In my last blog entry, I had so much to say that I forgot to mention a funny story that happened on my way back from Spain. After our long journey, from Granada to Madrid to New York, we got off the plane exhausted but glad to finally be home, or at least in the U.S. (Some of us had long car rides, or connecting flights before we would finally be at our own houses.) But before we could get through customs and through the gate to see our anxiously waiting families, we had to wait for the bags to arrive on the conveyer belt.
As we were waiting, a man with a sniffer dog came round, checking luggage for drugs (and as I found out, food). What a cute beagle, I thought, thinking of Nela back in Spain. Imagine my surprise when the dog came right over to me, and stuck its head into my plastic bag. However, my surprise didn't last long, as I suddenly remembered I still had a ham sandwich out of the three that Inma had packed me. I hadn't been able to eat them all, and was planning on throwing the last one out. I exclaimed out loud, "Oh, jamon!" (The Spanish word for ham).
The man then asked me in Spanish what I had in the bag, and I explained that I had a ham sandwich, and that I was going to throw it away. He said it was okay, and asked to see my customs form. (Everything so far was said in Spanish). When I gave it to him, he looked at it and said surprised, "You speak English! And you made me speak Spanish?"
"Oh," I said, "Yes, I do, I'm American. I'm sorry". At that moment I realized that we were back in the United States where English is the main language! I had just spoken in Spanish without thinking.
He shrugged, then marked my customs card and told me to give it to customs officials (they made sure the sandwich was thrown away). He and his dog, which received a biscuit in reward for sniffing out my sandwich, then walked off to check more of the luggage. I caught his eye just before I walked through the gate and we both smiled. It was a funny experience to mark the end of my semester in Spain, and showed how much I had Spanish on the brain.
Comments (1)
I think this was one of my favorite stories that you told me... :)
Posted by Jessica H | February 9, 2008 12:50 AM
Posted on February 9, 2008 00:50