Per an email we received last week:
Dear Mr. Musser,
We are sorry to bother you with this, but your e-mail address was provided in the visa applications of the Young family as a means of contact while in Spain.
Could you kindly convey to Mr. Young that the visas for his wife, Keri; and for his children, Rachel and Mathis, have finally been granted. The next time they are in the United States we can arrange to have the visas attached to their passports.
Thank you very much for your help.
Thank you for praying. Keri and the kids will be flying to Chattanooga on October 20 to get the visas. Please be praying for this trip. She is not sure about making the 16 hour flight alone with two toddlers.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
David's Residency Card Adventure (Blessing)
David's adventure applying for his residence card yesterday:
4:15 a.m. - Get up, take a shower, and eat breakfast
4:45 - I leave for the police station in Alcala.
5:00 - I arrive at the police station. About 30 people are standing around outside the station. I look around for the nicest looking group and try to speak to them in very broken Spanish. Thankfully, after I said something like "Mirror the residency card." instead of "Are you waiting for your residence card?" a girl replied with, "English?" The girl was a student from Mexico who spoke perfect English. I asked how many people were in line ahead of her. She replied, "Everyone here." I knew this couldn't be the case because I went through the process with another teacher two weeks ago, so I sort of knew how things were supposed to work.
6:00 - Long story short, no one who was waiting around had any idea how the system worked. After much discussion, the girl's Mexican friend went inside to ask. It turns out that we needed to form four different lines, depending on what we had come to do and what country we were from. Those of us who wanted to establish residency and who were not from the EU had to form one line. Ten tickets would be given out at 8:00 that would allow the first ten people to apply for residency that day. There were four of us in this line, I was number four. Two others arrived over the next hour.
7:00 - Five more people arrive. Two of them get in the back of our line, and three of them decide that they will be first in line. This does not go over very well with those who have been waiting since 4:00 in the morning, and I thought there might be a fight. Everyone remains calm, however, and we continue to wait. At this point I make a mental decision that I will not get upset, no matter what the outcome. God is in control of this situation, and from an eternal viewpoint, it will not matter if I am three people farther back in line. I also determine to leave my application for residency in God's hands as well.
It should be said that two weeks ago I came to the police station at 5:00 a.m., just like today, with another teacher from the school. She needed a ride to the station, and I stayed with her so she wouldn't be there alone. After waiting all morning, she was told that she had been given the wrong visa. She then had to go into downtown Madrid to try to resolve the problem. That didn't work, and it took a flight to Malaga in southern Spain, followed by another trip into Madrid before everything was right.
8:00 - A police officer comes outside for a smoke break. The Mexican students in front of me explain the issue with the three line-breakers. The three line breaking ladies also make animated comments. I can't really understand any of it, but the police officer finally throws up his hands and refuses to talk about it. He goes back inside.
8:45 - The same police officer comes back outside to hand out tickets. He walks past the first three in line and begins handing out tickets to the rightful first person in line. The first three ladies are most upset, but he refuses to even speak to them. He passes out tickets to everyone in line, and the three line-breakers do not get tickets.
8:50 - I call Silvia, the lawyer who will come help me through the process. I have a slightly elevated heart rate when I can not get ahold of her after the first three attempts, but I finally contact her.
9:10 - Silvia arrives and we wait. We talk about religion in Spain, Morrocans in Spain, Romanians in Spain, her family in Peru, etc. Interestingly, the three ladies who tried to break in front of the line have come into the waiting area, even though they don't have tickets.
10:30 - It is finally my turn. We sit at a desk and the government lady looks through all of my paperwork. She asks to see my passport, and when she looks at my visa she says, "This is the wrong visa!" (In Spanish, of course.) This is where I am glad I have a Spanish speaking lawyer because she says, "No, it is the correct visa. I have already checked it out. Look at the codes at the bottom. Those are the correct codes for a missionary." The lady pulls out a thick manual, looks up the codes, and says, "You're right."
All of my paperwork is in order. Everything is in the computer correctly (a tribute to the Spanish consulate in New Orleans, Silvia says, because things are not always entered correctly), and to top it off, there is a computer glitch which means I only have to pay 10 euros instead of the usual 20.
