Big Planet, Small World

Programs for this blog post

Teach In Spain Program

Authored By:

Alejandro Sanchez

Everything happens for a reason.

There are some people that believe this statement; others say that the things that happen are a mere coincidence. Even though I feel that I am a logical thinker, I want to say that I believe everything happens for a reason. 

One day I had just gotten home from work...

For context it is smart to add that I work in the evenings. A bit strange no? Well unlike many of the Language assistants here in Spain, I am one of the few that works in a vocational school; therefore, I work with adults and at night. It may seem terrible, but it is not as bad as it seems. I will make a post about that in the future.

Continuing on... I got to my flat around 20:30. Starving, I prop open the refrigerator door to find a potato, some slices of cheese and a yogurt. This quantity of food would not sustain the amount of hunger I had. So, I began debating what to do. I could go to the market to buy more food, but I am too hungry to wait for the food to cook. But I was a bit tired from work, so I did not really want to go out. It was a school night. Decisions, decisions.

 I finally decided to go to a burger restaurant that I was told would be the best burger I would ever eat, so I wanted to see if it was true, also it was close to home. I walked into the restaurant and noticed it was empty. I asked for a table, but the waiter told me the establishment was closed. Hangrily I thought to myself, “Why don’t you lock the doors then!” But just like that I was back in step one; do I try go buy food to cook or do I try to find a new place to eat. Disappointed with the hamburger placed being closed, I gave up hope and started walking home. Then I thought to myself, I don’t feel like cooking, I have a couple Euros to spare, and I’m in Madrid. Why not go out to eat. I hopped on the metro and headed to the city center. I had a specific place I wanted to go to. There is a Mexican restaurant that sells 1 Euro tacos, and being Mexican myself I was a little homesick for some spice. I arrived at the establishment to find a line of about 20 people curving outside the door, at this point my cravings for Mexican food was greater than my desire to eat so I decided to wait it out.

The line was moving slow, so I decided to eavesdrop on the conversations of other people in line to make the time go by faster. I realized the people in front of me were switching from English to Spanish as they conversed and listening in more depth they were actually talking about California. What a coincidence, my hometown. I wanted to jump in and say, “Hey, I’m from California too!” But I am a bit shy and specially in situations like this, I don’t like to interrupt because I think people will think I am being rude. Some minutes went by and I just stood there nervously debating if I should join the conversation or just keep to myself. In the end I thought the worst that will happen is that they will ignore me, carry on with their conversation and I will go back to my thoughts. I took the risk and asked them if they were from California. Not only were they from California, they were from Mexico too and one of them was from even from the city where I was born. What a small world, in a city of three million people I happen to stand in line next to some that have the same roots as me. We continued to talk all the way to the front of the line and after I finished ordering, I saw that they had set a chair for me at their table.

On this day, I met some incredible people and ate delicious tacos, and all of this would not have happened if I stayed home or if the burger restaurant had been opened. So yeah, if you ask me some things do happen for a reason.