Today, at a toddler Christmas party we were singing a rather cute song to the tune of ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’. It goes ‘The donkeys were there when Jesus was born, EI EI O, etc’ and the children were asked to contribute animals. Now most of them gave the normal stable animals and we had pigs, cows and ducks. But Benjamin decided to contribute ‘llama’, which was quite funny, and even funnier when we got half way through the verse and had to decide what noise a llama makes ...... Unfortunately the main thing they do is spit! Our friend, Neil, who is vicar at the Anglican church was leading the singing and very gamely led the children with a spitting noise to finish the song!!! I don’t think most of the other parents realised where Ben has just come from so they must have wondered why he came up with ‘llama’.
This is just one of the amusing occurrences we have experienced with the boys arriving in England. They do ask some funny questions at times. To start with, Sammy couldn’t understand why he needed to wear a coat when the sun was shining. In Cusco, when it is sunny it is always hot. It is cold there at night but we had forgotten how cold it is here in the daytime in winter! We have also noticed how dark it is in Britain at this time of year. And then, when the sun does come up, why does it always stay so low?! In Cusco, the sun always seems to be straight overhead, apart from the brief periods when it rises and sets. It is generally a very bright place, although we never get light evenings.
The evening when we first arrived at Heathrow there were two things that struck me very quickly. The first was that everyone was speaking English! Very obvious of course but you do get used to hearing Spanish all the time and although our language is OK we don’t always pick up every word as we’re passing people in the street for instance. The second thing was that I couldn’t find a bin for the toilet paper in the loos!
During our first week we spent a few days with Roland’s parents and then a few days with mine, which was an excellent way to start our time at home for several reasons. Firstly of course we were keen to see them straight away, but also with them both living in small villages it was easier to get used to being in the UK again in that environment than a big town full of big shops and other things we don’t have in Cusco. I was very happy to find that autumn, a season that we haven’t experienced for 2 years, had just about hung on long enough for us to see! This week we were all excited about seeing a hard frost with the countryside all white and crisp. The seasons are so varied and beautiful in Britain.
At the end of our first week we went straight to the Latin Link conference near Birmingham where it was great to see several of our friends who have also recently returned from Peru.
Back at church in Eastbourne I had tried to prepare myself for the fact that the kids there would look a lot bigger, but I was totally taken aback by how much a few of the young teens had changed in less than two years. Some I hardly recognised. We were overwhelmed by so many people excited to see us and about 100 invites for meals (well, not quite that many, but lots!). Benjamin has now stayed in the crèche on his own for 2 Sundays, even though he doesn’t know the leaders, and that is a miracle considering how shy he has been up until now. He is still quite rude to them sometimes – ‘I’m not doing that!’ he will say with a very grumpy face, or ‘I’m not talking to you!’ but after a few minutes he seems to make friends rather than progress to a high pitched scream like he used to do in these situations! The cars and trains definitely help – he does have cars and trains in Cusco but he’s not used to such a variety of toys and is very chuffed with all that is on offer at various groups we have been to.
We’ve been very busy so far with health checks, vaccination appointments, presentations to prepare and give, friends and relatives to visit, review meetings with Latin Link and our church, my parents Ruby Wedding Anniversary party, Christmas cards and letters to write, a bit of work to do with Sammy (he missed the last 6 weeks of school), some fun things with the boys (swimming, soft play, playground, seeing their friends)..... so we’re looking forward to a rest at Christmas with a few days with Roland’s parents and then a week’s holiday in Devon with all of my family. January is looking less busy so we will get a chance to think over all we’ve been involved with during the last two years and plan for the next two!
