Street football!

Some football action from one of the games I played with young people in the suburbs. The pitch was marked out by a road on one side and a railway track on the other. The game stopped every half hour for the train to pass!

My team lost in the end, the teams gathered for a drink and huddled to pray for a miracle. I wasn't sure who or how many were followers of Jesus in this group but that didn't seem to matter, everyone joined in. 


Mark

The trip to the Zoo

Hello!!!

On Friday we went to the zoo with the Marchants and it was amazing !!

There was a big, furry polar bear there. We were all sad because it was a very hot day and it was not very nice for the polar bear because they shut him out of his room so he was in the sun and he was around running trying to get some shade and get into his room. It was still nice to see the polar bear.

There were also elephants and they were huge but looked like it needed a good wash down. I really liked the elephants because they had great big ears. There where lots of other animals but i could not write about all of them but you can look at the pictures .

 Love Asia xx 

Happy Birthday Mackenzie and Marley

Happy Birthday Mackenzie and Marley
we all hope you have a nice day .


Lots of love Asia , Joel and Lilly xx

Happy Birthday Steve!

Hi Steve (Whitehouse),

We are definatley missing your cakes :-( 
...especially on your birthday! We hope you had fun and plenty of cake.

Love The Roberts X
PS sorry we are a couple of days late!

Happy Birthday Aunty Emma!

Hi Emma,

We send you all our love on your birthday weekend!

Mark, Hayley, Kaela-J, Yasmin and Asia X

Locked out!

On Monday (12^th October) at 8.30am we all decided to start our week with a run. Disaster was lurking on this tranquil sunlit morning, the streets were quieter than usual as we trotted happily around the park. When we got back to the apartment, the usual discussions took place in the lift, who would shower first, how many Mediluna’s we could eat, and what the rest of the day had in store. As I took my keys to open the door a chilling fear permeated my warm, tired body, I had taken the wrong keys out, and we are locked out! The scenario suddenly unfolds before us, it seemed to be a public holiday (our usual places of help are closed), phone numbers for our friends are inside the flat, no money, one bottle of water between us , we are hungry, tired from a run and no language that can communicate our problem.

This mistake is not a surprise to those who know me well, I like to forget them, bury them, but they come flooding back at times like this and perhaps puts to boot the theory ‘you learn from your mistakes’, I seem to make the mistakes over again, albeit in differing circumstances. When I was 15 I ‘slept’ through a music lesson and when I got home from school realised I was supposed to be playing for the school football team, when I lived with Doug and Belinda Horley I forgot my keys and had to wake Belinda at 4am after trying to sleep in their shed for a couple of hours, and more recently I nearly wrote off Natalie Preece’s car by putting in the wrong fuel. You may have your own special memory!

So we are sitting outside the apartment discussing the ways of getting back in, trying to control our feelings of hopelessness. The first idea was to contact our friends Anibal and Claudia, who lived 10 blocks away. Kaela-J and I walk to theirs, with many scenarios playing through our minds with varying degrees of hope, can we remember where they live, what is the apartment number, and will they be in? Kaela-J was the only one who had visited them and I had only stopped outside a couple of times.

We decided on the block but faced two new hurdles, firstly I knew they were on the second floor, we didn’t know the apartment number. So I begun pressing each number in turn and asking, but again hampered by not understanding the response or recognising any voices. Secondly we had to get into the block so KJ could identify their apartment. One lady wouldn’t let us in, so next time I wouldn’t ask I would just walk past the person (barge if necessary), KJ wasn’t happy with my plan and worried that they would call the police, so we prayed and our hope grew when a kind person let us through without asking anything from us. So we got to their apartment and knocked many times (they usually get up late) but the only person who stirred was the porter for the block. He helpfully confirmed it was Anibal and Claudia’s place and we think he said they were out and he would tell them I called round (alternatively he could have said piss off it’s a bank holiday!), he also gave us Claudia number, and tried calling her with no response, and also let us out of the apartment block (which required a key) and so we left the apartment and headed back to Hayley, Yas and Asia carrying some hope that this saga wouldn’t last the day. When we arrived they seemed to have found some hope themselves despite the hunger and sitting outside our front door for an hour. I admired their patience and strength of character.

We clung to the idea that we could get in touch with our friends. Hayley went out with Yas and Asia who needed the toilet. Hayley had to find someone who spoke English and ask to use their phone and this was accomplished in Starbucks with use of toilets too. No response from Claudia. So hope waned once more, my solitary idea was to make the trip to their apartment every couple of hours and maybe they would return at some point. Asia accompanied me on the next trip, as we passed the last street I spotted their car and given they drive everywhere I had reason to be excited by this sign. We found my way into the apartment block again, knocked again, no answer again, so disturbed the porter for a second time and asked (using charades) for a pen and paper so I could put a ‘Message in the bottle’.

Walking back Asia still seemed full of optimism perhaps I had more to worry about. I said to Asia we will walk past the Education centre one more time (the only other place where we could get help) but like many places today – shut! This detour was perhaps the turning point of this day, as I walked back into our block I met the son of the porter in our block who I had met only a week before and he spoke a little English. I managed to explain the problem and he ushered us to their apartment on the top floor.

