Strange days... es realmente muy extraño

It is a very strange experience working in an office with people who speak both Catalan and Castellan. As you know I speak neither anywhere near fluently… the latter is my primary goal but it’s difficult to keep up with taking Spanish Classes when I am here 12h per day… Immersion is however an unavoidable side effect here which is a very big bonus. Not many people are brave- stupid enough to stumble into a situation like this… the other day I was in a meeting with 12 people and it was all in Spanish… I had to pinch myself as I couldn’t quite believe I was there… felt like a dream (one of those anxiety ones where you are somewhere and everyone is speaking a foreign language except for you) however in my case it was reality… makes me smile really as I keep waiting for them to figure it out… they of course know I can’t speak yet but to be honest I don’t think it’s much of an option to go on for months like this. I must learn quickly! Luckily my daily duties are nearly 100% in English… so that at least helps me accomplish most things….

However the other day in a meeting they were discussing preparing some assets (and of course the meeting was in Spanish) and someone mentioned a “hota peg” (spelled phonetically) I couldn’t hold the giggles in… it was just too much to hear the word jpeg referred to as a “hotapeg”. They have a good sense of humour and weren’t too annoyed by my giggles… the all muttered the word “guiri” (which means someone who is very obviously foreign) and continued. Guiri is a word I have come to embrace as it describes nearly everything about me… since I have been here I have been informed that I have:

A guiri hat (it’s a really cute aviator hat by killah)
A guiri bike (because it’s old and has no gears)
A guiri flat (because I live in El borne with all the other guiris)
Guiri shoes… (Trainers in specific)
Guiri suit (because my suit and heels caused great interest in my client meeting with France the other day)

Don’t get me wrong… it’s the little things like this that make living in a foreign country exciting and interesting… I can’t wait to start speaking more so that I can enjoy making all the embarrassing mistakes… they will make for entertaining blog entries. In the meantime I am off to collect some hotapegs from my designers…