For our friends in Boca Raton!

Wow! I am just realizing that we have not blogged in over two months. That is horrible...We have a lot going on. Some good and some challenges. After 6 very long months we are finally in our destination city of San Sebastian. I continue to be amazed at how beautiful it is here. We found a great apartment only about 300 meters from the beach with a great view. From our terrace we can see the water and the mountains around but not the beach. There are lights on the mountains and at night the view is nice as well. The temperatures have been in the high 60s ans low 70s. We have had a few days int he 50s but those are rare.

The girls started school about 3 weeks ago and they are doing well. I think they are understanding more everyday. They are actually being taught in the Basque language (Euskera) and that has been...interesting. The public schools teach exclusively in Basque but the private school the girls go to teaches in Basque until the 5 yr. old school year and then they do a few subjects in each language. So right now the girls are learning Spanish on the playground and from their friends in class. The school day is pretty long and they are happy when the weekend comes and we all get to be home together.

Ian and I started back to school this week. It has been boring. They assigned us to a level 2 class and we are a bit higher than that. We are requesting a change for next week so we pray our request is granted. One of our teachers has spoken to the director and agrees we should be moved to the next level. I hope next week is more challenging. We need to move forward and get this language. I feel like we are in a bit of a valley with our speaking. It is so difficult and when we try to speak the words seem to get jumbled and just fall out of our heads. Or we know the words but can not get them in the proper tense or person. You should totally give grace to everyone you know who is not a native english speaker- it is very difficult to learn and live in a second language. I have meet one girl who is the mother of another set of twins in our girls class. She is half American and wants to practice her english. She was raised here so Spanish is her native language- we meet once a week for a language exchange and she has been great at helping me know what is going on! Sometimes I feel like I am walking around in a fog- I am hoping that the smoke clears soon.

This next week I would like to get the girls enrolled in some kind of extra- curricular. I am looking into swim for Bianca and dance or gymnastics for all three. Any way we can connect with people would be great. I am thinking about joining the gym right next door and I am sure Ian would like to get back into the gym as well. He has been running but has not been out on his bike yet. He finally got his surf board last week so I hope that he will get out and try in the next week or so. I also pray that for him it is "like riding a bike".

We have several events coming up that we would like you to remember: English chat weekend in October and a movie premier for surfers in October as well. Ian and our team mates are looking for a venue for the movie premier, we are hoping that this can be used as the catalyst for some other project in the surfing community.
Thanks to our friends in Boca Raton, Fl for keeping up with us and reminding us that there are people back in the states that love and care for us...even if we do not even know them personally!

PS-If you are on Facebook and we are not "friends" please add us and send us a message letting us know who you are and how you "know" us. This is a great place to see pictures and keep up with us day to day.

Why? Because it's better.

One of the hardest things for me to understand about this culture is why they do things the way they do. I am sure that everyone who has ever lived abroad has asked the same question. I struggled with this for a while because I thought I was being too hard on them and maybe I had a bit too much pride about being an American. I never want to be the American that always thinks that whatever we have in the states is superior to everything else in the world. It's simply not true. I have, however, discovered that for the most part the answer for all of my "why's?" is the same no matter who I ask-" Well, because it's better." I am not exaggerating. They really truly believe, with all that is in them, that their way of living, their food, their health system, their education system, their everything is better. I was talking with my nanny last week about this very thing. When it has been decided that something is "better" that's it. The end.  Nothing is left up to the individual to decide. Take salad dressing. My nanny has eaten only one salad dressing her ENTIRE 26 years. Olive oil and vinegar. There are simply no choices. I have searched. Every now and again I can find a little variety, but nothing to get excited about. It has been decided that oil and vinegar is the only acceptable and healthy choice so that it, end of discussion. 

I know that sometimes people think that we are here trying to make everyone like us- because we think WE are better, but that is really not true. Many of the people here have never experienced anything outside of their own culture- I mean why should they? The best is here - Right? and who am I to disturb their precious apple cart. I think it is important to me that other points of view be considered because otherwise what we are doing is futile. If it is "better" to live a life void of spirituality, living only for yourselves and your immediate family and if they are not open to a new way of thinking then how will they ever be open to hearing the message that we bring. If they won't even consider that MAYBE, just maybe my way of cooking is just as good as theirs will they ever be able to consider the life I am offering. Not a life to be lived just like me or even my way, but God's way. I want it to be understood that we are not trying to make them into versions of "us" only better versions of themselves.

