Adventures in Ransom #3

Ransom has really started talking more clearly and more often. We're not sure if this is a good thing. Sometimes it's cute, like this weekend when he asked the driver of our shuttle at the airport, "Excuse me, do you have a drink for me in here?" or flagged down the waiter to say, "Excuse me, I don't like these vegetables." (The waiter looked at us and asked, do you want me to take them back?) But sometimes it leaves us a little speecheless....like when he asked another shuttle driver, "Excuse me, why are you black?" or one of the passengers, "Excuse me, why is your head shaped like an oval?"

What can you do?

Jacksons not in Spain

Sorry it has been a while since the last blog entry. We haven't really known what was going on. Our visitor's visas expired after 90 days and since the long term visas we applied for have not yet been approved, we have returned to the US to wait for their approval. Thank you to everyone who has been praying about our visa situation. It is a real encouragement to know that so many are praying for us so often. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us here back home. In the meantime, our to-do list includes: Studying and practicing our Spanish, learning (or re-learning?) how to drive a stick-shift, and enjoying time with friends and family. We would love to see you!

Andrea was burning the midnight oil each night for about two weeks before our depature to make sure that her classroom was in order for the substitute teachers who will be filling in for her in Spain. Please continue to pray for her students, for the people of Camarma, and for God's will to be done in Spain!

A Day in English

A missionary couple who live in nearby Guadalajara organized "A Day in English" at the school this past Saturday. Brian was able to sign up to help for the day since fluency in Spanish was not required. There were about 25 adults and 10 children from the community who came to practice their English. There were 3 one-on-one sessions where a Native-English speaker (we all laughed at the mental picture of cannibals from England, whenever we used that term) was able to converse with a Spaniard in English. There were two workshops where the participants could learn how to make Chocolate Chip Cookies or Brownies (have we mentioned that Spaniards don't bake?), listen to an American song and talk about the lyrics, or solve a pretend situational problem (all in English of course). In addition, there were silly games for further English practice (it was like a bilingual baby shower gone mad!). It was a great success. The entire day was designed to form deeper relationships with the Spanish people, show them our willingness to be a blessing, and break down cultural barriers by inviting them into "our world." The Spaniards were noticeably impressed and we hope that they spread the word for future sessions. I've requested some photos and will upload them when I get them.

The Rain in Spain...

...falls mainly on the plain, they say. In the past three weeks it has probably rained 14 days here - which is very unusual. Everyone is happy to see the rain, as it is desperately needed. As a result, green fields of winter wheat have started sprouting up all over. Just a reminder that God can change what appears to be barren into a land of plentiful harvest - both physically and spiritually. Pray for Spain, that God would send the water of His Spirit, and we would see little green shoots springing out of "barren" hearts, all over.

A Spanish rainbow that Andrea enjoyed from her classroom window:

The Pumpkin Pie

Canned pumpkin is impossible to find here in Spain. In fact, one of the missionaries here told us that she carried a can in her carryon all around the Mediterranean and Western Europe. She still has it, waiting for that special occasion. Andrea and the kids love pumpkin pie and bought two pumpkins to make their very own pie the hard way. Knowing how much work was involved in cutting, baking, scraping, mixing, crusting, re-baking, etc., the chore got pushed back for about a month. The kids were desperate for pumpkin pie. Finally the evening came when they were to make the long-awaited pumpkin pie. Ransom kept exclaiming, "This is going to be so great! This is going to be the best pie ever!!" Not sure if it was just desperation, or if making it from scratch was the key, but it really was the best pumpkin pie. Here’s a picture of the bakers on pumpkin pie night.

Be thankful for your American water heaters.

We have an orange butane tank (slightly larger then the propane version hooked to your backyard BBQ) under our kitchen counter responsible for heating our water and gas range. When the tank empties at the end of two weeks or so, we switch it with the spare, and place the empty tank at the curb on a Wednesday or Friday and wait for the Butanero to knock on our door with his truckload of full tanks. The best part of this system is never knowing exactly when the butane will run out. You get into every shower nearing the two week point wondering whether this will be the moment your steamy stream turns to ice. (Brian and I are currently tied two and two.) The weather has gotten colder though, and we're emptying a tank faster, and we missed the Butanero, and Wednesady was a holiday, and somehow we found ourselves last Sunday questioning whether we could make it till Friday on the tank we had stripped the BBQ of when we drained our spare. We spent all week rationing our butane... washing our hair with cold water and turning on the warm shower only to rinse off! We could just see ourslves carrying mugs of hot water one at a time up the stairs from the microwave! I am happy to report that we made it to Friday. We were never happier to see the Butanero. My favorite part of the story was seeing Brian get out of his cold shower Saturday night (when the BBQ tank finally went out) wrapped in a towel to change the tank- I couldn't resist snapping a picture of him. I was immediatedly pursued, chased throughout the house, tackled, and the picture was, unfortunately, deleted. It's a shame. Would have made a great addition to my post, no?

