Yet Another Priceless Moment

Train Ticket to Gerona = 12 € each.
Supper = 7 € each.
Taxi ride home = 100 € for 12 people.
Missing all 4 trains home = priceless!

Now, let me explain: on Saturday, we went to Gerona for the day. The day started out uneventfully. We left for the train station at 10:30, and to make things easier, we discussed our drama on the train. Nothing too exciting, except when Sarah and Melanie accidently clotheslined a random man while practicing with the rope used in the drama...and so it begins.

Once in Gerona, we went to a house, where we, surprise, surprise - ate. A lot. Some ate more than others, as Beth was served 2 plates. Fascinating...she had gone to throw away her plate, and instead ended up with more food. We practiced our drama in a nearby parking lot, while being watched by some local hoodlums. Awkward.

Evangelism included walking down the street and handed out tracts to people, while repeating the phrases we were told: "Dios te bendiga" (God bless you) and "Feliz Navidad". Evangelism in Spanish was new for all of us. Some people completely ignored us, or said "no." Others accepted the tracts. Some said "Gracias," and a few even replied with "Dios te bendiga." A couple people responded in French, and others in Catalan. Whatever the langauge, we knew God was present.

We ended up at a square in Gerona where we stayed for awhile, handing out tracts. We thought we were going to do our drama, but ended up doing it for a church service that we didn't know we were going to be attending. It's funny how the agenda can get lost in translation - we just follow Irma like little ducklings following the mother duck, doing whatever she tells us to do.

The church service was held in a meeting room in a hotel on the square, which was quite beautiful. The service was with the sister church of Amor Viviente in Barcelona. It was a Christmas celebration. These churches sure do know how to celebrate - the passion for Jesus is amazing. When we entered the meeting room, we were served candy and water and the service included some songs, our drama, a mime, a message by Antonio, and more singing. We are all growing to love the church services in Spain, even though they are all in Spanish, and we don't always know what's going on.

Now: a new discovery - Spain (possibly all of Europe) puts their lights on a 2-minute timer, including the bathrooms. If for some reason you are not finished in the bathroom prior to the 2 minutes, you will be in the dark. Literally. And if you happen to find yourself in the dark, you will also find yourself slapping frantically at the wall for whatever light switch you can find to press....Interesting. And yes, we are speaking from experience.

The conclusion of our evening was not without incident. Almost immediately upon arriving at the station, a train left that we should have been on. Instead, we got coffee, a common pasttime in Spain. The next train was at 9:15. We had a little while, so we ate supper. Let's just say this wasn't our favorite meal. We all got (cold) chicken wings and french fries. Sarah informed us after we were done eating, thankfully, that there was still some hair on her chicken. Also, Melanie found out that her coat is waterproof when a large bottle of water was knocked over and splashed in her general direction. Nice to know.

Then we sat some more, waiting for the 10:15 train. We went outside by the tracks when we thought our train was going to come. Interestingly enough, a train came from the opposite direction at the same time that we thought our train was coming. We commented on that to those we were with, but noone seemed concerned. After waiting awhile, in the cold, we went back inside to check the times again. At this point, Beth realized that everyone had been looking at Arrival times of trains, not Departure times. There were 4 trains that went back to Barcelona that we could have been on. And we managed to miss them all. By the time we realized what we had done, the last train had already left. At this point, we figured we would either be spending the night in the train station, or sleeping under the stars.

Our solution: we took 2 big taxis. The taxi ride was...interesting. We traveled fast - literally. We reached speeds of over 170 kilometers per hour, which is over 105 mph. Normally in America, when you go through construction, you slow down. Not here - we actually sped up. Police: who needs them? or pays attention to them? Actually, the police passed us at one point. Who doesn't love driving in Europe? Oh wait, Beth still doesn't. The whole night...what an experience. We all actually found the experience to be quite funny, and had fun laughing about it...

Once on solid ground, that is.

And we get to do it all again....next month. :-) Stay tuned...

Melanie & Team