Español Solo (3)

We did it! Last weekend we spent the entire weekend communicating in Spanish. We attended a weekend retreat with the church we have been attending here. We Katie and I did take the liberty to communicate with one another and to the girls in English, but since we were surrounded by so many Spanish speakers, we figured it was okay.

It was a fantastic weekend. We spent each meal with our new friends, and got a chance to eat a bunch of traditional Spanish foods. One of my favorites is morcilla, a type of blood sausage. For our Louisiana friends, it is not all that unlike boudin, except of course for the blood.

Everyone was very gracious, and they exhibited a great deal of patience as we fumbled through sentences and absolutely butchered their language. We attended four teaching sessions throughout the weekend as the pastor who led the retreat took us through the book of Ephesians. We did okay following along, as long as he stuck to the passage. As soon as he would follow a tangent, we would be completely lost. It is amazing how much more one can understand when he/she is aware of the context, in this case the biblical passage. Their were a couple of young teenage girls there who took to our girls. They kept an eye on our girls and let us participate in sessions and talk with people. We greatly appreciated their help in that.

Thanks for all of your prayers for us as we were gearing up for and participating in this weekend. It was a great learning experience, and our we were able to take alot (and not all of it language) away from the weekend).

Español Solo (2)

We had noble intentions, but we came up with some really good excuses not to have our Spanish only weekend. Two weekends ago we decided to postpone and instead invited our Finnish friend from language school to hang out with us for the weekend. It was a great time, but there was not much Spanish practice. Last weekend we had a team going-away party for a couple that is heading back to the US for a year. Once again, lots of English practice, not much Spanish.

So this weekend it is time for our Spanish only weekend. And this time there is no way to postpone it. The members of the church that we have been attending here invited us on a church retreat at a camp about two hours away. So Friday at six we will load up in the car and head out for a true Spanish only weekend, and we won't be returning until Sunday evening. Two of the members of the church speak English fluently, but they, along with everyone else, are only going to communicate with us in Spanish. I am sure that some of our conversations are going to look more like a game of charades than anything else, but we anticipate that this weekend will be a great opportunity to learn.

During the retreat we are going to be studying the book of Ephesians. I look forward to God using our time of study to show us something new in His Word as well. How amazing that it does not matter the language; God's Word transcends all cultural differences. God can do incredible things.

update!

hello everyone,

my mother in law reported to me that she had some friends who she knew were praying for us last weekend and we are so thankful! We did, however, have to put off our weekend for another week:( We have a friend from Finland who lives here- she is 20 and completely alone. So, when she heard we were going to the beach last weekend ( as we always do) she asked to come along and we were so happy to have her with us, but we didn't want to force our weekend crazy on her. I am sad that we didn't get to have our spanish weekend, BUT I had a great time talking with Rebecca and it was an opportunity to sow some seeds so we took it. We are so grateful that people care about us and what we are doing and that they take the time to lift us up. Your prayers for last weekend were not wasted! We are just getting one more week of school in and we will try again. 

Thanks so much for your support!

KB

Espanol solo!

Ian and I are going to have a "Spanish Only" weekend. We are about 8 weeks into our language training and we have a lot of information and a good vocabulary we just need practice...in a safe environment:) So, we have decided that this Saturday and Sunday until after church we will only speak to each other in Spanish. It has the potential to be a very quiet day! Just kidding.... 

We are going to need to use some English with the children but we are going to spring this on them too and see how they handle it when we only respond in Spanish.  I have mixed feelings about this but I think that it will be super helpful in the long run. Keep us in your thoughts over the next few days as we try to beef up our vocab and get mentally prepared. Especially lift us up over the weekend. Our ability to speak and communicate effectively is the biggest thing we need to be able to start really meeting people and building relationships.

Hasta Luego!

Hi everyone,

Nothing big to report-just checking in! Ian and I are still plugging away at Language school. I think we are making good progress, but I am looking forward to being able to actually say something. I am working with our Nanny, Barbara, on speaking and she is a great helper. She wants to practice her English so it is a good trade. We are still going to the beach a few times a week...or 3 or 4 times:) We just love it and the children LOVE playing in the sand. We hear lots of Spanish and are beginning to understand more and more.

The girls are still doing great. Bianca is going to be taking swimming lessons in July and we are joining the club where she will be taking. That will be a good opportunity to meet people and for the children to have others to play with. Today I think we are going to the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art. It should be interesting. I will be sure to post pics on my next extry. 

Thanks for your love an support,

KB