Saying Goodbye to Spain

Living in Spain during the COVID-19 lockdown was not easy. For six weeks, our daughters could not leave the apartment for any reason. As the weeks passed and the state of alarm continued to be extended, it became clear that plans for our last couple of months in Spain would dramatically change. We would no longer be able to take the ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar for a long weekend in Morocco. My parents-in-law, brother in-law, and brother all had to cancel trips to visit us in Spain. As the dominoes continued to fall, we held onto the hope that we would be able to have positive closure during our last few weeks along the Costa del Sol.

I have written about two final adventures that we were able to take within the province of Malaga. As enjoyable as those travel experiences were, we are most grateful that the COVID-19 restrictions in Spain were lifted enough during our final month to allow us to properly say goodbye to friends that we had made throughout the year.

The government permitted small gatherings in homes or outdoors in late May. This enabled us to meet up with our "connection groups" from church a few final times. I had been involved in a men's group that gathered weekly for mutual encouragement, prayer, and lots and lots of food. I often made jokes about the differences between American and Spanish culture when the host brought out a huge pot of pasta after 11:00 PM each week. At the final meeting before we departed Spain, the group organized an Argentinian BBQ on my behalf. As was often the case, there was no need for me to eat breakfast the next morning as I left with my belly stuffed with delicious food. The men prayed for our transition and future back in America and gifted me with a Spanish national soccer team jersey. Now I can root for a team that actually has a chance to win the World Cup!

With my gift of a Spanish national team jersey, I now hope to be able to root for a contender in the 2022 World Cup.

It was a blessing to be able to be a part of the men's connection group from Iglesia Next througout the year. Each week men from a variety of different countries - Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Venezuela - gathered together for mutual encouragement, prayer, and lots of good food.

With a grill full of Argentinian BBQ, we all left with full stomachs that night.

As the cafes opened for outdoor service, I was able to meet up with one of the men from the connection group. Juan Pablo is from Argentina and we had often enjoyed chatting while we walked back from the weekly connection group meeting. Spain's outdoor cafe culture is something that we already miss tremendously, but it was nice to meet up with Juan Pablo a few final times to talk about God, family and culture.

In late May, I was able to resume volunteering at the Adintre Foundation, which has a variety of ministries serving the homeless population, immigrants, refugees, the elderly, and families in need of support. The lockdown had increased their ministry as they were now receiving and distributing even more food than before the pandemic started. Each Wednesday, I would go to help unload a huge truckload of food and organize it for distribution to families the following day. A couple of days before leaving Spain, Adintre invited the girls and me to a farewell breakfast. Joyce, Adintre's founder, is a true inspiration of how God can use a person when they give their lives to be used by him. One thing that I really appreciate about Joyce is that she always spoke Spanish to me, even when I was still struggling with it, because she knew that learning Spanish was one of my goals for my sabbatical year.

At our farewell breakfast with Joyce, the founder of the Adintre Foundation.

On one of the last days in our apartment, our neighbor invited us over for lunch and wine. We had really bonded with her over the past few months, probably aided by our confinement. She was a sweet, elderly Andulusian who was always doting on the girls and never to be outdone with food gifts. A few times a week, she would ring our door bell and stand outside our door with a plate or bowl full of delicious food. We would try to return the favor by giving her cookies or muffins, but inevitably, minutes later, the doorbell would ring again with another gift. She also gave Lydia and Evelyn several dolls and stuffed animals that used to belong to her own children. Once, one of the girls was crying on the terrace and our neighbors arm reached around offering her an ice cream cone!

Our generous neighbor gave us many plates of delicious food and loved doting on the girls and giving them gifts.

Unfortunately, we were not able to bring all our relationships and activities to a proper sense of closure. Schools never reopened and Lydia and Evelyn did not get to say goodbye to classmates and teachers, on top of the fact that they missed out on three months of the unique opportunity of attending school in a foreign country. I did not get to say goodbye to students and teachers at Ark Christian School, where I had volunteered once per week throughout the school year. While our small groups from church were able to meet, we did not have the opportunity to attend a final full worship service. Despite these losses, we are grateful that our final weeks in Spain ended on a positive note.

The actual process of leaving Spain was another adventure. First, we had to pack all our belongings, those we brought with us and those we accumulated in Spain, into four suitcases and a few backpacks. This involved donating a lot of things to Adintre to sell at their weekly market. For our final few days, we moved into an Airbnb apartment a couple of blocks away so that we could deep clean our apartment before it was inspected by the rental agent. 

After a couple of days of hard work, we were ready for departure when I received an email that our Thursday morning flight from Malaga to Amsterdam had been canceled. We were flying with KLM on Thursday afternoon from Amsterdam to New York, but the first leg was with a smaller, partner airline. We were rescheduled for a flight leaving Malaga on Thursday evening, but this meant that we would need to spend Thursday night in the Amsterdam airport before flying to New York on Friday afternoon. We now had several hours to kill before catching the train from Fuengirola to the Malaga airport, but fortunately this gave a final opportunity to visit close friends that Evelyn, Lydia, and Becky had met by chance at the Fuengirola beach. We were invited to hang out with them at their house and swim in their pool before we started our long journey to New York.

Our Thursday evening flight to Amsterdam went off without any further complications, though it was eerie to flyout of the ghost town also known as the Malaga airport. We were hopeful that when we arrived at the airport, we would be able to find a KLM representative and request to be put up in a hotel for the night, since our overnight layover was the result of a flight cancellation. Unfortunately, it was late Thursday evening when we arrived and there were no KLM representatives in sight. Given the uncertainty around COVID-19 regulations, we didn't want to risk leaving the secure area of the airport so we soon resigned ourselves to the reality that we would be spending the night in the terminal. Fortunately, we found a location that provided a somewhat adequate sleeping arrangement. In an area with a forest motif, there was a large area of irregularly shaped benches with a carpeted platform in between the benches. This at least provided a somewhat cushioned area to lay down and several other travelers were also camping there for the night. Though far from a hotel bed, we were at least able to get a few hours of sleep.

This is where we spent the night in the Amsterdam airport. While it wasn't a bed, it sure beat trying to curl up on a bench!

Our flight the next day was probably my strangest flying experience. We were flying on a huge airbus with ten seats in each row, but the flight was probably about 2% full. When we arrived at our seats, we found a gallon sized Ziplock bag full of snacks for the flight, since there would be no regular meal service. Aside from the unusual circumstances, the flight went smoothly, and it was a relief to land on American soil. However, after passing through customs, we were met with another unexpected surprise at the car rental desk. Since I had booked the car rental from Spain, we had been given a rate that was intended for European travelers to America. Therefore, the car rental agency would not honor the reservation. Fortunately, Becky's brother lived nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey and was able to rescue us and even loaned us his car for the next week. So, we ended up spending our first night in the U.S. at a hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey, and the next day we drove back to the Baltimore area to begin the transition back to normal life. 

Our adventure to Spain had come to an end. I have one last post to share, in which I will share some final reflections on our year overseas.