Literally Always Something...for which to Praise God
We've been in Spain for over a month! How can that be? Time has flown since we stepped off our plane in Madrid. We've had a few challenges. I want to share a few of them here just to document, but I don't want to complain. There have been some stressful moments, but there have also been sweet times of peace and joyful excitement for all that God is doing in Spain, in us, in our kids, in our calling.
The apartment that our coworkers, Rich and Cindy, found for us way back in April, fell through at the last minute. We were under such a deadline to find a new place that we had temporary lodging booked at a mission house in the country. Thankfully, we didn't have to use it because one of Cindy's friends had recently purchased a piso (the Spanish word for flat) in the same neighborhood as the church.... long story short it is ours. We moved in just ONE DAY before the team from Oregon came to do English camp, and we love it.
After moving in, which we did with the help of Miguel Ángel, a Spanish elder in our church who frequently preaches, we did weeks of furniture shopping, furniture building, box breakdown, unpacking, list-making, checking out different home stores, planning for spaces... it goes on and on and you can imagine, it wasn't that fun for our kids.
We had some opportunities to serve during this time as well - a couple days each week I brought snacks to the church for the team to munch on before they practiced their skits for the next day before lunch, we fed the team lunch one day and two days they came and enjoyed our pool, and one evening we took them out for tapas. Susanna went to the second week of English camp, so she got to do crafts and play games and the Bible story and verse were in Spanish.
Another thing we did during this time was make totally pointless trips to Madrid. The first time, Chris drove with our coworkers Glenn and Tammy. We parked downtown near Retiro Park, where the kids played with Tammy, while Glenn took us to meet our lawyers who are walking us through the residency process.
And what a process it has been.
The lawyers felt like a document was missing, so we scheduled a day to meet them to get this document, and then a few days later we had our appointment with the policía to finalize our residency.
Glenn and Tammy took us to a mall where they thought we might find some kombucha, a probiotic drink we all enjoy and were feeling the effects of missing, and on the way back, we got rear-ended. This was really the first thing, and we didn't think much of it because we are definitely not the first missionaries to get in a small accident. So we said, "there's always something!" and laughed it off. Tomorrow it's getting fixed.
For this document the lawyers said we needed, we had to go to Gran Vía, the busiest street in Madrid. So we decided to take the train. We drove to Glenn's, picked him up, parked at a train station, and took two trains and a subway to Gran Vía. We walked over to the office for foreign affairs, where they said we didn't need it anymore due to new laws.
Alrighty then. At least there is an incredible gluten free bakery nearby.
Over the next few days, Chris spent time and money making multiple copies of everything needed for our residency meeting. We had to register our living situation in Alcalá, which took paperwork and money and visits to something like City Hall. We need two copies of everything for each of us, and we need all four of us to have patient, smiling faces for the police officer who will help us. With a four year old, this is challenging!
For our residency meeting, we picked up Glenn and drove to another part of Madrid. It seemed too good to be true: no lines, smiling faces, and a friendly police officer who insisted we were missing this one document we had worked so hard to get. And it seemed that the person who could tell them for sure that we didn't need it was on vacation.
My favorite part of that fateful meeting is that they did try to help us. The supervisor was calling the foreign affairs office on our behalf, but not one was answering. And then it was time for him to go and drink a coffee. No one could help us. The lawyers were saying one thing, the police were saying another, and the "judge" was on vacation.
That was probably the most frustrating day. We were really discouraged, really unimpressed with these government problems, and really annoyed with all the other little things we find wrong with Spain and Europe in general. We did a lot of complaining that day.
I scheduled some babysitting for our anniversary so that Chris and I could get away, but then the lawyers wanted to try to get that document on the same day. The plan was to go find out for sure if this document was needed, and if so, obtain it. If not, or if there were still problems, the lawyers were going to file a formal complaint on our behalf. They needed us and our passports to do that, so we had to take the train again and meet near Gran Vía.
