Sinterklaas Avond

Yesterday I had a great night that often means a bad following day. Today hasn’t been a very productive day at the office…

The thing is I was practicing a lot of English as firstly we had a workshop out of London, so I had to take a train with my colleagues at 8 in the morning in Paddington station. We were talking almost for 2 hours in the train. When we got our office in Bristol, we had meeting, lunch in the closest pub, call the “black sheet”, very typical, and new meeting. Coming back to London at 5 pm in the evening with new 2 hours to discuss about several subjects: cars, sports, watches, technology such as digital cameras, … yes, all of us were men!. Unfortunately none of us were native English speakers actually we were: 1 Belgium man, 2 French men and me and that’s why although It is true that I spend some hours per day speaking in English, it is not so useful for my English as it could be.

Once I arrived in London, I joined the “Dutch Dinner”, organized by some Dutch colleagues from my office to celebrate Saint Nicholas/Sinterklass that is considered a celebration of joy and happiness. This day is celebrated as the arrival of Sinterklaas Avond or St. Nicholas Eve. All over the world, he is known for kindness and generosity. This time we were 1 Belgium man, 5 Dutch men, 1 French man and me. The conversation was about the “stereotypes” and differences of each Country. For example, how are Spaniards compared to Dutch people? We started to speak about Christmas for example and it was very surprising to me to realize how popular “Los 3 Reyes Magos” are in Holland and Belgium. Yes, the “3 Kings, the 3 Kings” they said very excited!! while they banged their pints on the table, of course!! It could have come from the Spanish presence in those lands some centuries ago? I find out that the most popular Dutch stereotype is that they are supposed to be very stingy and … I came up with the sentence“more singy than Catalonian people?”

After that, we started to speak about whether I was or not the typical Spaniard. The Spanish stereotypes are well known: Bullfighting, Sevillanas, Paella, parties, night life, Sun, and Beach…what a different description compared to my home town! I explained to them that Spain is a big Country with a very interesting and complex culture much more interesting that the typical one that people bear in mind. – We work very hard in Spain, we are not all the time in the street or in the bars drinking wine and “cañas” and having “tapas” - I said

But in the end, apart from the physical aspect, I guess that the life style is very similar over the whole of Europe. It is true that I don’t know why it is easy to recognize a Spaniard in the streets. Why? I’m not sure if it is because there is a “Spanish race” or it is because of our style in terms of clothes, haircut,.. but all my colleagues guessed that at least, concerning my physical aspect, I was the typical Spaniard. How disappointing, I thought I was getting a more international look!

But some differences between different countries in Europe came up during the conversation. For example, it is not usual for Latin people to find many expensive cars parked on the streets as in London. Why? Because in Latin countries, including France, people are more envious and they are sometimes more worried about the success of their neighbours than about themselves. Cars represent status, and people tend to think that if other people have a gorgeous car is not because they deserve it and they have got it with their effort but it is because of other dark reasons. And at the end it result in the fact that if you park a Porsche in Madrid on the street, it is very likely that you will find it scratched. Not in London, in my street it is easy to find even a Ferrari parked.

After dinner we went to a pub in the middle of Soho dedicated to Dutch people, so we could continue celebrating Sinterklaas. I thought that only Spanish people tended to be together abroad but I couldn’t believe how was possible to find so many Dutch people together in London, I don’t exaggerate but I’m sure that there were more than 500 people there singing in Dutch. And myself in the middle, not singing not, only trying following the advice of my colleagues “Listen, listen you have to say: ”kdfjdjfafj (impossible to pronounce)” and I said “ok, I’ll try, I’ll try”… We had a lot of fun, with the appreciated help of one product that comes from their main competitor: The Belgium Beer!

One of the main advantages of living in London is the opportunity to meet people from over the world. I can not imagine a place as international as this. This Saturday the meeting is with South American people. A Peru colleague celebrates her birthday and most of their friends are Latin like me. We will see.