Safe and Sound in Spain

On my last day of work my coworkers took me out to dinner. My boss was so nice; he bought me dinner. Anyway, he asked me if I was afraid of being trafficked. Until that point, I hadn't even thought of that. Afterward, that's all I could think about. I was so nervous. I started doubting my decision to go to Spain. Why do I come up will such stupid ideas. One time, I actually looked in to a vacation to Antarctica. And I was totally serious. I do really dumb things impulsively.
      Finally, the day came that I had to leave to Seattle. I had so many plans to pack and clean the house and prepare to leave. Instead, Rebekah, Alicia and I took a really long nap. Then Rebekah and I bought hot chocolate and sat in the car for almost an hour. It was a less than mildly productive day. After Alicia finished school, it was time to depart. I was more scared than ever.
      Alicia and Rebekah drove up to Ellensburg to stay the night with Megan so she could make the drive to the airport with us. We didn't get much sleep at all. I think only 4 hours. I slept really well because I was so tired, and Megan tucked us all in and gave us goodnight kisses. I'm sure that helped me sleep better.
       In the morning we all ate Megan's cupcakes for breakfast. I really don't remember a lot about the drive up. I was too nervous and emotional; so, I must have blocked it from my memory.
       We finally arrived to the airport and I forgot to give everyone a hug goodbye before I entered the line for Security. So we said goodbye from a slight distance. I was really sad to leave them but I was also in disbelief that it was even real.
        Everything went fine in all the airports. I made my connections without any problems. On my flight from Seattle to LAX the man next to me said, "That's very brave." when I told him why I was travelling to Spain.
        Then I flew from there to London on Air New Zealand. It was a really, really, really, big, nice, fancy plane. And I sat in the aisle with an empty seat to my right. It was really comfortable. The food wasn't terrible and I watched 3 movies in Spanish on the screen that was on the back of the seat in front of me. It also had the option to listen to music and play games, which was good because my ipod broke in the LAX airport. I only slept for a coulple of hours before we arrived in London.
         Everyone in the Heathrow airport was super friendly. Maybe it was just their accents but they seemed very nice. I then had to take a shuttle bus to my terminal after which I had about an hour until my gate opened. So, I sat outside of my gate and read in Spanish.
         Absolutely nothing happened on the flight from London to Madrid. I basically just sat in silence. And I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. I said a little prayer and that seemed to calm my nerves. I also read a little of my Libro de Mormon. The view from above was absolutely gorgeous!

         Finally I landed. I was a little unsure of where to get my baggage but finally I discovered that I needed to first go through passport control and then take a train to baggage claim. I made it to baggage claim about 1 minute before the bags started coming out onto the conveyor belt. I retrieved my bag and found my way toward the exit. When the doors open I saw Mayra and her husband, Julian. We exchanged besos and walked to the parking garage.

          For the most part I was able to answer their questions pretty well but we didn't really talk much on the two hour drive to Cuenca. We stopped at a gas station to get drinks. I thought it was weird that the gas station give glasses with ice and lemons and then a can of coke. But it was good.

         We went to Mayra's mother's house to pick up Cayetana and then went home. I was not tired at all so I put my things in my room then when I went downstairs Mayra prepared dinner. Fish with a green pesto looking sauce, and clams and shrimp. With a pepsi. Every meal, basically, is with pepsi in their family. I'm not sure if that's a spanish thing or a family thing.
         Anyway, that was my first day. We got to Cuenca at about 20:00 and ate at about 22:00. And I went to sleep at about 12:00. Thus, ending my first day in Spain.
         Sleep for days. Zzzzzzzzzz................
words I've learned: Pulpo, chupete, tacones (Octopus, pacifier, high heels)