Life is funny.
I'm not sure who first said it or noticed the phenomenon, but something I remember from one of my Spanish Literature classes was the recurring theme of life imitating art (maybe as opposed to the other way around, which might be our natural expectation).
Without getting too deep here on this otherwise light and playful blog, I will do just that for a second....so bare with me :)
Yesterday, before going on a walk with the homeless dogs of Alella (see pic below), which is entirely another story (the original title for this post was going to be "Who Let the Dogs Out!?"), Ted and I lounged around and watched Woody Allen's film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Can't believe I had not seen this before; what a great movie!
The movie really makes you (okay, me) think about life.
The two protagonists, Vicky and Cristina, find themselves in Barcelona for the summer, faced with some decisions that will shape the course of the rest of their lives. Vicky (played by Rebecca Hall) is engaged to a cookie cutter NY investment banker-type, while Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is a free-spirit, who has tended to move from one relationship to the next.
For those of you who have seen it, I won't bore you with the details, and for those who have not, I will not ruin the story, only to say that the girls find themselves in a love triangle, after meeting a Spanish painter played by Javier Bardem, which later becomes a love square, when Penelope Cruz's character enters the picture.
With that movie fresh in mind, Ted, Nika, Olga and I headed in to Barcelona. Here is a picture of the family in the elevator, when arriving on my floor of the house. Any room for me, guys?
While Olga and Nika got their haircuts and Ted waited for his, the two of us decided to grab a beer. The American tourist that I am, I asked the waiter to take a photo of the two of us, enjoying our canas de cerveza (small beers).
During such time, I also noticed a few girls near the entrance of the cafe, and Ted said that they were looking over in our direction (maybe he was just egging me on). This indeed turned out to be the case, and they also wanted a picture. I guess that I looked friendlier than the waiter, because they motioned for me to come take a picture of the two of them.
I quickly learned that they were not from Spain, nor did they speak Spanish. In fact, they were speaking to each other in sign language, though they both had a certain level of oral communication abilities, one more than the other.
One of the girls, Aviv, was from Israel (Haifa), and the other, Cristina, from Moldovia, though she lived in Paris. We had a nice conversation and they were very gracious for the picture.
Ted went in for his haircut, and I stayed and chatted with the two of them, using a mix of English, Hebrew (very little) but mostly French (which was extremely rusty!). Also as it turns out, American sign language is different than what is used in Israel or France.
That was that, and after Ted's haircut finished up, we went to dinner at this place:
Our meal was another winner! Alcachofas (artichokes), gambas al ajillo (prawns with garlic), costillas de cerdo (pork ribs), as well as some chipirones (baby squid) and vegetables and a great bottle of 2005 Ribera del Duero.
At the top of the page is a picture of Nika enjoying her dessert of tocinillo del cielo (literally, "bacon from the sky," but actually a little egg tart made with yolks and sugar (yummy!).
Getting back to the story, this morning, I took the bus in to Barcelona to spend the day walking around. My first stop was along the Paseo de Gracia, home to several high-end boutiques. However, it is now Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain, and all of the stores were closed.
Wandering around town, I ended up outside of the Dali museum. Now, I have been to the Picasso museum, Sagrada Familia, Gaudi Park and other attractions on previous visits, but I am a fan of Dali, and thought it would be worth a visit.
I plunked down ten euros, and made my way through the exhibit, which, was decent, but really not a "must-see." About half way through, I bumped into someone on accident, and went to apologize. Turns out that someone was Aviv, the Israeli from the night before.
She was there with Cristina, and the two of them invited me for lunch. We went to an Italian restaurant, had a nice meal and conversation, and that was that.
No romantic interludes on a weekend jaunt to Oviedo, no love triangle, square or icosahedron, no gun-toting Penelope Cruz, all of which would have made this blog a lot more exciting. But, William Tell I am, and I cannot tell a lie, but, it was a fun coincidence, and I enjoyed spending time with them...we will likely stay in contact.
This chance encounter made me think about a couple of things: 1) the world is really small even when you are a foreigner in Barcelona and 2) returning to the original premise of the movie (or at least my "take home"), you are the master of your destiny and it is important to do what you want in life.
In the movie, Vicky struggles with her desire to give up everything for an uncertain, shaky at-best, romance with the Spanish painter, and instead opts for the status quo, whereas Cristina realizes she is not going to settle until she finds what she wants.
Even though things do not turn out as expected for Cristina, she is better off for the experience. Vicky returns to New York and has her wedding as planned, and enters the country club life she had envisioned before her trip.
Did either of the girls change as a result of their summer trip or the romantic encounters with the Spanish painter, or were they already programmed to behave as such as a result of their upbringing and inability to break free of such a mold?
I would contend that each person has a choice about how to live his/her life, and, even when things do not turn out as expected, we can learn from them and shape our future decisions accordingly. What was that saying I liked so much "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment..." Something along those lines :)
What, were you just expecting some photos of ham on this Good Friday?
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Barcelona!
