Last night was an interesting one. We went to eat at a London tapas restaurant called “La Tasca”. You can find two or three franchises in the city and get your little fix of Spanish paella, wine or croquetas. We started talking to the waiter and he mentioned that he is from Santander, the north of Spain. For him, I looked so Spanish and not Cuban at all. Even Spanish seem to forget sometimes that Spanish back in the day used to move straight FROM Spain to the Caribbean. Good grief! Looking so pale I constantly have to explain to people how my grandparents are from Spain but I feel the rumba and the island like a 100% criolla. 🙂

After a few laughs and me trying to win my well deserved Cuban “title” back we went to a tavern across the street called “The Cock”. Of course we needed to have a drink there. Names sell after all. Last call for alcohol at this bar was at 11pm so we decided to go home to have an early morning today.

We quickly took a taxi to return to our friend’s house and I realized I could not understand a word of what the cabbie was saying, even the expressions! It was like learning English all over again. I have been making fun of myself for not understanding the street accent in London since I got here. I always knew this was going to happen travelling in UK. I already have to deal with pronunciation issues in North America (ship, chip, cheap and sheep sound almost the same to me and I pronounce them almost the same as well). Sitting in the taxi and after a few drinks I was happy to be with two Serbians who speak perfect English and an American girl. I did not have to try very hard to understand or to answer if I was going to the low, middle or high part of the block (?).

Only a few blocks away from our street we passed by a sports bar that had big screens playing American football and had a huge crowd. We told the taxi driver to stop right there and yes, we found a bar with Americans rooting either for Baltimore or New England. They even had a Canadian comedian starting a show. It was hilarious! Suddenly I felt I could communicate with everyone, even though I do not follow any sports. We started talking to an Italian from New York ( a New Yorker, really, not sure how much Italian he really knows) and to our Canadian fellow, once he finished the show.