300 pieces later...

Here is Mrs. Jackson's first and second grade class. From left to right: Joshua, Medea, Charity, Jay, and DaeWon.

Chocolate

Spaniards are not big on breakfast. It's a small affair, and always sweet. A Spanish favorite is churros & chocolate where one dips the pastry into a cup of warm, thick chocolate. Needless to say, my family was anticipating this one even before we arrived here! So, I (Andrea) picked up some chocolate mix at the market first thing- (there's a whole section of instant mixes like our pudding selection at home) and some croissants for dipping. I went to school and left them to their indulgences. Here is the account as I heard it upon my return home: Brian whipped up his chocolate, making much more than needed in his zeal. So, he thins some of the extra into mugs of hot chocolate. They all sit down to their choclocate feast, the kids gulp their first coated croissants and wash them down with the hot chocolate. Corrie goes for her second, dips it into chocolate, brings it to her mouth, then without even taking a bite, sets it down, lays on the couch, and groans, "My tummy hurts."

Here is a picture of us enjoying our first real churros & chocolate at a Chocolatier in Madrid. We all agree it makes a better snack than breakfast! We had to stop them from drinking the cups of chocolate after our churros were gone! =)

Corrie Story #2

Lately Andrea has been getting up pretty early for work, often to find Corrie downstairs in the kitchen making Andrea's lunch: A peanut butter sandwich and a newly washed apple, usually. The two slices of bread never line up with the preicision of a grown-up's preparation, and at lunch time it is a reminder that she has a little girl at home who loves her.
There is a little garden in the backyard of the house we are staying in. It is pretty much stripped of every flower because of a certain little girl who picks them almost daily and lays them on her mom's pillow, to be discovered at bedtime. She loves to love her mommy with her sweet heart.

Fish...Fish...Shark!

Being new to the no-car thing, we have missed quite a few buses and have had to spend lots of time waiting in the plazas. The most requested game to kill time is any variation on Duck, Duck, Goose. We have played Giraffe, Giraffe, Monkey; Fish, Fish, Shark; Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandma; etc. Here is a picture of the family playing Pa, Pa, Grammie:

14-Hour Day of Sightseeing

In an effort to be more culturally sensitive, Ransom has been practicing his Spanish siesta.

Fountain of youth

You may be wondering about the bathing amenities here in Spain...

Adventures in Ransom #2

Ransom has been pretending a lot lately. Mostly he pretends he is a baby animal of some sort: a baby elephant, a baby monkey, a baby frog...but every time you ask him what his name is, it is always Tom. In speaking to him, you must address him as Tom Monkey, or Tom Elephant, or whatever. Here he is being Tom Tiger:

Segovia

The last stop of the day was Segovia. The three main attractions that we saw are:

1) The aqueduct. Built almost 2000 years ago by the Romans without cement or mortar, it is still standing today and is very impressive:

2) The cathedral. We did not go inside (because it was siesta), but it is beautiful, as you can see:

3) The Alcázar. A palace/castle/fortress complete with drawbridge and turrets. We took the tour and the kids got to see the inside of a castle. On display were suits of armor, swords, etc.

Valley of the Fallen

Next on the the trip was El Valle de los Caidos which is a civil war memorial constructed under General Franco. It is a concrete cross standing nearly 500 feet tall. Undreneath the cross, hollowed out of the mountain is a church and the crypt where Franco himself wanted to be buried. It is somewhat dark inside and a little bit eerie, but the view from outside is amazing. The whole thing took about 15 years to complete. From the front

La Silla de Felipe II

The next stop on the trip was just a few miles off and is called la silla de Felipe II - which means the seat of Philip II. It is a rock formation that overlooks the palace. Philip would often go there and sit on a little "throne" hewn out of the rocks and watch his royal palace being built. Here's where we would have insterted a lovely picture of our family sitting on the royal thrones carved out of the rock, but we had some technical difficulties (OK, the royal princess was being a royal pain and throwing a royal tantrum), but here is a picture of the view from the seat of Philip - looking at El Escorial. As you can see the weather was again perfect all day.

On the way to our next location, our tour guide was telling us about how once a year in some place in the nearby woods, Mary the mother of Jesus, allegedly comes and talks to people. No one sees her, but they can hear her talking. Last year they even set up a PA system. Who knows what she says. Just as he finished telling the story we came upon a gathering and realized that this was that day of the year! All sorts of people were gathered around in the middle of the trees to hear her talk. They had a little shrine or podium thing all set up for their guest lecturer, and everything.

