Until The Curtain Rises

Chris here. Last night the children performed the short musical that we wrote for the camp. It contained popular music, short scenes about school children and pirates, hand made scenery and original choreography. I learned a lot working on the show, but specifically three things:

1) I am extremely frustrated not being able to communicate.

I have really been struggling with the language barrier. Not being able to converse in certain situations is fine. Waiting for the bus, swimming at the pool or even at the grocery store are all places where I can stumble through my broken phraseology and my conversation partner is usually very forgiving and even somewhat willing to try and speak a little English. For example, the security guard at the piscina was most eager to talk with me about Rock-A-Billy music from the U.S. He even showed me his Stray Cats inspired tattoo on his arm. But when we are at the school, it is exceptionally difficult to not be able to talk to the kids, let alone give them instructions for what they should be doing in the play.

I didn’t think I would struggle so much with not being able to speak Spanish. I knew that I would struggle to communicate, but I didn’t know that it would drain me the way it has. When a little kid comes up to you at the beginning of the morning and grabs your hand and begins to tell you about something fantastic that happened the night before, there is most definitely a spark from the moment that is lost when you have to find somebody to translate for you, only to have that student then light up talking to the person who speaks Spanish while you watch sheepishly from the conversation sideline.

2) I don’t do well without structure.

Those who know me well, know that I like to have things planned out and mapped out. They know that I come from a long line of control freaks and that I don’t do well without structure. I am not opposed to changes in plans. In fact, my wife can become extremely frustrated when I impulsively change our itinerary at the last minute, especially when we just made the itinerary.

Working with a structure in Spain is not common. Changes come at the last minute and often things are literally planned at the last minute. This is hard for me. It is good for me to know this about myself, but when I am trying to adapt to a different culture, it is even more agonizing to change my DNA in order to participate.

3) I am not gifted at directing kids.

I really like playing with kids and I really like teaching kids, but directing kids is an entirely different matter. Part of it has to do with cultural differences. Spain spent decades under the dictatorship of Franco, and its people react to authority and policy in a fairly rebellious manner. Granted, the children at the camp did not experience the atrocities and oppression of the Franco dictatorship, but the generations that did have instilled a certain spirit of opposition that can clearly be seen in Spain’s children. This makes mounting a play rather challenging. No matter how many times I tell somebody to do something, they inevitably do whatever they want and even try to take over direction of the other students themselves.

For those of you who have taught, directed, coached or led in anyway, you know how draining that can be. But, then I knew that I wasn’t good at directing kids before I even came to Spain. Numerous church musicals and pageants have taught me that my temperament as a director is not affirming for any person under the age of 18.

Therefore:

I found myself in charge of mounting a 30 minute play in 1 1/2 weeks with 29 children age 3-12 whose language I don’t speak and whose appreciation for structure is the polar opposite of my own and whose perceptions of a leader is directly related to religious and political dictatorship, even if they are not consciously seeing me dressed in a brown uniform with Spanish military issue gafas del sol.

So...

Please pray for the people of Spain. Please pray for the children. Please pray for the camp and if you think about it, please pray for me and my family. I know God is letting me be stretched and challenged. This is a good thing. I just don’t want to portray my frustration in a manner that is contrary to Christ’s Kingdom. I have been asking for forgiveness a lot.

I am sorry I can't post pictures from the play. Spanish law prohibits us from using pics from the school on any blog other than the school's FB page. We can show you pics when we get home on our computer. I even was able to grab some video footage of the production. Granted, it is mostly of Ainsley.