Catalan Connections

I spent my fifth and final week in Spain exploring the Catalan region, where I met the family of a good friend from back home in Albuquerque. My friend's mom, sister, and brother-in-law opened their homes and hearts to me immediately. We spent a long weekend exploring their towns and the beautiful Costa Brava, enjoying unique local cuisine, including delicious homemade fideuá (a paella-type dish made with noodles instead of rice), staying up incredibly late (for me) having Agua de Valencia drinks at a tiny, local dive-bar, and learning about their region's holiday traditions including Caga Tió (a Catalan log that...umm...poops candy).

Beautiful town of Girona (below), which wouldn't have been on my radar had my friend not suggested that I visit

Amazing dish of homemade fideuá, with tons of seafood and a smoky tomato flavor.

Lovely town of Sant Cugat del Valles, on the outskirts of Barcelona, where I stayed with new friends for a couple of days.

Caga Tió (the pooping Catalan log) peeking out of a shop window before doing his business

Enjoying some potent Agua de Valencia with new friends

Trio of Languages and Switching Between Them

Although the primary language in this region is Catalan just about everyone here is also completely fluent in Spanish, and many folks also speak some English. My friend's mom was actually enrolled in an English language class to improve her foundational skills from when she was a young adult. The bilingualism in Catalonia reminded me of New Mexico's English and Spanish language mix.

Being around my friend's family also made me think about the role of shared language in our own relationships. My friend's family members are most used to communicating with one another in Catalan, and we discussed that it's a bit awkward to switch over to using Spanish or English amongst themselves (and for my benefit!). I've felt similarly awkward when conversing with my parents in English in presence of a monolingual English-speaker instead of my usual Spanish/Spanglish conversations with them.

In reflecting with a few local friends who are also bilingual, we agreed that our friendships are overwhelmingly English-based and trying to switch over to Spanish does indeed feel awkward. Somehow you view your friend just a bit differently when switching to another language--their intonation, cadence, emotion, sense of humor, and in my case vocabulary choices and limitations. Since I'm significantly more adept in the English language, I probably present as a somewhat different person when using my Spanish. To my close friends, they at least know the 'fuller version' of me, but to a stranger in my travels, I wonder if I seem more shy, reserved, less educated or? A growing edge for me is to improve my Spanish, but maybe more importantly, to increase my confidence in speaking it more and not worry about it not being perfecto.