Vivian Jauregui:: Mi Interacción

When it comes to having interactions with people in a foreign country... there is a barrier that one needs to surpass and that is being comfortable with being vulnerable. I have absolutely loved the personal interactions I've had with almost every person. Almost eight years ago when I visited Tarragona, Spain I have noticed that people in Madrid are exceptionally understanding and considerate of what you're are trying to communicate with them, not to mention patient. Yesterday, on the fifth of June, Jade, Kao and I were walking around Puerta del Sol and we came upon a little market square that seems to be there every single day from ten in the morning until eleven at night, determined workers. We immediately went to this leather bag stand that had three walls covered in hand-made leather bags, backpacks, ect. There we met Mohamed. A very kind man from Africa who spoke spanish with both french and arabic. He was soft spoken, kind hearted and over friendly to all three of us. He wasn't your typical market vendor who screamed you over to look at his merchandise but just sat there in the midst of all his hard work. He had the cuts, scrapes and calluses to prove it. We exchanged a ton little stories about how he wants to move to the Americas because of the economy decline out here in Madrid. He actually has a friend coming back to Madrid from California in the next couple weeks but he's not able to go back with him because he doesn't have a visa. It was comical because he doesn't want to bother getting a visa to go and live out there, he just wants to go but knows that he can't without one. Jade and I finally made our final decisions on which leather bags we wanted to get and Mohamed was sweet enough to cut the straps at the length we wanted, payed him, gave me a free SIM card for my phone, exchanged information on scraps of cardboard and we were on our way. There were so many kind people on that square, I enjoyed every second of it. A city janitor decided that he wanted to come and see Boulder for himself and another dried fruit vendor knew how to talk and gussy up every woman that passed. Great memories.