Mirror, mirror on the wall, Joel is the fairest of them all! He is also A1, 1st class and, perhaps, the most stubborn?!

Little Joely-Poly has had nearly two weeks at ‘BIG’ school now. And we thought we’d update you on his progress and give some points for prayer…

His first week at school started on Wednesday 10 September at 5.30pm. This was a meeting with the teachers for all the first year ‘πρώτη τάξη’ (proti taxi – 1st class) students and their parents. There are 3 classes in each year group in the school with about 16 students per class and no teaching assistants, and he is in class A1 (Άλφα ένα - Alpha Ena) and will remain with that class and teacher for two years. We met his teacher: Κύρια Βενετία (Keeria Veneteea) who explained that Thursday’s class would just be a blessing from the priest and a bit of time together as a class and that Friday they would start ‘proper’. For Friday’s lesson he would need a pencil, pencil sharpener, rubber, some colouring pens, a drawing book and something to eat and drink. His first few days at school ended at the earlier time of 1130 and would normally go on until 1230.

So, on Thursday I took him to school and watched and waited as the whole school gathered (about 270 kids), and as the priest prayed, chanted (ALMOST badly) and threw a bit of ‘holy water’ in the general direction of the children. I was struck immediately by how fair Joel is compared to practically the whole school – even the other blond(e) kids have more olive skin tones.

On Friday he was given 7 (that’s SEVEN) A4 textbooks which we had to cover with clear sticky plastic: 2 Maths, 2 Geography (sort of), 1 Literature and 2 Language. And the Κύρια Βενετία told us that he would need a bigger bag for all his books and his food. So, on Saturday, on the way back from the beach, Joel and I went to Carrefour and picked up a MASSIVE Spiderman bag.

On Monday Joel was given a long list of other things that he would need (all of which we’d bought by the end of the week: see picture below, which is missing a drawing book with different coloured sheets and all the stuff he already had). All of it (including each pen and crayon) needs to have a name label, so I spent a happy couple of hours doing that! (I'm such an admin nerd!) He sits next to Andreas, has 10 boys and 6 girls in his class and has writing homework every day. School starts at 8 and finishes at 1230 but he could opt in to the afternoon school if he wanted. We might consider that next year.

Culturally there are so many differences to school in the UK. Last year we bought Joel a book called ‘Starting School’ by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. It’s a lovely introduction to Infants’ School UK style. I flicked through it last night and it made me so sad I almost cried (which, let’s face it, isn’t THAT sad – I cry SO easily…). School here is so formal from the beginning that Joel’s class has very little of that familiar Reception class bumpf (role-play stuff, sand/water table, named pegs, etc) although they DID have to take in cushions for the ‘story and singing corner’ sessions (swing your pants!). There seems to be quite an emphasis on pleasing his teacher and Joel isn’t as much of a pleaser as H or E (it’s just not his personality – something about being a first child?). Joel clearly has no idea of these cultural differences, so it isn’t a sacrifice for him! He is always a bit reluctant to GO to school and occasionally complains about his teacher and the lessons, but once through the gates he is really happy to be there and enthusiastically greets his teacher and classmates!

How’s he doing? Good but not great (sic). His favourite thing to do is to play with Darius and Kiara in the playground. Darius (6) and Kiara (10) are Meikles: the children of our friends Heath and Meriko, a Canadian family who work for Hellenic Ministries and live LITERALLY around the corner. It’s great to be getting to know them better – they’ve been here for a year so – and, no doubt, you’ll hear more of them in due course. It’s great that he has good friends already but the Anglophonic nature of that friendship will, at least initially, hamper his Greek progress. Bullet points of what the teacher has said:

• He is bright but stubborn and a bit daydreamy. Consequently he isn’t good at listening and often doesn’t want to get involved with what the class is doing. His main defence of his position (not wanting to write or speak in Greek) is that he’s English.
• He is bright and it’s not clear how much he understands. She can’t believe he can read difficult Greek words but doesn’t know them or know what they mean.
• He has developed bad habits at his νηπιαγωγείο (pre-school) where he was allowed to opt out of activities and not listen to the Greek.
• We should consider getting him to join a Greek club, eg a football team in order that he make Greek friends and be part of something completely in Greek.

She also suggested that we think about sending him to one of two state schools that deal specifically with children who don’t speak Greek. The closest one is in Alimos, in the South of the city, and would require us taking him to the bus-stop near the metro every morning for a 730 pick-up and collecting him from there at 330 every afternoon. Heath and Meriko sent their kids there last year, it was definitely good for Kiara but was exhausting and probably didn’t make much difference for Darius. Because the real issue is his social development (and especially in Greek), we’ve decided to stick with the school here. We’re trying to speak more in Greek and watch, read and listen to more Greek language media. The kids are finding the Greek invasion into their English haven (our home!) a bit of a struggle (even Esther has learnt to say, “No Mummy, in ENGLISH!”), but we’ll get there!

Please pray for us that we would continue to love and support our children through this process. They are all quite content in their situations in spite of the language and the difficulties. Hannah’s teachers (the same as last year) say that she’s settled back really well and that she’s mixing and playing even more nicely with her peers than last year. Praise God! Pray especially for Joel’s and our relationship with Κύρια Βενετία during this ‘teething’ time and that he would grow friendships with his classmates.

Thanks!

Suffering and Shining: God's Strategy (aka No Mud, No Glory)

UCCF FORUM marked the (almost) end of our summer UK visit. We left the children with Jonathan’s parents and drove the (oh so) familiar route to Quinta, Oswestry, Shropshire, LOVELY.

