Anyone who has ever traveled to a country where English is not the prominent language can attest to this. You're in a public place where everyone is speaking the native language. If you hear even one word of English (or whatever your native tongue may be), your ear goes directly to it, and you have the intense urge to talk to this person, even though this may be the only thing in common you have with this person.
Sometimes, this results in a somewhat awkward conversation, like when a (drunk) kid from Michigan started talking to us on the way home the other night, telling us he had nowhere to stay that night and hinting that he would like us to invite him to stay on our couch.
However, last Sunday, taking that risk really paid off. Matt was at the Guggenheim and heard a couple wondering (in English) where the bathrooms were. He directed them the right way and discovered they were American, which is somewhat unusual, as
there are not very many American tourists in Bilbao as in other parts of Spain.
Matt discovered that this man was Carlisle Floyd, an opera composer who was in Bilbao for the opening of his award-winning opera, Susannah, which was premiering for the first time in Spain. Matt mentioned that he had never been to an opera before. Mr. Floyd then told hi
m that he was leaving on Tuesday, but still had 2 tickets for the show on Tuesday night, and would he like to have the tickets?
So, Tuesday night, Matt and I found ourselves in the 9th row of the opera palace in Bilbao, watching an amazing opera, in English.
I suppose it pays off to talk to those people you hear speaking English.
Originally published 10.23.10
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