wouldn't normally be able to. Tonight, we might be watching Wall-E, so that would be fun.

Well, if you made it this far in one go around, kudos to you. Thanks for being a part of our lives, and for caring what we do. This of course is only a brief outline and many weeks include twice as many elements, but these things don't change.

New Friends, Castles, and Big Paintings

(post written by Charlie)

Realizing that I have not written an update in some time, and considering the breadth of topics I wish to share with those who call our blog, "friend", I have decided to write two entries, relatively back to back so that I might break up both your reading and my writing, with the hope that both will become more enjoyable.  Today, I will discuss some of the exciting experiences we've had in the past few weeks, and later in the week I will describe some of the work Becky and I do in further detail, and provide a glimpse into our fun and often crazy schedule.  I have also been asked to spend more time discussing the food we eat, and feel as though this topic is important enough to span all territories of discussion, and I will not be limited to speaking about our diet in this, nor any other specific entry, but will endeavour to make it a common bond between everything update that I write.

Pastoral Care Retreat:

A few weeks ago, our Alliance team in Spain gathered together for a Pastoral Care Retreat in Becky's and my hometown of Tres Cantos, Madrid.  This is the fifth year that former pastors Bob and Joan Galasso from Florida have made the trip out of their own pocket to visit Spain and encourage the workers here.  While the month long visit is incredibly important, Bob and Joan are equally vital to praying for and encouraging us through out the year, through regular responses to updates or remembering to send a birthday card to each of us.  A highlight for us was being given the opportunity to meet the rest of the Alliance workers in Spain and spend the weekend with them.  For us, this was especially encouraging as we were asked to host Craig and Katie Lewis, a young couple in the their first year of overseas ministry working in Granada. One of the struggles we've had in Spain has been not having peers—our ministries are either with seniors (65+) or with kids (13-). Very few people our age live in Tres Cantos. To be able to simply be with people at a similar stage of life as us, experiencing the same new things, and who speak English as a first language, was a much larger blessing than we could have anticipated! We showed off Madrid, we chatted until all hours of the night, and we teased each other mercilessly (this is perhaps something I have missed most of all about being in a second language situation).

The theme of the weekend was Servant Leadership, and while I felt like the speakers had some good things to say, the most poignant expression of this was found in the person of my wife, Becky. Just before the weekend began, Becky was told that she would be looking after one of the couple's 1 year-old daughter, Emily. At first, this was quite the blow to her. She was really excited about the retreat. Very quickly, however, Becky saw how great of a need she could fill, and how desperately important it would be to Emily's mother Joanna, to be ministered to, instead of Becky. The picture painted by Becky's willingness to show up early and make coffee, set up snacks, miss all of the sessions to care for Emily, pick up kids from school at lunch, take them back and remain not only positive, but a beacon of life and joy to those of us experiencing the "retreat" was remarkable. I was truly touched to here truth, and then to see it acted out by Becky.

Manzanares el Real:

Another highlight of our Pastoral Care Retreat, was the fun day we spent together on the Saturday. We drove about 25 minutes north of where we live to a beautiful little town named Manzanares el Real, or Royal Apple Orchards in English. The main attraction is a restored 12th century castle that was rebuilt in the 16th century. For Becky, it was her first visit to a medieval castle, and for me, it was my first in Spain. Unlike many tourist attractions in Madrid, cameras are definitely allowed, and I was able to take some great shots of the castle and town, but also provide a glimpse of our team here in Spain, and some of the people who we spend the most time with. Although the workers in Spain have diasporated* back to their original homes, we have made lasting friends and are already excited to visit many of them throughout Spain, and get to know them even better.

El Museo del Prado:

Although Becky and I have been relatively busy for the past few weeks, from time to time we steal away from our little home and spend an afternoon exploring Madrid. Last Wednesday, we spent 3 hours at Spain's most famous museum, the Prado. Very quickly, I began to understand why this museum, more than any others is referred to as the "Painter's Museum".  To say the three hours spent inside were blissful is an epic understatement. I was very literally ecstatic. The magnitude of many of the individual works and also the breadth of collections represented is at the very least, unbelievable. At least 10 times, after turning a corner, I would lean over to Becky and whisper the words, "I can't believe that painting is here!" Fra Angelico's "Annunciation" is there. Raphael's "Cardinal" is there. Rubens' "Three Graces" is there. El Greco's "Adoration of the Shepherds", "Baptism of Christ", "The Crucifixion", "The Resurrection", and "Pentecost" are all there! And while these are all spectacular even in photo form (and I encourage you to google them), to see them in person was quite overwhelming. Unfortunately, the Prado does have a no photography policy, and so to help myself not be removed, I did not even bring it. Although, the next time we visit, I will make sure to bring my camera if only to capture the beautiful grounds and streets surrounding the museum itself.

Speaking of the streets surrounding the museum, after nearly wearing ourselves out with art overload, Becky and I took to the streets and wandered up side ally to find a little café where we shared some very typical tostadas: crusty spanish bread flame toasted and then topped with various toppings. The first, a closed sandwich with seared beef and black pepper was excellent, but the coup de grace was the second sandwish—an open-faced tostada smothered in a rich garlic sauce and then topped with prawns, pan-fried in butter, olive oil, garlic and brandy. Amazingly, the meal cost us only 12€!!  I love España!

*Some of you may be thinking that "to diasporate" is not a verb, and according to some dictionaries, you are correct. It is, however, currently being considered by the Oxford Dictionary, and this is good enough for me.