FORUM is the national student leaders’ conference run by UCCF (the UK branch of IFES). It’s the venue and the event where Jonathan and I were first in the same room at the same time (although we never met): we were both at FORUM ’95 as student leaders and both attended a meeting for those interested in doing Relay, about 40 people packed into a small lounge (Severn Lodge Lounge for those interested?!). Jonathan has spent over a hundred nights at Quinta as it is the venue for all Birmingham Uni CU houseparties (he went to 5), Midlands CU Leaders’ Training Weekends (8), Relay 1 and 3 (3 of each), Relay Reunions (2), FORUM (8) and other CU houseparties and events. I have been there almost as many times and in some ways it’s like home – it’s so familiar. Having been on staff and organised conferences based there we know the centre staff and the layout really well; know the shortest routes from any A to B; know the toilets least frequented and have marvelled at the small improvements made by the staff every year.We first met properly at Quinta (3rd September 1996 at Relay Training 1) and we celebrated our 12th anniversary of meeting by returning!

FORUM has grown significantly in the last ten years and now accommodates about 800 student leaders and 150 UCCF staff, Relay and guests. Most of the students camp and most of the meetings are held in big top tents of varying sizes. This year John Piper was giving the main Bible Readings from Ruth in the mornings and spoke at the World Service and Graham Daniels (Christians In Sport) spoke at two of the main meetings from Matthew 10 (Jesus sends out the Twelve).

We were only there for a couple of days but it was great to be back. We were able to catch up with dear friends and meet new ones. The most significant moments though were probably the same for most who attended FORUM this year. Two things really: it rained, a lot, and people responded to God’s call to take the gospel to all nations.

THE RAIN
As I have said in previous entries, we LOVE the rain. It rained and rained for most of the week and Clarkie’s hopes of running around barefoot wanging a Frisbee were sadly not to be. As a result the site got muddier and muddier – it wasn’t like Glastonbury 2005 but it was pretty wet – and, as is often the case, bad weather made for more of a community spirit and was definitely the wettest FORUM on record (and the weather got worse on the day we all left).

THE RESPONSE
John Piper spoke at the FORUM World Service from John 20:21 and he spoke in two sections: “As the Father sends me …” and “… so I send you”. The evening was packed with little interviews with various folk working in IFES teams in various parts of the world and an opportunity to pray for each area. Piper spoke about Jesus’ suffering and our call to both proclaim his suffering and extend it in our own lives. For me, this was the key to a talk which was designed to make folk reflect on what the call of the gospel is: suffering and sacrifice for the sake of God’s glory and the salvation of others. Piper said that suffering is not just a cost, but a strategy. God sends his people and gives suffering in order that they might communicate God’s love with authenticity. I’ve thought a lot about this over the past year and a half. We left our lovely lives in Beeston and Athens is hard in comparison. Visits to the UK, to church and life in Beeston, to UCCF events, are bitter sweet: they are a great joy to be involved in but a stark reminder of what we have left. We pray that we would make the most of this sacrifice; make it count and do it for the sake of the glorious name of Jesus, who sacrificed himself that we might be made right with God and have a relationship with him.

At the end of his second talk Piper explained that he was going to ask two different groups of people to stand up. The first group were those who were called to ‘cross-cultural, vocational (whole life) mission’, whether they were absolutely certain or just believed that that might be the case. The second group were those who were prepared to go on some short-term cross-cultural mission, whether that be a few weeks, months or a couple of years.

I think that somewhere between 150 and 200 stood at the first call. I, of little faith, couldn’t believe so many responded. As the second group were called to stand with them a further 400 or so stood. Most of the tent was standing. It moved me to tears and I need to explain why. 13 years ago I stood at FORUM and responded in the same way that some of these guys had: tentatively, knowing that God had called me to give my whole life for his glory and that, for me, that would mean moving outside of my comfort zone. I cried that Wednesday night because I know how much that response is going to cost. Suffering is not an option, it’s a cost and a strategy. But, and this is what I really want to make clear, it’s a strategy not just for the sake of those who see but for those who suffer. My personal pain at leaving my lovely life in Beeston helps me to “look forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb 11:10) It forces me to live for Jesus. I don’t do that very well and pray that I might glorify him more and more. But at the end of the evening I had two quotes ringing in my ears: further on in Hebrews 11 and some of the words from one of the songs we sang at FORUM:

If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

(Hebrews 11:15-16)

Purify us Lord, so we’re spotless and pure as we hold out your word to this generation
How can they hear? And how can they believe? How can they call on your name unless we tell them?

I am not ashamed, I know whom I believe for God himself has come to me, now Jesus is my destiny.
I know I am changed and all you’ve given me: this hope, this love, this life, I can’t deny your power within me.
So, here I am, send me.

I AM changed. I’m not the person I thought was growing up to be. I have left behind me a lot of things that I used to hold very dear - a lot of dreams and aspirations. But the life I have is a gift from God to be lived out to his glory. It’s dirty and uncomfortable and inconvenient at times (like the mud at FORUM), but it also reminds me of my need for a Saviour, my need for power that does not come from me and the call to give my life for the sake of God’s glory and for the salvation of others.

The Green, Green Grass of Home

A few notes on cultural acclimatisation and a compare and contrast (but hopefully in a good way!)

We’ve arrived back safely from a great summer in England. I’ve just been looking back over photos and thinking about all the friends and family we were able to see; the weddings and birthday celebrations attended; the relaxing trips to favourite places; the new people we were privileged to meet; the green grass we got to really enjoy (and we did – see below!) and the rain. Joel has said, on numerous occasions since we left the UK permanently twenty-one months ago, that rain is his favourite weather, and the rest of us are inclined to agree. We LOVE rain. We don’t see that much of it in Athens – and yet there is no hosepipe ban, ever. Often, when it rains in Athens (and it doesn’t often rain), it rains heavily all day. We may have had about 7 days like that last year, and it probably rained for a shorter period, usually at night, 15 to 20 times (and that’s a generous estimate!). In fact, this last year, it nearly snowed as much as it rained!

The kids enjoying the grass in York Minster Gardens

Hannah running around at Twycross Zoo

Esther in Museum Gardens, York.

Joel and Esther in 'our' back garden in Beeston

The visit of the Paros mission team got me thinking about the differences between British and Greek life. I guess they fall into a number of categories: Athens/Beeston differences – both objective and subjective; daily life differences (subjective?); and the kind of cultural faux-pas/niceties/strange habits that people need warning about!

