I also gave her last month's newsletter and asked that, when they get settled, they drop us a card to let us know everything is okay. Her response was, "Oh, yes, I will certainly be sending my thank you cards." I also asked that if any emergency need arises, to feel free to call us. She was so much more relaxed after we talked about how needing help affects people differently

So we have some of our collection left to help others. I know Sarah, David, and Veronica have some household and baby furnishings available, and Annie and David have a nice wooden dinette in my garage. Our immediate financial assistance provided some relief to"our family," and nothing else is needed at this time. Marolen and I feel we can move on to other situations. My fervent hope is that LaKisha gets home before the butter melts!!

Jessica Noble

We are looking for volunteers to help with the R E program in the future. We need some volunteers who would step in and take the place of any instructor who is absent unexpectedly. Materials to use will be available. There will be an orientation program to show the volunteers where materials are stored.

Our biggest problem right now is trying to find a babysitter, a woman, to stay with the children who are too young to have formal instruction on Sunday mornings. If none of the "feelers" I've put out turn up someone, I'll probably go to the state agency that posts jobs. I never dreamed it would be this hard to find help!

Richard Appling

Ray and I went out to the Maude Cobb Center, registered with the Red Cross, and helped Gina (from the Animal Protection League) get the animal cages and pens set up. We met this girl with two cats. She was crying. Gina is taking her in with her two cats. We donated $$$ for Gina to feed her and the cats. We are going to continue to help the Red Cross and Gina. I am speechless, but very proud of the Red Cross and the city of Longview. We saw good people helping good people. We were especially touched by the ones with their pets. They refused to leave them behind.

Ray is going out there again Sunday. I plan to be at the Fellowship Sunday. Our hearts are broken and sad, but we are also proud of what is being done to help the people with their pets. I was proud to tell them I am with the Unitarian Fellowship of Longview and came to help.

Julie Hart

There was concern on my part that going back to Englishtown this year after such a wonderful experience last year might be anticlimactic. How can you repeat almost perfection? Well, you can, and it was even more fun, maybe because I was a veteran. Of the 23 Anglos this year, 10 were veterans - several on their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, one on her 7th, and one on his 14th visit (an American who's lived in Spain for the past 7 years and had lived in Shreveport!). They were from Canada, USA, Ireland, Australia, England, and Mexico. One from Ireland and one from Australia were there when I was last year so it was wonderful to see them again. Like last year, I was least fond of the three couples that came. They seem to be more 'mainstream' than I'm comfortable with. Also, there were 2 college girls who came on their way to spend a semester studying in Spain that were too typically collegiate for my taste. The other 2 young girls were great - way out of the mainstream.

Like last year, the bonding was intense and quick. There was a Spaniard from the Canary Islands who changed the most. She had her hair in a bun and was very severe and reserved at first. By the end of the week she'd blossomed, was interacting, smiling constantly, and was wearing her hair down. The Spaniard with the least grasp of English also blossomed - his second presentation (which I helped him with and tried to boost his confidence) was rated 300% better by the guy writing critiques. I fell madly in love with our MC as I did with the one last year. When I get organized enough to post a site to go to to see my pictures (hundreds :-)) you'll see many of Rob who was English with the most gorgeous accent.

We had our quiemada ceremoney with incantations, visited the little nearby village of Barco de Avila, and had a music night with sangria and dancing. (Yes, I danced for the first time in many, many years.) There were four plays put on - 3 Anglos and 3 Spaniards in each cast. I was in one of the unscripted ones (3 hours to write, practice and be ready to present!). In our play we debunked the myth of "happily ever after" as a Jerry Springer spoof. Cinderella, married to Prince Charming, who was having an affair with Sleeping Beauty (me), who was having an affair with Snow White, who was having an affair with all 7 dwarves and didn't know which one she was pregnant by. We participated in many games, fun presentations, and team building activities.

One of the serious things we did (in groups of 2 Anglos and 2 Spaniards) was answer how the world would be different if ..... such questions as "they discovered there was a god", "women ruled all countries," etc. There were 2 changes from last year. The one-on-one telephone conversations weren't scripted this year which made them much more enjoyable. They've also added conference calls with an Anglo calling 3 Spaniards (who are on a speaker phone.) Some Anglos pretend to be someone like the Queen of England planning a trip. I decided to be an irate customer at their upscale department store (El Cort Ingles) continued on page 4 ... see Spain