The porter was in bed but they said he would help for $50 peso, this seemed like a bargain (£8), he brought tools and our hope all most burst out of us as this coincidental meeting seemed to have brought us close to the end of our troubles. However there was one last trial as the porter struggled to unlock the door, we discovered from our neighbour (whom we had never met but heard the commotion outside) that he would not be able to get break this particular lock. The neighbour had our flat owners number and confirmed the only spare keys were with the cleaner lived 1 ½ hours away and would probably be out (public holiday) – she would usually have come to clean on Monday afternoon. Hope of getting back in was like sand in our hands, until a discussion began about the windows, the porter and neighbour asked if the windows were open. 

We are six floors up and so this had not occurred to me, but our kitchen window is flush with our neighbours and it is the only window we leave open (because of gas boiler) Before I could even consider the safety of climbing from one window to the other the porter had clambered through and within a few moments had opened our front door. Hope flooded back through my veins soothing the rawness of emotion from being thrown by the waves of despair and hope. It was 2.30pm, 5 hours later we sat deciding what to have ....breakfast or lunch! 

This event made me/us realise how comfortable we had become with our surroundings and yet how fragile our circumstances still are. I have learnt about hope and faith, maybe what some would call chance, good luck, fortune, or answered prayer. Which ever you prefer, my faith has grown. 

 

Happy Birthday Natalie and Esther!

Tea for three...Happy birthday to two scrumptious friends..Esther for yesterday and Natalie for today. Miss you both so much. Hope this year brings you so much joy, joy, joy! Will raise a tea cup to you both..love Hayley  x x

Happy Birthday Aunty Lisa!

Hi Lisa,

IPad?? What about the running shoes you will need to join the Roberts Running Club - ha ha!!

37 sleeps until we see you

Love Mark, Hay, KJ, Yas and Asia XX

Happy Birthday Chris!

Hi Chris (Smitheram), We send you birthday greetings and our love from BA...Hope you are having fun!

Mark, Hay, KJ, Yas and Asia XX

Montevideo, Uruguay

Hello it`s me Asia Lee! Last week we went to Montevideo in Uruguay and we stayed in a youth hostel called 'Unplugged', and it was sooo much fun. We all slept in bunk beds and played the story game (everyone takes turns to add one word).

The next day we went to the beach and I paddled in the sea, it was funny because the sea was warm not cold like Littlehampton .

Love Asia X

An afternoon in La Boca

Asia's turn to carry the ruck sack... she got just past the front door!

The houses in La Boca were built by Italian immigrants. They painted them with left over paint from the ships.








They also painted the horses!

One Month Of Travelling…..

So we have been away a month, we are now in unchartered territory, none of us have been away from home for longer than 4 weeks! Firstly we are all well and having a great time… most the time, there are moments of boredom and being together brings out the worst and best!  Our apartment is on the 6^th floor in a block just off the main street heading into the down town. When we arrived Asia said she hated it and could we camp instead! It is decorated in a French style, over the top and is in need of some attention (a few jobs for Mum and Dad Roberts if they fancy a visit!) We have wrestled with the internet, had a leak in the bathroom and the fridge freezes anything you put in near the back. Apart from that we love it. It is clean, has hot shower and beds are comfortable and I love the stove.

Week two and three we got into a routine as the girls have to study.  In the mornings we join Buenos Aires in the ‘run around the park’ (a local hotspot of runners). This is followed by a traditional morning snack, ‘medialunas’ (like croissants but much nicer) with lovely Italian coffee and then to study.

The afternoons are spent wandering the city (we are only 15 minutes on the ‘Subte’ from the centre of Buenos Aires and it costs10p for a single journey), reading (Yas can’t put Deathly Hallows down) and doing practical jobs like food shopping, writing journals, using the internet.

Evenings are spent playing games; Uno (I am the reigning champion), scrabble (Asia is trying to beat everyone, she only has KJ to go), banana grams (thanks Steph), Dobble (thanks Helen), cards and brain training on the DS! These moments are also complimented by Ice cream. You can find many flavours of Ice cream on the street corners of the city so we have adopted a once a week ‘ice cream Wednesday’ (we have tried 7 flavours to date) There is also the Argentinean red wine, beer and steak which we have indulged in a few times. So far we had only had a few tastes of ‘dulce de leche’ but I think Mark will not be able to hold off much longer!

We have had some very precious family time (debates, discussions, laughs, craziness and entertaining each other) and I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Most of the people we know here in Buenos Aires are very busy in the middle of projects and final pushes of work till their summer holidays Dec-Jan. We have spent some time with Anibal & Claudia and their kids Valentine (14) and Timote (4). They have looked after us well helping in sort practical things and showing us some good places to visit, eat and enjoy. KJ has particularly enjoyed seeing Valentina and talking Glee, listening to her and her friends talk about Justin Bieber (who is here at the moment) and visiting Starbucks!

After three weeks of Buenos Aires ‘not good air’ we were ready for some time by the sea so off we went to Uruguay……. 

Love Hayley X