Athens is a dry (no kidding) and dusty city with little open space and barely any green grass. The greenest part of the city is definitely the Ancient Agora at the foot of the Acropolis and overlooked by the Areopagus (see pic). As a family we were discussing what colours our two home countries were – what colours came to mind when we thought of them: Greece is the bright white of the sun shining off the white buildings and marble steps and paving slabs in the city centre; the bright blue of the sky; the olive green of the, erm, olive trees and other vegetation and the pale brown of the sun-scorched earth. England (or Britain, if you like) was mostly green and grey: the dark green of the trees; the deep green of lush grass; the grey-ey white of the clouds not quite ready to rain on us; the dark grey of the roads not bleached by the sun and browny-red, the browny-red of the red-brick buildings and roof-tiles.

Athens is built-up with busy roads and relentless noise. Although it’s sunny most of the time we are usually in shade because most buildings are 5 or 6 storeys high. The roads are broad and packed and the pavements are narrow – so it always feels crowded. The city has population about ½ the size of London packed into a space ¼ the size – so it’s DENSE! With the exception of businesses in the city centre, most places are open from 8ish til 2.30ish Monday to Saturday and re-open from 5ish til 9ish Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. There are very few places open on Sundays – mostly περίπτερα (periptera – kiosks), ζαχαροπλαστεία (zakaroplastia – patisseries), and flower shops – which are generally open when other places aren’t, to service the visiting periods… We live around the corner from most of the shops we’d ever need: supermarkets, cafés, bakery, clothes shops, etc I guess that’s big city life – very convenient! Joel and Hannah are at school 8ish til 12ish, so the mornings are quiet! We have enforced quiet time between 2.30 and 5 (mostly for the sake of our neighbours), with the kids ‘down’ and ‘away’ (reading quietly in a corner or sleeping in their beds) for about an hour and a half of that time. Bedtime for all of us is about the same as it would be in the UK (730/8ish for the kids, 1130ish – but aspiring to be earlier! – for us!). Cafés, bars and restaurants are open til late (at least midnight) and are generally chilled out but smoky. In terms of transport, we get around on buses and the metro which makes it impossible to blend in when we’re all together (the children talk loudly in English!). It’s cheap – 80 cents for a 90 minute ticket – and convenient and there isn’t enough space outside our house for another parked car anyway! We are able to borrow a car from Greek friends at church or missionary friends who live up the hill in Zografou for trips to the airport, the beach or IKEA! The only other immediate thing to say about Athens is that no building is the same as the next. There is absolutely no uniformity in the planning and building of this city. When a building needs replacing its neighbouring buildings are fortified and the building is carefully demolished and replaced. Only the outer-reaches of suburban Athens have anything remotely like housing estates, and even there it is quite rare.

Our friend Maria (the wife of our ‘boss’, Thanos) and her eldest daughter, Myrto, visited England in July and that has made me think all the more about the differences between the countries. Beeston is quiet. Our house is in the Rylands, one of the quietest parts of the town, and the contrast is stark. The roads are all wide and open and even in the rush-hour traffic of University Boulevard it is somehow calmer and less frenetic than Athens. It was great to go into Nottingham city centre for a day – we used the bus (first time as a family!) and found it VERY convenient! – and good to experience smoke-free pub lunches! It was also good to see that Costa coffee in the city centre is now open til 8! Café lifestyle is so much an all-day, all-evening thing here – the local Starbucks (3 mins walk up the hill) is open til 1130 – that I still find it unbelievable that cafés in the UK aren’t up for staying open later. Most of all (in objective terms) we love the green (have we said that before?!)! Maria took LOADS of photos of trees, bushes and grass when she visited – it’s just SUCH a contrast to Athens and Greece. As we flew into Gatwick I LOVED seeing all those lovely almost-square fields lined with green bushes and green trees. We even flew over the village I grew up in (where my parents still live) and saw park land and playing fields. The uniformity of buildings and streets is so comforting and easy on the eye…

Finally (sorry, I could ‘talk’ for hours about such things…), here are a few tips for anyone visiting Greece/Athens and the British alternatives (for those unfamiliar with British ways):

• Yes and No. Greek people will make TINY head gestures indicating a positive or negative response. A slight tilt to one side for yes and a sharp upward movement (often with a puckered-lip tut) for no. This is especially difficult when hailing a taxi: you need to be vigilant – as the taxi slows and you shout your destination, watch the driver’s head carefully, hesitation might cause frustration and embarrassment (even more so when you misread it and try to open the door of a taxi that’s not stopping! British people tend to speak first and only occasionally give a nod or shake of the head (often for emphasis).
  
• Paying at a till and change. This is especially true in supermarkets, but people in Greece generally like you to have the right change. I have no idea if this has any historical origin but if you have to pay, say, €8.80 for something, they will ask you if you have the 80 cents – especially if you pay with anything more than a €10 note. And you put the money on the counter (there is often a helpful scoop section) and not into the shop assistant’s hand. I had a reverse-culture-shock moment in Luton airport in June: I was in WHSmith’s and was scrabbling around in my purse for exactly £8.65 (just in case I had it!), laying money on the counter and eventually apologising that I only had £8.70. The shop assistant wasn’t that pleased that she had to pick up all that change and a little incredulous that I’d gone to so much trouble. Oddly paying money into the hand of the shop assistant is a rare way in which the British are more tactile than Greeks!
  
• Getting on and off transport. Most Mediterranean nationalities don’t queue unless they are made to. When they are made to queue (in the post office or bank) they are remarkably patient and calm. Bus, tram and metro stops are, however, a free-for-all. As soon as the bus/tram/train stops people are generally trying to get on, often pushing past you as you try to get off. This was particularly ridiculous on our first ever visit when we used the metro every day and had Joel (almost 2) and Hannah (5 months) in a double-pushchair. It was almost impossible for anyone to get on before we got off and yet people were always trying to clamber over the pushchair or squeeze past (occasionally losing some ankle skin in the process!). I still struggle to remember that it’s not rude to do so in Greece – it’s not expected, so why do it. It feels rude and thoughtless, so it’s especially nice when people help me off with the pushchair or the shopping, or both!
  
