English, por favor

You know you're having a good trip when you start falling asleep while standing up, on a moving train, mid-sentence of the new Spanish phrase you've just learned.

Barcelona was amazing. After a few days in Madrid of barely being able to talk to anyone, I hopped an overnight bus to Barcelona. Both Rocky and Shaun said not only would I love it, but I would never want to leave. Well, they were right. Barcelona was awesome and I can't wait to go back.

I spent the first two days walking everywhere. Each day I would start with a destination in mind, like Parc Guell, a park designed by the famous architect Gaudi, or La Catedral, a cathedral that sits within this entire neighborhood of gothic architecture, or the temple of la Familia Sagrada, another Gaudi piece of work. But everytime I set out with one destination in mind, I would end up going a million different places, half of which I don't know the names b/c they weren't in any tour guides. I would just be walking and think ooh, that looks cool, and then walk down an alleyway and stumble upon an amazing plaza, or just a really interesting neighborhood. So yes, I loved Barcelona. My hostel experience at the Sant Jordi Alberg was about one hundred times better than my experience at the Pop Hostel in Madrid, but that was just part of it. The other two nights I was in Barcelona I stayed with David, an ultimate player who Rocky knows. That turned out to be an awesome experience, b/c he lives in Barcelona, is fluent in Spanish and knows a lot of the history of Barcelona (and I got to play ultimate, which is always a plus).

But, one of the most interesting experiences was the interaction between David, Mariano and myself. Mariano does not speak English very well and I speak approximately zero Spanish. But Mariano was one of the nicest, most outgoing, friendly persons I've met so far in Spain. It was clear it pained him not to be able to talk to me in English (which I tried to tell him was not his fault sinceI was in his country and couldn't speak Spanish). So we had some interesting interactions that involved a lot of hand gesturing, some frustration and even some hurt feelings. What stuck with me though, was that he kept coming back, kept trying to communicate, and although we never really succeeded in having a full conversation, I feel like we both left the meeting feeling some connnection and common ground--the common ground of constantly having to battle a language barrier. David and everyone else was fluent in both Spanish and English, so they would easily switch between the two in the same conversation. Sometimes they would be talking in English so I could understand and sometimes they would talk in Spanish so Mariano could understand. But always, one of us was left out of the conversation. Usually at some point we would make eye contact and give each other the 'yeah, i know how it feels look' and sometimes the two of us would attempt to have our own conversation, but it was always a very time consuming and exhausting process that left both of us feeling inadequate. And while there was always a sense of humor and a sincere intention that went along with these failed attmepts, it was clear we both prefered our own languages. So I was both shocked and touched when at one point, David, Ben and Mariano were joking around in Spanish and Mariano looks at me and says, 'say it in English for Monica.'

(pics below are at the beach where we played ultimate. that is david and mariano.)