Needless to say we didn't stop to listen.

El Escorial

About once a month or so, someone from the school takes anyone who is intested on a day trip. Of course, our family is very interested to see anything we can, so we signed up to go to a few different places this past Saturday. The first stop was El Escrorial which is the name of both the city and the palace that is there. In 1557, the Spanish forces of Philip II defeated the frech at St. Quentin. To give glory to God, Philip decided to build a monastary which would also serve (conveniently) as a royal palace. It took nearly 21 years for 1500 workers to complete it. It has more than 1200 doors, 2600 windows, and 16 courtyards. Because the line was too long, we did not go inside, but the outside was very impressive and beautiful.

Green Eggs and Ham

The kids have both fallen in love with Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. They have requested it to be read (Corrie reads it to Ransom too) so many times, they have it memorized and it is quoted in our household day and night. Even as I write this, Ransom is on the toilet saying his favorite lines:

They have even discovered a Green Eggs and Ham computer game that they have borrowed from Mrs. Jackson's class. They spend hours playing with it. I have to admit, it is a fine piece of literature for only having 50 words. If it has been a while for you, our family recommends a quick re-read!

Dads' Prayer Meeting

This morning, I was able to attend the weekly Prayer meeting for Dads. It was a nice time to get out of the house and be an adult for a while. We meet at 6:30AM at the school, which is insanely early in Spain. We prayed for the community and for each other's personal requests and I was able to get to know some of the missionary men in town a bit better. Here is a picture of Camarma from the fields behind the school. Please pray for Camarma!

Watoto Children's Choir

Last week, we had the privilege of hosting three children and an adult who were part of the Watoto Children's Choir. This group comes from Uganda and spends six months touring Europe and conducting concerts to tell the world what the love of Jesus has done in their lives. Nearly all of the children in the choir (around 25 I think) are orphans, having lost their parents to disease and war, but mainly to AIDS. The Watoto orphanage takes these orphans in and some of them get the opportunity to become part of this choir. They tour each year for six months at a time, with new kids each tour. There is also a North American group. Their website is www.watoto.com. When they are not on the bus traveling they are getting ready for a concert. They performed for the Spanish people right here in Camarma at the ayuntamiento (city hall) and were well received. The next day they held a concert at ECA for the school kids:

The three boys we hosted were Fred (age 11):

Mark, who turned 9 while staying with us (he's the Ugandan-looking one in the picture):

And John Peter (middle). They wanted their picture to be taken next to a television.

We were very blessed by their visit and their story. For these orphans God has "turned their mourning into dancing." Please join us in praying for the Watoto village, the children's choir, and specifically, 'our' three boys - Fred, Mark, and John Peter.

Update on Corrie

After about a week of stomach problems, Corrie has been normal for a few days. Thanks for praying.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Andrea!

Today was Andrea's birthday. Although she had to work she still had a special day. We also met with our Spanish tutor for the first time. We will meet every martes and jueves (Tuesday and Thursday). Corrie has not been feeling well today and currently has a fever. Please pray for Corrie!

Going bananas without you!

Missing you. Come monkey around with us!

What does one do with a big ugly fish?

So, now that Show and Tell is over, what can one do but attempt to eat the thing, right? Never having skinned, scaled, or gutted anything in my life, I called Corrie and Ransom over for their first homeschooling lesson in anatomy and went at it. Oh, the carnage! Anticipating my lovely fillets with butter and lemon, I quickly came to the realization that I had no idea what I was doing, and basically ended up with a bowl of fish pulp. (Where is Barry Kent at a time like this?) Oh yes; we are still going to eat it - tonight! Maybe I can mount the remnants on our wall:

Show and Tell

Just last night Andrea was telling me that she has been teaching her kids about living things, mammals, fish, etc. She has been trying to adjust to teaching kids who are so young, and forgets about their lack of life experience. Like when she says to them, "You know how if you touch a fish it's kind of slimy?" and they all stare back at her with blank expressions.
So, since I just happened to be at the Fruteria y Pescaderia, I bought a big ugly fish for Show and Tell. The kids loved it. (See how convenient it is to have fish available when in a fruit shop?)

Fish and Fruit!

