Some days I just feel so fucking vindicated. Take today for example. I am so often chastised and made fun of because I HAVE AN ACCENT. Apparently making it impossible for anyone to understand me. And okay, I admit I have an accent (but I always hoped it was cute) and I know that I could be (should be) more fluent after 33 years but none of this means I can’t communicate in Spanish.

For the record, I arrived here like a totally hopeful idiot in 1992 knowing maybe a dozen words in Spanish (none of them fucking verbs) but somehow I got on. And as I was a broke English teacher in Salamanca I obviously couldn’t afford to take Spanish classes (let alone pay my rent) but I could just about afford a beer, so I’d pop down to the local bar in my street and… just talk to everybody. And well, that is how I learned Spanish. Just by talking.

Now I completely admit that a bit of grammar wouldn’t have gone amiss, to wit I bought my 12000 verbs book early on. But rather than encourage me I mostly went… are you fucking kidding me? More than a dozen conjugations for each fucking verb??? Granted, some of them aren’t widely used but still… intimidating. And so I decided to just, you know, get on with it. 

Fast forward 30-something years and I still get people “unable” to understand me. Like this morning at the health centre trying to get some admin stuff sorted… guy just kept looking at me like I had four heads and came from another planet. Might have had something to do with me wearing a mask (because it’s a fucking health centre – you know, where sick people are) but I’ve experienced this a lot, including with doctors. They don’t like to see masks. Eventually got it sorted but MAN IT WAS LIKE PULLING TEETH.

Back home today and still trying to sort out the Farola sitch… which is almost comical at this point given the length of time it’s taking, other than the fact that IT’S NOT FUNNY. And so this afternoon I called the shop back where I’d finally tracked down a replacement and the woman remembered me. So we had a chat and I told her I needed a written estimate to show the Corte Inglés and transport company including installation fees, etc this and that. She said better to send the photos to her on whatsapp, we exchanged numbers, and she reminded me that they couldn’t order the lamp until I’d paid a 50% deposit, and yes of course, I just needed the estimate to get the ball rolling, they didn’t need to do anything else yet. 

I did all this ON THE PHONE with María Carmen. I mean, we were on the phone for ages, talking about this and that, calling back and forth. AND SHE UNDERSTOOD EVERY DAMN WORD I SAID. 

So my question is basically… WTF?? Why do some people totally understand everything I say in Spanish and others insist they can’t?  Am realising now, very late in the day, that it really can’t be just me.