• Washing your hands. Athens is a dusty city and it seems that most Greek visitors to our house like to wash their hands on arrival. Not sure why. Maybe (probably) we’re just not as clean or hygienic as our friends… Maybe because Britain is less dusty and downstairs toilets are less common the practice is less common too.

If you ever come to visit as part of a mission team you will probably hear this again in a slightly re-jigged format. Apologies in advance for the repetition. Apologies too for the length of this entry but I hope it’s a bit of an insight into the differences in our lives.

Estie, My Estie

Esther was two at the end of August. She will almost certainly celebrate every birthday in the UK, and usually have some, if not all, of it on IFES Staff Conference. This year we returned to Otford Manor (base of Oak Hall) in lush green Kent for the IFES Orientation/Staff Conference. Last time we were there, two years ago, Esther was a tiny, weeny baby – 2 days old when we arrived. Now she’s a big girl: walking, talking, joining in with all the kids’ activities. These past two years have seen significant growth and change in all of us as we’ve moved to Athens and begun a different life there. In spite of the teething problems and growing pains there is MUCH to give thanks to God for. His grace has kept us and we have learnt more and more about his goodness and provision, his church – our wider family – and our true home. The next few blogs are going to be mostly on my musings on that theme…

Thanks to all who worked out ways to get birthday wishes to Estie-Pestie (not that she noticed if you didn’t!). Next year we’ll try to give an address and a heads up!

Lost in Translation...

I've been wondering how to write something about translation for a few months now... There are lots of things to say, vaguely connected. So I am afraid you'll have to bear with me as I offload them...

The Greek script is the first hurdle and for someone learning the language it is not a big hurdle, but for friends and family visiting it is enough to put them off learning to read Greek at all, mostly. Now if we see a familiar Greek brand sign transliterated into English it doesn't just look weird, it feels weird that the word can exist in the other script. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it's true. Sadly I can't find a photo of the western script version, but imagine this sign reading ALFA instead of ΑΛΦΑ and you'll get the gist.

Some Greek words have become the most natural word for an item or feeling: we never say kiosk (περίπτερο - periptero), rarely say aubergines (μελιτζάνες - melitzanes), I generally ask Clarkie what the time is in Greek (I don't have a watch! It's "Τι ώρα είναι;" - "Tee ora eenay?") and I am hardly ever tired these days (κουρασμένη - kourasmeni) and we pray that that would become more and more the case... Some English words will never be ceded to Greek - there is no word for 'nod'. I have been reading Harry Potter 1 in Greek (am just about to start the Magician's Nephew - Narnia 1) and there was a lot of nodding which had to be translated as 'moving head in a positive indication'...

I've also been pondering the difference between the decision to translate or to transliterate. The metro signs, for example, are mostly transliterated (they are, after all, place names) - the airport being the exception. I wonder if it would be more helpful though for some of them to be translated, so you know you're at the Ministry for National Defence (Εθνική Άμυνα - Ethniki Amyna) or at Constitution Square, by the parliament (Σύνταγμα - Syntagma). I wonder how many non-guidebook-dependent tourists miss these places as a result (not that there's much to see at Ethniki Amyna!).

Sometimes, as an anglophone, you read translated guides or menus and want to get out a red pen (the teacher in me) and correct the spelling or syntax errors.

The real translation issue though, living as an ex-pat, is not the translation from Greek to English and vice versa but from American English to British English and vice versa. Most of our Greek friends are (obviously) more familiar with American English, some have lived in North America at some point, and most of our anglophonic friends are American or Canadian. So, here's a little test - I'll give you the American word, you give the British word...

1. onesie
2. diaper
3. pacifier
4. crib
5. stroller
6. teeter-totter
7. pants
8. jumper dress
9. bib-and-brace
10. sweater
11. sneakers
12. couch
13. biscuit
14. cookie
15. granola bar
16. scallion
17. zucchini
18. eggplant
19. shopping cart
20. stickshift (car)
21. garbage
22. sidewalk
23. highway
24. elevator
25. gas
26. faucet
27. "i gotta go bathroom"
28. "where did you go to school?"

Click here for the answers: http://alltheclarks.googlepages.com/thelostintranslationanswers

Some of them are seeping into our vocabulary - hopefully just for the sake of being understood (we hope to retain the British words in our active vocabulary as much as we are able to!).

Trying to become fluent in another language does hamper my eloquence in English but it also makes me value the richness of both English and Greek. Most importantly though, it makes me again "look forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Hebrews 11:10)

Here's what we can look forward to, no matter how limited our language skills are:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and
thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"

Revelation 7:9-12

Reflecting on a year...

June was a month of endings and reflections: Jonathan and I finished our language course and passed well – we’ve been encouraged by our progress and now have to get to grips with actually LEARNING VOCABULARY and SPEAKING FLUENTLY; I finished Harry Potter 1 in Greek and understood most of it; Joel finished at his ‘kindergarten’ (νηπιαγωγείο) and took part in his end of year celebration; Hannah sort of took part in her end of year concert (both described in slightly earlier blog); and we all went to Barcelona for the IFES Debriefing conference.

Our time of Debriefing didn’t begin well as we missed our connecting flight to Barcelona in Milan, due to easyjet delays in Athens. It worked out well though (as it tends to) – we had planned to arrive in Barcelona a day early anyway, so we weren’t late for the conference – and we ended up staying with IFES colleagues Dean and Jo Ingham, their four kids (aged 9 to 14) and their dog. It was great to meet Deano’s family for the first time. They are Australian and have been in Italy for 7 years. We were able to pick their brains a bit about raising a young family overseas in two languages and multiple cultures! It also meant that we arrived in Barcelona mid-morning rather than late evening, so the transfers felt more sane and sociable.