There are two small grocery stores near us in our town - the BIP and the SuperCamarma (which is anything but super). They are the size of your average liquor store in the States and have very basic stuff. We usually go there to get our fruit, passing a "Fruteria y Pescaderia," mainly because we usually need other things, but partly because the American mind thinks "hmmm...a store that only serves fruit and fish - do I really want to go in there?" The occasional fish odors as you walk by don't help the matter. So in order to enhance my cultural experience, and take in more of the town, I decided that today's outing will be to the Fruteria y Pescaderia. Yes, they do in fact keep the fruit separate from the fish. A mother (the fish handler) and her daughter (the fruit lady) seem to run the shop and it wasn't bad. A bit pricier than the other shops, but I was able to find some things that I hadn't yet been able to (zucchini, fresh parsley, and broccoli) and the quality of the fruit is much better than the other stores. In my limited Spanish (you have to study and plan what you are going to say before you leave the house) I found out: the names of some new vegetables, that I will not be able to find fresh basil anywhere nearby, and where in Spain a particular fish came from. They gave the kids some lollipops for free (Spaniards love children), and were patient with my language mishaps (I think I called the cucumbers peppers and the bananas apples). Hopefully, the smiles and profuse thank-you's for the fruit and the Spanish lessons, will one day open the door for conversations about their faith. Pray for the fish lady and her fruit daughter!

So did I buy any fish? Yes, I did...

Nevermind...

It appears we left our addresses at Brian's parents' house in the states. Oops. They are shipping them to us. Just a quick update - Ransom has been feverish the past couple of days but appears to be getting better. He is sleeping unusually late this morning, though - so please continue to pray!

We need your address!

So, when we first arrived in Spain, we were missing one of the boxes that we checked at the airport. When we filed a claim, they quickly found it - it had broken open with all of the delicate handling by airline personnel. We did a quick check and it appeared nothing was missing. When we got to our new home we actually found that we received a few additions: a pair of pink gingham boxers and a jar of used medicated ointment - ick! Last week I went to address some postcards and realized that we were, in fact, missing something - our address book. By now, I'm sure it is lining the floor of an Iberian Airlines dumpster. So, if you would like to increase your chances of getting mail from Spain, please email us with your address and phone number, so we can reconstruct our list. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks!

Corrie Story #1

Last night, Corrie says to Andrea out of nowhere: "There are just four things that I remember:

1. Mom comes home from Bunco at 9 O'clock.
2. Chelsea has to go East to get to our house. (she lives in Anaheim)
3. The code for Grammie's alarm is ****** (in Spanish)
4. The channel for "Sprout" is 295." (they enjoyed the cable at their grandparents!)

The girl is random, but if we could sell her memory in a bottle, we would make millions.

Adventures in Ransom #1

There is a pile of dirt that keeps collecting just inside our front door. The ants bring it up from who-knows-where as they excavate somewhere beneath the house. As we leave the house on Sunday for church, Ransom sees it and asks, "Daddy, how do you say 'Ant Poop' in Spanish?" You never know what is in that boy's mind!

This photo was taken on the subway at Ransom's request: "Take a picture of me doing this."

Madrid!

On Saturday, we went with a few families into the city to see the sights. It was helpful because we got an idea of where all the landmarks are, how to ride the subway, and where to buy really good ice cream. This first picture is the largest bullring in Spain. As you can see the weather was perfect.







Next we have some ancient Egyptian temple-thing, donated by Egypt, shipped over in pieces and reconstructed here. That's all we know. We will try to find out more about it before you all come to visit so that we can make it sound exciting.






The inside of Madrid's cathedral, which stands just opposite the palace. Third largest in Europe? Can't quite remember.







The kids liked the street performers best:















Anyway, Madrid is beautiful and we can't wait to show you around the city when you come to visit. You are saving up right?

The Bullfight

On Friday evening we decided to go to the bullfight. We were pretty sure they didn't hurt the bulls in this one and it sounded like it was more for kids, and it was. There were midgets (or whatever the politically correct term is):

Disney knockoffs:

Catholics making fun of their own religion:

Clowns:

And a few actual stunts:

It was a bit cheezy and we left early, but the kids had fun and we at least got to experince the semblance of a bullfight!

The Running of the Bulls

If you are like us, you thought that the running of the bulls is only in Pamplona. Wrong! Most towns have a running of the bulls, and Camarma is no exception. Last week was Fiesta week where there is music and dancing late into the night, parades and activities for kids, bullfights, and fireworks. On Friday, we watched our first running of the bulls. All of the men in running condition line the streets and wait for the bulls to come. They act macho until the first sign of an approaching bull, then they all jump up on the barriers with looks of fear on their faces. It's great. They use cows to entice the bull down the street, so at first it was hard to tell which was which.

This is a cow.















This is a bull:















This is brave Brian waiting for the bulls:

The bulls ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday. By the time Sunday rolled around Brian had enough gumption to run after the bulls (from very far) so that he could say he ran with the bulls in Spain! Apparently there are times when the bull will not cooperate. This one broke through the barrier and was running through the town. They finally had to play tug-of-war to get him into the ring.

Anyway, it was an interesting glimpse into Spanish culture and we had fun (though I don't think the bulls enjoyed themselves too much)!