July 23, 2013 — Naija Gypsy
July 23, 2013 — Naija Gypsy
Mission: Learn Spanish to be able to communicate with Hispanic African Diaspora
“Perrrrdonee????”
The music is always too loud in clubs. I don’t know how people kid themselves into thinking that they come out here to meet their life partners. What a joke! I didn’t come here to meet anyone. I came here to practice my Spanish! And to dance!
And dance I was doing…until:
“Como te llamas?”
His accent was THICK! …. Argentinian maybe? I had to process the question.
“Oh…right, Zara. Me llamo Zara.”
“De donde eres.”
“Nigeria.”
“Que bueno, mi amigo quiere bailar contigo.”
What? what? what? as…the Macklemore track goes.
“Mi amigo…qui- …”
“Si le he oído.”
“Entonces…?”
“Es un poco raro no?”
“Como?”
“Le digo que para mi…es un poco raro”
“No entiendo”
“A mi tampoco.”
Awkward silence..If you could call it that — given the loud music and everything. He continued to stare at me quizzically as my thoughts churned.
The entire Spanish “dating” scene is an enigma…really awkward and …awkward.
“No quieres bailar con mi amigo?”
“Porque su amigo no es la persona que me habla directamente?”
“Es muy timido.”
“Que piensa que puede hacer conmigo si es tanto tímido?”
He laughed like a lion would — if a lion laughed …the way humans do, anyway…do lions laugh????
“Oye, mi amigo es tímido entonces estoy aqui para hablarte en su lugar, comprendes?”
“Todavia no comprendo. Es raro! Donde esta? Bueno, y después? Si le digo ‘si?’ …que pasara?”
“Vendrá para bailar contigo”
“Que raro …me voy, vale?”
“No te vayas Morena….”
This seems to be the normal practice in Spain. When a guy is interested in you, he can send his friend over to talk to you, and this is perfectly okay. A tad high school for me, but hey — it’s their culture.
And how did this bizarre story end?
When the club shut down for the night, or the morning….I had a nice long conversation with said friend and got loads of Spanish practice in! Like an impromptu language exchange! Exactly what I was out for!
Mission Status: Steady progress towards Spanish fluency!
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Zara Chiron is a Nigerian woman living in Europe who is on a spiritual journey to inspire a positive change in Africa via Art and Love in the form of diverse artistic productions which she hopes would help heal the collective bleeding soul of the continent. She calls herself the Naija Gypsy as her journey has taken her to many foreign places. She has embraced her karma as the Wounded Healer as she has overcome challenges in her various life experiences abroad which she will draw from to help canalise the end to the vicious cycle of Neocolonialism plaguing Africa. She welcomes and applauds any and all fellow Diaspora who share her vision of a PanAfrica.
| Official Website — The Wounded is Now the Healer | Twitter — @ZaraChiron |