Welcome to Spain

We touched down in Rota, Spain a little before 11am local time.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it isn’t what I got.  There was no big terminal or bustling airport.  There were no familiar faces in the crowd waiting anxiously to greet us.  Instead, we departed the plane straight onto the tarmac, and then had to wait in line for an hour to get paperwork signed and passports stamped.  We had to go through several stations, and I felt like we were cattle being prodded on.

When we finally got through the line, we saw a lady holding a sign with our name on it.  I was thankful that at least someone knew we were there, but I was so tired and struggled to put on my “happy-to-meet-you” face.  Many introductions were made.  We met the people Ray will be working with, and the commander and his wife.  Those first moments are a bit of a blur in my mind, but I know Ray somehow managed to find all of our luggage and we ended up in a blue van headed to our temporary home.

Our temporary home was a shock to say the least.  It was not at all what we were expecting.  We had specifically requested to be in TLF, which is pretty much a hotel on base.  It would have been very small, but we would have everything a hotel would offer including internet and room service.  Apparently though, TLF was full.  So we ended up in temporary housing.   

The three bedroom house that we were given was fairly spacious (compared to our condo in Vegas, anyways), but it was very sparsely furnished.  There was a table with four chairs (doesn’t really work for a family of 7), a couch set, and six beds.  Unfortunately there were no pillows, sheets, towels, shower curtains, toilet paper, etc. 

Ray’s sponsor took him to get a rental car while the rest of us stayed in the empty house.  We were exhausted and homesick, and just wanted to sleep.  Each kid had a blanket, so we spread out the blankets on the bare mattresses, and they each took a nap.  I had no blanket, so I just laid on the bare mattress and cried myself to sleep.  It’s a moment that I will never forget as one of the worst moments of my life.