10:50 - To pay the fees for my residence card, we have to walk to the nearest bank. This is how many fees are paid here. For example, fees at the university are also paid directly to a bank. So we walk to the nearest branch of Caja Madrid.
11:00 - We arrive at the bank and wait in another line.
11:20 - We head back to the police station.
11:30 - The government lady, whose name is Anna, tells us to wait in the waiting area as she has to help other people first before she can get back to us. She takes paperwork from a couple of other people. When she finishes with the tenth person from our line, one of the line-breaking ladies from this morning goes to her desk and tries to talk to her. Police officers make her return to the waiting area.
11:45 - Anna gets up from her desk and leaves.
12:15 - Her break is over and she returns. She helps a couple of other people.
12:30 - She calls us over. We show proof that we paid the fee. She takes my fingerprints and staples pictures of me to the various documents.
12:40 - We're done. I can come back in 45 days to pick up my residence card. As we are leaving, Anna is getting up from her desk to leave again. Meanwhile, the break-in-the-line lady is yelling to her from the waiting area. I actually feel quite sorry for the line-breaking lady because she is crying, genuinely upset, and obviously needs to get her paperwork done that day. It doesn't look like that will be happening, though, and she has now been waiting since 7:00.
I give Silvia a ride to her office about 15 minutes away and head home.
1:15 - I arrive home.
Somewhere in the midst of all this, Silvia tells me that I am very "lucky." Today was the very best that it can possibly go. Not only were there no problems with any of the paperwork that I had to turn in, but I was able to get fingerprinted on the same day, and I only had to pay half price. The usual is that you have to make a seperate appointment to get fingerprinted, and then you wait for up to three hours when you come back to get that done. I sat at the police station for almost 8 hours yesterday, but it is done. Thank you, Lord, for your favor.
Tuesdays are our day off each week. :)
4:15 a.m. - Get up, take a shower, and eat breakfast
4:45 - I leave for the police station in Alcala.
5:00 - I arrive at the police station. About 30 people are standing around outside the station. I look around for the nicest looking group and try to speak to them in very broken Spanish. Thankfully, after I said something like "Mirror the residency card." instead of "Are you waiting for your residence card?" a girl replied with, "English?" The girl was a student from Mexico who spoke perfect English. I asked how many people were in line ahead of her. She replied, "Everyone here." I knew this couldn't be the case because I went through the process with another teacher two weeks ago, so I sort of knew how things were supposed to work.
6:00 - Long story short, no one who was waiting around had any idea how the system worked. After much discussion, the girl's Mexican friend went inside to ask. It turns out that we needed to form four different lines, depending on what we had come to do and what country we were from. Those of us who wanted to establish residency and who were not from the EU had to form one line. Ten tickets would be given out at 8:00 that would allow the first ten people to apply for residency that day. There were four of us in this line, I was number four. Two others arrived over the next hour.
7:00 - Five more people arrive. Two of them get in the back of our line, and three of them decide that they will be first in line. This does not go over very well with those who have been waiting since 4:00 in the morning, and I thought there might be a fight. Everyone remains calm, however, and we continue to wait. At this point I make a mental decision that I will not get upset, no matter what the outcome. God is in control of this situation, and from an eternal viewpoint, it will not matter if I am three people farther back in line. I also determine to leave my application for residency in God's hands as well.
It should be said that two weeks ago I came to the police station at 5:00 a.m., just like today, with another teacher from the school. She needed a ride to the station, and I stayed with her so she wouldn't be there alone. After waiting all morning, she was told that she had been given the wrong visa. She then had to go into downtown Madrid to try to resolve the problem. That didn't work, and it took a flight to Malaga in southern Spain, followed by another trip into Madrid before everything was right.
8:00 - A police officer comes outside for a smoke break. The Mexican students in front of me explain the issue with the three line-breakers. The three line breaking ladies also make animated comments. I can't really understand any of it, but the police officer finally throws up his hands and refuses to talk about it. He goes back inside.
