Nice Surprises

When you find yourself in Europe, it’s rarely to think that people can speak Spanish. Anyway here in the UK is easy to find many Spaniards and lots of different Spanish accents from Latin America when you are travelling by the London Tube. Nevertheless, Europe has just one country that speaks Spanish, while in South America we are 10 countries and Brazil is the only one that doesn’t speak it, however sometimes it’s possible chatting in Spanish and Portuguese.

When I was the first time in Czech Republic, I thought that I was never going to talk to somebody in Spanish, unless finding a Spaniard or Latin American.  Czech Republic is the bridge East-Europe and West-Europe; it’s surrounded by Germany, Poland, Austria and Slovakia; they have a big community of Russian and another one from Vietnam. So how in God’s name you need to speak Spanish?  “It’s useless”, I thought when I felt so dependant of my Czech girlfriend.

Until one day, we went to the MOST Czech restaurant ever, served by a waiter who looked very Czech. In that moment I decided to call my parents, obviously I started to talk to them in Spanish. When I hanged up my girlfriend was ordering some drinks, and I asked her what sort of juices was in the restaurant. And then the surprise was tremendous, the waiter answer me, “Tenemos jugo de naranja y de manzana”. It was a completely funny situation for me, and my girlfriend was smiling a little bit confused.  I said to him that it was a completely surprise because I didn’t expect any Czech speaking in Spanish. He told me that he was living in Spain during 8 years and fortunately he could learn it. He was speaking as a Spaniard which made me more amazed.

In that moment I realize how ignorant I am, and all the surprises that different cultures can make on you if you start to prejudge them.