Debriefing itself is a wonderful place to be. The hotel in which we stay serves good buffet-style food (eat as much as you want/can!), has a lovely little outdoor swimming pool and its own playground, and is only 5 minutes walk from a beautiful sandy beach. The kids had LOTS of friends to play with: there were eight 4 to 9 year-olds and five who were 2 and under. The conference programme is fairly relaxed so there is space for leisure and just hanging out together.

This year a team of us from across Europe were planning and running the conference and Jonathan and I were definitely more involved than last year. It was great to meet up with good friends and share reflections of the year, hear good teaching, encourage one another and pray together.

One of the first sessions, ‘Telling Your Story’, was about reflecting on the year and being able to talk about it in a God-centred and God-glorifying way (rather than self-centred/-glorifying). We were encouraged to write our own Psalm of Thanksgiving and Psalm of Lament. It was a GREAT exercise both in reflecting on the Psalms and trying to express experiences and feelings through a Psalmic medium (if you like).

Anyway, my Psalm of Lament remains unfinished and I’m happy to leave it like that. I felt a bit like a spoilt child in some parts – it IS an honest reflection of how I feel! – but it was good to write this stuff down. Laments aren’t always good for public consumption (though obviously some are!). However, I wrote the Psalm of Thanksgiving with a deliberate focus on thanksgiving sometimes in spite of difficulty. I MIGHT well finish the Lament and put it up at a later date. The Psalm of Thanksgiving isn’t very poetic, but it is an accurate reflection of one of my main struggles and why I can and will praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, all you people, praise the Lord!
Praise the One who is Sovereign, He is a Father to His People,
A Gracious Father who cares for his Loved Ones.

I was troubled in my language learning,
Humbled by my inability to speak or understand.
My heart was low and I had little hope of fluency.
Like a huge mountain was the goal of understanding and fluency.
I was barely in the foothills and the climb was always before me.

But the Lord is good and encourages those who falter.
He has set the hope of glory in our hearts so that, though we stumble, we will not fall.
He gave me hope through His People.
Every Sunday as we praised God and heard from His Word
I would read or hear a word or phrase I had learnt
And know that God knew my troubles.
A message to me that He is with me,
That He is Sovereign and will enable me to learn.

Trust in the Lord, all you people.
Trust in the Lord who knows every detail.
He knows your troubles and will help you persevere.
Give thanks to the One who has saved you by grace,
Who has made you for glory and is refining you.
Humble yourselves before the only one who will make all things new,
Who is able to keep you from falling.

Praise the One who is Sovereign. He is a Father to His People,
A Gracious Father who cares for His Loved Ones.
Praise the Lord, all you people, Praise the Lord!

Language acquisition is hard. It's humbling because I want to be more eloquent than I can be, so I have to know my limits and accept that I sound like a ten year-old. It's frustrating because progress is slow and we need to make more time and opportunities to USE our Greek in order to improve. It's disheartening knowing just how much MORE language there is to learn... My exam results reflect my ability: I got 55% for my speaking, 80% for my listening and 85% for my written test - my overall mark was rounded up to 80% because the result is weighted towards the written result. I KNOW the language quite well, but my speech is faltering.

Pray for us, especially as we spend 7 weeks in the UK, that we use our Greek as much as possible, take opportunities to read (I have Harry Potter 2 and Persuasion by Jane Austen in Greek to read!) and study the language whilst we're in Blighty, and make sure the kids are still exposed to the language so that our return to Athens in September isn't too horrible a culture shock. Pray too for our continued humbling and greater motivation to get stuck into the language no matter how disheartening the 'climb' to understading and fluency is. Thanks.

End of Year Celebrations

The school year ended mid-June and we were treated to end of year celebrations – an assembly and a concert at Joel and Hannah’s schools (respectively). There has been good progress over the year for both. In the first instance we really felt like we were throwing them into an unknown deep end that we wouldn’t be able to jump in and rescue them from even if we wanted to. It’s gone from being bewildering and lonely to familiar and quite friendly. It’s still hard work and we’re really not sure how much they take in (or even LISTEN to – I think they’ve learnt to switch off a bit from the Greek and not try to understand), but they are getting there slowly. I'm sorry there are no photos - we are still camera-less at the moment.

Hannah’s school has three year groups with a class for each year. The end of year concert was a whole-school affair, so we got to see children Joel’s age performing too. The concert was held the penultimate Friday evening of term at the local outdoor theatre – a little amphitheatre in the park near H’s school. The theme was something to do with a little girl’s travels underwater and the oldest class performed some songs and dances and skits about that. The lower two classes were split along gender lines and each group dressed up and performed a little dance on a sea-life theme. Hannah and the rest of the girls in her class were crabs. She was really excited about her ‘crab party’. I’d bought some orange clothes on which to sew her little crab picture, which she was very enthusiastic about (she looked like a fan of the Dutch football team!) and we had found a babysitter for Esther (the show started at 1930). Jonathan had stayed behind to put Esther to bed, so Joel, Hannah and I made our way up the hill together. H was all skippy-jumpy and didn’t seem the slightest bit nervous until we got to the theatre. I entrusted Joel in the saving of some seats and took H backstage. All her little friends in orange were happy and smiling but H didn’t want me to leave and clung onto my leg. With the help of Stella (one of her teachers) I extricated myself and left her backstage wailing. I figured that she’d calm down and that there was no way she’d go out and perform if I was still backstage, so this, at least, gave her chance. Ten minutes later, just as Jonathan appeared, the show began. All that time we could hear howling from backstage – some of which, at least, was definitely Hannah. Hannah’s group were on first. She was led on (not quite dragged) at the back and cried throughout the whole performance. She didn’t join in with any of the dance (I’m not sure she would have even if she wasn’t crying – she is her father’s daughter, so far, in that respect) and just stood and howled. It was quite funny and sad at the same time. I was at the front filming it (see it on youtube!), so at least at the end she was able to come straight to me.

I think she did really well just getting up there (I don’t think she knew she had a choice!) and we’re hoping that this won’t have scarred her for next time but rather given her an insight into how painless it could be… We shall see!