8:45 - The same police officer comes back outside to hand out tickets. He walks past the first three in line and begins handing out tickets to the rightful first person in line. The first three ladies are most upset, but he refuses to even speak to them. He passes out tickets to everyone in line, and the three line-breakers do not get tickets.
8:50 - I call Silvia, the lawyer who will come help me through the process. I have a slightly elevated heart rate when I can not get ahold of her after the first three attempts, but I finally contact her.
9:10 - Silvia arrives and we wait. We talk about religion in Spain, Morrocans in Spain, Romanians in Spain, her family in Peru, etc. Interestingly, the three ladies who tried to break in front of the line have come into the waiting area, even though they don't have tickets.
10:30 - It is finally my turn. We sit at a desk and the government lady looks through all of my paperwork. She asks to see my passport, and when she looks at my visa she says, "This is the wrong visa!" (In Spanish, of course.) This is where I am glad I have a Spanish speaking lawyer because she says, "No, it is the correct visa. I have already checked it out. Look at the codes at the bottom. Those are the correct codes for a missionary." The lady pulls out a thick manual, looks up the codes, and says, "You're right."
All of my paperwork is in order. Everything is in the computer correctly (a tribute to the Spanish consulate in New Orleans, Silvia says, because things are not always entered correctly), and to top it off, there is a computer glitch which means I only have to pay 10 euros instead of the usual 20.
10:50 - To pay the fees for my residence card, we have to walk to the nearest bank. This is how many fees are paid here. For example, fees at the university are also paid directly to a bank. So we walk to the nearest branch of Caja Madrid.
11:00 - We arrive at the bank and wait in another line.
11:20 - We head back to the police station.
11:30 - The government lady, whose name is Anna, tells us to wait in the waiting area as she has to help other people first before she can get back to us. She takes paperwork from a couple of other people. When she finishes with the tenth person from our line, one of the line-breaking ladies from this morning goes to her desk and tries to talk to her. Police officers make her return to the waiting area.
11:45 - Anna gets up from her desk and leaves.
12:15 - Her break is over and she returns. She helps a couple of other people.
12:30 - She calls us over. We show proof that we paid the fee. She takes my fingerprints and staples pictures of me to the various documents.
12:40 - We're done. I can come back in 45 days to pick up my residence card. As we are leaving, Anna is getting up from her desk to leave again. Meanwhile, the break-in-the-line lady is yelling to her from the waiting area. I actually feel quite sorry for the line-breaking lady because she is crying, genuinely upset, and obviously needs to get her paperwork done that day. It doesn't look like that will be happening, though, and she has now been waiting since 7:00.
I give Silvia a ride to her office about 15 minutes away and head home.
1:15 - I arrive home.
Somewhere in the midst of all this, Silvia tells me that I am very "lucky." Today was the very best that it can possibly go. Not only were there no problems with any of the paperwork that I had to turn in, but I was able to get fingerprinted on the same day, and I only had to pay half price. The usual is that you have to make a seperate appointment to get fingerprinted, and then you wait for up to three hours when you come back to get that done. I sat at the police station for almost 8 hours yesterday, but it is done. Thank you, Lord, for your favor.
Tuesdays are our day off each week. :)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Como se dice "flyswatter?"
We have so many flies here that we have already broken the flyswatter that we bought after we came to Spain. So I (David) went to the Euro store (dollar store) here in town looking for a flyswatter. Once I arrived and couldn't find one I realized that I didn't know the Spanish word for "flyswatter" or "fly" for that matter. Nevertheless I found the Chinese man that owns and runs the place to ask him if he had any flyswatters. As I proceeded to act out a fly buzzing around (complete with sound effects) and then WHACK with my hand (also with sound effects) he looked at me like I was a little crazy. But after thinking for a second he smiled, said the name for a flyswatter, and then told me that they were all out. I still have no idea how to say "flyswatter" in Spanish, and we still have lots of flies, but my Spanish class begins next week.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Aranjuez, Spain - Palacio Real de Aranjuez
Yesterday one of the teachers from school was taking a tour group to Aranjuez, a town about an hour south of us, to tour what was the spring palace of the King and Queen of Spain. I'm still not clear on exactly which kings and queens used it, but I know I read something about King Philip and King Ferdinand/Queen Isabella. Now it is a museum and open to the public.
p.s. - we really do have a job. I'll post more on that this week. :)
Our group. Two teachers from ECA and two Spanish families whose children attend ECA. It was good to spend some time with them.
