Visits, Learning, Pink Eye, and Enchufe

The last few weeks have been a blur! It seems like we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off!! Almost two weeks ago, a good friend of ours came to visit us. Jesse is from our home church in South Carolina, and has been part of our lives for what seems like a lifetime! Micah has discipled Jesse on and off since he was about 13, and he and his family have grown to be dear friends. His dad is the pastor of our church in the States. So, Jesse was able to come to visit! Yay! We were so excited about him coming! He's been here for almost two weeks now, and we've really enjoyed his time here! We've been able to introduce him to some of the stuff that we've been doing while here in Spain, and also we've met with some other missionaries. We're hoping that we can get him in touch with other missionaries and maybe a couple national pastors during the remainder of his time here. We've been able to learn a bunch about our culture as we've tried to show him a little bit of it as well!

Buuuuuuuuut......Jesse also brought with him the dreaded pink eye. Ugh! Of course we still love you, Jesse! But Micah got really sick with a cold, then Jesse lovingly shared his pink eye with Micah, too. I have somehow avoided it so far, and I'm trying not to touch my face at all, cleaning up the house as much as I can. Jesse's case was pretty mild, and it didn't bother him too much. Micah, on the other hand, seemed to have infection oozing from him! He had terrible sinus pain, sore throat, bad cough, and pink eye. He had a rough few days. But, we finally made it to the doctor to get medicine for them. Man, let me tell you. That doctor's office was quite the cultural experience. We went to a private little clinic because we aren't included in their socialized medical system. We were told to go to door number 7...kind of cryptic, but we just went forth looking for door number 7. We found the door, but it was shut. Do we go in the door? Do we just sit and wait? How do we know when to go? A lady in door number 8 saw us and took pity on us and asked if we needed help. What we apparently needed to do is ask who the last person in line was, then just go after them. This is something that goes on in other places in Spain, like the post office and butcher shop, but we didn't know that it applied to the doctor's office, too! So, we waited our turn, then went into this tiny little room with a desk, two chairs, and a sheet-covered exam table. He asked what was wrong, then looked at each of them for about 30 seconds each! He then wrote a prescription for their pink eye and for Micah's cold. We went and got the bill, paid, and then were done! So interesting!

Another "crazy like a chicken with your head cut off" moment was trying to change over our bank account to the town where we live. We had to open a new account because our old one was under our passport. Now that we have our residency cards, we had to open up an account with them. We have been working on depositing our monthly check (in dollars) to our bank account here, which normally has a minimal fee and takes about 10 days to fully clear. But we were having trouble. At first, they didnt' know how to do it. Then, they were giving us extravagant fees, saying it may take up to a month before our money clears! I finally was able to escape the pink eye house for enough time to figure out what was going on. Then I realized the problem. There is this concept in Spain called "enchufe" (en-choo-fay). It basically means that it's who you know that matters. They ended up calling our old bank at my prompting, to ask how they normally do it, all to find out that they deal with a bunch of Americans at that bank and their reputation has been well upheld. Once he heard that they've never had a check bounce and that we were associated with that group of people, it was easy! They guy's countenance changed instantly, and he figured out to deposit the check the way our old branch did. What a lesson in how to approach business here!

We're all trying to stay/get better, and learning a bunch along the way! I'll try to post pictures later! Thanks for coming along with us on this journey!