Joel’s school is much smaller: just two classes. The assemblies are always separate and this one was in the middle of his final week. We’re really grateful to be able to both go to these sorts of things, even though they are always in the mornings. Frustratingly my video camera battery hadn’t charged properly, so no-one gets to see how well Joel did in his school assembly. With a little coaxing from us (the promise of lunch at McDonald’s!) he agreed to take a fuller part than before. This meant dressing up in the same outfit as the other boys and sitting with his classmates rather than with us. Admittedly, Jonathan had to sit next to him but at least he was at the front. He joined in with most of the singing and none of the dancing (typical Clark male there then); stood in the right place for the recital of the boys’ poem, remembering his verse and speaking slowly and clearly; mostly managed to remember his long poem without reading the whole thing; and even took part in the flower-giving and ice-cream eating at the end (seriously, he wouldn’t have done that a few months ago – his reserve generally outweighing his enthusiasm for ice-cream!). For me, there were two highlights: simply seeing him sitting with his peers and singing along (especially when he and his friend Yezan kept pulling faces at the same point in the chorus of one of the songs – an in-joke) and hearing him speak voluntarily in good, simple Greek. During one of the dancey/sketchy bits the children were all given flowers. Panayiotis didn’t get one and Joel said to his teacher, “Κυρία, ο Παναγιότις δεν έχει ένα λουλούδι” (Kyria, o Panayiotis then echei ena looloothi – Miss, Panayiotis doesn’t have a flower). Slowly, slowly he is becoming more like his English self: not shy to speak…

Visitors

I’ve been wondering whether to write anything about visitors or not. There are so many positive things to write about having visitors, but there ARE negatives too. This is what has made me hesitate to write anything. But, as visiting season is over (mostly – we’re looking forward to a visit from our friends the Pratts in July!) I thought now would be a good time to do so.

So, first things first: we LOVE having visitors. We’ve always loved having people in our house and deliberately rent a house big enough for meetings and hospitality and we bought sofa beds and extra beds to accommodate visitors. We’ve loved having people to stay who we’ve never met before and with whom we have become friends; we’ve also (obviously) loved having family and dear friends come to stay. It’s great to share our lives with people and we really enjoying showing people around OUR city – the Clark-side of Athens. It’s such a good opportunity to catch up with people too: phone conversations, skype chats, letters, emails and facebook are all well and good, but face-to-face is definitely best. It’s also the best way to get your head around our lifestyle here – especially when it includes a visit to our church.

As a couple and, I think, as a family we thrive on being in the context of others: we have grown up (both as a couple and as a family) operating within bigger groups – Relay, UCCF in general, church – and have sometimes struggled with the intensity of spending most of our days and weeks just in the company of the five of us.

However, it can be a little time-consuming both preparing for and re-organising post-visitors. It’s a great incentive to clean! (I KNOW we shouldn’t feel we HAVE to clean – but it’s SO much nicer coming to visit a clean and tidy house!) I love the prospect of catering for others but it can be physically quite draining too.

The main downside for us has a few implications – in order not to waffle, I think I’ll bullet-point these... Don’t forget, we LOVE seeing our friends and family, but there is a big BUT:

• Language implications. Most of our visitors have absolutely no Greek. It’s fun to hear the kids teach some basic words and phrases for survival (please, thank you, excuse me…) but it pretty much prevents us from using Greek in the house: our house becomes an anglophonic bubble; the time spent with our LOVELY visitors is all in English – no speaking, listening or thinking in Greek.




• Health implications. We’re quite well most of the time and have settled into the demands of life here quite well. Visitors bring alien bugs. (Special thanks to my niece for bringing a particularly vicious strain of tonsilitis which has been plaguing me ever since! Even in retrospect, though, it was worth it!) The nervous anticipation of having visitors and the excited activity further weakens my immune system so that I am usually laid low for a few days post-visitors.




• Emotional implications. We are committed to being here and building a life and ministry here. We are up for the challenge and are excited about the opportunities and the possibilities. We know that God has called us here; that it is good to be here (even when it’s tough); that we shouldn’t (and don’t) expect it to be easy. BUT, we miss Beeston. We miss our family and our friends. We didn’t leave because we didn’t like our lives in the UK; because we were dissatisfied with our situation; because we had itchy feet to leave. Life in Beeston was good and we have made sacrifices. We feel those often very keenly when we have visitors and, especially, when they leave. I can’t decide how I feel about the airport: it brings visitors but takes them away too and we all feel the taking away even more keenly than the bringing.

All of these bullet points need to be read in the context of ‘We LOVE having visitors’ and, more importantly, in the context of the gospel. In his first letter John writes, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) My key text for this year has been (and I have a sneaking suspicion it will continue to be – so you’ll see this again in future blog entries!) Hebrews 11: 8–10:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign
country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Ok, so we don’t live in a tent, but it’s been an encouragement to look forward to the heavenly city – the NEW WORLD as Joel constantly calls it. I’ve not been very regular in studying (or even reading) the Bible this year – something to pray and pester me about – but I’ve been reminded of these verses time and again and they have caused me to pray.

So, PLEASE come and visit. If you can, bring something from Blighty that we miss. Bring lessons learnt from God to share and any good resources or books! Bring a willingness to muck in and make yourselves at home and know that you are a blessing to us and a reminder to us of the hope that we have for the NEW WORLD.

Just a quick one...

...it's Hannah's birthday today, and we're having a Charlie & Lola party (of sorts) tomorrow. Just wanted to show you the cards we created for her... AND, there will be some video stuff on the privatised youtube thing by the end of the weekend, promise!

The children are nearly off to bed and the day has been full. They went to school (last day of term) as usual this morning, we had card and present opening over a snacky lunch, quiet time (which concluded with the traditional birthday meltdown from Hannah!) and then an early dinner. Presents were dominated by 3 themes:

• Charlie and Lola (surprise, surprise)
• Crafty stuff - they're both really getting into it (as are we!)
• Bags (she IS her mother's daughter and already has more bags then there are days in the week...)

THANKS to all who have sent stuff... We are looking forward to playing with, making stuff with and reading the gifts!

