The Spaniards

I came back from China this morning, at it's about 11:30 p.m. More on the trip later.

So in Shanghai I went to the temple of the jade Buddha. Pictures are not allowed, out of respect I think, but it was so wonderful and I was glad I was able to see it. Well while I was looking at the Buddha there was a Spanish-speaking Chinese tour guide for a group of obviously Spanish-speaking people.

Well I was looking in awe at this jade Buddha and this tour group kept talking about it's history. I was happy because I was learning from the tour guide as well. So then one person from the tour says "Shhh" to indicate to his group that he felt they were being too loud to the other guests. I then chimed in and told them in Spanish that it was okay because I was learning too. They took my comment well and after we left the temple that housed the jade Buddha, we made our way to another corridor and we began speaking in Spanish. Next thing I knew the conversation took a turn from this trip being about the Buddha to being about me. They asked me about my lineage and background and they were just really listening intently to the story of who I am. I came to learn that they were a group of professors, mostly biology, from Spain.

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Fast forward to a couple of days later when I was in Beijing staying at my hotel. I was walking to buy a soda from the main lobby and I saw a group of people about my age sitting together and talking in Spanish. Here comes socialite Oscar once again and I began speaking to them in Spanish and we talked about one another. Well leave it to geographical coincidence, they were from Spain too. Two of them were managers at an IKEA while another was an art professor. Again, there was a sudden interest into who I was, where I came from, and what I do. It was getting late and they had to start packing as their flight was leaving later that same night. All in all.....Spaniards love me. Ole!