Fun in Menorca

Our time here is passing so quickly, it's hard to believe we've been here 5 weeks already.  One of Brian's favourite sayings is 'Time flies when you are enjoying yourself' and it's so true, we just love it here.  The house we are renting is only 50 yards from the estuary that leads to Mahon harbour.  From our little patio, I love watching the yachts, and boats of all sizes, including huge passenger ferries glide by.

            

 A ferry on the estuary behind our house

Our confidence in Spanish is slowly improving & we understand more at church each week.  Our Spanish teacher, a vivacious lady called Isabele, is very good at pitching our weekly lesson so it helps us both in spite of being at such different levels.  Brian is very good at grammar & I've got the vocabulary, so we can help each other.  I'm amazed how many words come back to me, which after a break of 33 years is very gratifying.  I think our holidays here over the years have certainly helped keep my hand in a little.

In order to help speed up our learning, every morning we sing a hymn in Spanish, have a prayer, said in Spanish if it's me saying it, then take it in turns reading a few verses of The Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I translate each verse & Brian can check on his iPod if I'm correct.  We have been visiting church members with the missionaries (one from Boise, Idaho, & one from Ecuador) & if they don't all speak at once, or too quickly, I can understand much of what the natives say.

One church member lives in Ciudadella, at the other end of the island & can't get to church.  So, on alternate Sundays, after church, the missionaries go to dinner & take her the Sacrament.  Their only transport is by bus, expensive & not very frequent, so we are happy to be their chauffeurs.  Yesterday we took them for the second time & met the lady's daughter, & brother.  He is from Ecuador & I was thrilled to understand most of what he said, because it was similar to how they speak in Peru.  I worked out we had been thinking & speaking in Spanish for eight hours by the time we returned home.  No wonder our brains hurt & we were shattered!!  Brian can understand much of what is said, altho' he can't speak a lot. When we can understand the gist of what is being said we feel a part of it & life becomes easier!

Before I go on to another subject I must just write about the baptism they had last week.  The chapel in Mahon is on the ground floor adjacent to a hairdressing academy, & an Orthodontist. Above them is three tiers of housing. There is nowhere they could have a font dug into the ground, so they use a portable font, a bit like a small swimming pool, with a ladder that goes over the side.  The lady getting baptized brought along 10 friends/relatives who all seemed to enjoy themselves.   I struggled to get the spanish words to fit in as I conducted  the music, as Brian & I hadn't been able to practice the hymns in advance.

The portable font, minus the ladder, in Mahon Chapel

Last week we took the missionaries  on their day off (P-Day or Preparation Day) to Fornells, a lovely little fishing town at the north of the island.  We ate at a lovely restaurant that had been recommended to us, & found it was where we'd eaten last year with our friends (ex-patients of Brian) Mo & Rob who live here in S'Algar.

Fornells

During the 5 weeks we've been here, we've been to 5 different beaches, spending about 2 hours at each, reading, having a picnic & me swimming.  10 days ago we went to Cala Mitjana.  The last time we were there as a family was in 1999, when our boys took turns to jump off the cliffs with Jonathan & Ben Andrews.  Julie has a photo in her hall of Ben jumping off the cliff this summer.  Of course I wasn't so inclined, but enjoyed my swim till a jelly fish wrapped itself round my elbow!!!   Unlike summer when the beach is very crowded, this time there were only about a dozen others on the beach.

We have had many moments when we have come out of our comfort zone.  One of mine was in the kitchen trying to work out the quantities of ingredients to make my famous brownies to fit the container in which to cook them, on some very inaccurate scales we bought here, which are metric!  Having worked it all out & put the brownies in the oven, they began to burn on the top.  I tested with a fork & they seemed to be done.  It was only when I iced them that I realised they weren't cooked underneath after all.  We ate them with the family in Ciudadella on Sunday using spoons, & in spite of their appearance, they tasted gorgeous.

                                                                    

The harbour in Ciudadella

Another time was when I found the 2 cutlery drawers were crawling with ants, that was truly an 'O Brian!!" occasion.  As well as sorting out the ants, I also got Brian to remove a caterpillar type insect from under the lampshade.  Isn't that what husbands are for??

We obviously don't have a bird table here as we do at home, but `I give any spare scraps of meat to the 3 stray cats that roam around, & feed the bread, instead of to the ducks, to the fish in the harbour at Calasfonts on our way to the shops.

On Saturday we were going for a late afternoon walk near our house when we saw thousands of birds flying around in several flocks.  They would alight in a field, making it look black & then take off again. Presumably they were stocking up in preparation for their flight to warmer climes.  It was a truly wonderful sight to see.

Birds flocking before migrating

It is now only 12 weeks until we start our mission on 31st January. As you can imagine, there is lots to fit in before then:- return home on 3rd Dec, Brian's 60th, Christmas with Simon & Jenette in their new home near Halifax, pack our home, & hopefully visit Andrew in Detroit & several friends in Utah & Idaho.  By then, Matthew will have started at Idaho State Uni.