Brownells in Spain

Three weeks in and we're only posting NOW...

OK, so we're a little slow on the get-go. But we've had a LOT to do! Dealing with Spanish bureaucracy is different than in the US and we're learning the ropes. School registration is a work of bureaucratic acrobatics like we've never known, (alright, that's not entirely true...we have completed two Haitian adoptions; THAT is bureaucratic acrobatics!) and we only have two school registrations down and one to go! And we're not actually registered, only bid for the placement lottery...ay! Kerline will be "bid" next week.

We're just now getting used to the Spanish daily schedule...when in Spain, do as the Spaniards do, right? So we are eating our big meal of the day between 2-3pm and having a light dinner. It is actually a really nice way to do the daily meals and schedule, but it has taken some getting used to. Between 2-5pm every day, almost everything is closed. THAT has taken getting used to. Now, not only do I plan a meal for 11 people every day, but I or someone else, but usually me (Amy), must shop for the ingredients. This is a part-time job in itself. People at the grocery store must think we're nuts. "What is this woman buying 5kg. (11lbs) of oranges for???" "Why is this woman who just bought 5kg. of oranges yesterday buying 4kg. of apples today?"

Yes, it's true, we are living with vultures. I don't know if their appetites have increased because of the culture shock, language acquisition or what, but the kids are ALWAYS hungry! Is it something to do? Is it fast metabolism? Is it a way to drive the parents nuts??? Wow. That 5kg. bag of oranges will be gone in two days and that is with an equivalent amount of bananas, apples and strawberries in the house. So, it's taking some adjustments to regulate the food situation.

Kerline has been home with us now for 2 months. She left Haiti, only to live temporarily at Granmé and Granpapa's house and then in Chicago for 2 weeks, with a 2 day visit to Wisconsin in there. She is finally in her own bed, even if it is in the third/fourth location (well, that may be simplifying it since she has slept in a hotel in San Francisco, two houses in Brookings, Oregon, a bed in Wisconsin and an air mattress in Chicago, all before arriving in Spain and all in a 6 week span) since leaving Haiti. She is a trooper! By now, I would have hated me and Eugene, but she is sweet, lovable and completely tolerant of all these changes. Wow. She has settled into our family wonderfully and spoken a total of 100 words in 2 months (at least to us). Not that she doesn't know, but boy, when you speak to her you can see she gets it. More that she's just shy and it will take some time to fully get her to come out of her shell. We just love her dearly!

God could not have laid this all out any better. We have a GREAT apartment (duplex apartment actually, two apartments put together). Everything we need is right outside our door: fresh bread and pastries, a great produce stand, bank, housewares store, butcher, dry cleaner, restaurants, a church we're trying out one of these days when we get our act together, toy store, hair salons, local pool and tennis courts, playground, basketball and soccer courts, metro and bus stops, the list goes on. So far no need for a car we do everything on foot, bus or metro. The kids can play outside with no worry about the street since we live on a pedestrian street, not a car street. It's just perfect!

There's this large park, the Turia, that is a former river bed that they diverted the river and created a park out of the bed. It is 9 km long and about 300m wide. There are various things in the park: all sorts of sport courts and fields, playgrounds, fountains, bike paths, etc. One of the attractions is Gulliver. It is a giant statue of Gulliver from Gulliver's Travels and there are all sorts of fun slides and climbing structures all over him as he lays there on the ground. You can actually see him on Google Earth, kinda cool. The kids love it. They are there now. *I* love the silence.

There's a funny thing about time: it flows differently here. For example, right now it is 6:30pm. It feels like 3pm. We've been going to bed between 12-1am and getting up around 8am (OK, me, closer to 8:30 or 9). They eat dinner around 10pm here, we've been shooting for 9 just to get the kids in bed by 10. That only leaves a couple hours in the evening "sin niños." Hence staying up a little later and sleeping in. I don't feel the same push to get moving early around here though. The bakery opens around 9am, which in the US they open around 6 or 7, and Starbucks sometimes opens around 5 in some areas! The work hours in general are 9am-2pm and 5pm-8pm, with 2-5pm being comida and siesta time where everyone goes to eat the main meal of the day and rest a little...like it! So time is a blur from morning until 2pm, then crawls for three hours, and then blurs again until bedtime.

Some people knew us before we even arrived. We have great landlords and they have mentioned us to the neighbors so people have been so nice in greeting us, or humoring us as the case may be. All the people in the immediate local shops and businesses are extremely friendly. One hope of ours is to change the way many people think of Americans. We want to be open, accepting and "under-bearing" to counteract the worldwide stereotype about our culture. We've had a few people look at us with a cocked head and say something along the lines that we are not "normal" Americans. Well, I don't know about that, but I do hope we at least don't perpetuate the negative stereotypes about Americans. I have a feeling we'll create some goofy stereotypes though. Better that people laugh with/at us then scorn us!

Many people, before we left, have asked us, "Why move to Spain?" We have many reasons. We joke that we are political asylum seekers, but we would have done this even if someone ELSE were president. Really it is about broadening our horizons, being better world citizens, learning another language and culture, not succumbing to crippling consumerism, learning about others' way of life, seeing that the world is not what we see through the US' eyes. (Me) having lived/worked/studied in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, and Eugene having studied and worked in Germany, has shown us that stretching ourselves beyond our immediate comfort zone has been a blessing, not a burden, in our lives. We want our children to embrace that as well and feel strongly that breaking down cultural, linguistic and geographic boundaries makes each individual a better citizen. God has laid this on our hearts and I suspect that there is a bigger plan in action here. Stay tuned...

While I'm blabbering on here, catching up, and the kids are STILL at the park (God is good). Many of you who know me, know that I have these, well, idiosyncracies, where things have to be a certain way in certain situations. For example, cooking is a particular area where I need things a certain way. Now that I am cooking for 11 people on a daily basis (I keep saying 11 people - did you know that Eugene's sister, Ann, and her family of husband and four kids, we are all living together? YES.) I personally have had some adjusting to do. Each day was progressively less stressful than the first few, but let me tell you, those first few were not really that fun, for ANYONE. I was losing my patience like nobody's business (NO, really?!) and just no fun at all. I must say, that after almost 3 weeks, I am feeling much better. And the big turnaround? Yeah, stubborn me. I finally just prayed that I would relax a little and be more patient with the kids and with cooking and with the status of the kitchen, etc. etc. Yeah, big shock that it helped! Duh. I get so wrapped up in the daily stuff that I forget to pray about the "little things" when if I just prayed about it, it would be better! I think I need to sign my name, Amy Brownell, WIP (work in progress), because I am constantly reminded that there is WAY too much work to be done on me even still. There's that spiritual 2x4 again. We know each other well, *smack*!