Spanish and Sunshine

A couple days ago at work I got my first opportunity to talk to a customer in Spanish....He came up trying to get a money order, but was very confused when I tried to ask him some simple questions about his transaction. It was pretty apparent that he was not a native English speaker, but I was trying to be culturally sensitive and not assume he was latino (something I've become very aware of since getting back to the states). However, when he finally understood that I was asking for 2 pieces of ID, he pulled out a drivers license and a Permanent Resident Card (GREEN CARD). He was from Mexico. So then I just asked him (in Spanish of course..) if he spoke Spanish. At first I think he was so shocked he didn't know what to say....I'm sure his thoughts were something along the lines of "crazy white girl, how does she know my language?...or, is she messing with me?" Needless to say, when he recovered from the shock he was quite pleased and I was easily able to explain the transaction to him in Spanish. After a few moments of silence while I processed, he finally asked me the question I was anticipating...."....Where did you learn Spanish?!" After I told him that I spent some time in South American, naturally he inquired as to what part of South America. We went on to talk about Venezuela - and you'll never believe it.....His wife is from Venezuela! and their daughter was born there.....how random??! Then we talked about Merida, he had visited there AND his wife's sister lives there.....just goes to show what an incredibly small world we live in!! We ended up talking for a significant while even after I had processed his transaction, we talked mostly about Venezuela and especially about how different the Venezuelan accent is from the Mexican one (of course, in his opinion the Mexican one was better....I chose not to debate it, seeing as how I've never been to Mexico). Anyway, it was fun to talk to him, especially because no one around could really understand what we were saying, except Allyson who understands some Spanish. And of course, it warmed my heart to speak and think of my beloved Venezuela :) I think of it often....and certainly now that winter is upon us here in the PNW! It chills me to the bone the moment I'm out of bed in the morning, and I had to scrape ice off of my windshield for the first time in a loooooooong time. Merida weather sounds more than perfect to me right now.....mmmmm sunshine.