We completely extremely love Charlie and Lola...

We love "Charlie and Lola" in our house - the books and the programme. The combination of retro-styling and well-pitched entertainment makes it an attractive viewing option for all five of us. One of the real bonuses for us is that the characters all talk in English accents. So much of what the children watch contains mostly American accents that to have good English/British entertainment is a luxury. Thanks to Uncle Jez for our Charlie and Lola DVD collection!

Probably like many parents of an older boy and a younger girl, we can see some similarities between Charlie and Lola and our two (we know we have three but, sadly, in this instance Esther doesn’t count…), and it is now one of their favourite things to play, not just watch (especially as they are both able to recite whole chunks of an episode!). There is a particular episode that highlights these similarities and it has an impact on our continuing acclimatisation to life here in Athens:

But I Am An Alligator sees Lola dressed up as an alligator. She goes EVERYWHERE in the alligator costume: the supermarket; the park; the school, even when her outfit produces problems for her. Charlie is completely embarrassed about the whole business. He is nervous on her behalf about what others might think and is sensitive to feelings that she doesn’t actually have. Although Hannah isn’t that keen on dressing up, she is mostly completely herself in any situation (this includes singing on the bus; throwing a mini-tantrum anywhere; asking random people what their names are) and continues to role-play long after everyone else is done (she can be a doggy for AGES). Joel is like Charlie: he’s very straight; he’s self-conscious; he REALLY doesn’t like dressing up; he feels uncomfortable for Hannah in unnecessarily sensitive ways.

For us, the real rub of this particular Charlie and Lola-esque behaviour (not influenced BY the programme – it was all already there) is that the Greek culture is much more showy and demonstrative than British. Today is a national holiday: Καθαρή Δευτέρα (Katharee Deftera) which means Clean Monday. It’s the last full day before LENT and, for the past three weeks, it’s been CARNIVAL time here. This culminated in both kids’ schools having parties on Friday where they were encouraged to dress up. We weren’t completely clear what the form would be at Joel’s school – whether or not the kids were expected to be dressed up (we might have missed a notice!), so he was dressed in a striped top and normal trousers and we took some pirate accessories (eye-patch, dagger, hook) to add if necessary. Jonathan took him. When they got to school Joel happily took his bag and jumper to his pegs but as he passed the doorway to his classroom he saw that EVERYONE was dressed up in FULL fancy dress regalia. He was slightly freaked by the costumes, the general unfamiliarity of everyone being so excited and looking so strange and worried about the Greek dancing that might happen next and decided that he didn’t want to stay (he claims he would have joined in if there had been British dancing!). He came back exhausted and went to bed for a bit. Hannah, unaware of Joel’s plight, went on to school (again with the pirate accessories). Although happy enough to stay (succumbing to the encouragement of her classmates and teacher), she did NOT want to dress up either. Her teacher had explained that there would be spare costumes at school if she decided that she wanted to join in, so we left her knowing that she would at least enjoy the Clown’s Show later. She had a very nice time but didn’t dress up.

Even if you’ve never seen the programme, you can tell by the titles that many strike a chord with us: I Am Not Sleepy And I Will Not Go To Bed, I Like My Hair Completely The Way It Is, I Can Do Anything That’s Everything All On My Own, I Must Take Completely Everything, etc.

We appreciate that our children have individual personalities and that they might not always be able to conform to expectations, BUT if anyone does have any tips on how we might be able to encourage Joel to not be so stressed and bothered in these situations we’d love your input! He’s not shy in a ‘normal’ context at all (in fact, he’s quite bold) – as you may have seen from previous blog entries, he just can’t cope with ‘performance’, whether that is standing before a group of people or dressing up as something other than himself. He prefers to be, as he says, “Just Joel”. We’re thinking of instituting some whole Clark family dressing up silliness (photos to follow!), so if anyone has any costumes they no longer need…

PS honestly, our blogs are like the proverbial London Buses: wait AGES for one…

PPS if you want more info on Charlie and Lola, here are a few links:
http://www.charlieandlola.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/charlieandlola/

More White Stuff

Last month, whilst our friend Susannah was visiting (she who took the new ‘profile’ pic and all but the above photo in this post), we had a lot of snow. Since the snow (for the last three weeks) it has been nothing but blue skies and brilliant sunshine all the way. So, we enjoyed the snow whilst it lasted (two days of snowfall and about three of melting – the snow out of the sun took a surprisingly long time to melt)!

Joel and Jonathan built Micah on our downstairs balcony. Hannah named him. Her ‘namings’ are limited to a handful of significant influences (apologies if you’re not one of them): most of her dolls and toys are called Lucie (only female cousin), Elena (biggest female friend at church), Zoë, Micah (Pratt kids – they live in ‘our house’ in Beeston) or Chloë (friends’ baby who we spent time with over the summer) or after some film character. The dogs are mostly called Monty (Chloë’s family’s dog) or Molly (after the Barlows from Beeston’s lovely dog…). ANYWAY, Hannah has ‘immortalised’ these significant influences in her ‘namings’. This is an indication both of her desire to remember friends in the UK but also her lack of real attachment to many friends here in Athens, yet. So, please pray with us that our kids will feel more and more settled and attached to friendships here. Obviously, we want them to feel MOST attached to heavenly things so we pray that their ‘alien-ness’ will remain in the right way.

Joel and Jonathan with Micah the Snowman

Micah the Snowman the morning after

Micah the Snowman two days later still

Hannah and I built Stevo (named after the real-life Micah’s Dad) in the Plateia (square) up the hill from our house (opposite our local Starbucks, if you’ve been here). There were a lot of people out and about enjoying the snow, especially as most had nowhere to go – all schools and universities and many businesses were closed.

Hannah and I with Stevo the Snowdaddy

Here are some other photos of us in the snow...

Since we've no place to go ... let it snow ...

Outside of the gates of Hannah's School.
Not sure Hannah was prepared for that particular snowfall!

Esther and I, NOT at a Ski Resort - honestly!

