Day 18 – Friday 9 March 2018
When we arrived two weeks ago (we can’t believe we’ve been away that long?), as we walked to the bar I saw a woman with a dog trying to gain the attention of her husband ordering a drink at the bar, as she was not allowed in with their dog. Being the overwhelmingly helpful person that I try to be, I asked her in English to point out her husband and in Spanish she said Javier and pointed to him. The bar was pretty full so each time I approached a lone male I pointed to that man and shrugged at her for recognition. At my fifth attempt I managed to tap Javier on a shoulder and point out that his wife was trying to get his attention. Yeah, success. His look changed from confused to ‘oh yes, I can see my wife’ and hers to relief.
From that moment Angeles and I would always say Ola each time we bumped into each other. I’ve spent the past two weeks thinking of everyday words and phrases to translate from English into Spanish to practice the local language and use it to converse generally. My incentive is the ‘English’ who have been over here since last year making no attempt to speak the language of the country there are in. Typical Brit Abroad I am not. I just don’t understand why each time I’ve entered bar/restaurant my memory has failed me on the simplest of words. Or is it that I’m just working my way through the cocktail and food menus.
Anyway, back to the story. About a week ago, Angeles and Javier moved into a space two pitches away from us in their Motorhome. As we’re at the end of our little cul de sac, each time I walk up and down we obviously acknowledge each other and exchange Ola’s. I got the impression that Angeles and Javier were leaving soon because she told me she had a hair appointment before their departure. This afternoon after a few hours sunbathing, reading, tidying up and generally getting bored I told Steve that I was going over to ask them to join us for a glass of wine.
I had worked out the phrase ‘would you like to join us for a glass of wine’ so I could ask them in Spanish and they were delighted to accept our invitation to drinks @ #44 by Javier using his Talking Translator on his mobile to show their appreciation in English.
They arrived with a box of chocs, Steve brought out a chilled bottle of white wine and I added to the goodies on the table with our giant fresh strawberries. Within no time at all we were chatting with the aid of the Talking Translator app on two phones. Although Alexa was not involved, neither phone could tell the difference of input in Spanish or English by any of us so there was a lot of crossover chat just with the translations on the two phones alone! I’ve never experienced anything so funny and it was apparent the others hadn’t either. We all had to be so patient for each of us in turn to record whatever we wanted to say, wait for the audio answer, nod in agreement or laugh and then record our response or new question. For two couples who didn’t speak the other’s language we got on like old friends on catch up. It turned out that Javier is not only a professional photographer but has produced an award winning film or two. I haven’t found them on youtube yet, but I fully intend to.
Two hours passed in no time, and as they left we received a reciprocal invitation for tomorrow. The good news is that I have three tomatoes in the fridge, Steve is not keen on tomatoes, and I can convert them with a chopped red onion, garlic, olive oil and toasted bread into Brushettas. OK it’s more of an Italian dish than Spanish, but hey, something home made to take with.
