My Little Oasis

The past few days, locals have been telling me I could easily pass as Catalan without a problem and I actually fit in very well here.  I just keep telling them it’s great as long as I don’t open my mouth!

This has definitely been the best morning I’ve had here so far…and I’ve been by myself most of the time.  Who woulda thought?  I had an early class this morning (that I will probably switch out of this week because it doesn’t count for anything).  And after class I explored a little on my own and successfully went to 3 stores and bought things while successfully having conversations with people!  The first store, a school supply store, a mother told me all about her kids in Spanish and I don’t think she knew that I don’t really speak very good Spanish the entire time until the end of the checkout when the cashier said something super fast and I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.  I’m thinking something about a membership card, but I just gave her a big smile and my 20€ and we both laughed. 

At the next store, I bought some shoes and I successfully asked 2 people to get me different sizes to try on, talked with one person if she liked them and how comfortable they were, and checked out without anyone talking to me in English once!  What I feat!  I was so excited haha.  Then I took the metro part way home and on my walk to the grocery store spotted this little park oasis from the corner of my eye.  What a nice find!  I sat there in the presence of tons of screaming children and talking parents while I read a book for about an hour.  In Barcelona, you don’t really see very many kids around the city, so it was a nice treat to be surrounded by so many at once.  Definitely my type of place with my type of people.  I will definitely be visiting this little park (pretty close to my house) again as my little getaway.

Then at the grocery store, I talked in Spanish with this man in line and had a pleasant little encounter with the cashier.  To say the least, there was a little bounce in my step when I left the grocery store and a smile on my face.  That instant was a dead giveaway that I’m actually not Catalan after all.  The Catalans rarely smile and definitely don’t walk down the street smiling for no reason.  I guess there are some things I can never conform to in this country.