STOP PRESS! I've just worked out how to get our youtube videos onto the sidebar. So, click away on the snowman to see more snow footage. You could also go to the youtube site: http://www.youtube.com/clarkenfeld
and see the videos played BIGGER!

You’ll be pleased to know that we’re now back to eating outside in Plateias and enjoying the sunshine!

Balkans Staff Consultation

I went to Belgrade in mid-Feb for the Balkans Staff Consultation. Jonathan had been to the Consultation the previous two years, so it was good for me to go and meet folk. The conference was at a Bible School on the outskirts of Belgrade for the third time in a row.

There were General Secretaries, Staff and Volunteers representing almost every movement in South-East Europe (we missed Albania and Cyprus). It was great to meet people with the same vision even if their backgrounds and situations are quite different. Historically the Balkans region was united under the rule of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-15th Century until the 1830s. All but Greece, Cyprus and Turkey were behind the Iron Curtain until about 20 years ago and many of the national movements were part of Yugoslavia back in the day. Almost all of the countries are dominated by Orthodoxy (excepting Croatia – Catholic and Bosnia, Turkey, and to a greater extent Albania – Muslim). I was struck by the resulting similarities and differences. Some of these were really obvious: the former Yugoslavian states (along with Bulgaria) have sufficient common language to be able to communicate with each other (to the exclusion – not intentional – of Romania, Turkey and Greece). The legacy of communism and the impact of the wars of the last 20 years in many of these states has put these countries in such sharp contrast to places like the UK, and even Greece, where democracy was restored more than 30 years ago.

Ministry in these nations is tough-going and the lovely people I met have been through a lot personally and in their nations. This made me realise that I’m not only a Southern Softie (I'm from the South of England) but also a Western one (a Western Weakling?!)… As I said in the prayer letter, many of these nations are keen to find both foreign and national staff. There are pioneering opportunities as well as established situations. Please pray with us. And, if you’re interested in a post or know someone who is/should be interested, just let me know!

A bit of white stuff

Well, we're still not really getting into regular updates but we have a few things to write about and here's something for starters.

Between Christmas and New year we spent a few days in the mountains of the Peloponnesos in a lovely apartment complex. Turned out that it was owned by a good friend of some of our friends from church in Athens, so it was good to make some links there. We liked the apartment and the location so much that we'll be back.

It was in a lovely gorge, not far from the main ski resort in southern Greece and part of the plan was to see some snow, which we did by driving quite high up to the ski slopes. For much of the winter the snow hangs around much lower down but there'd been a few warm days so it was really only the ski runs themselves which had snow.

Anyway, we got a toboggan for a few euros for one of the days. Joel and I headed into the mist for a bit of zooming down the hill (Hannah lasted a few minutes before getting too cold) while Dawn had to stay in the (hired) car with a sleeping Esther. We hadn't agreed where to meet up when our fun was over so Dawn texted me let me know the girls were awake and ready to head back to Kalavrita town for lunch. The only problem was I'd left my specs in the car, not wanted to crush them in any toboggan/cliff disasters that Joel and I might have had. You may know that I really need them for reading, being longsighted, and I couldn't make a single thing out on the text.

I've never been particularly bothered about the ageing process but this tickled me. My wee five year old had to read the text aloud to me. A healthy reminder of mortality.



As Joel and I were alone on the slope it was a bit tricky to get decent footage of his intrepid sledding. I considered just letting him go and filming 'til he disappeared from sight, but opted instead to get him to hold the brake until I was a bit downslope then hope he could steer straight into me. Have a look at the short clip. For a few seconds just before this was taken the fog vanished, revealed a stunning, sparkling mountainside. We'll be back, making sure we get some clear days. (The photo on our last prayer letter was of this mountain from afar).

There's other stuff to blog about that short trip which hopefully we'll get round to in the next couple of days, including a little-known but moving WW2 episode from the town of Kalabrita itself.

Christmas Celebrations Part 2

So, below is the Sunday School Christmas Celebration. We'd had real trouble trying to get there (We'd decided to hail a taxi rather than get the bus/metro because it would be 'easier' but then found that there were no taxis free. We caught a bus and tried to get a taxi from the centre, which also took AGES!) and arrived 10 minutes before the start, and therefore 20 minutes late! As a result we bustled the kids into the back room where the others were and they were not interested in putting on angel robes and performing. They'd been quite reluctant in rehearsal, so we probably should have anticipated the outcome. It was a bit frustrating though. We decided to stay and watch proceedings. So, here are a few clips edited together to give you a flavour of the Sunday School production and Joel and Hannah's contemporaries' role in it.

Christmas Celebrations Part 1

Kαλή Χρονιά! Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s been nearly two months since we last blogged – so much to say, so little time…
So, first of all, an update of Christmas. Term finished for all of us on 21 December and we had a few Christmas celebrations to attend around that time. Hannah’s school had a little Christmas party just for the kids, whilst Joel’s school had a presentation. He had been given a poem to recite and was to play a baker in the little Christmas skit (no lines, just a bit of movement to music with all the other kids), I say ‘was’. He wasn’t up for doing any of it, as it turned out. He had learnt the poem and we were all looking forward to the little performance, but as we entered the school he didn’t want to go in, didn’t want to get into his ‘costume’, didn’t want to take part at all. He’s quite a literalist, our Joel: he won’t ‘role-play’ for long and generally insists on being ‘just Joel’ (not a dog, or a lion, or a shopkeeper, or Super-Joel!). I’ve edited together some of the high- and low- lights of the afternoon… I think it speaks for itself.







I’m also putting together a similar video of the Sunday School Christmas celebration at church (which saw both Hannah and Joel opt out of being angels on the night of the performance!), so that will be on soon too, with a bit of background writing by me! Jonathan is going to put something on here about our Christmas Day celebrations (all good) and our time away in Καλάβριτα (Kalavrita) (which was also good!)… Needless to say there are issues with Joel in terms of his confidence at school (and also his behaviour – more about that another time), and we’d value your prayers for us, for wisdom and love in knowing how to help him, and especially for him, thanks.