I'm in Spain... finally! Getting here has been quite the journey, but well worth every second of it. There is just so much I could tell about at this point, but my first day at the school is tomorrow and it's already after 11 pm here. So I'll keep it to one, short but miraculous, story....
I knew I needed to get from the airport to the train station, but I wasn't sure how this was going to happen. So here I am in the Madrid airport, loaded down with luggage, and wondering what to do next. I had read online that there was supposedly a bus that ran to and from the airport, and that one of the stops was the Atocha train station. So, after trading in the $61 that I happened to have in my purse for about 38 euros, I wandered around and asked a couple people at information stations if there was a bus to the train station. That, and I followed signs with buses on them, haha! When I finally wandered outside and found the bus stop and route information, I came to the realization that the bus I needed to take wouldn't get me to the train station in time. The way I saw it, I only had one other choice: take a taxi. So I headed towards the taxis and asked (in Spanish) how much it cost to get to the train station. I was fairly certain that the guy said 13 euros and that didn't sound too bad, so he helped me load my luggage and we were off. Turns out that I was horribly wrong about the price. As I sat in the back seat I looked at his rear-view mirror to see a price meter going up by 5 euro cents every couple of seconds. I. Was. Horrified. The guy didn't speak any English and my Spanish only goes so far, so trying to communicate the fact that I had a very limited amount of money didn't go too well. He understood me I think, but I had a hard time understanding him. I think that he was trying to tell me that I needed to get money out of an ATM at the train station so that I would have money to eat. He also told me that I needed to practice my Spanish, which is very true. I was praying like crazy during the entire taxi ride that the price would not exceed my funds. I can tell you that God is nothing short of amazing, because when we arrived and it came time for me to pay up, I had just the right amount with a few euros to spare. WOW!! Talk about the goodness of God. He obviously knew that I was going to have to take a taxi, and He knew how much it was going to cost me. I didn't plan to have that money in my purse either. I had planned on finding an ATM and getting euros later on, but it just so happened that there was a money exchange station in the airport right by the baggage claim area. All coincidence? I think not.
I knew I needed to get from the airport to the train station, but I wasn't sure how this was going to happen. So here I am in the Madrid airport, loaded down with luggage, and wondering what to do next. I had read online that there was supposedly a bus that ran to and from the airport, and that one of the stops was the Atocha train station. So, after trading in the $61 that I happened to have in my purse for about 38 euros, I wandered around and asked a couple people at information stations if there was a bus to the train station. That, and I followed signs with buses on them, haha! When I finally wandered outside and found the bus stop and route information, I came to the realization that the bus I needed to take wouldn't get me to the train station in time. The way I saw it, I only had one other choice: take a taxi. So I headed towards the taxis and asked (in Spanish) how much it cost to get to the train station. I was fairly certain that the guy said 13 euros and that didn't sound too bad, so he helped me load my luggage and we were off. Turns out that I was horribly wrong about the price. As I sat in the back seat I looked at his rear-view mirror to see a price meter going up by 5 euro cents every couple of seconds. I. Was. Horrified. The guy didn't speak any English and my Spanish only goes so far, so trying to communicate the fact that I had a very limited amount of money didn't go too well. He understood me I think, but I had a hard time understanding him. I think that he was trying to tell me that I needed to get money out of an ATM at the train station so that I would have money to eat. He also told me that I needed to practice my Spanish, which is very true. I was praying like crazy during the entire taxi ride that the price would not exceed my funds. I can tell you that God is nothing short of amazing, because when we arrived and it came time for me to pay up, I had just the right amount with a few euros to spare. WOW!! Talk about the goodness of God. He obviously knew that I was going to have to take a taxi, and He knew how much it was going to cost me. I didn't plan to have that money in my purse either. I had planned on finding an ATM and getting euros later on, but it just so happened that there was a money exchange station in the airport right by the baggage claim area. All coincidence? I think not.
So here I am. Safe. Alive. Here. All to the glory of God!
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