Ayúdeme

There is always a moment. Or is that just in the movies? You know, the moment where the director opts for a fast forward replay through a picture show of the hour we just watched only to halt it in the present moment of the film. It’s all in a moment where everything catches up to you.

As previously mentioned, there was a lack of true forethought and reflection in the act of packing up my amazing NYC apartment, kissing goodbye my friends and family and moving to a foreign city I had merely heard of. It caught up to me in just one moment. The planning, studying, applications, interviews, visas, packing, unpacking, repacking….all of it was on fast forward replay when I grabbed the doorknob to leave the bathroom stall at Cerveseria Catalana and it would not open.

 It was not a simple issue of try, try again. I was locked in. And after the slide show finished in a flash, I mentally welcomed myself to Barcelona, Spain. A city I had merely heard of that was my new home and a city in which I was unaware of how to ask for help if, God forbid, I ever got locked inside a tiny bathroom stall. 

I made my way out after nearly five minutes of sparring with the doorknob in a less than subtle way. The two snickering teenagers that witnessed the act were somewhere between startled and thankful, for I had just used my non-existent karate skills to compensate for my non-existent Spanish speaking skills.

I am completely handicapped by my lack of Spanish speaking skills, which in general depresses me daily. My roommates speak Spanish as their native language and the non-native speaks pretty well too. It’s a perfect environment to learn! If only they would slow it down a bit.

I asked my roommates how to say help in Spanish and figured I could work out the tone depending on the particular dilemma I would surely find myself in again soon.