Both Flat Stanleys came with us.
"King Carlos - 1775"
Rachel and Flat Stanleys in front of the giant door.
I think the grass was their favorite part. We don't have much grass in Camarma.
Flat Stanley also enjoyed picking dandelions with Rachel, something she hasn't done since we got here - again, because of the lack of grass.
Flat Stanley also enjoyed picking dandelions with Rachel, something she hasn't done since we got here - again, because of the lack of grass.
Standing in one of the exterior archways.
One of several bridal photo shoots while we were there. Understandably so, as this place is so beautiful!
A duck pond.
The gardens were breathtaking.
Waterfall.
No, No, Mathis!
Throughout the gardens, there were many labyrinths formed out of shrubbery. The kids had a blast. So did Flat Stanley. :)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Back to School Picnic
Last Friday night, we had an all-school picnic at ECA. It was sunny but extremely windy. So windy in fact, that the lettuce flew off my hamburger and my chips went flying away. We decided to eat indoors, though most everyone else braved the wind and cold. Anyway, because we were inside, we forgot to take pictures. Thankfully, our good friends George and Bonnie took quite a few. Please look at their blog to see pictures from the picnic.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Flat Stanley comes to Spain
Rachel's friend Emily is doing the Flat Stanley Project for school and we were delighted that he decided to come all the way to visit us in Spain! Unfortunately, he arrived a few days after the running of the bull, but we did decide to take him along to the grocery store with us today. We thought it would be fun to share his adventure with you, as well, to give you a picture of what a Spanish grocery store is like.
Spaniards LOVE their chorizo/sausage.
An entire aisle of pork products.
The milk aisle - also unrefrigerated. Milk comes in 1 liter cartons here. We buy it by the case.
The Nesquick, however, comes in these GIANT tubs. I never bought this at home, but to our dorm girls, it's their lifeblood. Flat Stanley loves his Nesquick. :)
Leaving the house
He helped drive us there.
To get to a major grocery store, we have to drive to Alcala,
a large town about 10 minutes from our house.
This is Alcampo. It's like a Super Wal-Mart. This is where we do most of our shopping.
If you've ever been to Aldi, you know the drill about paying a quarter to "rent" a cart. All the stores here do that, only it's a Euro coin (Approx. $1.42) instead of a quarter. Flat Stanley helped with that, too.
The juice aisle.
Olive oil, anyone?
One delicious thing about Europe is the cheese!
And then there's the fresh seafood department, including squid, octopus and every variety of fish you can imagine.
This picture is for Josh and Betsy. What a selection of Nutella! :)
and this picture is for Lisa. :)
The produce department. Pretty normal.
Interesting thing about the produce department here. They require you to put on a plastic glove before handling any of the produce. Then you pick up your selection and you take it to a scale, where you weigh it and get the label/barcode for it.
Spaniards LOVE their chorizo/sausage.
An entire aisle of pork products.
The egg section - unrefrigerated.
The milk aisle - also unrefrigerated. Milk comes in 1 liter cartons here. We buy it by the case.
The Nesquick, however, comes in these GIANT tubs. I never bought this at home, but to our dorm girls, it's their lifeblood. Flat Stanley loves his Nesquick. :)
At the checkout.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Care Packages
How to send a care package...Some people have been asking about how to send packages, where, and whatnot… so I am going to do a blog on it, so that it reaches everyone who surfs our sight. Also let me warn you that shipping to Spain is costly so we understand if you still don’t want to send us anything; however, I must add that getting any mail at all is VERY exciting for us so if you can't send us a package, send us a letter or a hand-drawn picture by your children. We love to get mail, no matter how big or small. So thank you in advance if you choose to send us one. To mail a first class envelope costs around $.95.
