Unwinding

I've made one discovery - time flies here too! I've always found that on holiday the perception of time is so very different from when at home - 2 weeks on holiday always seems so much longer than 2 weeks at home. But, again, the days and weeks are flying by and it's almost 4 weeks since we left home. Perhaps it's something to do with routines which merge one day into another!

We are working very hard on our Spanish and our teacher is the very best in our books! She has a lovely sense of humour and the lessons are well structured. Very much a 'building blocks' style - though by the time we get home after an hour's lesson and go through our notes it all seems to look like a pile of rubble! However, by the time we get to our next lesson we've put the blocks back together again ready fro the next lot! It's great fun and I find it very exciting learning a new language - we shall certainly need it when we get to the village in January!

We went up to the house in El Higueral on Saturday to meet Lynn and Peter before they left. It's so sad it didn't work out for them - it is such a lovely home in such a beautiful area. I had forgotten how stunning and dramatic the scenery is once you leave the congested Mijas Costa and Malaga area behind, where there really is very little open space to be seen anymore. We've settled very comfortably in this little corner of Mijas Costa and I had begun to wonder how enthusiastic I still was about moving inland where it's definitely a few degrees colder in the winter, where we'd be surrounded by folks speaking a language we didn't understand (at least not much yet!), to a fairly large house in place of this modern easy-care apartment - but there's no doubt - as we drove back I felt so elated and excited at the prospect of living there - we can't wait! As much as we love it here this isn't what we came for.

Jon and Jen are coming over to Spain Wednesday for a wedding in Murcia and we're driving over to spend a couple of days with them which we're all really looking forward to.

We've found a local club which we can join and use the gym and pool - we're thinking about it. We rather like our walks up and down these hills in the fresh air and sunshine then workouts on the terrace - we certainly need them. I've managed to resist so far the yummy looking sugar thick do'nuts whenever we have a coffee out but not sure how much longer I can hold out!! We've found the local market where we get our fresh fruit and veg - and my favourite stall of pick 'n mix sweeties!! Dear, oh dear .....

I'm busy designing our Christmas card for this year - which does seem very peculiar in this warm sunny climate! We watch English TV and see all the usual ads that are shown on the lead up to Christmas which feels really weird - they conjure up all the associations one has at this time every year with all the preparations going on - which aren't for us this year! Does seem very odd. Yet in some way rather lovely that we're not caught up with any of the commercialism but can really focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Shall miss the boys though - but that will never change.

Before leaving home I felt confident I would find a church in this area as there are so many English here. I was however aware that I would probably struggle to find anything once we moved to El Higueral, just outside Iznajar. Last eve I returned to the local evangelical church that I'd discovered around the corner last week - they're certainly a lively bunch! Imagine my delight when chatting to someone after the service to discover that they not only knew of Iznajar (no-one I speak to has ever heard of it!) but told me one of the church members lives in the area and runs a refuge centre there! It seems she's also just started up a small bible study/worship group there! Our dear Lord's amazing provision yet again.

These are certainly very exciting times .................

Lake Vinuela and Marbella

Settling into first base: Mijas Costa

Will we ever be able to face another winter in England I wonder? Each morning, since our arrival 10 days ago, we have woken to clear blue skies and sunshine - the day starts with breakfast on the terrace where we have a beautiful view across to the sea. It would be so easy to sit with a book in the sunshine all day but there's so much to discover and things to get to grips with. We've explored the local shops and already established our favourite for the cheapest vino and wonderfully fresh and tasty fruit and veg. We're back to our 3 x weekly workouts and trying our best to eat wisely - oooooh, but that is a challenge round here! We were in little outdoor cafe by the marina in Marbella last week and ordered a very healthy chicken sandwich, plus the obligatory glass of vino. Sadly however, I then let myself down rather badly when I discovered there was homemade chocolate brownie on the menu - a huge portion served with 2 dollops of ice cream - they did, however, provide 2 spoons so M had no choice but to help me out! It was the best choc brownie I've ever tasted - shame about the 2 spoons!
We had a hiccup couple of days ago when we found a totally flat car battery and had to call out the breakdown guys - thankfully we did manage to get hold of an English speaking operator but the fun came when the mechanic arrived in the correct road but didn't seem to be able to locate our address - it is a particularly long road that winds around everywhere! Not sure who was chasing who around for a while - Michael or the mechanic in his little yellow van but they eventually met up and managed to get by without speaking each other's language and in no time we were mobile again - another little challenge highlighting our inability to speak the language! But we haven't wasted any time there and have found a teacher and have Spanish lessons twice a week - with lots of homework and walls plastered with flash cards (glad I packed the blutak!).
Yesterday, we drove out to Lake Vinuela, an area surrounded by mountains, and picnicked under the shade of the eucalyptus trees before taking a walk down to the waters edge and some distance around the lake. A really beautiful area with some pretty scary steep roads with very sharp hairpin bends - I was relieved to be the passenger in our own right hand side drive car - meant Michael was on the sheer drop side! Much to my delight I found an evangelical church just up the road and went to the afternoon service today - where I received such a warm welcome and look forward to making some friends there. So all in all, we are having the time of our lives and feel so very lucky to be blessed with this wonderful opportunity and the promise of what the following weeks and months hold for us.