We've been here for a couple of weeks and feel we are settling in ok. One thing that feels strange to us is that so far, compared to Athens, we are not that busy. We knew this would be the case and that it would take a little while to build up significant relationships, but it is hard to avoid the feeling that we should be doing more. However, we want to make the right decisions and focus on building the right foundations at this stage. The temptation is just to find things to do without real consideration of whether they are the right things.

A few observations about the area we are living in:

• Monday morning is the time to meet people down in our local shopping centre in Springburn. This is an area of high unemployment amongst the indigenous population, add the refugee population and the fact that Monday is the day when people can pick up their benefit money, and you have a very popular Post Office. I went down on Monday just to post a couple of things and saw quite a few Afghan guys, as well as an Iraqi family that I had met the week before at one of the churches.
• Everyone here is our "pal". That seems to be the favourite way of referring to people in Glasgow, equivalent to "love" in Belfast, "mate" in Australia, or "duck" in parts of the North of England.
• We successfully negotiated the first big local football derby of the season without too much trouble (Rangers beat Celtic). We even got to enjoy some celebratory singing outside the house at about 2am on Monday morning.
• If you're standing in a queue, you'll be called forward by "who's first?", rather than "next".

Paul is in possession of a book of Scottish jokes and Scottish Grandma's sayings, so he should have some more cultural insights for you soon.

Last Wednesday afternoon was our first encounter with the drop-in at the Red Road church. This was a lively, noisy and thoroughly enjoyable time. Many of the refugee kids that live in the nearby tower blocks come to run around, play table-tennis and pool, do some art and craft and eat white bread and chocolate spread sandwiches (no one tell Jamie Oliver please!). It feels like the kids just know that this is a place where they can really enjoy themselves and benefit from having some adults to spend time with them. I spent most of my time last week being dragged around (literally) by M, from Eritrea, and H from Turkey. I had never met these kids before but as soon as they laid eyes on me I was given a huge hug and told "come with us!". It speaks volumes of the work that has been going on through this church that the kids feel so at home in it that they just know they will find a friend in anyone who is working there. Incidentally, I think I picked up a few clues that at least one of these families had come through Greece, unless it's just a coincidence that the child was referring to everything with the suffix "-mou" (my).

A few tentative invitations to homes have been made, but we usually like to wait to be asked at least twice before we can be sure that they are not just asking us out of politeness. Please pray that we will have wisdom to know which invitations to accept and to discern what the needs of these families are and how we can represent Jesus to them.

We are both currently pursuing a couple of other opportunities to get more involved and as we get to know some of the refugees attending the church, we would hope to develop some discipling-type relationships and also some social outlets for the refugees there.

It is Ramadan right now, and many of the Muslims that we have met are fasting. It's a time of increased religious fervour, and there is no doubt that many of them do sincerely seek God during this time. For others it is more about reinforcing their cultural identity, especially in a culture where they are in a minority and displaced from their families. The feelings of separation are particularly acute during Ramadan and the festival which follows it. Please pray for them over the next month especially. http://www.30-days.net/ has some great resources if anyone wants to know more.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, and for all your messages of support and encouragement.

- Emma