Here is our address:
David and Keri Young
Evangelical Christian Academy
Calle La Manda 47
28816
Camarma de Esteruelas (Madrid)
SPAIN
Secondly: How do you pack it up? We recommend shipping it via the U.S. Postal Service. You can check Fed Ex or DHL, but when we checked into sending some of our things over before we left, it was wayyyy more expensive than the post office. There is a Flat Rate Priority Int'l envelope you can send for $11.95 and you can fit a good bit of flat stuff in it. There is also a Flat Rate Int'l box that you can fill up to 20 lbs and it costs $38.95, I think. My mom sent a box the size of a shoe box and it weighed 4 or 5 pounds and cost her $34.00, so if you're going to spend $34.00 on a tiny box, you might as well use the flat rate box and get more for your money. But we know that $34.00 is a lot of money so we don't expect any of you to do that, unless you really want to. I would suggest that you take every bit of weight into consideration, even how much tape you package it up with. Feel free to take things out of their original packing, and slip them into Ziploc bags. Packaging can be bulky and it does weigh something. It is a good idea to insure the package. Perhaps send an email to let us know you are sending it, so if it doesn’t come we can let you know so you can collect on your insurance. Here are some suggestions of what we need or would enjoy having sent.
David and Keri
Here is our address:
David and Keri Young
Evangelical Christian Academy
Calle La Manda 47
28816
Camarma de Esteruelas (Madrid)
SPAIN
Secondly: How do you pack it up? We recommend shipping it via the U.S. Postal Service. You can check Fed Ex or DHL, but when we checked into sending some of our things over before we left, it was wayyyy more expensive than the post office. There is a Flat Rate Priority Int'l envelope you can send for $11.95 and you can fit a good bit of flat stuff in it. There is also a Flat Rate Int'l box that you can fill up to 20 lbs and it costs $38.95, I think. My mom sent a box the size of a shoe box and it weighed 4 or 5 pounds and cost her $34.00, so if you're going to spend $34.00 on a tiny box, you might as well use the flat rate box and get more for your money. But we know that $34.00 is a lot of money so we don't expect any of you to do that, unless you really want to. I would suggest that you take every bit of weight into consideration, even how much tape you package it up with. Feel free to take things out of their original packing, and slip them into Ziploc bags. Packaging can be bulky and it does weigh something. It is a good idea to insure the package. Perhaps send an email to let us know you are sending it, so if it doesn’t come we can let you know so you can collect on your insurance. Here are some suggestions of what we need or would enjoy having sent.
- Chili Powder (Bi-Lo brand is fine and they have a huge jar for $1.99 or so)
- Boxed Macaroni and cheese, either Kraft (whole wheat, preferably) or Annie's organic.
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Puzzles for Rachel (don’t send the box - just the puzzle in a bag, and of course, the picture.)
- Tazo Tea, "Passion" (purple) or any other flavor.
- Taco seasoning, preferably McCormick brand mild
- McCormick Parmesan Herb seasoning
- Kool-aid, the kind without sugar (you can add your own sugar, as all powdered juices here contain aspartame). Our favorites are pink lemonade and fruit punch)
- Seeds (just a variety, including herbs)
- Magazines, recently used (Readers Digest, Southern Living, et al)
- Fall/Thanksgiving/Christmas decorations or crafts
- Mini-Marshmallows
- Itunes giftcards
- Scrapbooking paper (8 1/2 x 11) and scissors.
- Stickers and fun paper for Rachel and Mathis
- Baking cocoa (generic is fine)
- Bath and Body Works trial size lotions/body wash
- 2009 Calendar
- DVD's (not VHS) (Veggie Tales, Baby Einstein, Elmo, Sesame Street, Dora, Donut Man, Hermie, etc.) Check McKay's. Also, send them without the case in a ziploc or bubble wrap.
- Starbucks coffee, Verona blend, ground (for a treat!)
- Strawberry Pop Tarts
- Chocolate chips
- Butterscotch chips
- Books for the kids, Little Golden Books from McKays would be awesome.
- Forever stamps from the Post Office
- Children's vitamins
- Almond Extract (be sure to put it in a secure ziploc bag and pad it well)
David and Keri
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