Day of the Teacher

Today we celebrate Day of the Teacher in Argentina ... and what a worthy thing to do!

On Friday the kids all took presents for their teachers. There were special assemblies to recognise the efforts of these men and women, who generously serve children with very little financial gain.

(To demonstrate this point, a friend has commenced working as an English teacher in a local public school. She has inverted 4 months of fulltime work, and as yet HAS NOT BEEN PAID. This is not an uncommon story ... the newer staff are the last on the payroll. She has given up waiting, and now works in a souvenir shop for only 6 hours per week ... and is better off financially. HOW CRAZY. Years of university training wasted).

Today in our church, our pastor invited all the Sunday school teachers to be recognised by the congregation for their service. He reminded parents that the role of teaching our children about God must come primarily from the home, but was eager to applaud the efforts of each teacher. Our pastor hopes that the Sunday school might become the best in Argentina, if not in the world (!) for the way in which each child is viewed as a valued member of our congregation.

Happy day of the teacher!

Posted by Julie

16 years!

Today we celebrate 16 years of marriage. We are incredibly thankful to God for this time he has given us together, and for the 4 beaut kids that keep us on our toes.

After dropping the kids at school, we started the day with "un desayuno especial" (a special breakfast). I had seen many advertisements for 'special breakfast delivery services' in the local area, so I put my own breaky together, Argentine style .... 'ensalada de frutas' (fruit salad), 'facturas' (sweet pastries), criollitos (savoury pastries), jugo exprimido (freshly squeezed orange juice) and 'cafe con leche' (white coffee).

A great way to start a special day with my best mate!

Posted by Julie

Send some rain please!

Cordoba during winter is a very dry place. The average expected rainfall for June is a mere 3.5mm. This winter it has rained TWICE.

So I'd like to know how, in a country where it is very difficult to maintain any business, "La Casa de Paraguas" ("The House of Umbrellas") can exist. And they have a proud history that dates back to 1900!!

While we wait for some rain, we continue with allergies, hay fever symptoms and dust storms.

Bring on the rain!!!

Posted by Julie

A movie in a bakery

This Saturday we have our monthly get together of students. However this month it is a little different.

We are having a movie and discussion (cine debate in Spanish) in a bakery in Nueva Cordoba, the suburb near the uni where thousands of students live.

The bakery has a downstairs room where we will have afternoon tea and show the movie.

What's the movie? The theme is suffering, so we are showing Shadowlands, the movie about the life of C.S.Lewis. So hopefully, rather than just a theoretical or philosophical discussion of suffering we will be able to talk about life and faith in the midst of suffering.

Praying that some new students might come along.

Fun with the car

Getting the car repaired from our accident on Aug 22 is going to take its time.

I've been to our insurer, who checked out the damage and gave me the details of a smash repairer.

I was told by the other guys insurer that I needed to get a quote and then go and show the insurance company the car. So i got the quote and went along to the other insurance company, who then told me I didn't need to take the car to them because I have comprehensive insurance. Apparently I just need to show up when the work has been done and claim back from them the excess.

I've got to say I am a little bit nervous about that- how forthcoming will they be with the excess?

Carnivore, Herbivore or Omnivore?

Our 6 year old son had a Natural Science test today, and came home pretty happy.

He needed to identify animals that were herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. Just as well we studied up on pigs yesterday ... apparently they eat anything and are classified omnivores (after studying 6 years of agriculture in high school I'm not sure I knew that before doing yesterday´s year 1 homework....).

So he got the pig question right. But the question that tripped up nearly every kid in his class was: ´Is a person a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore?´

Most kids, including the smartest in the class, responded with CARNIVORE.

Pretty reasonable, given the diets of most of our Argentine friends!!

Posted by Julie

Ladies Bible Study

It was a tricky passage .... even according to my theologically trained hubby.

But God is good ... the study was well received by the women.

The group had grown this week such that we had used up all Gaby's chairs.

Two women who have particularly struggled to get to the group were able to make it.

One woman brought a friend for whom we had been praying for several months.

And afterwards, when I asked one lady how she had found the morning's meeting, she replied, "Ah Julie, it was like a balm for my soul."

Not hard to see that this was a highlight of my week!

Posted by Julie