I dressed up, wore lipstick, the kids got to stay with Tammy, and we headed into Madrid for some anniversary/residency fun. Our lawyer was pretty mad about this situation. We're not the only ones they represent who are having these problems, and the Spanish government is making them look bad because the right hand isn't telling the left hand what's going on. He had sent an email that morning, warning them that if this was not resolved, he would file a complaint.
When we arrived, he gave the woman behind the desk a bit of a mouthful, explaining what the problem was and the issues his clients (the sheepish Americans behind him) were having. As it turns out, they had sent an order THAT MORNING to the policía that the carta de resolución, that blasted document, was no longer needed. They promised we would not have problems again. What a "coincidence." The word for coincidence in Spanish is "causualidad," and I find it super amusing that it sounds like the Engish word casualty. After all, the laws keep changing, and we're just casualties.
We went to Sol, the center of Madrid, and the gluten free bakery, held hands and enjoyed the afternoon away from the kids. This was our 14th wedding anniversary. Not what we planned, but good nonetheless.
We waited another two weeks to hear from our lawyer, who was dealing with something urgent, for an appointment date. We have one now, but we're missing confirmation for Susanna and one attachment.
You can see why we have a new saying, "it's literally always something!"
It seems no matter what we're doing, buying, needing, planning, some small things goes wrong. We recently bought a mattress and a base for the mattress. The base came with 6 legs, one one of them was 5 centimeters shorter than the others.
It's always something.
Apparently, Madrid schools recently went through some kind of software change, and the result was disastrous for everyone. Information was lost or transposed, and students were without school assignments. So people have been trying to correct these issues, and they have to go stand in line during office hours at the district office. I went one morning with a new Spanish friend to sign Austin up for kindergarten. We waited quite a while. Always something.
I tried to sign the kids up for swim lessons but we were just a bit too late.
The number of things we need a Spanish bank account for is not surprising, but it's frustrating when we want to actually accomplish something.
We finally decided on and ordered a couch, but it won't be here until September. Always something.
We've found Spanish food we love, American food we don't want to live without, and lots of stuff in between. I like Spanish cafe con leche, but I can't drink milk, so I've been making it at home. The coffee beans are not as good, so I've been looking for the right roast.
Our dishwasher doesn't rinse well (Spanish dishwashers are notoriously bad) and a lot of our food has tasted like soap recently.
Early on after our move, a bunch of meat went bad in the fridge because we didn't know what Celsius temperature was normal for a fridge (1-4, not 6).
Always something.
If you've made it this far, congrats! I want to be clear that in the midst of all these frustrating circumstances, we have had so much help and encouragement. The kids love it here, especially Susanna. They like church, they like our neighborhood, they like the food, the weather, the people they see on the street, the other MKs... they are so happy. We have a sense of peace and joy and that we are in the center of God's will. "It's literally always something" has just been a phrase we say with a wink and a sigh to begin the next step.
Until today.
Our friends told us about a beautiful park near the airport, so we loaded up in the cooler evening and went to explore. Gorgeous scenery, unique vistas, extraordinary structures. We can't wait to go back! We were so grateful to have experienced and to know where it is and we all are excited to return again when the weather is cooler.
When the van came into sight, we saw something on the windshield. At first glance, I thought we'd gotten a ticket. "Always something" I thought to myself.
But it wasn't.
It was our passport case.
Without residency cards and driver's licences, we have to carry our passports and international drivers' licenses everywhere. It's bulky and cumbersome and I have the purse so I end up carrying them. It's stressful, too, as I'm always double checking that they're there. Apparently, they fell out when we got out of the car today.
And apparently, an actual angel saw it happen, picked the case up and placed it on our windshield, and then sat on it so a stranger with less angelic intentions wouldn't see it.
It's so obvious what it is - a US issued international drivers' license, four US passports, and international health insurance cards - and it all could have been lost BUT IT WAS PROTECTED instead.
There is literally always something to be thankful for.