Another Place I Was Never Going to Visit
When I was a child I knew there were some places I'd never be able to visit. One was the United States of America, because you had to answer the question "Are you, or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" And, of course, my answer would have been "No, but my dad is".
And, of course, the Communist's answer would have been a ten-minute diatribe about the evils of Capitalism. So, on balance, I don't think we would have got in.
We were never going to visit Spain because of General Franco and its history of Fascism, and, actually, since a lot of my relatives in Eastern Europe were killed by the Nazis, that seemed fair enough to me.
But there are a lot of traditions in this family and the tradition of never going to the USA and never going to Spain has persisted to this day and none of us has ever been to either, even though Franco's not in power any more, in fact hasn't been for quite some time. (American politics? I'm not even going to go there, except to say that I don't believe in Creationism.)
And now, in the space of one short month, I'll be doing both, in November. Barcelona at the beginning: Florida at the end.
Barcelona's been rather overshadowed in my head by Florida, which is in America, by the way (pause for five minutes jumping up and down shouting YES, I'M GOING TO AMERICA!)
But everyone tells me that Barcelona is fantastic and I'm looking forward to that too. Though I'll have to learn a bit of Spanish, because I don't like going to people's countries without speaking any of the language (yes, I know it's mostly Catalan in Barcelona).
When I was small and we went to Italy, I remember asking how this difficult-sounding language was written down and was told "Just like ours". By which I suppose my parents meant that it used the same letters.
But that was not what I took the answer to mean. I assumed that when it was written down it would somehow turn into English and I'd be able to read it.
I was very, very disappointed when I found that it didn't turn into English at all. But I'm still vaguely hoping that this might be true of Spanish.
And, of course, the Communist's answer would have been a ten-minute diatribe about the evils of Capitalism. So, on balance, I don't think we would have got in.
We were never going to visit Spain because of General Franco and its history of Fascism, and, actually, since a lot of my relatives in Eastern Europe were killed by the Nazis, that seemed fair enough to me.
But there are a lot of traditions in this family and the tradition of never going to the USA and never going to Spain has persisted to this day and none of us has ever been to either, even though Franco's not in power any more, in fact hasn't been for quite some time. (American politics? I'm not even going to go there, except to say that I don't believe in Creationism.)
And now, in the space of one short month, I'll be doing both, in November. Barcelona at the beginning: Florida at the end.
Barcelona's been rather overshadowed in my head by Florida, which is in America, by the way (pause for five minutes jumping up and down shouting YES, I'M GOING TO AMERICA!)
But everyone tells me that Barcelona is fantastic and I'm looking forward to that too. Though I'll have to learn a bit of Spanish, because I don't like going to people's countries without speaking any of the language (yes, I know it's mostly Catalan in Barcelona).
When I was small and we went to Italy, I remember asking how this difficult-sounding language was written down and was told "Just like ours". By which I suppose my parents meant that it used the same letters.
But that was not what I took the answer to mean. I assumed that when it was written down it would somehow turn into English and I'd be able to read it.
I was very, very disappointed when I found that it didn't turn into English at all. But I'm still vaguely hoping that this might be true of Spanish.
posted by Daphne at 11:38 pm
6 Comments:
When I was in Barcelona a few years ago, because I do speak a little Spanish (but not Catalan) and have dark curly hair, lots of people thought I was Spanish.
I had a very strange conversation in a dance hall (yes, a dance hall rather than a night club) with a lovely native Barcelona man who whilst trying to dance the cha cha cha with me was also trying to understand that I wasn't Spanish. It went something like this
He: So where are you from?
Me: England
He: But you are Spanish
Me: No, I am from England
He: But you and your friends are Spanish
Me: No we are all English, from England.
He: But you speak Spanish
Me: Well, very badly but I am from England.... etc etc
(only this was all in Spanish... you see when it's written down it is just like English!)
You should be OK when you hit FL. A few of the people here still speak English. Just in case, here are a few phrases that will help you.
1. Yes I'd like a refill on my soda please.
2. No thank you I wouldn't like to supersize my extra value meal.
If you go to a Wal-Mart here in Sebring, you'll need these phrases.
1.¿Hay alguien aquí a todos hablar Inglés?
2. Estoy yo en América?
Spanish is supposed to be an easy language. When I was at school, those who were considered not clever enough to learn French did Spanish instead. 2 holidays! Lucky you!:)
ive been reading your blog for a couple of months now but never commented!
i went to barcelona a couple of years ago for a long weekend. i had an excellent time and have wanted to return ever since, gaudi's park is a must see.... the transport system is very cheap and very efficient, the only (sort of) down side was every time we went into a resturaunt / cafe they could tell imediatley we were english and would give us the english version of the menu! apart from that it was an excellent trip! hope you have a lovley time.
:-) stephen
But IF you had been able to go to America all those years ago and had to answer that Communist question, YOU could've honestly put NO to it and been fine.
For heavens sake don't start embellishing answers on immigration forms or come November you'll never get in !!
Q : "Are you bringing fruits or vegetables, nuts or dead wildebeesties into the United State ?"
A : "Well no but I had a ham and tomato sannie at Heathrow airport and I just KNOW that I've bits of ham between my teeth"
Just curb you natural instincts to waffle and just write "No".
I want to see you in Florida.
Ruth - ah, good, I'll be fine with the Spanish then.
Debby - I loved this valuable advice.
Jenny - in the school I went to you did Spanish if you weren't clever enough, supposedly, to do Latin. There seems to be a pattern here.
Stephen - thank you and good to hear from you - please do comment again!
Silverback - me? waffle? Really I have no idea what on earth you could possibly mean - the idea of me waffling must surely be totally foreign to everyone who has ever made my acquaintance. No, I shall be Demure and Respectable, just like I always am.
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